Israel stepped up strikes on Gaza which is suffering a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the war sparked by Hamas attack, with officials claiming that at least 70 Palestinians died in the overnight bombing.

Israeli troops are massed on the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion that officials have pledged will begin “soon”, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a late-night meeting of his top generals and war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict. The military said it had struck some 320 targets in the Palestinian enclave in 24 hours.

There were fresh exchanges of fire over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon as fears grew that Iran-backed Hezbollah, a close ally of Hamas, could enter the conflict, prompting Netanyahu to warn it would be “the mistake of its life”.

Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus warned that Hezbollah was playing “a very, very dangerous game”. “They’re escalating the situation. We see more and more attacks every day,” he said.

With the violence raging unchecked, Iran said the region could spiral “out of control”. Iran’s top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian cautioned that if the US and Israel did not “immediately stop the genocide in Gaza or the region will go out of control”.