Israel-Lebanon latest: 19 dead and thousands trapped as Israeli forces strike Jabalia refugee camps
An Israeli tank fired on UN headquarters in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the organisation said
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At least 19 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Jabalia city and refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run civil defence agency told the AFP news agency.
A spokesperson said that a strike occurred before 9:40pm local time and had left “12 dead, including women and children”, adding that 14 people were still missing and likely trapped under the rubble
In southern Lebanon, children are among eight people killed in villages as Israel intensifies airstrikes in its fight against militant groupHezbollah.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, a strike on Baysarieh, a village in Sidon province, killed three people, including a 2-year-old and a 16-year-old, while another strike in the Bekaa Valley killed five more people.
It comes as Israeli forces faced international condemnation for an attack on UN peacekeepers operating in the region.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon on Thursday, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers.
The force said its headquarters was affected by further explosions on Friday which injured two more peacekeepers.
“We were appalled to hear those reports and it is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected,” a No 10 spokesperson said.
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Over 100 medics and emergency workers killed in Lebanon conflict, UN rights office says
The United Nations human rights office has said that over 100 medics and emergency workers had been killed in Lebanon since a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began a year ago.
The conflict erupted when the Iran-backed group opened fire in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel bombing parts of Beirut.
“In all, over 100 medical and emergency workers have been killed across Lebanon since October last year,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing, citing figures she said were compiled by the United Nations humanitarian office.
“We’ve had several reports also of air strikes targeting other medical centres and of paramedics as well as firefighters being killed,” she said.
World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that since 17 Septemeber there had been 18 attacks on health facilities in Lebanon, killing 72 health workers.
Israel says it targets military capabilities in Lebanon and Gaza and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah, like Hamas, of hiding among civilians, which they deny.
Lebanon's caretaker PM denounces attack on UN peacekeepers as a crime
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has denounced what he said was an attack on the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Friday as a crime.
He also said he had discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Israeli forces fired at an observation post belonging to UNIFIL at its main base at Naqoura in southern Lebanon on Friday, wounding two people, a UN source said. Israeli forces also breached the perimeter of another UNIFIL position they had fired at on Thursday, the source said.
Iranian president says Israel, supported by West, is 'killing innocent people'
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that Israel should “stop killing innocent people”, and that its actions in the Middle East were backed by the United States and the European Union.
Pezeshkian was speaking to a Russian state TV reporter on the sidelines of an international meeting in Turkmenistan.
An Israeli strike late on Thursday in the heart of Beirut killed 22 people and injured more than 100, Lebanese authorities said.
UN's Guterres says all-out war in Lebanon must be avoided
An escalation of conflicts in the Middle East is a serious threat to global security and everything must be done to avoid all-out war in Lebanon, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.
Guterres, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos, also condemned Israeli attacks that wounded UN personnel. He said peacekeepers must be protected.
Blinken says concern in Asia about prospect of Middle East conflicts spreading
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said there are deep concerns in Asia about the plight of people in Gaza and conflict in the Middle East and stressed Washington is doing everything in its power to prevent those from spreading.
Speaking in Laos after the East Asia Summit, Blinken said concerns about the Middle East came up in conversations with other leaders, during which he reiterated Washington was dedicated to diplomacy to control the situation in the face of what he called an Iranian-led axis of resistance.
“The intense focus of the United States, which has been the case going back a year, and doing just that, (is) preventing these conflicts from spreading. And we’re working on that every day,” Blinken told a press conference.
“We’re working very hard through deterrence and through diplomacy to prevent that from happening. There’s also obviously deep concern that we share about the plight of children, women, and men in Gaza, who for now a year have been caught in a terrible crossfire of Hamas’ instigation.”
Blinken also said the United States was directly engaged with Israel to stress how imperative it was that the humanitarian needs of people in Gaza are met.
Israel had the right to defend itself from attacks from Hezbollah, he added, and like the United States, it had a clear and legitimate interest in creating an environment where tens of thousands of displaced people in southern Lebanon can return to their homes.
“It’s also vitally important that in doing that, they focus on making sure that civilians are protected and, again, are not being caught in a terrible crossfire,” he said.
Israel's airstrike warnings terrify and confuse Lebanese civilians
Israel's airstrike warnings terrify and confuse Lebanese civilians
As the war between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, Lebanese civilians are increasingly paying the price – and this dangerous reality often becomes clear in the middle of the night: That’s when the Israeli military typically warns people to evacuate buildings or neighborhoods to avoid airstrikes
Apartments in ruins after Israeli strikes on Beirut kill at least 22
Apartments in ruins after Israeli strikes on Beirut kill at least 22
An apartment block’s windows were blown out as it was left in ruins following Israel’s airstrikes on central Beirut on Thursday. At least 22 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the strike, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The first strike appeared to target an eight-storey apartment block in Ras al-Nabaa, with witnesses reporting continued explosions within the building as a large emergency response rushed to the scene. The second strike, in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, is reported to have collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames.
Israel claims to have killed Hezbollah commander
Israel claims to have killed another Hezbollah commander after reports of fighting this morning in southern Lebanon.
The military wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday morning that they had killed Araeb el Shoga, a commander in the Hezbollah Radwan Forces’ anti-tank missile unit.
They said he was killed in Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon, adding that he was responsible for “numerous anti-tank missile attacks in northern Israel”.
Earlier this morning, the Israeli military said they had detected one anti-tank missile fired from southern Lebanon across the border into Kibbutz Yaraon, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The publication said a 27-year-old man from Thailand was killed while two more people were injured.
US ‘still believes' Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon
The US still believes that Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon despite Tehran’s recent strategic setbacks, two US officials told Reuters.
The comments from a senior Joe Biden administration official and a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) added to public remarks earlier this week by CIA Director William Burns, who said the United States had not seen any evidence Iran’s leader had reversed his 2003 decision to suspend the weaponization program.
“We assess that the Supreme Leader has not made a decision to resume the nuclear weapons program that Iran suspended in 2003,” said the ODNI spokesperson, referring to Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
US officials have long acknowledged that an attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program might only delay the country’s efforts to develop a nuclear bomb and could even strengthen Tehran’s resolve to do so.
“We’re all watching this space very carefully,” the Biden administration official said.
In pics: Destruction and misery in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon
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