CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter on Thursday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced "security zone" they intend to seize.

The announcement came after Netanyahu’s defense minister said that Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said, while officials at hospitals inside the Palestinian territory said that Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

At least 73 people were killed during Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the course of Wednesday, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The figures do not distinguish between civilians or combatants and cannot be independently verified.

An Israeli air strike on Beirut's southern suburbs has killed at least three people, Lebanon's health ministry says, putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Israeli airstrike targets Hezbollah official in Beirut, 4 killed Israel says targeted Hezbollah operative was helping Hamas plan attack on Israeli civilians Hezbollah calls attack severe aggression, urges diplomatic solutions Lebanese leaders condemn strike,

Beirut’s southern suburbs were rocked by an overnight Israeli airstrike that killed at least four people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel says the strike was targeting a Hezbollah militant with links to Hamas,