Israeli strikes kill 46 people in the Gaza Strip and 33 in Lebanon, medics say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday.

The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the U.S. demands.

In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut’s southern suburbs — an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence — soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there.

There was no immediate word on casualties. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including command centers and weapons production sites, without providing evidence.

Another Israeli strike on an apartment building east of Beirut killed at least six people. Wael Murtada said the destroyed home belonged to his uncle and that those inside had fled from the Dahiyeh last month. He said three children were among the dead and other people were missing.

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Lebanon killed 15 people, including eight women and four children, and wounded at least 12 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. The strike came without warning, and state media said the building was sheltering displaced families.

Israel has been carrying out intensified bombardment of Lebanon since late September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and stop more than a year of cross-border fire by the Lebanese militant group.

A rocket exploded in a storage building in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya on Tuesday, killing two people, first responders said. Another two people were wounded by shrapnel in a separate impact outside the town.

A Hezbollah drone smashed into a nursery school near the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Tuesday morning, but the children were inside a bomb shelter and there were no injuries. The impact scattered debris across the playground.

At the same time, Israel has continued its 13-month campaign in Gaza set off by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.

An Israeli strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the center of a “humanitarian zone” that Israel’s military declared earlier in the war.

At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.

A strike on a house in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed 15 people on Tuesday, including relatives of Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat, who has been reporting from the north.

Mohamed Shabat and his wife Dima, both volunteer doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital, were killed along with their daughter Eliaa, according to hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya.

Strikes in central and southern Gaza killed another 20 people, according to Palestinian medical officials.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

Hours earlier, the Israeli military announced a small expansion of the humanitarian zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a desolate area with few public services.

Israeli forces have also been besieging the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October, battling Hamas fighters it says regrouped there.

With virtually no food or aid allowed in for more than a month, the siege has raised fears of famine among the tens of thousands of Palestinians believed to still be sheltering there.

The United States gave Israel a 30-day deadline — that expired this week — to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, calling on it to allow at least 350 truckloads to enter each day, among other things.

So far, Israel has fallen short. In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The United Nations puts the number lower, at 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October.

Israel has announced a flurry of measures in recent days to increase aid, including opening a new crossing into central Gaza and some small deliveries of food and water to the north. But so far the impact is unclear.

The military announced Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in Jabaliya, bringing to 24 the number of soldiers killed in the assault there since it began.

Palestinian health officials say hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, though the true numbers are unknown as rescue workers are unable to reach buildings destroyed in strikes. Israel has ordered residents in the area to evacuate. But the U.N. has estimated some 70,000 people remain.

Many Palestinians there fear Israel aims to permanently depopulate the area to more easily keep control of it. On Tuesday, witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli troops had encircled at least three schools in Beit Hanoun, forcing hundreds of displaced people sheltering inside to leave.

Drones blared announcements demanding people move south to Gaza City, said Mahmoud al-Kafarnah, speaking from one of the schools as sounds of gunfire could be heard. “The tanks are outside,” he said. “We don’t know where to go.”

Hashim Afanah, sheltering with at least 20 other people in his family home, said the forces were evicting people from houses and shelters.

The U.N.’s top humanitarian official, Joyce Msuya, told the Security Council on Tuesday that “acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes” are being committed in Gaza. “The daily cruelty we see in Gaza seems to have no limits,” she said, pointing to recent developments in Beit Hanoun.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities that do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count but say more than half the dead are women and children. Israel says it targets Hamas militants who hide among civilians.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 as hostages. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that the span of the war in Gaza is now 13 months, not 19 months, and that 75 aid trucks have entered per day in November, according to Israeli figures, not 87.

Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Orr Katz, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers and other rescuers search for victims at a house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers search for victims at a house hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers search for victims at a house hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers search for victims at a house hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers search for victims at a house hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A firefighter, right, extinguishes a fire as smoke rises from a house hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Members of ZAKA rescue services clean the blood stains at the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a storage facility in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, killing two people on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FILE - Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

FILE - Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Journalists document as smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — The first conference championship celebration in Army history was underway at midfield and Bryson Daily made clear it would be a brief one.

The Black Knights are going after another trophy next week.

“Beat Navy,” Daily said.

