Senators formally introduce bill to block US weapons sales to Israel

Bernie Sanders said that he, along with fellow Democratic senators Peter Welch and Jeff Merkley, had formally introduced legislation seeking to block the sale of more than $20bn in US arms sales to Israel.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged all-out war against the Palestinian people, killing more than 41,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 95,000 – 60 percent of whom are women, children or elderly people,” Sanders said in a Wednesday news release.

The Senate will vote on the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval when it reconvenes in November. Sanders said Israel’s use of US weaponry in Gaza has violated stipulations outlined in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act.

“There is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of US and international law,” he said. “Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal.”

Israel carries out deadly strikes in Khan Younis, Jabalia

At least one person has been killed after Israeli fighter jets bombed the Kallab family home in the centre of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports. Several more wounded people were transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex.

Wafa also reports the Israeli military has bombed a house in the customs police area east of Khan Younis, resulting in deaths and injuries, without specifying how many.

In the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Israeli military has bombed a home on al-Yafawiya street, killing at least one person and injuring nine more, Wafa reports. Several people were also injured when Israeli forces bombed the al-Sahhar family home in Jabalia town.

France says ‘important progress’ made on Lebanon ceasefire deal

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said efforts will continue in the coming hours to clinch a deal on a proposed 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“We have made important progress in the last few hours, and we will continue our efforts in the coming hours,” Barrot told reporters outside a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

“We are counting on both parties to accept it without delay, in order to protect civilian populations and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin,” he added.

Earlier, we reported that Barrot told the UNSC that France is working with the US on the ceasefire deal, adding that he would go to Lebanon by the end of the week to work on it.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 72 people in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

Israel’s attack on Lebanon ‘most dangerous’ moment in region for 50 years: Analyst

Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, said “the stakes are very high” for the region amid Israel’s attack on Lebanon, which is the latest escalation of tensions that have existed for decades.

“This tension has been going on for 30, 40, 50 years because the root cause of it has never been resolved – the conflict between Palestine and Israel,” Khouri told Al Jazeera.

“This moment is the most dangerous one that I’ve experienced in my 50 years of covering the area as a journalist and analyst. That’s because of the chances of other big powers getting involved,” Khouri said.

“The United States is already involved. It is the major supplier of the weapons for Israel and the major protector of Israel at the UN and at international fora. The US has also sent huge amounts of military forces to the area to help Israel if it needs it,” he said.

“The danger now is the region as a whole being involved in fighting,” he added.

“So this is the big danger that a break out of a big war would not only cause immense suffering – and not resolve very much – but would also threaten the fundamental integrity of many of these countries.”

Joint call issued for ‘temporary ceasefire’ across Lebanon-Israel border

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have issued a joint call with the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and several European Union countries for a 21-day “temporary ceasefire” in Lebanon.

In the joint statement, which was released on Thursday and also signed by the European Union, France, Germany, and Italy, the signatories say “the situation between Lebanon and Israel since October 8th, 2023 is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”

“It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety,” they said.

“Thus we call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza,” they add.

“We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately… We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether.”


It all still hinges on Gaza. 21 days to get a ceasefire done there.

Bisan Owda and AJ+ win Emmy for ‘It’s Bisan From Gaza – and I’m Still Alive’

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and Al Jazeera’s AJ+ have won an Emmy for their report “It’s Bisan From Gaza – and I’m Still Alive”.

The short film documented the initial days of Israeli bombardment and its devastating impact on ordinary people in the Gaza Strip.

The #NewsEmmys Award for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form goes to It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive | Aj+ Reports (@ajplus). pic.twitter.com/lKTDR9sfys

— News & Documentary Emmys (@newsemmys) September 26, 2024

Bisan from Gaza: My life during the Israel - Hamas war

Three killed in Israeli attack on Khan Younis

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that three people have been killed and others wounded in an Israeli bombing of a house east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier we reported that at least one person was killed in an Israeli attack on the centre of Khan Younis and that the number of people killed in an attack east of Khan Younis was not yet known.

Clear surge in air strikes in central areas

Lots of Palestinian families here are completely trapped in the middle of this chaos. The Israeli army and jets are launching attacks far and wide, in the middle of the night and early in the morning.

Another set of houses have been hit. The grim reality is that these houses were not warned. We can see a clear surge in air strikes in central areas, especially the makeshift camps in Deir el-Balah.

People here are also closely following developments on the Lebanon front. But they believe Israel is determined to keep up the fighting and move to a new front.

