Five people have been killed in the West Bank as Israel carried out a strike on a mosque it says was used to organise attacks – as more than 50 Palestinians are reported to have died in strikes on Gaza overnight.
Israel also struck two airports in Syria as fears grow the two-week old war with Hamas will spiral into a broader conflict.
The Israeli military has said it carried out its airstrike on the Al-Ansar Mosque in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank because it was used as a “command centre to plan and execute terrorist attacks against civilians”.
The Palestinian health ministry said two people who are yet to be identified were killed in the strike on the mosque.
Follow live: Israel vows to intensify attacks as West Bank and Gaza hit
The ministry added that Israeli forces also shot and killed two men in northern cities in the West Bank – a 19-year-old in Tubas and a 26-year-old in Nablus.
The health ministry later said Israeli forces killed a fifth person in the territory overnight.
The West Bank fatalities mean 90 Palestinians have died there since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The Israeli strike took place on the Gaza Strip in Rafah on Saturday. Pic: AP
It come as more than 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight, medical sources in the territory said.
The Palestinian health ministry says 4,385 people been killed in strikes on Gaza since the conflict began.
Official Israeli sources say 1,400 people from Israel have died since the Hamas incursion.
Israel has been conducting airstrikes on Gaza following Hamas’s attack two weeks ago, saying it is trying to destroy the militant group.
Many of those killed in the West Bank die in clashes with Israeli forces rather than airstrikes.
However, the latest strike on the West Bank was the second in recent days – with five children among 13 people who were killed after Israeli forces raided and carried out an airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday.
The raid was conducted on the Nur Shams camp, adjacent to the city of Tulkarm near the territory’s border with Israel.
Ground invasion expected amid fears of wider conflict
Israel is expected to launch a ground offensive in Gaza as parts of its response to the Hamas attack.
Tanks and tens of thousands of troops have massed at the border, and Israeli leaders have spoken of an undefined next stage in operations.
However, the military acknowledges there are still hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza despite a sweeping evacuation order, which would complicate any ground attack.
And the risk of triggering a broader war with Hamas’s allies in Lebanon and Syria might also give them pause.
On Saturday, 20 trucks of aid were allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the first time anything has gone into the territory since Israel imposed a complete siege two weeks ago.
Aid workers said it is far too little to address the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where half the territory’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes.
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Man trapped in Gaza cycles for bread
Increase in illnesses due to lack of clean water
Hospitals packed with patients and displaced people are running low on medical supplies and fuel for generators due to the siege, forcing doctors to perform surgeries with sewing needles, using kitchen vinegar as disinfectant, and without anaesthesia.
Palestinians sheltering in UN-run schools and tent camps are running low on food and drinking dirty water.
The territory’s sole power plant shut down more than a week ago, causing a territory-wide blackout and crippling water and sanitation systems.
The UN humanitarian agency said cases of chicken pox, scabies and diarrhoea are increasing because of the lack of clean water.
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