Powerful UN Security Council – like rest of world – ‘waiting for what Israel will do next’

At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the secretary-general said that de-escalation was imperative.

In a meeting that lasted nearly three hours, Iran and Israel both defended their actions. Lebanon called for the implementation of the 2006 UN Security Council resolution that demanded a demilitarised buffer zone in the country’s south.

Also, Israel’s foreign minister declared Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata, barring him from visiting Israel and accusing the secretary-general of being a supporter of Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.

The secretary-general did not publicly respond to the ban but his spokesperson did.

As the meeting ended, Security Council members found themselves in the same position as much of the rest of the world – waiting for what Israel will do next.

Sarcasm detected, UNSC has become quite powerless.

UN plans to start second round of Gaza polio vaccinations in mid-October

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN is making preparations to start a second round of polio vaccinations in Gaza later this month for some 640,000 children.

The first round of the polio vaccination campaign, which began on September 1, reached its target of immunising 90 percent of children under 10 years of age in the war-battered territory. The oral vaccines given in Gaza require a second dose to be administered within four weeks of the first.

Dujarric said on Wednesday that vitamin supplements will also be distributed during the second round of the vaccination campaign.

The World Health Organization announced in August that a Palestinian baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 poliovirus – the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

UN says Israel’s travel ban on secretary-general latest ‘attack’ on its staff

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Israel’s travel ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is a “political statement” and the latest attack on the world body by the Israeli government.

Dujarric said Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s designation of Guterres as “persona non grata” in Israel is “one more attack on the United Nations’ staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel”.

Katz earlier accused the secretary-general of being biased against Israel and claimed that Guterres had never condemned Hamas for the October 7 attacks on southern Israel.

Dujarric rejected that claim, noting that Guterres has repeatedly condemned the Hamas attacks, while also stressing that the UN still works with Israel “at the operational level and other levels”.

Israeli military tells Lebanese who fled villages not to return ‘until further notice’

Israel’s military has warned Lebanese people who were ordered to evacuate dozens of villagers in southern Lebanon to “not return home until further notice”.

In a post on social media, the Arabic language spokesman of the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, said Israel’s “raids are continuing” in the south of the country and “for your safety and the safety of your families”, to stay away from villages ordered cleared of their populations.

Ardraee said in an earlier post that people were “prohibited” from evacuating to the south of the country. “Be careful. You are prohibited from heading south. Any movement south could put you in danger,” he said.

Yesterday, Ardraee warned that “anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, installations, and combat equipment is putting his life at risk” and any house used by Hezbollah for “military needs” can expect to be targeted.

Israel’s ground offensive paused for now; bombing stepped up

Israel is keeping up its air superiority campaign. Remember Hezbollah doesn’t have any anti-aircraft guns. Nearby in Nabatieh town, which has been hard hit in recent days, we’re hearing air raids and artillery, and Hezbollah rockets in return.

Hezbollah is saying about 200 rockets have been fired into Israeli territory. This is back to the way the fighting was before the Israelis announced their ground incursion.

Israel has lost soldiers and been pushed back when it has come via the ground, so it’s back to this bombing campaign that it has the upper hand in. The death toll is rising in Lebanon with 46 killed and 85 wounded in the past day.

‘This was always going to be very different from Gaza'

The death of eight Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon comes amid a three-day public holiday in Israel. The Israeli media are playing it straight, saying this is a difficult operation and they were ambushed in a village where they wanted to dismantle Hezbollah assets.

Reports say the incursion also killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters.

It’s too early for public opinion to swing against this ground operation, but this was always going to be very different from Gaza. Hezbollah forces don’t instantly rush to attack, they take their time and are tactical.

The media are also questioning whether this is going to be a ground “incursion” or a ground “invasion”, saying the next days and weeks will make that clearer.

Israeli strikes killed 45 people in Lebanon on Wednesday

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health says 46 people were killed and 85 wounded as a result of Israeli raids over the past day. The attacks took place in towns and villages in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Mount Lebanon, the ministry said in a statement.

More than 1,900 people have been killed and about 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks.

Under bombs in Lebanon, Americans feel abandoned

As the Israeli bombing of Lebanon escalates, Karam, an American citizen stranded in Lebanon, says she feels abandoned.

