IDF has carried out more than 1,100 airstrikes on southern Lebanon since ground war began

Israel has carried out more than 1,100 airstrikes on southern Lebanon since its ground war began earlier this month, its military announced on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement it had attacked “munitions warehouses, launchers, tunnel shafts and observation and sniping positions” in the airstrikes.

IDF aircraft and ground forces are working closely together to multiply force and help “neutralize threats,” it continued.

IDF will continue war against Hezbollah with no room for "respite or recovery"

Israel will continue to “strike Hezbollah with intensity, without allowing them any respite or recovery,” according to the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Herzi Halevi said Wednesday that Hezbollah had been weakened and was “making efforts to conceal the significant damage” it had suffered.

“They are experiencing command and control difficulties, leading to confusion at the decision-making level and challenges in their operational capabilities,” Halevi said.

Also speaking on Wednesday, Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said the recent Iranian attacks on Israel had been “aggressive” but ultimately “failed” since no military assets were damaged.

On the prospect of Israeli retaliation, Gallant said: “Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened.”


_{Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday}

US says Israel must avoid Gaza-like military action in Lebanon

Israel must avoid conducting military operations in Lebanon like it has in Gaza, the US State Department has said.

“I’m making very clear that there should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists.

A week ago, however, Miller said the US supports Israel’s military action in Lebanon. “We do ultimately want to see a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution, but we do think it’s appropriate that Israel, at this point, is bringing terrorists to justice,” he said.

Biden expresses support for Israel in call marking the Jewish High Holidays

US President Joe Biden joined a call marking the Jewish High Holidays Wednesday, in which he expressed his support for Israel, touting “unprecedented action … to successfully assist in the successful defense of Israel,” following attacks by Iran and its proxies, while nodding to the at-times tense relationship between Israel’s leadership and the US.

“You’ve heard me say before that I got very badly criticized as a young senator, saying, ‘I’m a Zionist.’ You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, that’s not necessary, and the idea, I firmly believe, without an Israel, every Jew in the world’s security is less stable – I mean that,” Biden said.

“It doesn’t mean that Jewish leadership doesn’t have to be more progressive than it is, but it does mean it has to exist, and that’s what worries me most about what’s going on now.”

Earlier Wednesday, the White House said Biden held a “direct” 30-minute call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the two leaders discussing “a range of issues,” including Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack.

“I just spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu for about an hour this morning, and offered my condolences on this somber one-year anniversary,” Biden said on Wednesday’s call.

Five people killed in Israeli attack on Wardaniyeh, Lebanon

The Public Health Emergency Operations Center of Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says five people have been killed and 12 wounded in an Israeli attack on Wardaniyeh in southern Lebanon.

The centre’s statement added that in addition to the dead and wounded who are able to be identified, there were also “body parts” left in the wake of the attack and DNA tests are being conducted to identify who they belong to.

To date, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people, according to the Health Ministry.

_{Rescuers and people inspect the site of an Israeli strike that hit a building,in the town of Wardaniyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday}

Top UN envoy in Lebanon calls for truce, UN resolution enforcement

A call by the US and France for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah “is still on the table,” said the top UN official in Lebanon.

“We need a realistic roadmap for the implementation, by both sides, of resolution 1701. And this must include clear implementation and enforcement mechanisms,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

A UN peacekeeping mission is mandated by Security Council resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, to help the Lebanese army keep its southern border area with Israel free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.

France and the United States last month proposed a 21-day ceasefire. But those talks quickly appeared to stall as Israel heavily bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

“The joint call for a 21-day ceasefire, as launched by the US or led by the US and France, I think is still on the table and very relevant, so we should not dismiss it. I don’t think that new initiatives will add to it,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.

“The many appeals and calls for ceasefire are crystal clear. We need a window for diplomatic efforts to succeed,” she said.

Since then, however, comments from US officials have cast doubt on the country’s enthusiasm for a ceasefire in Lebanon, instead expressing approval for Isreal’s expanded attacks on all areas of the country in pursuit of punishing Hezbollah.

Southern Beirut suburb now resembles a war zone after two weeks of Israeli aerial assault

The southern suburb of Beirut is now pretty much considered to be a warzone by people who have fled this area since Israel began its intensive aerial assault about two weeks ago.

