Hospital hit as Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill 39 people

At least 39 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military strikes across Gaza, mostly in the north where one attack hit a hospital, torching medical supplies and disrupting operations, the enclave's health officials said.

Israel's military has accused Hamas of using the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya for military purposes and claimed "dozens of terrorists" have been hiding there. Health officials and Hamas deny the accusation.

Another Israeli airstrike on two houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least nine Palestinians, medics told Reuters.

Northern Gaza, where Israel claimed in January it had dismantled Hamas' command structure, is currently the main focus of the military's attacks in the enclave.

Earlier this month it sent tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya to flush out militants it claimed had regrouped in the area.

Eid Sabbah, director of nursing at Kamal Adwan - which is in Beit Lahiya - told Reuters some staff had suffered minor burns after the Israeli strike hit the third floor of the hospital.

There were no reports of any casualties at the hospital, which Israeli forces stormed and briefly occupied last week.

Israel claimed it had captured around 100 suspected Hamas militants in that raid. Israeli tanks are still stationed nearby.

The health ministry in Gaza called for all international bodies "to protect hospitals and medical staff from the brutality of the (Israeli) occupation".

The Israeli military has said its forces are operating in the hospital area based on intelligence about the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the vicinity.

"During the operation, it was found that dozens of terrorists were hiding in the hospital, with some even posing as hospital staff," said the military in a statement following the airstrike.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said that one of its doctors at the hospital, Mohammed Obeid, had been detained last Saturday by Israeli forces.

It called for the protection of him and all medical staff who "are facing horrific violence as they try to provide care".

Israel's war in Gaza war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and reduced most of the enclave to rubble, Palestinian authorities have said.

Six Lebanese health workers killed in Israeli strikes

Six Lebanese health workers were killed and four wounded in Israeli strikes across south Lebanon, the health ministry has said in a statement.

The strikes killed five paramedics with the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee and one with the Amal-linked Risala Scouts, the health ministry said.

The deaths raised to 178 the number of rescuers and paramedics killed since Hezbollah and Israel started trading cross-border fire in October last year.

It comes as Israeli emergency services said a rocket launched from Lebanon killed two people in an olive grove in northern Israel, bringing the day's toll to seven dead in Israel.

Earlier, a Hezbollah attack on the northern Israeli border community of Metula killed five people including an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoys that Israel's ability to counter threats to its security from Lebanon and return displaced people to the north were key elements of any ceasefire deal with Lebanon.

Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were in Israel on a new push to secure ceasefires in both Lebanon and Gaza.

Sources previously told Reuters that talks were centred on a 60-day pause to allow for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which would entail Hezbollah withdrawing its armed presence from south of the Litani River.

The World Health Organization has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent the healthcare system from collapsing.

WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on X, formerly Twitter that "keeping hospitals functional is of utmost importance".

Separately, Israel issued an evacuation warning to residents of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon for a second consecutive day.

Yesterday, it conducted heavy airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in and around the city, which is famed for its Roman temples.

Dozens of cars could be seen speeding out of the area after today's warning, with wafts of black smoke still visible emanating from the town of Douris, where an Israeli strike the previous day destroyed Hezbollah fuel stocks, according to the Israeli military and a Lebanese security source.

Thousands fleeing the violence have sought shelter in the nearby Christian-majority town Deir al-Ahmar, where local official Jean Fakhry said authorities were struggling to cover even a fraction of needs.
Some people had spent the night in their cars.

"We cannot continue this way," he said.

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The killing of six Lebanese health workers and wounding of four others in three separate strikes across south Lebanon has brought the total toll of health workers killed and wounded in over a year of Israeli strikes to 178 and 279 respectively, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Hezbollah said it had launched several rocket and artillery attacks against Israeli forces near the southern town of Khiyamon.

It marked the fourth straight day of fighting in and around the strategic hilltop town, which is home to one of the largest Shi'ite communities in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah aims to keep Israeli forces out of the town to prevent them detonating homes and buildings, as has happened on a large scale in other border towns, a source familiar with the group's thinking told Reuters.

Hezbollah has said its fighters have prevented Israel from fully occupying or controlling any southern villages.

Meanwhile, Israel claims it is carrying out limited ground operations aimed at destroying the group's infrastructure.