An Israeli strike in northern Gaza kills at least 30, hospital director says

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli strike early Sunday in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza killed at least 30 people, the director of a hospital there told The Associated Press.

Hosam Abu Safiya with Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya also said there were dozens of wounded, and others likely were still under the rubble.

Fleeing residents told the AP that houses were hit.

An Israeli military statement earlier Sunday said it conducted several strikes on "terrorist targets" in Beit Lahiya. It said efforts to evacuate the civilian population from the "active war zone" there continued.

Israeli forces have again been on the offensive in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped there. Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Hamas for over a year.

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"Tonight we did not sleep at all," said one fleeing Beit Lahiya resident, Dalal al-Bakri. "They destroyed all the houses around us. ... There are many martyrs."

A woman, Umm Hamza, said the bombing had escalated overnight. "It's cold and we don't know where to go," she said.

Meanwhile, a rare Israeli airstrike on central Beirut killed Hezbollah's chief spokesman Sunday, an official with the militant group said.

The latest in targeted killings of senior Hezbollah officials came as Lebanese officials considered a United States-led cease-fire proposal. Israel also bombed several buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party's office in central Beirut, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorised to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Afif had been especially visible after all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike. Last month, Afif hastily wrapped up a press conference in Beirut ahead of Israeli strikes.

There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection in central Beirut. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw four bodies and four wounded people, but there was no official word on the toll. People could be seen fleeing. There was no comment from the Israeli military.

"I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire," said Suheil Halabi, a witness. "I was startled, honestly. This is the first time I experience it so close."

The last Israeli strike in central Beirut was on October 10, when 22 people were killed in two locations.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated, erupting into war in September. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on October 1.

Hezbollah has fired dozens of projectiles into Israel daily and expanded their range to central Israel. The attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said a teenager suffered blast injuries Sunday in Upper Galilee. Israel's military said about 15 projectiles had entered from Lebanon following sirens in the Galilee areas.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.

Lebanon's army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military centre in southeastern Al-Mari, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.