Israeli strikes killed at least 40 people in Gaza on Sunday, including 19 women and children, as well as five people in Lebanon.
At least 14 people were killed in a single strike on a residential block in southern Gaza City, health officials at al-Shifa hospital said. Another attack killed at least eight Palestinians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to al-Awda hospital.
Israel also carried out a drone strike in Lebanon, killing five people including three children and their father, in the southern city of Bint Jbeil. Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, denounced the strike, which he said violated the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Despite the signing of a ceasefire last November, Israel has carried out near-daily strikes on Lebanon, more than 4,500 in total, according to the Lebanese army. The Lebanese government said Israel’s continued violations of the ceasefire were undermining its own efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
“While we are in New York to discuss peace and human rights issues, Israel persists in its ongoing violations of international resolutions … There is no peace above the blood of our children,” said Aoun.
Israel has stepped up strikes on Gaza City this week after announcing the beginning of its takeover campaign. The Israeli military has targeted high-rise towers in the city, telling aid workers that only hospitals will not be targeted, and ordering the city’s 1 million residents to leave.
More than half a million Palestinians have been displaced from Gaza City since late August, according to Israeli military statistics.
Many Palestinians who have left did so on foot, unable to afford transportation for the long journey to southern Gaza where Israel has said it has set up a humanitarian zone. Aid experts have warned that mass forced displacement will further exacerbate the abysmal conditions in Gaza, which is already suffering from famine.
The UN said on Thursday that amid the intensifying military campaign, Israel has continued to impose restrictions on aid into Gaza.
“Opportunities to support starving people are being systematically blocked. Every week, new restrictions are imposed,” said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha).
Australia, Canada and the UK announced the formal recognition of a Palestinian statehood on Sunday, which the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said was meant to “revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis”. More states are expected to follow, in what is widely seen as an expression of disapproval of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reacted to the announcements with anger, accusing the western countries of giving an “absurd prize for terrorism”.
Western countries and much of the international community have called on Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and called for a halt to the Gaza City campaign.
The invasion of Gaza City is also unpopular in Israel, with tens of thousands of people protesting on Saturday night, calling for an end to the war and for the government to make a deal to rescue the remaining hostages.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza over the last 23 months and destroyed most of the Palestinian territory. Israel launched the war in response to the 7 October attack by Hamas-led militants that killed about 1,200 people.