The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza -- particularly in the north of the strip -- and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut.

Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon since September, vowing to severely weaken Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets and drones at Israel since it launched its air and ground assault on Gaza over a year ago.

Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 31 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.

Israeli airstrikes targeted a neighborhood in the heart of Lebanon’s capital, slamming into an area of Beirut near the Parliament, several embassies and the U.N. headquarters

An Israeli strike on a home in northern Gaza killed three siblings aged 6 and under, among at least six people killed in airstrikes in the war-ravaged territory, Palestinian medics said. In Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building south of Beirut on Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 15, the Health Ministry said.

Israel said its forces hit targets in Beit Lahia to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

At least 17 people, including women and children, were killed when two Israeli missiles struck a house in the city of Beit Lahia, according to Palestinian reports on Monday. The Hamas-controlled civil defence force said the attack left the building destroyed.

Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday killed 12 people, according to Palestinian medical officials. Police in Israel, meanwhile, arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.