Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 22 people, and a truck ramming near Tel Aviv killed 1

RAMAT HASHARON, Israel — Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip have killed at least 22 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as Israel’s offensive in the worst-hit and isolated area entered a third week and the UN secretary-general called the situation dire Palestinians there are “unbearable.” Israel said it attacked the militants.

In another incident, a truck crashed into a bus stop near Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring more than 30. Israeli police said the attacker was an Israeli Arab citizen. The ramming took place near a military base and near the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader said Saturday’s Israeli strikes on the country in retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month “should neither be exaggerated nor minimized” but stopped short of calling for retaliation. This was Israel’s first open attack on its archenemy.

The shooting raised fears of a full-scale regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which include Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after almost year of low-level conflict.

Two Israeli strikes killed eight people in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon and wounded 25, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. One strike struck a residential building, according to footage taken by an Associated Press reporter.

The Israeli military said four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, without providing details. Five other employees were seriously injured, he said. An explosive drone and a shell fired from Lebanon injured five people in Israel, authorities said.

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Netanyahu said strikes on Iran achieved Israeli goals

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first public comments on the strikes, said “we have seriously damaged Iran’s defenses and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us.”

Satellite images have shown damage to two secret Iranian military bases, one linked to nuclear weapons work that Western intelligence agencies and nuclear inspectors said was abandoned in 2003, and another linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Iran on Sunday said a civilian was killed, without providing any details. It was previously reported that four air defense servicemen were killed.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, said that “the authorities will have to determine how to transfer the strength and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime.” Khamenei will make the final decision on how Iran will respond.

Later on Sunday, protesters disrupted Netanyahu’s speech at a national memorial ceremony for victims of the Hamas attack on southern Israel last year that sparked war in the Gaza Strip. 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 failing to bring home the remaining hostages.

An Israeli official said Mossad chief David Barney was traveling to Qatar to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of hostages. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details.

Dozens of people were injured as a result of a truck ramming in Israel

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

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said six of the wounded were in serious condition. The Ikhilov Medical Center reported that one person died.

Police spokesman Asi Aharoni told reporters that the attacker had been “neutralized,” without saying whether the attacker was dead.

Hamas and the small Islamic Jihad militant group praised the attack but did not claim it.

There have been numerous stabbings, shootings and car rammings by Palestinians over the years. Tensions have risen sharply since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has carried out regular military raids into the occupied West Bank, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Most appear to have been militants killed during gun battles with Israeli forces, but Palestinians taking part in violent protests and civilians have also been killed.

‘Horrific circumstances’ in northern Gaza

Gaza’s health ministry emergency service said 11 women and two children were among 22 killed when several houses and buildings were struck late Saturday in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya. Another 15 were reported injured. The Israeli military said it had struck the militants.

Israel has been carrying out a massive air and ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip since early October, saying Hamas militants have regrouped there. The latest wave of displacement has left hundreds killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing to Gaza City.

Civil defense first responders operating under the Hamas-run government in Gaza said they recovered several bodies after Sunday’s Israeli airstrike on a school in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in the northern Gaza Strip, which has suffered the worst damage during the war. Israel has severely restricted the flow of basic humanitarian aid in recent weeks, and the three remaining hospitals in the north – one of which was attacked over the weekend – say they are being overwhelmed by waves of casualties.

The UN Secretary-General, in a statement by his representative, noted the “appalling death rate.” The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday described civilians in “appalling circumstances.”

The war began when Hamas-led militants cut holes in Israel’s border wall on October 7, 2023, and suddenly entered southern Israel. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The Israeli retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry does not differentiate 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 evidence.

The offensive devastated much of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people are huddled in squalid tent camps and aid groups say famine is rampant.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, Magdi from Cairo and Krauss from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Jon Gambrell in Dubai and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.