Israel-Hamas war: At least 73 killed in Israeli strike on residential building, Gaza officials say

The death toll of Israel’s strike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Saturday has risen to at least 73, the Gaza media office has said.
In addition to several houses being destroyed by Israeli forces, multiple people have been injured, according to reports.
The Israeli military said it was checking reports of casualties from the air strike but claimed the numbers published by the Hamas media office were exaggerated and did not match the information available to the Israeli military.
Elsewhere, there was reportedly an attempted drone attack on Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s holiday home on Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Netanyahu said: “The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hizbullah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake.”
He vowed that Iran and its proxies would “pay a heavy price”, adding Israel would continue to “eliminate the terrorists and those who dispatch them”.
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The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, spoke to Mr Netanyahu after reports of the attempted drone attack.
A statement says they discussed the situation in the Middle East following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the prime minister said was a brutal terrorist and that the world is a better place without him.
Mr Starmer also discussed the opportunity presented by Sinwar’s death to halt the fighting and get the hostages out. The British leader stressed the importance of getting much more aid into Gaza.
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The United States has also expressed concern about the amount of aid entering Gaza, warning in a letter to the Israeli government that it could suspend military funding for Tel Aviv if the humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate.
So far, both Israel and Hamas have signalled an unwillingness to call a ceasefire in the wake of Sinwar’s death, while Hizbullah continues to carry out rocket attacks on northern Israel.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also vowed that Hamas will fight on. Both Hamas and Hizbullah are backed by Iran, which carried out its own attack on Israel with ballistic missiles earlier this month.
In a joint statement released on Saturday, G7 defence ministers expressed their concern over Israel’s latest attacks on Unifil in Lebanon.
The group, which has been meeting in Naples, Italy, said: “We … are concerned by the latest events in Lebanon and the risk of further escalation. We express concern over all threats to Unifil’s security.” – Agencies