Gaza live: Israel strike kills 30 Palestinians, mostly children

An Israeli defence official said Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but doesn't seek all-out war, Reuters reported on Monday. 

Two Israeli officials also told the news agency that Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following the deadly strike in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights over the weekend. 

Thousands of Palestinian families continue to flee the central Gaza refugee camps of Bureij and Nuseirat following fresh Israeli displacement orders issued on Sunday.

Heavy fighting between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops is ongoing in Khan Younis, Palestinian media reported on Monday. 

Clashes were heard in the Handag area in the eastern parts of the city, according to the Arab48 news outlet. 

Israeli ground forces returned to Khan Younis last week nearly three months after withdrawing from the southern Gaza Strip city. 

Intense battles have been reported in recent days in areas were Israeli troops were advancing. 

The UK should stop arming Israel to comply with the advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the occupation of Palestinian territories, a lawyer who represented Palestine has told the Guardian.  

Prof Philippe Sands KC, a member of Palestine’s legal team for the case at the ICJ, said the ruling obliges UN member states "not to aid or assist in the maintenance of the current situation in the occupied territories". 

“That legal obligation precludes sales of military material which could be used directly or indirectly to assist Israel in maintaining its unlawful occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories," Sands said. 

An Israeli drone strike outside the southern Lebanese town of Shaqra on Monday killed two people and wounded three, including a child, Lebanese civil defence said.

This was the first deadly Israeli strike on Lebanon since what Israel said was a Hezbollah rocket attack on Saturday that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied involvement in that strike.

Reporting by Reuters

Good morning Middle East Eye reader, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 296th day:

• Relentless Israeli attacks continued across the Gaza Strip on Monday amid fresh ground advances in parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis. Tank shelling was reported in Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood and the town of Qarara east of Khan Younis as heavy fighting persists. 

• Lufthansa became the latest airline group to suspend flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut "in an abundance of caution" as fears escalate over an imminent Israeli strike. 

• In a statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he told Israel's President Isaac Herzog there was a need to take "immediate steps" towards a ceasefire in Gaza. 

• The Turkish foreign ministry hit back at Israeli officially amid a war of words between the two countries, saying that "genocidal Netanyahu" will meet his end just as "genocidal Hitler" met his.