Hezbollah says it targeted two Israeli bases

Hezbollah has issued a statement saying it targeted two Israeli bases in retaliation for Israel’s attacks on Lebanon’s south and east.

The group launched “dozens of rockets” at two Israeli bases “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the south and the Bekaa” in Lebanon’s east, after targeting three other sites earlier in the day as part of their retaliation.

Video shows aftermath of Israeli air raid on southern Lebanon

Footage shared on social media shows debris and rubble strewn across the street in the town of al-Duwayr, located in Nabatieh, as residents can be heard screaming in panic.

The video, verified by Al Jazeera, also shows an ambulance damaged in the attack.

🤳 [#Vidéo] Frappe israélienne sur la banlieue sud de Beyrouth. pic.twitter.com/q08lKP9My9

— L'Orient-Le Jour (@LOrientLeJour) September 23, 2024

Israel conducting wave of attacks in east Lebanon: State media

Israeli forces have targeted a building at the southern entrance to the city of Baalbek, the National News Agency is reporting. The town of Yunin was also struck by the Israeli army, NNA added.

Israeli army says barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon, some intercepted

The Israeli army says approximately 15 rockets were launched from Lebanon in three separate barrages over the past hour, targeting areas in Israel’s north. The military said some of them were intercepted by air defences, while the rest fell in open areas, adding “there were no casualties”.

Earlier today, Hezbollah said it launched “dozens of rockets” at two Israeli bases.

Lebanese University announces killing of two sisters in Israeli attack

The institute has issued a statement announcing the death of Rasha Ahmed Gharib, who was killed in an Israeli attack on southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency is reporting.

Gharib was a fourth-year dentistry student at the Lebanese University, the NNA said. In a separate statement, the university said Rasha’s sister Maya was also killed in the same attack.

Israel has been launching massive attacks on Lebanese territory all day, carrying out some 800 bombings by its own count.

Lebanon is now ‘number one arena of this war’

Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, says the focus of Israel’s war has shifted away from Gaza as he describes the situation in Lebanon as an “all-out war”.

“It’s now clear that the number one arena of this war is Lebanon and is not Gaza anymore,” Nader told Al Jazeera.

Civilians have also suddenly come “in the line of fire”, he said.

“This is the new turning point that we are reaching. … All the military engagement was kind of restricted to military targets and the military organisation of Hezbollah,” Nader said. “But today what we are witnessing is a mass migration of civilians, [and] a huge death toll among the civilians.”

Scenes currently unfolding are similar to those witnessed in 2006, he said, when Hezbollah and Israel last went to war. At the time, civilians “paid a heavy price”, and now, the chances of a “compromise” are slim, he said.

Lebanon attacks meant to make people ‘forget about Gaza failures’

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says one of the top goals of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in its attacks on Lebanon is to make people “forget about Israel’s failures in Gaza”.

“Although it destroyed most of Gaza and killed thousands of children, destroyed families, destroyed schools and hospitals, it is yet to be able to bring back its captives from Gaza nor destroy Hamas – two of its main objectives,” he said.

Bishara also noted that the Israeli government has “failed to fulfill its promise about allowing its northern residents to go back to their homes because of the clashes in the northern front”.

In addition, he said, the attacks on Lebanon have “something to do with October 7” and the failures of Netanyahu’s government to prevent the Hamas-led attacks.

“To make people forget about that,” Bishara said, “I think he’s launching another war.”

Lufthansa Group cancels flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran, citing security situation

The German airline group says in a statement that effective immediately, all connections to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran are cancelled until October 14. Lufthansa Group includes Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss International Air Lines.

Flights to Beirut remain suspended until October 26, the group said, adding that it continues to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely and will further assess the situation in the coming days.

The statement was issued as Israel continues to drastically step up its attacks on Lebanon, carrying out about 800 bombings today alone by its army’s account.

US says it is sending more troops to the region

The Pentagon says the US is sending additional troops to the Middle East in response to developments in Lebanon that have raised the risk of a greater regional war. Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder did not specify how many additional forces are being deployed or what they would be tasked to do.

The US currently has about 40,000 soldiers in the region.

“In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region. But for operational security reasons, I’m not going to comment on or provide specifics,” Ryder said.

Israelis run for cover as air raid sirens sound in Haifa

Residents of the northern Israeli city of Haifa have run for shelter as sirens have rung out this evening, an AFP journalist reports. “Sirens sounded in the city of Haifa and surrounding areas, northern Israel,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

About 180 projectiles and one drone crossed into Israeli airspace over the course of the day in various parts of the country’s north, the army said. The majority of the projectiles were either intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome antimissile system or fell in open areas, it added.

I was wondering if they'd go East or south but that's a big ass chunk of map. Not happening in a month of Sundays unless they have US troops. I wonder how many oil wells are in that swath of land. Hmm. I wonder. 

Israeli jets drop flares over areas north of Tripoli

Israeli fighter jets have dropped a large number of flares over areas north of the city of Tripoli, according to footage posted by Lebanese media outlets.

The footage, verified by Al Jazeera, shows flares in the sky above the largest city in North Lebanon.

This same act was committed by the Israeli army over the skies of Beirut last week before Israel began its bombing campaign on Lebanon.

الطيران الحربي الاسرائيلي يلقي بالونات حرارية بشكل كبير فوق #طرابلس pic.twitter.com/UEYjZiNPcB

— Voice of Lebanon 100.3 100.5 (@sawtlebnan) September 23, 2024

Israeli warplanes strike Hazerta, Lebanon

Video from the ground, which has been verified by our fact-checking unit, shows a large Israeli air attack on the town of Hazerta, in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Hazerta is only a few kilometres away from the major city of Zahle. We do not have information about casualties that resulted from this attack at the moment, but will update you as we know more.

Israel not facing effective pressure, Greece says

Israel is not facing sufficient pressure to end the war in Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon is a minefield that the international community may not be able to deal with, Greece’s foreign minister has said.

Greece was elected as a member of the UN Security Council for 2025-2026 earlier this year, and Athens believes the country’s historical ties with the Arab world and Israel give it credibility to act as a peace broker.

“It seems that there is no effective pressure upon Israel. We’re strategic partners of Israel, and we’re trying to be as open and sincere with them,” George Gerapetritis told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Gerapetritis said it was crucial that Arabs and Europeans pursue joint rather than disparate initiatives that could weigh on Israel but that the escalation at the Israel-Lebanon border of the last few days showed a collective international failure.

“We have not prevented the spillover, and the more dispersed the war becomes, the more the situation becomes more complicated to be solved,” he said. “Lebanon could easily be a zone of tremendous hostility, and this is something that we cannot deal with. It’s a clear minefield.”

Death toll in Israeli attacks on Lebanon rises: Health ministry

The death toll in across Lebanon today has risen to 492, the Lebanese Health Ministry has said.

At least 1,645 people were wounded in the Israeli air raids that hit Beirut and southern Lebanon.

US National Press Club calls for West Bank Al Jazeera office to be reopened

The National Press Club (NPC) in the US says the raiding and closing of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank “is an aggressive, military action that should be reversed immediately”.

“The independent reporting provided by Al Jazeera is one of the few dependable sources of information about what is happening in the region,” Emily Wilkins, president of the NPC, said in a statement. “The bureau must be allowed to reopen, the confiscated equipment returned, and journalists allowed to continue their work.”

Wilkins also criticised how Israel closed down Al Jazeera’s office, including the “pulling down and destroying” of a banner of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces while reporting in May 2022 in the West Bank.

“Her killing has never been properly investigated and this assault on her memory is an aggressive and needless act. Shireen was an American citizen and the US must continue to press for justice in her case.”

US National Security Council gives ‘limited statements’ on closing of Al Jazeera office

What we’ve got from the latest statement from the National Security Council is that the actions are inconsistent with US support for press freedom. This is a concern obviously to the United States, and again, it is gathering more information.

Though the National Security Council has sent very limited statements, what we’ve also heard is outrage here in the United States from various journalists, including the National Press Club, which sent out a very strong statement over the weekend.

What it said is that Al Jazeera is considered to be one of the few dependable sources in the region and it must be allowed to reopen.

It goes on to condemn the actions of the Israeli soldiers, as have been seen widely circulated in the video that’s been disseminated across social media – for example, the tearing-down of the banner honouring our own journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by an Israeli bullet back in May of 2022.

The press club said: “Her killing has never been properly investigated and this assault on her memory is an aggressive and needless act. “Shireen was an American citizen and the US must continue to press for justice in her case” – something I can tell you really isn’t taking place at this time.

