Middle East latest: 22 people killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon says

Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip and Beirut on Thursday have left dozens of people dead, Palestinian and Lebanese authorities said.

The first strike, on a school sheltering the displaced in the Gaza Strip, killed at least 27 people, including a child and seven women, Palestinian officials said. Israel continues to fire at what it says are militant targets across Gaza.

Later Thursday, at least 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

In southern Lebanon, meanwhile, the U.N. peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

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.