Israel uses terrorism tactics in Gaza

Pope Francis on Sunday again suggested Israel was using "terrorism" tactics in Gaza, deploring the reported killing by the Israeli military of two Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex.

At his weekly blessing, Francis referred to a statement about an incident on Saturday by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the Holy Land.

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that Israel was using starvation as a weapon by deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, fuel and razing agricultural areas.

The health ministry in Gaza said Monday that at least 110 Palestinians had been killed since the previous day in Israeli strikes on a northern part of the territory.

In a brief statement, the ministry said "there were 50 martyrs in occupation strikes on houses in Jabalia," bringing to 110 the number of deaths in the area since Sunday.

On Friday, the ministry said at least 18,800 people had been killed since Israel launched its offensive. One Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Sunday killed 90 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry spokesperson told Reuters.

Another missile attack on a house belonging to the Shehab family killed 24 people, Hamas Aqsa radio said. A medic said dozens of people had been killed or wounded in the Shehab family home and nearby buildings.

In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, medics said 12 Palestinians had been killed and dozens wounded, while in Rafah in the south, an Israeli air strike on a house left at least four people dead.

People rushed to the building to rescue those trapped under the rubble. The sound of the explosion was "as powerful as an earthquake", Mahmoud Jarbou, who lives nearby, told Reuters.

Around 19,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials. Israel's war on Hamas has razed large parts of Gaza and displaced the majority of its 2.3 million residents, many now living in makeshift shelters without clean water and food and fighting diseases.