Israeli strike kills dozens in northern Gaza, Palestinians say

An Israeli strike on a five-storey building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

In a separate development, Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah said it has chosen Naim Qassem as its new top leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike last month.

The group said in a statement that Hezbollah’s decision-making Shura Council elected Kassem, who had been Nasrallah’s deputy leader for over three decades, as the new secretary-general. Hezbollah vowed to continue with Nasrallah’s policies “until victory is achieved”.

Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of the field hospitals’ department at the Gaza Health Ministry, announced the toll from Tuesday’s strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya at a news conference. He says another 17 people are missing.

The ministry’s emergency service says the dead include at least 12 women and 20 children, including babies.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been waging a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there.