At least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late on Thursday. The Palestinian Authority-run news agency Wafa said the air strike had hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp where many civilians had been present.

An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group has said. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli air strike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road.

The attack on the Tulkarm refugee camp, a densely populated area repeatedly raided by Israeli troops, marks the latest Israeli escalation against Palestinians in the West Bank. At least 410 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the West Bank this year, including over 100 children.