On Monday, Karam called the US embassy in Beirut for help in fleeing the violence.

But the embassy said she needed to find a way out of the country by herself. She compared that response with how the US State Department swiftly chartered special flights and a ship to evacuate American citizens in Israel after Hamas’s October 7 attack last year.

“Americans of Lebanese descent have been treated as lesser US citizens than Israeli US citizens. It is as if we don’t exist,” she told Al Jazeera.


US Muslim group highlights Americans killed in Israeli attacks

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights group, has criticised the US government for failing to address Israel’s killing of Americans in Gaza and now Lebanon.

The condemnation came after American citizen Kamel Jawad was reportedly killed in a recent Israeli air raid on Lebanon.

“Only politics and racism could explain the Biden administration’s disgusting pattern of indifference to Americans of colour killed by the Israeli government – from journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to Aysenur Ezgi Eygi to Kamel Jawad,” CAIR said in a statement.

“Every member of the Biden administration’s foreign policy team should be ashamed of themselves for enabling Israel’s war crimes against American citizens and countless other civilians. We do not expect this feckless and complicit administration to do anything to hold Kemal’s killers accountable, and we are done asking them to treat American Muslims killed overseas like human beings worthy of US protection.”

Israeli bombing in central Beirut threatens to ‘drag’ Lebanon into war

This wasn’t an air raid in the southern suburbs of Beirut. It was in Bashoura, only a kilometre from the prime minister’s office. It’s a middle-class neighbourhood that was hit very hard. We’re hearing that at least six people were killed.

This is the second attack outside the southern suburbs. The attack is worrying as there are no safe places now. This is what people keep telling me.

Israel is keeping up these attacks on Beirut. It calls it going after Hezbollah. But it is now hitting close to the prime minister’s office and that’s a very worrying thought for Lebanon, as the war is no longer confined to Israel-Hezbollah.

People are extremely worried that if Israel keeps hitting and getting closer to the Lebanese government, or civilian or military infrastructure, it will drag Lebanon into this fray.

_{A man looks at a damaged building at the site of an Israeli raid on central Beirut’s Bashoura neighbourhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 3}

‘Anxiety, fear’ abound in Beirut as Israeli military attacks without warning: UN official

The UN’s special coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said “anxiety and fear are omnipresent” in Beirut following another night of Israeli attacks in the heart of the Lebanese capital.

“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead,” Hennis-Plasschaert said on social media.

“Anxiety and fear are omnipresent,” she said.

Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent.

— Jeanine Hennis (@JeanineHennis) October 3, 2024

Yemen’s Houthis claim successful drone attack on Tel Aviv

Yemen’s Houthi group says it “achieved its goals” in a drone attack on Tel Aviv, although there was no confirmation from Israeli authorities.

“The operation achieved its goals successfully as the drones reached their targets without the enemy being able to confront or shoot them down,” said military spokesman Yahya Saree.

The attack was “in continuation of the victory for the injustice of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples”, he added.

The Israeli military said it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” off central Israel overnight, without giving further details. On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed to have fired cruise missiles at Israel, following Iran’s mass bombardment of the country the night before.

Last week, the rebels said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, prompting Israeli air strikes on Yemen including the vital port of Hodeidah.

Israeli forces down drones from Lebanon

The Israeli army says two drones launched from Lebanon have been downed and rockets intercepted.

One unmanned aerial vehicle was intercepted off the coast of Nahariya, in northern Israel, while another struck an unspecified open area, causing no injuries.

About 25 rockets were also launched from Lebanon, the military said in a statement, and some fell while others were shot down. It did not specify whether deaths were reported in the attacks.

_{Fires burn after Hezbollah launched a swarm of drones at northern Israel}

Israeli army claims deadly strike on municipality building in south Lebanon

The Israeli army says it struck the municipality building in the town of Bint Jbeil, in southern Lebanon, killing 15 people.

The military claimed those killed were Hezbollah fighters and the building was used to store weapons.

In Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military deployed a strategy of disproportionate attack by hitting neighbourhoods and destroying civilian infrastructure as a means of putting pressure on its enemies. This strategy came to be called the “Dahiyeh doctrine”.

