Middle East latest: 18 dead after Israeli strikes in Gaza

Palestinian officials said Wednesday that Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza killed at least 18 people, including five children and two women, as the territory's overall death toll passed 42,000.

Two strikes hit tents for displaced people in the urban Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. The bodies of nine people, including three children, were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies at the morgue.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel has killed the successor to the head of Hezbollah, while the militant group's acting leader promised more fighting in southern Lebanon.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.