Israeli Strikes on Northern Gaza Kill at Least 20, Aid Workers Say

The humanitarian crisis in the northern Gaza Strip deepened on Saturday as an Israeli bombardment killed at least 20 people, trapped thousands more and prompted one of the area’s last functioning hospitals to issue desperate pleas for assistance.

Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday hit the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, even as the Israeli military is pressing ahead with its campaign in Lebanon, where it warned residents of 23 more towns to evacuate on Saturday.

The Israeli military also reported that about 320 projectiles were fired into Israel on Saturday by the militant group Hezbollah, the focus of its offensive in Lebanon.

Roughly 400,000 people remain in northern Gaza, according to the United Nations, and many have been trapped in their ruined neighborhoods by Israeli airstrikes, which the military says are targeting Hamas and other allied groups.

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement late Friday that five of its staff members were trapped in Jabaliya, and that one of them had relayed that “about 20 people” were killed in an airstrike on Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital. The Palestinian health ministry said that at least 49 people had been killed across Gaza since Friday, and that 219 wounded people had arrived at hospitals in the enclave.

Israel’s military has issued evacuation warnings for the area in recent days, but aid workers said the fighting made it difficult to follow those instructions.