Israeli airstrikes kill at least 87 in northern and central Gaza as war death toll surpasses 44,000

Israeli strikes on northern and central Gaza killed at least 87 Palestinians in 24 hours, local health authorities said, as the death toll in the enclave surpassed 44,000.

At least 65 people were killed in Israeli strikes on northern Gaza overnight, a medical official in the enclave told CNN on Thursday, adding that the toll expected to rise.

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, told CNN on Thursday morning that casualties were still being brought to the hospital.

In an interview with Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, he said about 200 people were believed to have been at the site when the Israeli military struck.

“The hospital medical team retrieved 65 martyrs from under the rubble,” Abu Safiya said, adding that medical staff were recovering bodies from under the rubble “using their hands” due to the absence of rescue teams.

Safiya warned that the hospital “will turn into a mass grave if urgent intervention from international organizations does not occur and medical supplies are not brought in,” adding that “not a single ambulance” was available in northern Gaza.

In a separate strike on Wednesday, at least 22 people were killed, including 10 children, north of Gaza City in the center of the enclave, according to Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The airstrike hit a family home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, Alboursh said in a statement on Thursday.

Gaza’s civil defense said that rescue teams were working to recover people from the rubble and that the death toll was expected to rise.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on both strikes.

The strikes come as the death toll in Gaza climbs after Israel’s renewed offensive in the north of the territory.

At least 44,056 people have been killed and more than 104,000 injured in the enclave since the war began last year, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Israel launched airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut early Thursday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). The strikes were accompanied by low-altitude flights of hostile drones over the area, NNA said.

The airstrikes, targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Haret Hreik, destroyed several buildings, NNA said.

Earlier on Thursday, Avichay Adraee, the Israel military’s spokesperson to Arabic media, posted evacuation warnings on X mapping three buildings in the area Haret Hreik, saying they were potential targets. He issued a similar evacuation warning for seven buildings in the historic southern city of Tyre.

Israel’s strikes came as US envoy Amos Hochstein engages in ceasefire negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. He arrived in Israel on Wednesday.

While in Lebanon on Tuesday, Hochstein said that a ceasefire deal is “within our grasp,” but added it was ultimately “the decision of the parties.”

CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.