At least 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, and a truck driving near Tel Aviv killed 1

RAMAT GASHARON, Israel — Israeli strikes in northern Gaza killed at least 22 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as Israel’s offensive on the badly damaged and isolated territory entered its third week and the UN secretary-general called the plight of Palestinians there “unbearable.” Israel said it targeted the militants.

In another incident, a truck drove into a bus stop near Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring more than 30. Israeli police said the attacker was an Arab citizen of Israel. The ramming happened near a military base and near the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader said that Israel’s strikes on the country on Saturday in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this month “should not be exaggerated or downplayed,” while not calling for retaliation. It was Israel’s first open attack on its sworn enemy.

The exchange of fire has raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant allies, including Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after nearly a year of low-level conflict.

According to the Ministry of Health of Lebanon, as a result of two Israeli strikes in the city of Sidon in the south of Lebanon, eight people were killed and 25 were injured. According to footage taken by an Associated Press reporter, one hit hit a residential building.

The Israeli military said four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, without giving details. It is noted that five more servicemen were seriously injured. An explosive drone and projectile fired from Lebanon injured five people in Israel, authorities said.

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Netanyahu says strikes on Iran have achieved Israel’s goals

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first public comments on the strikes, said “we have seriously damaged Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us.”

Satellite images showed damage to two secret Iranian military bases, one related to nuclear weapons work that Western intelligence agencies and nuclear inspectors say was halted in 2003, and the other related to Iran’s ballistic missile program. On Sunday, Iran reported the death of a civilian, but no details were available. Earlier it was reported that four people from the military air defense were killed.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, said that “the authorities must determine how to transfer the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime.” Khamenei will make any final decision on how Iran responds.

Later on Sunday, protesters disrupted Netanyahu’s speech at a nationwide ceremony honoring the victims of the Hamas attack on southern Israel last year that sparked the Gaza war. People shouted “Shame on you” and forced Netanyahu to stop his speech. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the failures that led to the attack and hold him responsible for not yet bringing home the rest of the hostages.

An Israeli official said Mossad chief David Barnea was on his way to Qatar for talks on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details.

Dozens injured as a result of a truck ram in Israel

In Ramat Hasharon, northeast of Tel Aviv, a truck crashed into a bus as Israelis were returning to work after a holiday, leaving people trapped under the cars.

Israel’s rescue service, Magen David Adom, reported that six of the injured were in critical condition. In the medical center of Ichilov, it was reported that one person died.

Asi Aharoni, a police spokesman, told reporters that the attacker had been “neutralized,” without saying whether the attacker had died.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group praised the attack but did not claim responsibility.

There have been numerous stabbings, shootings and car attacks by Palestinians over the years. Tensions have risen sharply since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel conducts regular military raids on the occupied West Bank, which have killed hundreds of people. Most of them appeared to be militants killed in firefights with Israeli forces, but Palestinians participating in violent protests and civilian bystanders were also killed.

“Terrible circumstances” in northern Gaza

The emergency services of the Gaza Health Ministry said 11 women and two children were among the 22 killed Saturday night in strikes on several houses and buildings in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya. It is reported that 15 more were injured. The Israeli military announced that it struck the militants.

Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza since early October, saying Hamas militants had regrouped there. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement.

The First Civil Defense Service, which operates under the Hamas government in Gaza, said it had recovered several bodies after an Israeli airstrike hit a school in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City on Sunday.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in northern Gaza, which has suffered the most destruction since the war. In recent weeks, Israel has severely limited the flow of basic humanitarian aid, and three hospitals in the north of the country, one of which was ransacked over the weekend, say they have been overwhelmed by waves of wounded.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, in a statement by his spokesman, noted the “appalling death rate”. The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday described the civilian population in “appalling circumstances”.

The war began when Hamas-led militants punched holes in Israel’s border wall and invaded southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 42 thousand Palestinians died in response to Israel. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but said more than half of the dead were women and children. Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants without providing evidence.

The offensive has devastated much of Gaza and displaced about 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people are huddled in squalid tent cities, and aid groups say the famine is unstoppable.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, Magdi from Cairo and Kraus from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, John Gambrell in Dubai and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.