Updated October 27, 2024 6:07 AM ET

RAMAT HASHARON, Israel — At least 33 people, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as Israel’s offensive against the hard-hit and isolated region entered its third week. and as the UN secretary-general called for an emergency, The situation of Palestinians there is “unbearable”. Israel announced that it was targeting militants.

Separately, one person was killed and more than 30 people were injured when a truck crashed into a bus stop near Tel Aviv. Israeli police said the attacker was an Arab citizen of Israel. The collision occurred outside the military base and near the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Meanwhile, in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month, Iran’s supreme leader said on Saturday that Israeli attacks on the country “should not be exaggerated or underestimated” and did not hold back from calling for retaliation. This was Israel’s first open attack on its arch-enemy.

This exchange of fire has raised fears of an all-out regional war that would pit Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies; among them Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group. A year of low-level conflict.

Eight people were killed and 25 injured in two Israeli attacks on the southern Lebanon city of Sidon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. One attack hit a residential building, according to footage shot by an Associated Press reporter.

The Israeli army announced that four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon, but did not provide details. It was stated that five other personnel were seriously injured. An explosive drone and projectile fired from Lebanon injured five people in Israel, officials said.

Netanyahu says attacks on Iran achieve Israel’s goals

In his first public statement regarding the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We have seriously damaged Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us.”

Satellite images showed damage to two secret Iranian military bases, one linked to work on nuclear weapons that Western intelligence agencies and nuclear inspectors say was stopped in 2003, the other linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Iran announced Sunday that a civilian had been killed, without providing any details. It was previously stated that four people working in the military air defense were killed.

Iran’s 85-year-old religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that “it is up to the authorities to decide how the power and will of the Iranian people will be transferred to the Israeli regime.” Khamenei will make the final decision on how Iran will react.

Later Sunday, protesters disrupted Netanyahu’s speech at a nationally televised ceremony honoring the victims of last year’s Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. People shouted “Shame on you,” forcing Netanyahu to stop his speech. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the failures that led to the attack and his failure to bring the remaining hostages home yet.

Gil Cohen-Magen/AP

/

Pool AFP

An Israeli official said that Mossad chief David Barnea went to Qatar for talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details.

Truck crash in Israel injured dozens of people

In Ramat Hasharon, northeast of Tel Aviv, a truck crashed into a bus and some people were trapped under the vehicles as Israelis returned to work after vacation.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said six of the injured were in serious condition. Ichilov Medical Center reported one death.

Police spokesman Asi Aharoni told reporters that the attacker had been “neutralised”, without saying whether he was dead or not.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group praised the attack but did not claim responsibility.

Palestinians have committed numerous stabbings, shootings and car ramming attacks over the years. Tensions have increased since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has carried out regular military raids on the occupied West Bank, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Most appear to have been militants killed during clashes with Israeli forces, but Palestinians participating in violent protests and surrounding civilians were also killed.

‘Horrible conditions’ in northern Gaza The emergency service of the Gaza Ministry of Health said that 11 women and two children were among the 22 people killed in attacks on many houses and buildings in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza late on Saturday. It was stated that 15 more people were injured. The Israeli army announced that it carried out an attack against militants.

Ministry of Health official Hussein Muhesin said that 11 people died in the attack on a school shelter in Israel’s Shati refugee camp in the north of Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the matter. Israel has struck such hideouts, often killing women and children, saying it was targeting militants hiding among civilians.

Israel has been carrying out a major air and ground offensive in northern Gaza since early October, claiming that Hamas militants have regrouped there. In the last wave of migration, hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians fled to Gaza city.

Aid groups warned about the catastrophic situation in the north of Gaza, which suffered the heaviest destruction of the war. Israel has severely limited the inflow of essential humanitarian aid in recent weeks, and the three remaining hospitals in the north (one of which was raided over the weekend) say they are overwhelmed by waves of casualties.

The UN secretary-general noted the “distressing levels of deaths” in a statement made by his spokesman. On Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross described the civilian population as being in “terrible conditions”.

The war began when Hamas-led militants punched holes in Israel’s border wall on October 7, 2023, and launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. They killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped approximately 250 others. About 100 hostages are still inside. About a third are believed to have died in Gaza.

Israel’s retaliatory strike killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing any evidence.

Copyright 2024 NPR