A southern Beirut suburb has been hit by an air strike about 45 minutes after an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson called on civilians to evacuate the area.
i reported IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Col Avichay Adraee’s evacuation warning, posted on X, earlier today.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future”, Adraee said, adding that civilians should “evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them immediately and stay away from them for a distance of no less than 500 meters”.
Less than an hour after Adraee issued the warning, reports emerged of an air strike in the area he warned civilians would be the target of an Israeli attack.
The attack comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s holiday home was targeted in a drone attack launched from Lebanon this morning.
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That’s all from the blog for today – thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of what happened:
- Israeli forces have been carrying out heavy air strikes on several locations in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Israeli military later released a statement saying it targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence command centre and several munitions’ warehouses belonging to the armed group.
- The Lebanese Health Ministry says in a statement that 36 people were killed and 204 wounded over the past two days. At least 2,448 people in Lebanon have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in October 2023.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home was targeted in a drone strike launched from Lebanon this morning. Netanyahu and his wife Sara were not at home during the drone strike and there were no casualties reported, his spokesperson said.
- The Israel Defence Forces said that Hezbollah has fired around 180 projectiles, including missiles and drones, into parts of Israel so far today. Israel’s emergency services said that a man in his fifties was killed in Acre, northern Israel, following a rocket barrage.
- The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza had come under “heavy gunfire” from Israeli forces, according to the local health ministry. The upper floors of the hospital, in the territory’s northern town of Beit Lahia, came under fire, the ministry said, adding that there were “more than 40 patients and wounded in addition to medical staff” inside the hospital.
- Israeli military strikes killed at least 35 people across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian health officials said. In the central Gaza Strip camp of Al-Maghzai, an Israeli strike on a house killed 11 people, while another strike at the nearby camp of Nuseirat killed four others. Five other people were killed in two separate strikes in the south Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, medics said. Seven more Palestinians were killed in the Shati camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
- Thousands of people took to the streets in London on Saturday to protest Israel’s continued war in Gaza and Lebanon. Demonstrators assembled in at least twenty-five other towns and cities across the UK, including Oxford, Norwich and Luton.
G7 defence ministers express concern over Israel’s threats to Unifil
In a joint statement released on Saturday, G7 defence ministers expressed their concern over Israel’s latest attacks on Unifil in Lebanon.
The group, which has been meeting in Naples, Italy, said: “We … are concerned by the latest events in Lebanon and the risk of further escalation.
“We express concern over all threats to Unifil’s security. The protection of peacekeepers is incumbent upon all parties to a conflict.
“We also reaffirm the importance of supporting Unifil and the Lebanese armed forces in their role of ensuring the stability and security of Lebanon.”
The group also said it was “united in supporting the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza and a sustainable pathway to a two-state solution.”
Meanwhile, on the streets of Naples, demonstrators clashed with police as they accused the G7 of facilitating Israel’s relentless war in Gaza.
UN says rescue teams must be allowed into North Gaza
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, says that “over the past two weeks, we have repeatedly warned that the tightening siege on Jabalia and northern Gaza is life-threatening.”
The al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals, two of the three hospitals remaining in North Gaza, were hit by air strikes on Friday, deepening “an already alarming humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza”, Muhannad Hadi said.
“In the past two weeks, Israeli forces increased their pressure on these hospitals to be evacuated, but patients had nowhere to go. Patients, medical staff and displaced persons were injured,” Hadi said in a statement.
It comes as two patients died due to a resulting power outage and lack of supplies at the Indonesian Hospital.
“Humanitarian and rescue teams must be allowed access without delay to save lives,” he added.
Footage shows Sinwar hours before 7 October attack, says IDF
The Israel Defense Forces has released footage it claims is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “hours before” the 7 October massacre that killed almost 1,200 people.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari spoke at a news conference on Saturday evening saying it was “declassifying footage”.
It comes as Sinwar was killed by an Israeli air strike on Wednesday.
Hagari claims Sinwar planned the 2023 massacre for “years” to “maximise harm to Israeli and Gazan civilians”.
“See for yourselves,” he said.
The video clip appears to show Sinwar with a woman and a number of children in an underground tunnel.
Israel’s foreign minister claims Iran behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s home
Israel’s foreign minister says the “true face” of Iran has been exposed by what he calls an assassination attempt by Iran-backed groups against the prime minister.
“The Iranian proxies who attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Netanyahu and his family today have once again exposed Iran’s true face and the evil axis it leads,” Israel Katz said in a statement on X.
The foreign minister’s comments came after Netanyahu’s office said a drone targeted the his holiday home in the town of Caesarea.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.
US Defense Secretary calls on Israel to ‘scale back’ air strikes
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is calling on Israel to “scale back” some of its strikes in and around Beirut, Lebanon’s capital.
“The number of civilian causalities have been far too high,” he said.
“We would like to see Israel scale back some of the strikes in and around Beirut, and we would like to see a transition to negotiations that would allow civilians on both sides to return to their homes,” he added.
Israeli army says it targeted Hezbollah intelligence command centre
As i reported earlier, Israeli forces have been carrying out heavy air strikes on several locations in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Dramatic footage shows thick plumes of smoke billowing over the Lebanese capital this evening.
The Israeli military has now released a statement saying it targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence command centre and several munitions warehouses belonging to the armed group.
Israel issued evacuation orders for four neighbourhoods in the suburbs, urging residents to get 500 metres (550 yards) away but carried out strikes in other areas as well, according to Reuters.
Thousands in London protest for ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon
Thousands of people took to the streets in London on Saturday to protest Israel’s continued war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Ahead of the event, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “The year long genocide in Gaza continues, alongside attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“Israel is attacking and invading Lebanon, and we are confronted with the imminent threat of an even wider war.
“We will take action in our communities to demand: stop the genocide in Gaza, hands off Lebanon, don’t attack Iran!”
Protestors also assembled in twenty-five other towns and cities across the UK, including Oxford, Norwich and Luton.
Israeli attacks kill 36 people across Lebanon in 48 hours
The Lebanese Health Ministry says in a statement that 36 people were killed and 204 wounded over the past two days.
This follows a series of attacks by Israel across Lebanon, including 23 people killed in Nabatieh and 93 wounded.
At least 2,448 people in Lebanon have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in October 2023.
This includes 140 children and 270 women, with 11,471 wounded, the ministry added.
German Chancellor renews calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz renewed his call for a “ceasefire, and political solutions” amid the Gaza war on Saturday.
“Israel has the right to defend itself, and it must comply with international law, this is a requirement that is self-evident, and has long been part of the foreign policy of Germany,” he said.
Scholz made the remarks at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following a meeting in Istanbul.
Berlin and Ankara have different views on Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, but the Chancellor re-iterated their shared goals in their desire for a ceasefire.
“There needs to be a credible political process towards a two-state solution, the state of Israel and a viable state for the Palestinians. That is why we continue to strive for this, despite all the setbacks we’ve had so far,” he added.
Nearly half of ‘humanitarian movements’ denied access to Gaza by Israel – UN
Nearly half of the coordinated “humanitarian movements” for Gaza were denied access by Israel, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.
“Of 285 humanitarian movements coordinated with Israeli authorities throughout Gaza, 49% (141) were denied access, 30% (85) were facilitated, 17% (49) faced impediments (often implemented partially or aborted), 4% (10) were cancelled due to logistical/security issues,” OCHA said in a statement.
i reported earlier that the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) – a branch of the Israeli defence ministry – has said that it carried out an airdrop of over 10,000 food and medical supply packages over Gaza.
Cogat’s aid delivery was coordinated alongside 13 other countries, including France, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, US and UK.
The US warned Israel earlier this week that it must improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or face potential cuts in US military aid.
Why US threats to cut off arms to Israel are virtually meaningless
IN WASHINGTON DC – With less than three weeks to go until election day in the United States, President Joe Biden has finally drawn a line in the sand for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It came in the form of Monday’s letter, jointly authored by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Over four tightly written pages, it offers a searing indictment of Israel’s conduct towards civilians, relief workers and detainees in Gaza, and lifts the lid on what American policymakers have, up until now, privately concluded about Netanyahu’s conduct.
Characterising the situation in Gaza as “increasingly dire”, Blinken and Austin warn the Israeli government that it has 30 days to adopt a series of “concrete measures” to improve humanitarian access to the territory, allowing crucial supplies of food, water, medicine to reach a population that the United States says is now at risk of “lethal contagion”.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures”, write Blinken and Austin, “may have implications for US policy”, a reference to the possibility that Biden could suspend further weapons shipments to Israel if Netanyahu fails to adhere to America’s requirements.
There are a lot of conditionals contained in the letter’s threat, coming at a time when Biden defines his support of Israel’s right to self-defence as “ironclad”.