This area was once home to about 700,000 people.

Usually, we don’t have any warnings from the Israeli military about when or where they’re going to strike in this area. In the past, evacuation warnings have been issued, but they are usually useless.

Many people have told us that when they continue to strike areas, they don’t announce, so nobody takes the warnings seriously. As a result of these air strikes, we have now almost a million and a half people displaced internally.

Children’s schools have also been affected. We’ve just had a statement from Save the Children, who say that 1.5 million Lebanese children are now going to have their education disrupted yet again.

_{A view shows a damaged site in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, in Lebanon, Tuesday}

Israeli army again issues evacuation orders for an area in Lebanon’s capital

The army’s Arabic language spokesperson tells residents of southern Beirut’s Haret Hreik to evacuate to a distance of 500 metres from a building he claimed is part of Hezbollah’s “infrastructure”.

A map added by the spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, shows a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut very close to Bahman Hospital.

Warnings like these typically preceded massive air strikes. However, Israel has continued to bomb areas in Beirut for nearly the entire day without providing warnings, according to our correspondent on the ground in the city.

Israel continues to strike across Lebanon

In Wardaniyeh, five people have been killed, and at least 12 people have been injured in an Israeli strike there. This is about 40 kilometres (about 25 miles) south of where I am in the capital, Beirut.

It’s slightly inland from the coast, but it’s important to note that it is outside of an area that Israel is trying to completely empty of residents.

In the city of Tyre, which is quite close to the Israeli border, five paramedics were killed. The World Health Organization has warned against the killing of paramedics or any civil service people in these areas, especially those who are trying to help the wounded in this war.

Now, the Israelis said that they are not directly targeting any paramedics or firefighters. However, at least 100 have been killed in the past year, the majority of those in the past two weeks alone.

Syrian state TV reports Israeli attack

An Israeli “aggression” is occurring in Hasiya industrial city in Syria’s Homs countryside, Syrian state TV said early on Thursday.

Israel has been sporadically bombing Syria since it stepped up its campaign of strikes against Lebanon two weeks ago. Earlier this week, an Israeli strike on the capital Damascus killed at least three civilians and wounded nine others, according to Syrian state media.

Family and friends mourn photojournalist shot by Israeli forces while reporting in North Gaza


_{Colleagues of the photojournalist, who was killed during Israeli bombardment in the northern Gaza Strip, stand over his shrouded body at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City}

Israel impeding evacuation of northern Gaza hospitals: WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the UN agency’s mission to evacuate patients in critical condition from Kamal Adwan, al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals in northern Gaza have been impeded on Tuesday and today.

The Israeli military had asked medics at the three hospitals to evacuate, and doctors have been trying to transport patients to al-Ahli and al-Shifa hospitals.

The WHO director general said: “Another mission is planned for tomorrow. WHO is gravely concerned. We urge Israel to facilitate critical humanitarian missions, and ultimately, to work for a ceasefire.”

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza shelter on the beach

_{A Palestinian man who was displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza washes his horse at the beach of Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, October 9}

_{Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp along the beach of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, October 9}

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leaders killed in Nablus shooting, group confirms


_{A video obtained by CNN shows at least four men standing behind a car while holding assault rifles and shooting at a second car across from them.}

Four members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were killed in an Israeli special forces operation in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday, the group confirmed.

Among those killed were field commander Issam Muhammad al-Salaj, one of its leaders in Balata, and field commander Abdul Halim Muhammad Nasser, a leader in Askar, according to the Brigades, a network of Palestinian armed groups.

The group condemned the attack in which Israeli special forces shot at the Palestinians’ car in Nablus, calling it a “cowardly assassination.”

_{Bullet holes are seen on a vehicle after Israeli police say forces killed Palestinian fighters in Nablus, the occupied West Bank, on October 9}

Nablus shooting was a shock for residents

In the afternoon, dramatic scenes unfolded on Faisal Street, a main artery in Nablus city. A few armed men got out of a car and started shooting continuously.

We later found out that one of the four men who was killed in that attack was the head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group operating across the occupied West Bank, as well as three other members of the group.

