Israeli strikes hit Gaza yesterday as truce talks with Hamas failed to progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Witnesses reported the strikes in various parts of the Gaza Strip in the morning, particularly the centre. At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, men gathered over the body of an 11-year-old boy who died during bombardment of nearby Bureij refugee camp.

In a black singlet, the child lay on a floor smeared with fresh blood, a white bandage covering the top half of his face, AFP images showed.

• 2 killed as Israeli warplanes hit house in Lebanon
• Palestinians lament shortages of essentials ahead of Eid

Israel's military yesterday said troops continued operations in central Gaza, where warplanes had struck a "militant cell" and "military structure" in the Zeitun area.

After projectiles were fired from northern Gaza into southern Israel on Thursday night, artillery and aircraft hit the launch sites, the army said.

At least 37,266 Palestinians have been killed and 85,102 have been injured in the offensive that began on October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement yesterday. Some 34 Palestinians were killed in the previous 24 hours, the ministry added.

Fears of a broader Middle East conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are backed by Iran, launching waves of rockets against Israeli military targets on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hezbollah said the strikes were retaliation for the Israeli killing of one of its commanders.

Sirens sounded yesterday morning in northern Israel, where police said munitions had fallen in the Kiryat Shmona area, with no immediate sign of victims.

Since the Gaza offensive began, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire, which have escalated. An Israeli government spokesman vowed to "respond with force to all aggressions by Hezbollah."

Later, Lebanon's National News Agency reported that Israeli "warplanes launched a raid targeting a house" in the town of Janata in Lebanon's south. Two women were killed, village official Hassan Shur said.

As Muslims worldwide prepare to mark Eid al-Azha starting tomorrow, Gaza civilians lamented soaring prices and shortages of essential goods -- including sacrificial animals for the festival -- leaving little to celebrate in the besieged territory.

"There is no Eid spirit," Mohammed Shabat, who like most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the offensive, said outside his tent in Deir al-Balah.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said an Israeli military raid killed three people in the town of Qabatiyah on Thursday. Israel's military reported it had "eliminated two wanted suspects".