Dozens feared dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes

Dozens of people were killed or unaccounted for after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, a hospital director and the civil defence agency said Thursday.

One strike near the Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of the territory left "dozens of people" dead or missing, the facility's director Hossam Abu Safiya told AFP.

The process of retrieving the bodies and wounded continues, he said, adding: "Bodies arrive at the hospital in pieces."

Another strike was reported in a neighbourhood of Gaza City.

"We can confirm that 22 martyrs were transferred (to hospital) after a strike targeted a house" in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

"There is a headless body. We don't yet know who this is," Moataz al-Arouqi, who lives in the area, told AFP.

Since Hamas conducted its October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza, which the militant group rules.

It vows to crush Hamas and to bring home the hostages seized by the group during the attack.

Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups are backed by Israel's arch-foe Iran.

On Thursday, US envoy Amos Hochstein will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a truce in the war in Lebanon.

Hochstein's meetings in Lebanon this week appeared to indicate some progress in efforts to end that war.

On the Gaza front, the United States vetoed on Wednesday a UN Security Council push for a ceasefire that Washington said would have emboldened Hamas.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The Hamas government's health ministry in Gaza said the death toll from the resulting war has reached 44,056 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Freedom to act

Following the October 7 attack, Hezbollah began launching cross-border strikes on Israel in support of its ally Hamas.

In September, Israel expanded the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to fight Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire are able to return home.

On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon hit a playground in northern Israel, killing one man, Israeli first responders said.

With Hochstein in Lebanon, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday said that any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel still has the "freedom to act" against Hezbollah.

In a defiant speech, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem threatened to strike Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv in retaliation for attacks on Lebanon's capital.

"Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us," Qassem said in his televised address.

In Lebanon, Hochstein met with officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.

On Tuesday, Hochstein said the end of the war was "within our grasp", and on Wednesday, he said the talks had "made additional progress".

Since expanding its operations from Gaza to Lebanon in September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds.

More than 3,558 people in Lebanon have been killed since the clashes began, authorities have said, most since late September. Among them were more than 200 children, according to the United Nations.

Israel has also intensified strikes on neighbouring Syria, the main conduit of weapons for Hezbollah from its backer Iran.

In the latest attack, a Syria war monitor said 71 pro-Iran fighters were killed in strikes on Palmyra in the east of the country.

Those killed in Wednesday's strikes included 45 fighters from pro-Iran Syrian groups, 26 foreign fighters, most of them from Iraq, and four from Lebanon's Hezbollah, the monitor said.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.

Strikes in Lebanon

On Thursday, strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah's main bastion, following evacuation calls by the Israeli military.

One post on X by Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the military targeted "terrorist command headquarters and Hezbollah military infrastructure" in the area.

Strikes also hit south Lebanon, including the border town of Khiam where Israeli troops are pushing to advance, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.

On Wednesday, Israel said three soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon -- bringing the total fallen to 52 since the start of ground operations on September 30.

A total of 82 Israeli soldiers and 47 civilians have died since hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel began 13 months ago.

Hezbollah was the only armed group in Lebanon that did not surrender its weapons following the 1975-1990 civil war.

It has maintained a formidable arsenal and holds sway not only on the battlefield but also in Lebanese politics.

The United States, Israel's top military and political backer, has been pushing for the UN Security Council resolution that ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006 to form the basis of a new truce.

Under Resolution 1701, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.