Israeli strike in Gaza kills 60; Hezbollah appoints new leader

Associated Press

Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip)

An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people early on 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 Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new top leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month. Israel also faced backlash from aid groups after its parliament passed legislation that could severely restrict the ability of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to operate in the Palestinian territories. The agency, known as UNRWA, is the largest aid provider in Gaza.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its 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. Kassem, 71, a founding member of the militant group established following Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, had been serving as acting leader after Nasrallah was killed on September 27. He has given several televised speeches vowing that Hezbollah will fight on despite a string of setbacks. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation, after Hamas' surprise attack out of Gaza on October 7, 2023, triggered the war there.

Iran, which backs both groups, has also traded fire with Israel on two occasions. The tensions with Hezbollah boiled over last month, as Israel unleashed a wave of heavy airstrikes and killed Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders. Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon at the start of October. Strike in northern Gaza comes as Israel wages a major operation there Even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran in recent weeks, Israel has continued to wage a large operation in northern Gaza and to carry out airstrikes across the territory. 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 said another 17 people are missing. The ministry's emergency service said at least 12 women and 20 children were among the dead, including babies. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been waging the operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there.

The dead included a mother and her five children, some of them adults, and a second mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike.