French national killed in southern Lebanon explosion
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that an 87-year-old French woman was killed in “a strong explosion” in southern Lebanon, which has come under intense Israeli bombing since Monday.
“The building in which our countrywoman lived collapsed after a strong explosion that occurred nearby,” the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
About 20,000 French citizens are registered with the Foreign Ministry as living in Lebanon, the Reuters news agency reports.
More than 700 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Monday, the country’s Health Ministry reports, with 92 killed over the past 24 hours alone.
One killed as Israel bombs tents at Al-Aqsa Hospital
The Wafa news agency is reporting that one Palestinian was killed and several others wounded when Israeli forces bombed tents housing displaced people in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The medical facility is located in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. Videos of the attack, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad Unit, showed a fire at the scene of the bombing as well as missile fragments.
Wafa also reported that two disabled children and their parents were killed in the earlier Israeli attack on the residence of the al-Batsh family in the northern Jabalia refugee camp.
And as we’ve been reporting, there have been multiple deaths and injuries after Israeli fighter jets bombed the Abu Shanab family home on Hamid Street in northern Gaza City. The exact toll is not clear yet.
Earlier today
Lebanon foreign minister calls for immediate ceasefire at UN General Assembly
Lebanon’s foreign minister has called for an immediate ceasefire “on all fronts”, warning that continued fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border will “transform into a black hole that will engulf international and regional peace and security”.
Abdallah Bou Habib, speaking before the UN General Assembly on Thursday, blasted Israel’s “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages” and said that the root cause of the current crisis is the Israeli occupation.
“The crisis in Lebanon threatens the entire Middle East,” Bou Habib said. “We wish today to reiterate our call for a ceasefire on all fronts.”
He said Lebanon supports an international call led by the US and France for a 21-day ceasefire – which Israel rejects – before the situation spins out of control.
