Israeli strikes on northern Gaza kill at least 33

Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 33 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said on Sunday, as Israel's offensive in the hard-hit and isolated area entered a third week.

The UN secretary-general called the plight of Palestinians there "unbearable.” Israel said it targeted Hamas.

Iran's supreme leader, meanwhile, said Israeli strikes on the country on Saturday in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack earlier this month "should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation.

Two Israeli strikes killed eight people in Sidon city in southern Lebanon, with 25 wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. One strike hit a residential building, according to footage taken by a media reporter.

The Israeli military said four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, without providing details. It said five other personnel were severely wounded. An explosive drone and a projectile fired from Lebanon wounded five people in Israel, authorities said.

A man carries the body of a child victim from the rubble following Israeli bombardment in Gaza on Saturday. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his first public comments on the strikes said "we severely harmed Iran’s defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed toward us.”

Satellite images showed damage to two secretive Iranian military bases, one linked to work on nuclear weapons that Western intelligence agencies and nuclear inspectors say was discontinued in 2003, and another linked to Iran's ballistic missile programme.

Iran on Sunday said a civilian had been killed, with no details. It earlier said four people with the military air defence were killed.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, said "it is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime.” Khamenei would make any final decision on how Iran responds.

Later Sunday, protesters disrupted a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a nationally broadcast ceremony for victims of Hamas’ attack on southern Israel last year that sparked the war in Gaza.

People shouted "Shame on you” and forced Netanyahu to stop his speech. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the failures that led to the’ attack and hold him responsible for not yet bringing home remaining hostages.

An Israeli official said Mossad chief David Barnea is travelling to Qatar for cease-fire and hostage release talks.

Wounded Palestinians lie on mattresses at Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalia, Gaza, on Saturday. Reuters

The Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said 11 women and two children were among the 22 killed in strikes late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 were wounded.

A Health Ministry official, Hussein Mohesin, said 11 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in northern Gaza, which has suffered the heaviest destruction of the war.

The UN secretary-general in a statement by his spokesperson noted "harrowing levels of death.” The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday described the civilian population in "horrific circumstances.”

Associated Press