Strikes in Gaza and fatal stabbing in Tel Aviv spike fears of wider war in Middle East

Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 18 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a man who police say was a Palestinian militant killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb.

Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war. A rocket attack that hit a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killing 12 children could also lead Israel and Hezbollah into a full-out war.

A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was "neutralized."