Israeli strikes leave 40 Palestinians dead

GAZA, Oct 15 (Reuters/AFP): Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces tightened their squeeze around Jabalia in the north of the enclave on Tuesday, amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters.
Palestinian health officials said at least 11 people were killed by Israeli fire near Al-Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, while 10 others were killed in Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed three houses in the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, and the local civil emergency service said they recovered two bodies from the site, while the search continued for 12 other people who were believed to have been in the houses at the time of the strike.
Five others were killed when a house was struck in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Jabalia has been the focus of an Israeli offensive for more than 10 days, with troops returning to areas of the north that came under heavy bombardment in the early months of the year-long war.
The operation has raised concerns among Palestinians and UN agencies that Israel wants to clear residents from the north of the crowded enclave, a charge it has denied.
The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday the Israeli military appeared to be "cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip."
"Amid intense ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders in northern Gaza families are facing unimaginable fear, loss of loved ones, confusion, and exhaustion. People must be able to flee safely, without facing further danger," Adrian Zimmerman,
UN decries 'worst restrictions'
on Gaza aid since start of war
Conflict-ravaged Gaza appears to be facing the worst restrictions on aid since the Israel-Hamas war began over a year ago, the UN said Tuesday, lamenting the especially devastating impact on children.
"Day after day, the situation for children becomes worse than the day before," said James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF.
Vast areas of Gaza have been devastated by Israel's retaliatory assault on the territory after the October 7 Hamas attack last year sparked the war.
And Israel has been intensifying operations in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, where the UN has warned hundreds of thousands of people are trapped.
Despite a desperate need to increase the amount of aid going in, Elder lamented that aid access was worsening.
Over 200 pro-Palestinian
protesters arrested in NY
Police arrested more than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had staged a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to demand an end to US support for Israel's war in Gaza, authorities said.
The protesters, many of them from activist groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, chanted "let Gaza live" and "stop funding genocide" in front of the exchange's iconic building near Wall Street, in lower Manhattan.