Israeli raids target Lebanon’s Bekaa

Heavy air raids are being reported in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Al Jazeera correspondents said attacks took place in Mashghara, Shmestar, Tarayya, Sefri, Tabshar, Bourdaya, Riyaq, Karak, Dhour Zahle and Qsarnaba.

The Israeli army said it was attacking Hezbollah military facilities and launch sites, as well as buildings in which weapons were stored.

Former Israeli official: ‘Nobody benefits from such a war’

Israel has been weakened from nearly a year of war in Gaza and the prospect of a protracted conflict in the region has its population worried, former Israeli Foreign Ministry director general Alon Liel says.

“We are celebrating our New Year and everybody is [evaluating] the year that passed – what happened to us and to the region – and the general mood is quite gloomy,” Liel said. “Most Israelis will admit this year has weakened Israel socially, economically, maybe even militarily, and nobody benefits from such a war.”

Liel told Al Jazeera while he believes diplomatic options are available to Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, “the diplomatic arm was paralysed and not used – maybe intentionally”.

Commenting on the announced ground offensive in southern Lebanon, he said the Israeli public believes this will be a rapid operation, but such military undertakings “have a nature of their own and can deteriorate”.

‘Collective genocide’ taking place in the region: Qatar

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani says what’s happening in the region is “collective genocide” and has warned of Israel’s “impunity” as it turns Gaza into an “uninhabitable place”.

“A two-state solution, the establishment of an independent viable Palestinian state within the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital is the key to a lasting peace in the region,” Qatar’s leader told a news conference at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha.

“We call for serious ceasefire efforts in stopping Israel’s aggression against Lebanon,” he added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sought to rally Asian countries to Iran’s side as he arrived in Qatar on Wednesday. He warned of a strong response from Tehran to any further Israeli actions against it.

Israel making ‘a terrible mistake’ by not using its ‘diplomatic arm’

Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv that he would advise the Israeli government to start working with its diplomatic tools, not only military ones.

“The past year, especially the last few weeks in Lebanon, has proven that we have a solid and sometimes effective military arm, but I think this is the time to think about the other arm,” he said.

“A sad thing happened to the Israeli public because of the last year and the feeling here is that the whole world is against us, that the whole world is anti-Semite, especially the United Nations,” Liel lamented, adding “this was a terrible mistake” directed and encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We will not be able to stabilise the situation and live here safely without the support and assistance of the world,” he said.

Support for Israel creates sense that it ‘can do what it wants’

Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador to Iran, says support for Israel from the West is working against de-escalating the conflict.

“It’s working against establishing a peaceful settlement across the region, whether within Palestine or beyond because it is creating this sense that Israel can do what it wants,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They can humiliate the United States. They can bank the military support from the United Kingdom and Israel’s European partners and not do anything to respond to the requirements of those countries that there should be progress towards Palestinian statehood as a prerequisite for peace,” he added.

Dalton said that public opinion in the West is turning against Israel due to how it has been fighting its wars.

“I believe that opinion has turned against Israel because of Israel’s action, because of Israel’s denial of basic human rights, because Israel’s denial that rights which it claims for itself should be accorded to others,” he said.

‘We need respect for international humanitarian law’

The UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon says crucial needs for people under Israeli fire in the country include water, food, and safe shelters.

“It’s absolutely catastrophic. It’s gone on for almost a year now and the level of needs in the last 10 days is dramatic. We’re talking about one million people displaced and defected,” Imran Riza told Al Jazeera.

He noted about 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks with the number of health workers dying in Israeli attacks surging by 50 percent.

“On the one hand we need resources, on the other we need access – safe access – and here we need respect for international humanitarian law. We need people to be able to move safely to us, and for us to be able to move to those who can’t.”

_{A man holds up a damaged helmet worn by civil defence workers following an Israeli raid on central Beirut on Thursday}

Bank of England governor warns of oil shock risk

The governor of the Bank of England has warned that a major conflict between Israel and Iran would make it impossible to keep oil prices stable and expose the global economy to a shock similar to what happened some five decades ago in the wake of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

“Geopolitical concerns are very serious,” Andrew Bailey told British newspaper The Guardian. “It’s tragic what’s going on. There are obviously stresses and the real issue then is how they might interact with some still quite stretched markets in places.”

