At least 18 people killed in strike on West Bank refugee camp

At least 18 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the strike on the Tulkarem site, which is the deadliest attack on the territory since last October, killed Hamas's leader.

Hamas condemned the strike but did not confirm whether any of its members had been killed.

Videos posted to social media show ambulances evacuating victims from the camp and residents carrying wounded people to a hospital.

The military said the operation was carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service, but it gave no details on the target.

Violence has flared across the Israeli-occupied territory since the Israeli-Hamas war erupted last October.

Tulkarem and other northern Palestinian cities have seen some of the worst violence.

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It comes amid growing escalations in violence across the Middle East, which saw Israel step up its air strikes on Lebanon as it warned more people to evacuate on Thursday.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon across the past two weeks, according to the country's health ministry, without saying how many were civilians.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have engaged in fighting on the ground in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said nine soldiers were killed in combat on Wednesday.

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