The war in #Gaza will set children and young people's education back by up to 5 years.

A new study by @CamEdFac @LebaneseStudies @REAL_Centre in partnership with @UNRWA highlights that the war risks creating a lost generation of Palestinian youth.https://t.co/1TsCDjrWYc pic.twitter.com/RNivZ6ZlKf

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 26, 2024

Gaza Health Ministry forms committee to deal with 88 unidentifiable bodies

The Gaza Ministry of Health says it has formed a committee that includes “all relevant parties” to deal with a container carrying 88 unidentifiable bodies returned by Israel ahead of their burial.

The ministry said it holds Israel “fully responsible for the inhumane and immoral way it deals with the bodies” and called on the international community to pressure Israel to comply with international protocols.

Gaza death toll rises

The death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza since last October has gone up to 41,534. Another 96,092 people have been wounded in these attacks, the Health Ministry has said.

Israeli strikes hit Jabalia school, causing casualties

Israeli forces have carried out an air strike on a school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and a number of casualties have been reported. Local media named the targeted school as Hafsa al-Faluja School, where displaced people are sheltering.

Seven killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia school in Gaza

At least seven people have been killed and many wounded in the Israeli attack on Hafsa al-Faluja School in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, report the Wafa news agency and our colleagues on the ground.

Footage of the attack’s aftermath, verified by Al Jazeera, shows frantic scenes in the school’s vicinity, with rescuers carrying dead bodies and maimed victims on stretchers away from the rubble.

Death toll in Israeli attack on Jabalia school climbs to 15

At least 15 people have now been confirmed killed from Israel’s attack on Jabalia’s Hafsa al-Faluja School, according to Gaza’s civil defence. The victims include women and children, it said.

Dozens more have been wounded, some severely, as the search continues for those missing under the rubble.

Israel’s military confirms attack on Jabalia school

Israel’s military claims the Hafsa al-Faluja School in Gaza’s Jabalia that it targeted was being used as a Hamas “command and control centre”.

Without sharing any evidence, the military said it targeted Hamas members who had previously planned attacks against Israel.

As we’ve been reporting, the attack has killed at least 15 people and injured others in the school, which serves as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families.

Israel has repeatedly attacked schools-turned-shelters during its war on Gaza, often giving no evidence for its claims Hamas fighters are embedded in the facilities. One of its latest such attacks targeted a Gaza City school on September 21, killing 22 people, including 13 children, six women and a three-month-old baby, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

Israeli military carries out arrests in Nablus, Jenin

The Israeli military has stormed the Ein refugee camp, west of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, and fired live bullets, sound bombs and tear gas, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces arrested one man, who was injured during confrontations, along with three other Palestinians, including a woman.

The Israeli military has also arrested a Palestinian man during its storming of the town of al-Yamoun, west of Jenin.

One shot, 10 arrested during Israeli raids on Hebron

Israeli forces have arrested 10 people, including two brothers, in raids across Hebron governorate in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

The raids took place in Dura, Beit Kahil, Idhna and Tarqumiyah, as well as Hebron city.

During a raid in Dura and the nearby village of at-Tabaqa, Israeli forces stormed dozens of homes, blowing the doors off some, and wounded one man by shooting him in the stomach.

Israeli raid on Jenin causes ‘widespread destruction’

Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces have withdrawn from Jenin in the occupied West Bank after a raid that lasted nearly 15 hours and caused “widespread destruction to the infrastructure and citizens’ properties”.

The report quoted the director of public relations in the Jenin Municipality, Bashir Matahin, as saying that Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure that had been repaired after the last deadly raid on Jenin that had lasted 10 days.

Matahin said the bulldozers destroyed “several structures and sewage networks, causing a power outage” in some areas.

The main water line leading to Jenin Government Hospital was also destroyed as well as streets in the Khalid bin al-Walid Mosque Street area and “walls of the houses and the cemetery of the eastern neighbourhood”.

Dozens were homes were raided, the belongings destroyed or damaged while the home of the young man Qais al-Saadi was blown up.

lsrasli invasion in Jenin City, northern West Bank.

Shortly after the mass invasion taking place three weeks ago, the lsraeli occupation forces raided Jenin City yesterday at 12:00 PM.