Of course, these scenes were very shocking for residents of Nablus, seeing as this is a main artery. People would have been going about their business, heading off from work back home on this weekday, which is a business day in Nablus.


_{A boy cries among mourners at a hospital morgue after a man was killed in a vehicle along with three others by Israeli special forces in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank}

Israel continues raids on occupied West Bank

Palestine’s Wafa news agency reports that Israeli soldiers have stormed several West Bank localities this evening. They include eastern Nablus, Birzeit and Kobar north of Ramallah.

Wafa reports the deployment of Israeli bulldozers and the use of sound grenades and tear gas against Palestinian residents.

Earlier in Nablus, Israeli special forces carried out the assassination of four men in a raid on the city.

No mention of Iran response in Biden, Netanyahu call details

The White House released the statement, giving a readout of what the conversation was about.

Interestingly, the readout says that President Biden unequivocally condemned Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1. However, that is the only mention of Iran in the readout.

There’s no indication that there was a discussion about possible Israeli action against Iran in response.

President Biden discussed Lebanon, apparently saying that a ceasefire should be put in place to allow residents on both sides of the Blue Line to return to their homes.

Israeli officials seek to destroy UNRWA as a war goal: Lazzarini

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has given a speech to the Security Council.

In it, he said senior Israeli officials have described destroying UNRWA as a war goal, adding that legislation to end UNRWA’s operations is ready for final adoption by the Israeli Knesset.

He said the Israeli government seeks to ban the UN agency’s presence and operations, revoking its privileges and immunities in violation of international law.

Lazzarini said these policies set a grave precedent for other conflicts in which governments may wish to eliminate an inconvenient UN presence.

 
The UN Security Council wanted to get the focus back on Gaza

I think a lot of focus has been on Lebanon in recent days and weeks. But clearly, as that’s happening, Israel continues its daily bombardment of Gaza, particularly now in the north, and that’s why this meeting was called.

We heard the briefing from Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, who pointed out that while so many Palestinians are struggling to survive every day, there are certainly going to be long-term effects.

He pointed out that 650,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have been out of school for a year now because those schools have been turned into shelters. Many of those school-turned-shelters have been bombed by Israel. So this is having long-term implications for Palestinian children for years to come.

One year of Israel’s war on Gaza – Unwavering US support

The US called out Israel on Wednesday at the UN Security Council for failing to address “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza. But after one year of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave, the US remains its biggest ally and largest supplier of arms.

Despite widespread condemnation and critics calling him “Genocide Joe”, President Biden’s stance towards Israel, its government’s military and financial support remains steadfast.

US lied on aid and ceasefire, Blinken spun it – Marwan Bishara

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara highlights repeated deception from US officials surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza, especially regarding humanitarian aid and ceasefire negotiations.

He emphasised statements made by figures like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been referred to as the “spinner-in-chief” of US diplomacy, have often proved unreliable.

Bishara suggests prioritising scepticism and verifying US claims before placing any trust in them.

Marwan Bishara makes an excellent point at the end of the video

When push comes to shove and America thinks Americans interests are at stake they put the necessary leverage on the Israelis to do what the Israelis must do as a client Rogue or not Rogue.

In this case for me and this is probably the most important line I will say today maybe I'll say this year: Is there any reason why the United States should pressure Israel when the elections are coming, when American interests are being served, when Arab leaders continue to beg and appease the American administrations, when the Palestinians are divided, when the Europeans continue to walk in the American footsteps.

Why should Biden use political Capital, use leverage with a Netanyahu government right now when there is no one asking for it in the Middle East, not really.

Lebanon mourns medics killed in Israeli attack

More on the Israeli attack on Lebanese rescue workers:

Lebanon’s General Directorate of Civil Defence said the five rescue workers were killed in an Israeli raid that “targeted the Civil Defence Centre on the town of Derdghaiya, as they were inside on the alert to receive emergency calls”.

The town is located in south Lebanon, to the east of the city of Tyre.

The Lebanese Health Ministry also slammed the attack, accusing the Israeli military of renewing the targeting of rescue and ambulance crews in violation of international laws. It said the toll in Derdghaiya was still provisional as operations to remove the rubble at the site were still ongoing.

The ministry said it reiterates its call for the “international community to take a firm stance to prevent [Israel] from continuing with these attacks that double the horrors of war”.

