Deir Al-Balah: Israeli strikes killed dozens of people including children on Sunday in Lebanon and isolated northern Gaza, as the world watched for signs of how the U.S. election might affect the wars between Israel and Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he has spoken three times with Donald Trump since Tuesday's election and they "see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components." Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
The Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah has a major presence. There was no Israeli evacuation warning. Israel's military said that it hit a Hezbollah site used to store weapons, and the strike was under review.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel after war broke out in Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Israel retaliated, and a series of escalations have led to all-out war.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people, including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City.
Israel's military said that it targeted a site where militants were operating, without providing evidence. It said the details of the strike were under review.
A separate strike hit a house in Gaza City, killing Wael al-Khour, a minister in the Hamas-run government, as well as his wife and three children, according to the Civil Defense first responders who operate under the government.
Israel strikes deeper into Lebanon
Israel has struck deeper inside Lebanon since September, when it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire from northern to central Israel. The fighting has killed more than 3,100 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and more than 70 people in Israel.
After Israel's strike in Aalmat, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Beirut, legislator Raed Berro denied that any Hezbollah personnel or assets were in the building hit.
"Everyone can see, in front of cameras, that what is being pulled from under the rubble are women, children and elderly people who have nothing to do with weapons or rocket warehouses," Berro said.
Hassan Ghaddaf, who lived next door and was slightly wounded while heading to his balcony with morning coffee, said displaced people were in the building.
"I had seen them and got to know them the other day," Ghaddaf said. "They were peaceful. On the contrary, they had someone from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces that works for the state, and we saw their garb and clothes in the rubble."
In Syria, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, and the Defense Ministry said that seven civilians were killed, state news agency SANA reported. Britain-based opposition war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights suggested that Hezbollah was targeted. Israel didn't immediately comment.