US concerned by Israel shuttering Al Jazeera office, State Department says

The US says it is concerned by the Israeli army’s raid and shutdown of Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

“This action is inconsistent with US support for freedom of the press in the West Bank and all over the world,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding that the US is still gathering information about the Israeli operation on Sunday.

How many crimes are they still gathering information about by now? It's just a euphemism for "we're not going to do anything about it"

Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza: Experts

Al Jazeera journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis when Israel struck from the air on December 15.

Dahdouh took shrapnel to his upper arm but was able to apply pressure to the wound and escape to a nearby hospital for help.

But Abudaqa was unable to move, and despite repeated calls, medical aid wasn’t able to reach him. Abudaqa is one of at least 130 journalists and media workers, based on Reporters Without Border’s count, killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7.

_{Colleagues and family members pray over the body of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa}

Dujarric says ‘extremely concerned’ about closing of Al Jazeera’s bureau

The UN secretary-general’s spokesman says Israel’s raid and closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank is a “reflection” of a trend of hampering journalists both regionally and globally.

“Look, we’re extremely concerned about what we’ve seen,” he said during a daily briefing. “We are extremely supportive of press freedom here, and I think particularly in conflict zones, we need the eyes and ears of media, of international media, of national media to get a sense of what’s going on.”

“If there’s no coverage, the suffering of people often goes forgotten.”

Top UN officials on Gaza: ‘These atrocities must end’

Top UN officials demand “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip nearly one year into Israel’s war on Gaza.

“These atrocities must end,” the heads of UN agencies said in a statement as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly.

Allowing war in occupied Palestinian territory to continue will have ‘global consequences’: UN agencies

“We urgently call for a sustained, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. This is the only way to end the suffering of civilians and save lives,” said the statement signed by the heads of 16 agencies. “All hostages and all those arbitrarily detained must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

The statement also called on Israel to grant aid workers access to Gaza.

“Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need. We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence,” it said, calling again on world leaders to “wield their influence” to ensure international law is followed.

“The protection of civilians is a bedrock principle for the global community and in all countries’ interest,” the statement said. “Allowing the abhorrent, downward spiral caused by this war in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to continue will have unimaginable, global consequences.”

Signatories to UN statement call for end of Gaza ‘atrocities’

UN says it ‘must have unimpeded access for our humanitarian goods’

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, says 45 percent of all humanitarian movements in Gaza this month were “denied or impeded” by Israeli authorities.

“Movements had [been] particularly restricted between the south and the north as it requires crossing through Israeli checkpoints,” he said during a daily briefing. “There, 87 percent of movements have been denied or impeded. Only 5 percent have been facilitated, and the rest were cancelled.”

“Once again, we want to underscore that humanitarian operations in Gaza must be fully facilitated and we must have unimpeded access for our humanitarian goods,” he added.

Details emerge of Palestinian girl’s suspension from Israeli school for raising plight of Gaza’s children

The incident went viral in the past week after videos emerged of Israeli Jewish students celebrating the 13-year-old girl’s suspension, which the school said was to protect the student.

According to Israeli media reports, the girl had participated in a class discussion on the events of October 7, and had raised the plight of children in Gaza.

“There are hungry children in Gaza, there are children without a home,” she is reported to have said at the school in Beersheba, before being attacked by other students. The school, however, decided to suspend the Palestinian girl, despite the attacks and anti-Palestinian chanting from other students.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the girl’s father said her teacher did not attempt to calm the situation.

“It is ridiculous that during a discussion initiated by the school, in which children were asked to express their opinions, a child gets attacked for saying something,” a lawyer, Shahada Ibn Bari, was quoted as saying by Channel 12. The outlet reported that Palestinian students were afraid to attend school because of the incident.

Israeli raid in West Bank injures Palestinians: Report

The Palestinian state news agency, Wafa, reports that Israeli forces have fired live bullets and tear gas during a raid on ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

The injuries were a result of the tear gas fired, according to Wafa.

Shooting back from Palestine: The power of the image

The lens is now in Palestinians’ hands, capturing their reality at the heart of occupation and war. Their powerful images are exposing the horrors of conflict and leading people to turn to new media sources for information and redefine narratives.

Al Jazeera’s The Take hears how a new film distribution company run by Palestinians is empowering a new generation.

Dude. This is not good for your mental health. 😕