Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, Lebanon

Spokesperson says Israeli PM greenlighted pager operation in Lebanon

JERUSALEM:

Israeli air strikes killed dozens of people in Lebanon and Gaza Sunday, rescuers and authorities said, ahead of a US deadline for improved aid delivery to the Palestinian territory.

Rescuers in the Gaza Strip said 13 children were among 30 people killed by Israeli strikes in the territory's north.

The first strike early Sunday hit a house in Jabalia, killing at least 25 people including 13 children and injuring more than 30, Gaza's civil defence agency said.

At around 6am, "there was a very huge explosion" at the Alloush family home, said relative Abdullah al-Najjar.

"When we arrived here, all the bodies were torn apart," the distraught man added.

Vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in already ravaged north Gaza, Israel on October 6 began a major air and ground assault.

The United Nations has described the area as "under siege", and Washington set a deadline of this coming week for Israel to get more aid in or face possible cuts to military assistance. After the strike in Jabalia, Israel's military said it hit "infrastructure" in which militants were operating and "posed a threat" to troops in the area.

Another strike on the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City killed five people, the civil defence agency said.

Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman said the Israeli prime minister "greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon" in which hundreds of devices exploded.

The attacks killed nearly 40 people and wounded some 3,000 others, and preceded Israel's ongoing military operation in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, at least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Sunday, including 23 in a raid north of the capital Beirut, the health ministry said.

Further north, an "Israeli enemy strike on Almat in the Jbeil district killed 23 people including seven children," the health ministry said in a statement, adding that body parts had been recovered from the site and were being identified.

The village of Almat, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Beirut, is located in a mostly Christian region -- outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.

The strike hit a house shortly after a Hezbollah member arrived there for a visit, a security source told AFP, adding that he was injured and later died in hospital.

AFPTV footage showed rescuers rummaging with their bare hands through the wreckage of a house that had been completely razed, pulling out bodies wrapped in blankets while an excavator moved the rubble.