Gaza, Oct 28: Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, Palestinian medical officials said.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.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza for the last three weeks, 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 is still carrying out daily strikes across Gaza, even as it wages war with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked Iran ā which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah ā in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.
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.
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.