Read more from Simon Marks here.
Five killed after Israel strike on Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, state media reports
Lebanon’s state media has said that the death toll increased to five after an apparent Israeli strike on a town in the eastern Bekaa Valley region. Among the dead was Haidar Shahla, the mayor of the nearby town of Sohmor.
The strike hit a residential building in the town of Baaloul, the official National News Agency reported.
Several others have been wounded and rescue teams are still at the scene, the agency said.
At least eight air strikes reported across Beirut suburbs
Israel has carried out at least eight air strikes against the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the BBC has reported.
The Israeli military has also hit targets in other areas of the country, especially the south and the Bekaa valley.
Two of the strikes were close to Beirut’s airport, which is still being used by scheduled civilian flights, the BBC said.
In some cases the Israeli military gave warnings to residents to get out, but not much time.
i reported earlier today that an air strike hit a southern suburb of Beirut about 45 minutes after an IDF spokesperson warned civilians to evacuate the area.
One dead after more than 180 projectiles launched toward Israel – IDF
The Israel Defence Forces said that Hezbollah has fired around 180 projectiles, including missiles and drones, into parts of Israel so far today.
Israel’s emergency services said that a man in his fifties was killed in Acre, northern Israel, following a rocket barrage.
The IDF said that its count of 180 had been made at 2:30pm local time (12.30pm UK time), but further sirens have sounded across the country since then, so that figure is expected to increase.
Al-Qaeda adviser calls on Hamas to release Israeli hostages in Gaza
An adviser to Al-Qaeda’s likely current leader has urged Hamas to release its Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to an American jihadist monitoring organisation, SITE.
The online declaration was made on Friday by Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri. Hamid is father-in-law to Saif al-Adel, the man widely believed to now head Al-Qaeda, according to SITE.
Hamid is reported to have said that the attention given to recovering the Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, was overshadowing the fate of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.
The complicated role of UN peacekeepers in Hezbollah strongholds
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has frequently found itself in difficult situations, including threats and attacks from both sides of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Unifil faced unprecedented attacks last week that intensified over the weekend, resulting in five peacekeepers getting injured in a series of Israeli strikes.
On Sunday, Unifil said two Israeli tanks destroyed the main gate at a peacekeepers’ facility overnight before troops “forcibly entered the position” in Ramiya in southern Lebanon. It came a day after Unifil said its headquarters in the border town of Naqoura was struck by explosions.
The Israeli military is demanding that the peacekeepers leave the area, but Israel has faced international condemnation for repeatedly firing on them since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon two weeks ago.
Israel’s hostility towards Unifil is not new, as it has long viewed these forces as being under Hezbollah’s control, accusing them of failing to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling weapons south of the Litani River, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was drawn up following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Unifil consists of about 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries, who have been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years. They are tasked with reducing tensions along the “blue line” dividing Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Read more from Marlene Khalife here.
Two dead after Israeli attack on hospital in Gaza, health ministry says
i reported earlier today that the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza had come under “heavy gunfire” from Israeli forces, according to the local health ministry.
The upper floors of the hospital, in the territory’s northern town of Beit Lahia, came under fire, the ministry said, adding that there were “more than 40 patients and wounded in addition to medical staff” inside the hospital.
The ministry has now announced that two patients died following the attack.
It said that the hospital is still without power, with crews unable to reach the generators as the Israeli forces “continue to besiege the hospital”.
The ministry added that Israel has been “imposing a severe siege on hospitals in northern Gaza since midnight last night”.
Apart from the Indonesian Hospital, the al-Awda Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital were also said to be “besieged at the same time”.
Israel says in an earlier statement that it was operating near the Indonesian Hospital, adding: “The troops operating in the area have been trained for the operational activity and briefed on the importance of mitigating harm to civilians and medical infrastructure.”
In pictures: Israel strikes Beirut suburbs and towns in southern Lebanon
Over 10,000 food and medical supply packages airdropped in Gaza
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) – a branch of the Israeli defence ministry – has said that it carried out an airdrop of over 10,000 food and medical supply packages over Gaza.
Cogat’s aid delivery was coordinated alongside 13 other countries, including France, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, US and UK.
The US warned Israel earlier this week that it must improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or face potential cuts in US military aid.
Cogat’s delivery of 30 trucks of aid to Gaza on Tuesday appeared to be its first provision of aid in two weeks, after Palestinians and relief agencies said no food or medical supplies have entered the area since 1 October.
Cogat has denied claims it is preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.