Israeli strike in northern Gaza kills at least 60

A Palestinian girl inspects the rubble of a building in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Pic/AFP

An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people early on Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said. In a separate development, Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah said it has chosen Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new top leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month.

Israel also faced backlash from aid groups after its parliament passed legislation that could severely restrict the ability of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to operate in the Palestinian territories. The agency, known as UNRWA, is the largest aid provider in Gaza.

The Hezbollah militant group said in a statement that its decision-making Shura Council had elected Kassem, who had been Nasrallah's deputy leader for over three decades, as the new secretary-general. Hezbollah vowed to continue with Nasrallah's policies "until victory is achieved". Kassem, 71, a founding member of the militant group established following Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, had been serving as acting leader after Nasrallah was killed on September 27.

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