Deir Al-Balah, 27 oct

Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 40 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as its offensive in the hard-hit and isolated north entered a third week and aid groups described a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 people were wounded and that the death toll could rise. It listed the names of those killed, who mostly came from three families.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on militants in a structure in Beit Lahiya and took steps to avoid harming civilians. It disputed what it said were “numbers published by the media,” without elaborating or providing evidence for its own account.

Israel is still carrying out daily strikes across Gaza, even as it wages and air and ground war with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. An Israeli airstrike on a southern neighbourhood of Beirut sent flames and smoke climbing into the air early Sunday.

The cascading conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.

Red Cross describes 'horrific circumstances' in northern Gaza

Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza since October 6, after saying that Hamas militants had regrouped there. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the yearlong war.

Israel says its strikes on Gaza only target militants, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in densely populated areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in northern Gaza, which was the first target of Israel's ground offensive and had already suffered the heaviest destruction of the war. -PTI