Bailey said since the start of the war a year ago, there had not been a big spike in crude prices.

“From the point of view of monetary policy, it’s a big help we haven’t had to deal with a big increase in the oil price. But obviously, we’ve had that experience in the past, and in the 1970s, the oil price was a big part of the story.

“Obviously, we keep watching it. We watch it extremely closely to see the impact of the latest news. But … my sense from all the conversations I have with counterparts in the region, is that there is, for the moment, a strong commitment to keep the market stable,” he added.

“There’s also recognition there’s a point beyond which that control could break down if things got really bad. You have to continuously watch this thing, because it could go wrong.”

Israel attack on Lebanon ‘severely weakens’ recovery prospects

S&P Global Ratings says Israel’s military action in Lebanon “severely weakened” recovery prospects for Lebanon’s already fragile economy.

The ratings agency said the surge in fighting and attacks in Lebanon could persist into next year and also spread to other parts of the country.

“The loss of human lives, damage to infrastructure, rising fiscal costs of war, population displacement, and declining tourism revenue, alongside changing political dynamics given the weakening of Hezbollah, will put severe pressure on Lebanon’s economy,” S&P said in a media release.

“It will also further delay economic and financial reforms, and the longer-term recovery of fiscal and external accounts.”

New Israeli raids hit south Beirut: Report

Lebanon’s state-run media said three Israeli air raids have hit south Beirut, the latest raids following a night of intense bombardment.

“Enemy aircraft launched three strikes on (Beirut’s) southern suburbs,” the official National News Agency reported.

Witnesses in Beirut said they heard three large consecutive explosions, Reuters news agency reported.

Israel says struck Hezbollah intelligence HQ in Beirut

The Israeli military says it hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut amid a flurry of strikes targeting the group’s positions in the Lebanese capital.

Israeli fighter jets “struck targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut, including terror operatives belonging to the unit, intelligence-gathering means, command centres and additional terrorist infrastructure,” the military said in a statement.

Hezbollah says detonates bomb against Israeli soldiers

The Lebanese group says its fighters have detonated an explosive device against a group of Israeli soldiers near Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.

The attack at noon local time caused deaths and injuries, Hezbollah claimed.

Fighting Hezbollah a ‘reality check’ for Israel

It looks like another incident, another severe incident for the Israelis on the border. Hezbollah said it detonated explosives on the Golani Brigade, one of Israel’s elite brigades fighting on the ground there.

Israeli Telegram channels are reporting the same thing, saying that helicopters are evacuating many wounded, potentially dead, to hospitals close to Haifa in the north of Israel.

It really is giving a very quick reality check to Israel, which has been enjoying a lot of confidence and the feeling of victory and invincibility in its air campaign over the last two weeks or so. It is very difficult and different for them on the ground.

They do know this. Every single soldier who goes into this battle knows that Hezbollah is not Hamas. This is a far more formidable, trained fighting force.

So it is going to be very difficult. And I think the longer that we’re going to have this news that Israeli forces are sustaining a lot of injuries and fatalities, at some point, the tide with public opinion will change.

Israel is not making gains it expected

According to the Lebanese military, a third explosive device was detonated against Israel’s Golani Brigade in the village of Maroun al-Ras.

What we’re hearing is that the Israelis have attempted to enter that village, and they have faced stiff resistance from Hezbollah fighters who say that they have confronted them and they have used explosive devices. They claim that Israeli soldiers have had casualties, and their helicopters are currently in the south, trying to evacuate those soldiers.

That was what we were expecting when Israel mounted this ground operation, that Hezbollah was always going to resist. Israel has aerial superiority, but if Israel wants to fight, they have to get the troops across the border and try to take those villages and towns.

What we are seeing at the moment is that – at least from the Hezbollah side – the group is causing casualties on the Israeli side and Israel is not really making the gains that it expected to make.

_{Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli air strike on the village of Markaba, southern Lebanon, as seen from an undisclosed location along the Israeli side of the border, in northern Israel, October 3}