At least 73 people have been killed in an Israeli attack in northern Gaza, medics say

At least 73 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya, Hamas-run officials said.

Dozens of people were injured and many were trapped under the rubble after Saturday night’s blast, officials added.

Israel said it was verifying reports of casualties, but said the figures released by Hamas officials were “exaggerated” and did not match information from its army.

The latest attacks came hours after reports of “heavy fire” from Israeli troops at an Indonesian hospital in the city.

Gaza health officials said rescue efforts in Beit Lahia are currently hampered by the disruption of communications and internet services in the area.

The Hamas-run government media office said the blasts hit “crowded” residential areas and killed 73 people – Gaza’s Civil Defense agency also said. The BBC cannot independently verify the figures.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, an entire residential complex was destroyed in the strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC it had struck a “Hamas terrorist target” and was “doing everything possible to avoid harming civilians”.

The Hamas office said the casualties were “exaggerated” and that such sources had “proven to be highly unreliable in previous incidents”.

Israel launched a renewed military offensive in northern Gaza in early October.

In particular, Israeli forces surrounded and bombarded the densely populated area of ​​Jabaliya, which includes an urban refugee camp. At least 33 people were reported killed in the strike late Friday.

Humanitarian groups have warned that no aid has arrived in the area for the past few weeks. Israel’s own statistics show that overall aid deliveries to Gaza have fallen compared to the same period in September.

The UN’s top humanitarian official, Joyce Mzuya, said on Saturday that Palestinians in northern Gaza were enduring “unspeakable horrors” and that these “atrocities” must stop.

Israeli minister Amichai Sigli told the BBC that Israel had “blocked off” parts of northern Gaza.

“We allowed civilians to enter the safe zone and prevented goods from entering the besieged area,” he said on the Newshor program – referring to the IDF’s warning to people in the north to leave.

He insisted it was “legal under international law”.

Israel has repeatedly denied blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel launched at least a dozen airstrikes on Beirut On Saturday, the Lebanese capital was hit by the worst attack in more than a week.

Damage and casualties are still being assessed, but at least one multi-storey building in the southern suburbs of the city was completely destroyed.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s weapons depots and the command center of its intelligence headquarters in Tahi.

Hezbollah continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, and the Israeli military fired about 200 projectiles — commonly understood to mean rockets — on Saturday.

Israel’s medical service Megan David Adom said a man was killed by shrapnel while in his car.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said An assassination attempt was made on him following reports of a drone strike In his private residence.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a huge mistake,” he wrote in a post on X.

Mr Netanyahu and his wife were not home at the time and no one was injured.

Iran says Hezbollah was behind the attack, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. Hezbollah – funded and equipped by Iran – did not comment on the reports.

Hamas-run officials say at least 42,519 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded in Gaza since the war began last October.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas in return.

Earlier this week, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Shinwar in Gaza raised some hopes in some quarters of an end to the conflict.

But the group’s deputy head said only Hamas would be strengthened and that Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israel withdrew from Gaza.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also said on Saturday that Sinwar’s death would not end the “axis of resistance” – a regional network of Iranian-backed, heavily armed militias opposed to Israel.

“Hamas is alive and will remain alive,” Khamenei’s statement added.