He and the Black Knights ought to be a tough matchup for the Midshipmen — or just about anyone.

Daily rushed for four touchdowns to tie the American Athletic Conference championship game record, and No. 24 Army completed a perfect first season in the league by beating Tulane 35-14 on Friday night.

Kanye Udoh rushed for 158 yards, including a 72-yarder to set up a Daily TD, and a score. Daily added 126 yards on the ground for the Black Knights (11-1), who overwhelmed AAC opponents with their bruising, clock-eating rushing attack during their first around the league, then ran it to perfection in the championship game. Army won the first conference title in its 134-year history.

The Black Knights have one game left in the regular season and it's they one they want most: against Navy next Saturday for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

“Now we've got the biggest game of the year coming up in eight days and we’re looking forward to that,” Army coach Jeff Monken said.

Daily had runs of 5, 3, 4 and 7 yards. The 221-pound quarterback's four rushing scores gave him 29 this season, breaking the AAC record of 25 set by Navy QB Will Worth in 2016. The conference player of the year has rushed for multiple TDs in 10 consecutive games.

Except for an unsuccessful stint in Conference USA from 1998-2004, the Black Knights had played as an independent since their program began in 1890. Monken said this week that Army felt that it needed to be in a conference to have a pathway to college football's expanded postseason.

As cadets poured out of the stands to join players in a midfield celebration, the Black Knights must have been loving the decision.

Darian Mensah threw two touchdown passes for Tulane (9-4), which was playing in its third straight AAC championship game and has lost the last two. The Green Wave had hopes of hosting before losing at home to Memphis on Thanksgiving night, ending their 17-game winning streak in conference games.

They were even shakier Friday, botching field goal attempts after their first two drives, then fumbling a kickoff and having a pass intercepted in their own territory on the next two.

Then Tulane could barely get its hands on the ball in the second half, when Army had TD drives of 11 and 16 plays.

“When you start slow the way we did, missing two field goals early, you don’t do yourselves any favors,” Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said, “because once they get a lead, a couple scores, it’s really, really hard to overcome.”

A temperature of 29 degrees to begin just the third December game in the 101-season history of Michie Stadium demanded a strong running attack, and nobody does it better than Army, which came in leading the country with 312.5 rushing yards per game.

Army gained 335 on the ground and went 4 for 5 on fourth down.

Daily didn’t even attempt a pass until the second half — when he kept a scoring drive alive with a 9-yard completion on fourth-and-5.

The Green Wave were asked during the week about playing in the chilly conditions along the Hudson River, and the weather may have been a factor when Tulane attempted a field goal after a good first drive. Holder Brice Busch dropped the snap on the Army 27.

Army promptly went 72 yards in 11 plays for Daily’s 5-yard score. Tulane got inside the Army 20 again on its second drive but had to settle for another field goal attempt. The Green Wave handled the snap this time but Patrick Durkin’s kick was wide right from 38 yards.

Daily’s 4-yard run made it 21-0 before Tulane finally got on the board on Mensah’s 42-yard pass to Mario Williams with 44 seconds left in the half.

But Army regained control with a 6 1/2-minute drive to open the third quarter.

Tulane: The Green Wave will regret their untimely and uncharacteristically sloppy play to finish the regular season after never losing the turnover battle in any game until their last two.

Army: The Black Knights’ opponents know what’s coming and only current No. 4 Notre Dame, which routed Army at Yankee Stadium last month, has been able to stop it.

Tulane: The Green Wave fell out with the Memphis loss after going into the game ranked 18th and won’t get back in.

Army: The Black Knights will extend to a ninth straight week in the AP Top 25, their longest stretch since being ranked each week of the 1958 season.

Tulane: Awaits its bowl destination.

Army: Faces Navy next Saturday in Landover-Maryland.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Army quarterback Bryson Daily (13) reacts after scoring a touchdown against Tulane during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Army running back Kanye Udoh (6) carries the ball for a first down against the Tulane during the second quarter of the American Athletic Conference championship NCAA college football game, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Tulane linebacker Sam Howard (15) grabs the face mask of Army quarterback Bryson Daily during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Army quarterback Bryson Daily (13) reacts after scoring a touchdown against Tulane during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)