Israel's military intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight after one of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the conflict began, amid international calls for a pause in fighting to let aid into the enclave and prevent many more deaths.
Health officials in Gaza said Wednesday that dozens more people had been killed in the south, where hundreds of thousands fled after Israel warned them it would attack the north in its bid to wipe out Hamas militants who mounted a killing spree in Israel on Oct. 7.
One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis. "This is something not normal, we have not heard something like this before," resident Khader Abu Odah said.
Palestinian anger over the killings has been increased by a sense of betrayal as many of those who obeyed the order to move south are also being killed.
The Israeli military alleges that Hamas, which rules Gaza, has entrenched itself among the civilian population everywhere.
In Gaza City in the north, rescue workers pulled an apparently lifeless young child out of the rubble before trying to calm an agitated, partially buried man crying out his family's names.
"They are OK, I swear," one rescuer said in video footage from the scene.
Fighting in Lebanon, Syria
Israeli jets also struck Syrian army infrastructure in response to rockets launched from Syria, an ally of Iran, the Israeli military said, fuelling concerns that its conflict with Hamas, also backed by Iran, will ignite the wider region.
Syria's state news agency said the Israeli attack killed eight soldiers and wounded seven more near the southwestern city of Deraa.
Israel did not accuse Syria's army of firing the two rockets, which set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, giving no details on the suspected perpetrators.
Iran, which has sought regional ascendancy for decades and backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere as well as Hamas, has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.
Israeli forces hit five squads in Lebanon preparing anti-armor missile attacks or rocket launches, spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said four more of its fighters had been killed, increasing the death toll in its ranks to 42 since the start of the conflict.
Calls for humanitarian pause
The United States and Russia are leading international calls for a pause in the conflict to allow aid into Gaza, where living conditions are harrowing.
Limited deliveries of food, medicine and water from Egypt restarted on Saturday through Rafah, the only crossing not controlled by Israel, which announced it had sealed off the coastal enclave for good after this month's attack from Hamas.
Another 20 trucks crossed late on Tuesday after delays, but U.N. agencies said more than 20 times as much were needed for the narrow coastal strip's 2.3 million people, who depend heavily on aid even in peacetime.
Washington wants short pauses to allow aid in while Russia advocates a wider truce. Israel has so far resisted both.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli military violence has also intensified, killing more than 100 Palestinians, the Health Ministry said.
Gaza's health ministry said Wednesday, at least At least 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children and 1,584 women, have now been confirmed killed in the enclave since Oct. 7.