The death toll from the Israeli offensive in Gaza has topped 24,000, the enclave’s health ministry said yesterday, as the occupying force kept pounding the Palestinian territory for the 101th day.

Three United Nations agencies yesterday called on Israel to allow access to the port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid.

A top UN official said that Israeli offensive in Gaza was staining humanity, as the conflict has created a dire humanitarian crisis for 2.4 million people in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli strikes killed at least 125 people yesterday, the 100th day of the offensive which has ravaged the Gaza Strip prompting UN to call the situation in the besieged Palestinian territory “straining our shred humanity”.

Israel kept up bombardments in the Gaza Strip yesterday as its deadly offensive on the enclave approached 100 days with no end in sight.

Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza have killed at least 151 people, including 11 in a single house, Palestinian health officials said yesterday, while the UN humanitarian office accused Israel of blocking its efforts to send aid to the north.

Israel yesterday faced accusations at the World Court of genocide in its offensive in Gaza, as the first residents returned to scenes of total devastation in northern areas where Israeli forces have begun withdrawing this week.

An earthquake hit northeastern Afghanistan yesterday, shaking buildings from the capital Kabul to Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey yesterday in what appeared to be a retaliation for the seizure last year of the same vessel by Tehran’s arch foe the United States, Iranian media reported.

Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza intensified yesterday despite a pledge by Israel that it would pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign, and pleading from its ally Washington to kill fewer civilians.

A Taliban official has said several girls and women were detained recently in Kabul for not covering themselves properly, after reports circulated of a crackdown in Kabul.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest mission to rein in the Gaza offensive, told Israeli leaders yesterday there was still a chance of winning acceptance from their Arab neighbours, if they create a path to a viable Palestinian state.

At least 249 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza in 24 hours, the enclave’s health ministry said yesterday, as WHO cancelled delivery of medical supplies to north of Gaza after failing to receive security guarantees.

Hundreds of patients and staff are reported to be missing from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, which is struggling to cope amid intense air strikes across the enclave.

Two pro-Iranian fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi alliance were killed in an attack in Iraq, the Hashed and an Iraqi security source said yesterday, blaming the Islamic State group (IS).

Iranian authorities have whipped a woman 74 times for “violating public morals” and fined her for not covering her head, the judiciary said.

Top US and European diplomats yesterday sought ways to keep the Gaza offensive from spreading further in the Middle East, but three months after the start of the conflict, more bloodshed underlined the difficulties they face.

The West Bank has experienced an “unmatched surge” in the number of new Israeli settlements since the start of the war in Gaza, an Israel-based NGO has said.

Water purifiers, medical supplies and tent poles are among items Israel has blocked from entering Gaza on aid trucks, according to an Egyptian Red Crescent document seen by Reuters and sources in Gaza, but Israel denied blocking any such items.

Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group yesterday said it had fired rockets at Israel and its arch-foe said it had struck a “terrorist cell” in retaliation, as top US and EU diplomats visited the region to seek ways to halt spillover from the war.