Gaza officials say dozens killed in ‘intense’ Israeli strikes

Officials in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday dozens were killed overnight in “intense” Israeli bombardment, as the war which has sent shockwaves across the region passed the grim 100-day milestone.

Deadly violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and along Israel’s border with Lebanon as well as fighting between US forces and Iran-backed Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea have raised fears of an escalation beyond the Gaza Strip.

The war, sparked by Palestinian attacks on Israel, has created a humanitarian catastrophe for the 2.4 million people in the besieged strip, the United Nations and aid groups warn, and reduced much of the territory to rubble.

The health ministry in Gaza, ruled by Hamas since 2007, reported more than 60 “martyrs” and dozens more wounded, in what the group’s media office described as “intense” strikes and artillery fire across Gaza.

The Hamas government media office said two hospitals, a girls’ school and “dozens” of homes were hit overnight.

Hospitals in Gaza have been hit repeatedly since the war erupted, and the World Health Organization (WHO) says most of them are no longer functioning.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas militants of operating out of civilian facilities or from tunnels under them, a charge the Islamist group denies.

The latest strikes hit the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, as well as areas around Gaza City, the Hamas media office said.

The army said its forces had struck “two terrorists loading weapons into a vehicle” in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, and raided “a Hamas command centre” there and seized weapons.

The UN says more than three months of fighting have displaced roughly 85 percent of the territory’s population, crowded into shelters and struggling to get food, water, fuel and medical care.

“There’s no food, no water, no heating. We are dying from the cold,” said Mohammad Kahil, displaced from northern Gaza to Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt.

Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.