During the raid, they terrorized locals and imposed a total curfew. They also blew up and… pic.twitter.com/gudzcCjETz

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) September 26, 2024

Protests around the world in solidarity with Lebanon and Palestine


_{People gathered in solidarity with Lebanese and Palestinian people amid Israeli attacks in front of the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday}

_{Protesters marched to the Israeli consulate in Boston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday to protest Israeli aggression in Palestine and Lebanon}

_{Protesters with Palestinian and Lebanese flags and banners gather at Habib Bourguiba Street to protest the ongoing attacks on Gaza and Lebanon in Tunis, Tunisia, on Wednesday}

_{A person holds a sign in Madrid, Spain, saying ‘Hands off Lebanon. Stop Israeli aggression’, on Wednesday}

Australian government tells citizens to leave Lebanon

Australia’s Foreign Ministry has told 15,000 of its citizens living in Lebanon to leave the country or risk being stranded if the situation worsens.

Israeli air strikes in Lebanon killed at least 72 people on Wednesday, while Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi said a ground assault against Hezbollah remains a possibility.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that citizens should leave now as there’s a risk Beirut airport could close.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had made contingency evacuation plans, including by sea, but didn’t offer details. “Given the large numbers we are talking about, this situation will be difficult to resolve,” he told ABC.

Israel intensifies bombardment of Lebanon


_{Smoke billows over Khiam, as seen from Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on September 25}

<sub>Smoke rises from Israeli air strikes in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rouman on Wednesday


Israeli bombing north of Beirut, in the village of Ras Osta, Byblos district, on Wednesday


Smoke rises over the city of Tyre in Lebanon following an Israeli bombing on Wednesday</sub>

Four killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon

Three people have been killed in an Israeli air raid on Aita al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry said. One Syrian national was killed in the southern town of Qana and another wounded, the ministry said in a separate statement.

Hezbollah, Israel trade fire as cross-border attacks intensify

There have been Israeli strikes in the past hour on towns not far from where I am. In addition, we also saw Hezbollah rockets going out into Israel.

We also know of three towns attacked in Bekaa, eastern Lebanon, where there are so far 12 people killed and 73 wounded. Overnight, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh, 20 people were killed and at least 88 wounded.

This is the most intense exchange of fire we have seen since October and it’s still escalating. There has not been an official reaction from either side on the ceasefire proposal. Hezbollah’s position has been clear from the start. It will not agree to a ceasefire as long as there is a war in Gaza.

Israeli military says it hit 75 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight

The Israeli Air Force says it hit 75 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, including munitions warehouses, launchers, military infrastructure, as well as fighters.

_{The rubble of destroyed buildings lies at the site of Israeli strikes in Saksakiyeh, southern Lebanon}

Israel’s strike in Lebanon’s Younine overnight killed 23 Syrians

At least 23 Syrian nationals, mostly women and children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a three-storey building in the Lebanese town of Younine late on Wednesday.

Mayor Ali Qusas told Reuters news agency that eight people were also wounded in the attack.

Death toll revised in Israeli attack on Syrian workers

Earlier we reported an Israeli air strike hit a building housing Syrian workers and their families near the ancient city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.

The state news agency initially reported that 23 people were killed. The Lebanese Health Ministry later announced 19 Syrians and one Lebanese died – one of the deadliest single strikes in Israel’s intensified air campaign.

Local official Hussein Salloum said most of the dead were women and children.

Lebanon, with a population of about six million, hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered – the world’s highest refugee population per capita.

Israel, Lebanon expected to make imminent decision on ceasefire call

Lebanon and Israel are expected to decide “within hours” whether to back a joint call for a ceasefire in Lebanon, AFP news agency reports quoting an anonymous US official.

Earlier, we reported that Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia issued the call with the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and several EU countries for a 21-day “temporary ceasefire” in Lebanon.

The joint call, which was issued following an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, is “an important breakthrough” to avoid a wider conflict, a second US official told AFP.

What is the ‘Blue Line’ between Israel and Lebanon?

A new proposal calling for a 21-day “temporary ceasefire” between Israel and Hezbollah refers to fighting along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

But what is the Blue Line and why does it matter?

Macron warns Israel against expanding war

The second day of the UN General Assembly was dominated by concerns over the escalating war on Gaza and the potential for the conflict to spread across the Middle East.

France’s President Macron criticised Israel’s prolonged military campaign in Gaza, warning against expanding operations into Lebanon. He stressed the importance of diplomacy to protect civilians and prevent a regional escalation, also calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy sought continued support against Russia’s invasion, but discussions remained largely focused on the growing threat of conflict in the Middle East.