At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday, including two dozen when a residential building in the northern town of Jabalia was hit, Palestinian health officials and a human rights group said.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza said at least 24 people were killed when an Israeli strike destroyed the three-story building in Jabalia at dawn. Thirty other people from nearby houses were wounded, PCHR said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it struck a site in Jabalia in which "terrorists were operating."
In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood on Sunday killed Wael Al-Khour, an official at the welfare ministry, as well as his wife, Khour, one son, two daughters and three grandchildren, medical officials and relatives said.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
The three hospitals in and around Jabalia have been besieged by Israeli forces for several weeks and hospital officials have refused army orders to evacuate the facilities or leave their patients unattended despite the depletion of food, medical and fuel supplies.
The Israeli military accuses Palestinian militant group Hamas of exploiting the civilian population and property in Gaza for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.
Efforts to reach a ceasefire between the two warring sides have failed so far, with Israel and Hamas trading blame.
Qatar, which has been trying to negotiate a ceasefire along with Egypt and the United States, has told Hamas and Israel it will
, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.
There was no official response from Hamas or Israel.
Israel's main military backer
within 30 days — a deadline that expires on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at the time top US officials made "clear" to Israel's government that changes need to be made "to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today".
The demand came before last week's vote for president-elect Donald Trump, who has suggested he would give freer rein to Israel.
On Saturday, a UN-backed assessment warned that famine is imminent in northern Gaza.
It comes as at least 23 people, including seven children, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli strike on Almat in Lebanon's Mount Lebanon province, the country's health ministry said on Sunday, adding that the death toll was likely to climb.
Three people were also killed and two others wounded in an Israeli strike on Mashghara in the western part of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley late on Saturday, while one person was killed and four others injured in a strike on Sahmar, also in western Bekaa, that occurred the same night, the health ministry added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it is targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Since late September Israel has been engaged in a two-front war after turning its focus north towards Lebanon.
Israel admitted for the first time Sunday it was behind
.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon" in which hundreds of devices exploded, killing nearly 40 people and wounding around 3,000, his spokesman said.
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