ISRAELI forces launched an air attack on a Gaza refugee camp in Gaza today, killing at least five people in one of multiple bombing raids that claimed at least 93 lives across the Strip today.

Israel also expanded its bombing operations to Lebanon as settlers ramped up their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Rescue teams in Gaza say Israeli forces attacked a house in the Shati refugee camp, located west of northern Gaza City, killing at least five people and wounding several more.

In Lebanon, the National News Agency reported that at least 12 people were killed and eight wounded by Israeli air strikes on eastern Lebanon that targeted a camp for displaced Syrians in the Wadi Fara area of the Bekaa Valley.

The Israeli army claimed it killed two Hezbollah fighters during the attacks.

The United Nations human rights office warned today that Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings and attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The violence also includes the demolitions of hundreds of homes and forced mass displacement of Palestinians as well as annexations of more land in violation of international law, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

The warning from the UN body came as the Palestinian death toll in the West Bank inches closer to 1,000 since October 7 2023, when Hamas and its allies launched an attack within Israel following the latter’s brutal 17-year siege of the territory.

Israel’s subsequent invasion has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians with tens of thousands still missing.

At least 964 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the UN. 

At least 2,907 home demolitions were also carried out by Israel during the same period, displacing about 30,000 Palestinians.

“Israel must immediately stop these killings, harassment and home demolitions across the occupied Palestinian territory,” Mr Kheetan said.

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is under increasing pressure as an ultra-Orthodox party announced today that it was leaving the government.

United Torah Judaism’s two factions said they were quitting the government over a Bill that would codify broad military draft exemptions for their constituents, many of whom study Jewish texts instead of enlisting in the military.

The departure of the party doesn’t immediately threaten Mr Netanyahu’s rule. But, once it comes into effect within 48 hours, it will leave the Israeli leader with a slim majority in a government that leaves him even more heavily reliant on the whims of two far-right coalition partners.