Israel targeted terrorists in Gaza strikes and accused Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas.

The airstrikes killed 16 people Monday in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children, according to Palestinians.

The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The United States ambassador to the United Nations criticized Israel's military for attacking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing frustration with its close ally Monday as the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield also reiterated to the U.N. Security Council her and President Joe Biden's outrage at the death of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed Sept. 6 during a protest in the West Bank "simply for attending a protest."

"This horrific tragedy should never have happened," the U.S. envoy said. "We will continue to demand details and continue to demand access into Israel's investigation, and press for accountability, regarding the circumstances that led to Aysenur's death."

The Israeli military said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has launched a criminal investigation. Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants who use civilians as human shields in retaliation for their Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military in her briefing to the council after the top U.N. humanitarian official in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, told members the territory has been turned into "an abyss."

Calling the situation in Gaza "catastrophic," Thomas-Greenfield said many of the numerous attacks in recent weeks, where U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers were injured or killed, were preventable.

White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanon border would not help achieve the goal of getting Israelis forced to evacuate back in their homes, according to a U.S. official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu during Monday's talks that the Israeli leader risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.

Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel's northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.

Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would "not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north."

The prime minister said Israel "appreciates and respects" US support but "will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely."

The top United Nations humanitarian official for Gaza says more must be done to protect civilians.

"Time is slipping away as a man-made humanitarian crisis has turned Gaza into the abyss," Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told the U.N. Security Council.

Kaag said humanitarian operations are impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting and operating conditions for aid workers. She cited Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and "poor logistical infrastructure."

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon insisted the country's humanitarian efforts during the war in Gaza "are unparalleled." He told the council over 1 million tons of aid have been delivered via more than 50,000 trucks.

Kaag told reporters after the briefing that the question isn't the number of trucks but how many can be retrieved and how much aid can be distributed given the conditions. She pointed to recent attacks on humanitarian convoys and schools and health facilities.

"It's not about trucks. It's about what people need … as human beings," she stressed. "We're way, way off what people need, not only daily, but also what we would all consider a dignified human life."

The leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar has told Yemen's Houthi rebels that their recent missile attack has sent a message to Israel.

Yahya Sinwar's letter to Abdul-Malek al-Houthi was published by the Houthis' al-Masirah news channel Monday, a day after a missile fired by the Iran-backed rebels landed in an open area in central Israel and triggered air raid sirens at its international airport.

"I congratulate you for succeeding in making your missile reach the depth of the enemy's entity after surpassing all defense systems," Sinwar's letter read, according to al-Masirah.

Sinwar added the Yemeni missile attack sent a message that attempts to "contain" Hamas have failed and the back-up fronts by Iran-backed groups are becoming more effective.

Sinwar said Hamas carried out the Oct. 7, attack on southern Israel and has since been fighting "a defensive war that has exhausted the enemy." He added Hamas had prepared for "a long war of attrition that will break" Israel's political will.

Shortly after the Israel-Hamas war started, Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks against Israel saying they are backing their allies in Hamas.