Lebanon cannot turn into ‘another Gaza’, White House official says

Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat that Lebanese people will see “destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza” if they do not oust Hezbollah, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “That is not what we want to see”.

“We cannot and will not see Lebanon turned into another Gaza,” she said. “The suffering in both Gaza and Lebanon adds even greater urgency, as you’ve heard from us, to our efforts, certainly to end the conflicts and lay a foundation for lasting peace and security in the region.”

Earlier, we reported similar comments made by State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, who told journalists there “should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza”.

Israeli forces kill four in Lebanon’s Baalbek

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that Israeli fighter jets bombed a building in the eastern Baalbek region, killing at least four people. Another wounded person was transferred to a hospital in critical condition, it said.

The latest casualties came as Israeli bombardment killed five people in the southern town of Wardaniyeh and another five paramedics in the Tyre district

Israeli attacks cause ‘material damage’ in Syria’s Homs and Hama

Syria’s state news agency is reporting that Israeli forces carried out air attacks on a car assembly plant in the town of Hassia in the Homs province as well as a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama.

The attacks occurred at 1am local time and caused “material damage”, the agency said, citing a military source.

Israel has ramped up bombings in Syria since it expanded its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon two weeks ago. Earlier on Wednesday, a member of Syria’s internal security forces was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike in Quneitra, while on Tuesday, at least seven civilians, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli air strike on the capital, Damascus.

Israeli military shells Jabalia camp, killing at least 3

The Israeli military has carried out another attack in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least three people, the Wafa news agency reports. Several more people were injured in the attack, in which Israeli forces shelled al-Hawja Street in the camp, Wafa reports.

Fifteen people were killed by an Israeli strike on al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in Jabalia on Wednesday, while Israeli forces also opened fire on journalists in the area, killing at least one and critically wounding Al Jazeera Arabic camera operator Fadi al-Wahidi.

Israeli forces delivering ‘knock-out punch’ in northern Gaza

Pain and heart break continues to unfold across Gaza as the Israeli military continues to pound the Strip.

We are looking at a large number of casualties from overnight and early hours of this morning. Some 64 people have been killed, 47 of them in Jabalia town and Jabalia refugee camp after the Israeli military attacked the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital as well an evacuation centre located in the western part of Jabalia town. That attack killed at least 16 people.

Air strikes are continuing, creating difficult conditions on the ground, and preventing people from evacuating into safety. We’ve seen this happening throughout the past 12 months of this genocidal war – the Israeli army deliberately preventing people from evacuating to safety, while also ordering people to go to areas that are supposed to be safe – but they end up getting killed within days and hours of their arrival.

The 400,000 people that UNRWA has estimated are trapped in the northern part of the Gaza Strip have little exit right now amid heavy artillery attacks and intense bombardment.

We interviewed families who managed to leave the area and get to Deir el-Balah, and they described the Israeli offensive as the final knockout punch in what seems to be a campaign to empty the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Smell of burned human flesh at northern Gaza hospital as Israeli attacks continue

We are currently standing in front of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, where wounded and displaced people are arriving on foot. Ambulances are not able to reach here as the Israeli army is advancing from the west of Jabalia refugee camp.

All of them have been burnt.

I can clearly smell the scent of human flesh burned from Israeli missiles. This comes as the evacuation deadline that the Israeli army gave to the administration of the Kamal Adwan Hospital expires.

The Israeli army is advancing on the area, they are still committing massacres against civilians. The current offensive targets all of the residents in northern Gaza, so all of them are in a state of instability.

They do not know where to go or what they will do.

Heavy clashes as Israeli military carries out West Bank raids

The Israeli military has carried out raids across the occupied West Bank in recent hours, according to local media reports.

Incidents include:

Lebanon arrests 2 Syrians suspected of spying for Israel

The Lebanese military said it arrested the two Syrian nationals on suspicion of “photographing different places … and documenting the results of enemy air strikes” for Israeli authorities.

The arrests were “a result of surveillance and follow-up of Israeli spy networks and enemy agents” it said, adding that the accused were allegedly “recruited through social media”.

“The investigation with the two detainees has begun under the supervision of the competent judiciary,” the military added.