Israeli airstrikes ‘kill 16 in Gaza, including four children’

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including five women and four children.

A strike was said to have flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, including four women and two children.

The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll and also said 13 people were wounded. Hospital records show that the dead included a mother, her child and her five siblings.

Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to the Civil Defence, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.

Israel says it targets only militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’s October 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago.

The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Meanwhile, a key White House Middle East envoy is meeting Israeli leaders in the hope of lowering tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began striking Israel shortly after Hamas’s October 7 attack. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging blows daily while avoiding an all-out war. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border.

During his meeting with US envoy Amos Hochstein, Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that time is running out for a political settlement and that Israel is moving toward taking tougher action against Hezbollah.

Mr Gallant warned “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action”, his office said.

Mr Hochstein in 2022 brokered a maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel. The two countries have formally been at war since Israel’s independence in 1948.