Gaza's civil defense agency said two Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory's north early Monday.

"Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments" northwest of Gaza City, said the agency's spokesman, Mahmud Bassal.

It added that four other people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya city in the northwest.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved plans to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday.
The official said the plan was gradual and involved claiming more territory in the Palestinian enclave, where Israel already controls roughly half of the land. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the influential security Cabinet, a gathering of top ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, approved the decision early Monday.