Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed more than 60 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, medics said, and Israel also bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday as a US-led diplomatic push to end the fighting struggled to move forward.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “stubbornness” in negotiations, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his priority was to enforce security “despite any pressure or constraints”.

Israel has pressed on with its military offensives against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon despite efforts by Washington to secure ceasefires on both fronts ahead of the US presidential election next Tuesday.

Medics in Gaza said about 60 people were killed and dozens more injured overnight and into Friday morning in Israeli strikes on the city of Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat camp and the town of Al-Zawayda all in the central area of the Palestinian coastal enclave, as well as in the south.

At least 10 were killed in an Israeli strike that hit the entrance of a school sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat, medics told Reuters.

Another 10 were killed in a car in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, medics said.

The Israeli military said its troops had killed what it called armed terrorists in central Gaza and northern Gaza’s Jabalia area.

It had no immediate
comment on the reported school strike, although it habitually denies targeting civilians.

Israel also pummelled Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday morning with at least 10 strikes, Reuters journalists said. It was the first bombardment on the area — once a densely-packed district and Hezbollah stronghold — in nearly a week.

The strikes came after Israel issued evacuation orders for 10 separate neighbourhoods. The attacks began before the final series of orders were published.

The hostilities have whittled away any hope a truce could be reached before the November 5 US presidential election.

Reuters