Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 700-plus

GAZA, Oct 24 (Agencies): More than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes, Gaza's health ministry said on Tuesday, the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began a bombing campaign to crush Hamas militants who stunned the country with a deadly Oct. 7 attack.

Israel said it had killed dozens of Hamas fighters in the overnight strikes on the besieged enclave but said its war to destroy the Islamist group would take time.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday alleged violations of international law as Israel pounds Gaza, and urged an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to bring in relief.

"I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law," Guterres told a Security Council session, without explicitly naming Israel.

As aid agencies warned that a humanitarian catastrophe was unfolding in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Israel to offer it support.

He told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Israel in its war with Hamas while also saying it must not fight "without rules".

The UN's agency looking after Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned of a potential end to its operations in the Gaza Strip "as of tomorrow (Wednesday) night" if it doesn't get more fuel urgently

A spokeswoman told the BBC people in Gaza could become "more miserable and desperate than they already are" if it was forced to wind up its work.

The UN urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, saying the aid let in so far met a tiny fraction of the needs of the beleaguered population. Fuel, still blocked, was crucial.

Meanwhile, the Gaza war could deal a heavy blow to the global economy, banking titans told a glitzy investment forum in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The dour mood from some of the gathering's most high-profile speakers underscored how the conflict threatens attempts by the world's biggest oil exporter to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.

"What just happened recently in Israel and Gaza ... you put all this together, I think the impact on economic development is even more serious," World Bank President Ajay Banga told the Future Investment Initiative (FII).

"I think we're at a very dangerous juncture," he added at the event often referred to as "Davos in the Desert".

The war risks drawing in other countries, notably Lebanon, home to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group which has engaged in daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said that "if these things are not resolved, it probably means more global terrorism, which means more insecurity, which means more (of) society is going to be fearful, less hope.

Syria and Lebanon on Monday jointly condemned the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate stop to the deadly Israel-Hamas conflict.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met with his visiting Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where they underscored the importance of continued consultation and strategic alignment to address the pressing common challenges, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.

During the visit, both sides reiterated their unwavering commitment to addressing the plight of the Palestinian people, stressing unconditional and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israel escalated its bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip, the military said Tuesday, ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas militants that the US fears could spark a wider conflict in the region, including attacks on American troops.

The stepped-up attacks, and the rapidly rising death toll of thousands killed in Gaza, came as Hamas released two elderly Israeli women who were among the hundreds of hostages it captured during its devastating Oct. 7 attack on towns in southern Israel.

Gaza's 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the attack.

A third small aid convoy entered Gaza on Monday carrying only a tiny fraction of the supplies aid groups say is necessary.

Tamira Alrifai, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the 54 trucks that entered Gaza over the last several days was a "trickle" compared to the 500 trucks a day that entered before the war.

She said UN negotiators were "very, very far away" from getting an agreement to send the sustained aid into Gaza that is needed.

With Israel still barring the entry of fuel, the UN said aid distribution would soon grind to a halt when it can no longer fuel trucks inside Gaza. Hospitals overwhelmed by the wounded are struggling to keep generators running to power lifesaving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.

On Tuesday, Israel said it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they were preparing to launch rockets into Israel and striking command centers and a Hamas tunnel shaft. The previous day, Israel reported 320 strikes.

The Palestinian official news agency, WAFA, said many of the airstrikes hit residential buildings, some of them in southern Gaza where Israel had told civilians to take shelter.

Israel says it does not target civilians and that Hamas militants are using them as cover for their attacks. Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the war, Israel said, and Hamas said it fired a new barrage Tuesday morning.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said six of its staff were killed in bombings, bringing to 35 the death toll of its workers since the war started.

The war has killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors and around 1,100 women, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. That includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week. The toll has climbed rapidly in recent days, with the ministry reporting 436 additional deaths in just the last 24 hours.

The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel - mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack.