5 people killed in Israeli attack on Wardaniyeh

Israel has continued its assault on Lebanon overnight, with five people killed and 12 wounded in an attack on the town of Wardaniyeh.

The Lebanese Civil Defense has said five paramedics were also killed following an Israeli raid in Tyre district, while four people were killed in an attack in Baalbek region.

Medics in Lebanon say Israel is deliberately targeting them

Over 100 medics have been killed in Lebanon since hostilities broke out and it’s having an effect.

Hospitals here in southern Lebanon and frontline medical centres have been shut down. At least 40 of them since October 8 – simply because Israeli air strikes are coming too close into their compounds for the doctors and the front-line staff to say that they can operate here safely.

So they’ve shut them down. That’s at least 40 out of 137 hospitals across this 120km border. The front-line emergency services are incredibly stretched and this is all just putting more pressure on them. Medical staff say they feel that they are being deliberately targeted and that it’s exactly like what the Israelis have done to medical facilities in Gaza.

Israel claims killing two Hezbollah commanders

The Israeli military said it has killed two Hezbollah commanders in air attacks in southern Lebanon. They are Ahmed Mustafa Allhaj Ali, who the Israeli military said was responsible for firing hundreds of rockets and antitank missiles at the city of Kiryat Shmona, and Muhammad Ali Hamdan, who it said was responsible for launching missile attacks on northern Israel.

The Israeli military also said it bombed weapons warehouses in Beirut and other military infrastructure in southern Lebanon overnight.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Lebanese accuse Israel of collective punishment as bombardment continues

Israeli strikes on Lebanon are continuing. In the town of Khiam, which is about 14 kilometres from where I am, we’ve been hearing intense Israeli air strikes. We’ve counted at least nine of them so far, and there were at least 16 in that area yesterday.

And overnight, there were attacks on Wardaniyeh, which killed at least five people. This is a town in central Lebanon, in the Mount Lebanon Governorate.

That’s far away from southern Lebanon and from the southern suburbs of Beirut and that’s very concerning to the Lebanese because it shows the Israeli air campaign is widening across the country.

And there were two key strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight.

A lot of people here feel that this is just collective punishment. The Dahiyeh suburb is actually a vibrant neighbourhood. It gets called a Hezbollah stronghold in the media, which makes it sound like a garrison town. It’s not. It’s just a regular neighbourhood in Beirut. And Beirut’s a lively capital.

So people are just wondering what is left for the Israelis to bomb and they feel that this now is just either collective punishment or straight-up vengeance.

‘Israel must just go crazy and attack Iran'

Early this morning the Israeli army said it assassinated two Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon. It also claimed to have killed Hezbollah commanders in Syria, in Homs and the occupied Golan Heights. These claims remain unconfirmed by Hezbollah.

The military also confirmed the death of an Israeli soldier and a critical injury to a reservist during clashes with Hezbollah fighters during these incursions into southern Lebanon that are increasing by the day.

The mood in Israel is about what the coming escalation with Iran would look like. In the media, there are very few opinion pieces about the need not to attack Iran and prevent an all-out regional war. One piece was titled “Israel must just go crazy and attack Iran”, with another talking about the “golden opportunity”.

In contrast, regional Arabic media are discussing the wider consequences of such an attack – how it would affect the stability of the region, what it would do to oil prices and the economy.

Iran’s foreign minister holds war-focused meetings in Qatar

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha. The Iranian diplomat has been on a regional tour he says is aimed at finding ways of ending Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

He arrived in Qatar late last night after completing a trip to Saudi Arabia. Araghchi visited Lebanon and Syria before that, despite the intense Israeli bombing of the two countries.

In a statement on X, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the two officials held “important consultations” on developments in the region.

“It is only responsible for all states to maximise their efforts to shield our region against an imposed catastrophe by stopping genocide in Gaza and aggression on Lebanon,” he said after the talks.


Hezbollah now led by longtime military, political figures: Report

Hezbollah continues to show it’s still capable of launching projectiles at Israel and countering its ground invasion of Lebanon, despite the assassination of a large number of its top political and military leaders.

Israel’s national broadcaster Kan reports the Israeli military believes Haitham Ali Tabatabaei, a former commander of the elite Radwan Force, has now taken over command of military operations for the group.

Mohammad Haidar, a member of the Jihad Council, is also overseeing military manoeuvres, the report said.

Naeem Qassem, who released two defiant video messages following the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, is believed to have taken the political lead, after Israel said it succeeded in killing Hashem Safieddine.

Arrested Israeli in Lebanon deported to US after intervention: Reports

An Israeli man arrested in Lebanon after entering the country with a British passport and exhibiting suspicious behaviour has been freed and deported to the US, according to multiple Israeli media outlets.

Joshua Tartakovsky, a 42-year-old Israeli citizen born in the United States, is believed to have entered Lebanon in the past few weeks with a group of journalists. He was arrested by Lebanese security forces in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district on suspicion he may be engaged in espionage.

Israeli media report Tartakovsky’s release came after pressure from Washington.

Dozens of rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon, impacts reported

The Israeli military said about 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee, in northern Israel, with some intercepted but others making impact. It did not provide details about damage, but Israeli media report a building in Margaliot suffered a direct rocket strike and was damaged.

Loud explosions were reportedly heard in the skies of Kiryat Shmona, a settlement near the border where a Hezbollah rocket killed two Israelis on Wednesday.

_{An Israeli soldier examines a damaged apartment after it was hit by a rocket in Kiryat Yam}

Israel strikes emergency centre in southern Lebanon

Israel’s air force killed five paramedics after attacking a civil defence emergency centre in the southern Lebanese village of Derdghaiya.

Rescuers are searching for survivors at the emergency centre hit in an overnight Israeli air strike. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s army, which has repeatedly attacked first responders during its war on Gaza.

_{Debris covers wrecked rescue vehicles following the Israeli attack early Thursday}

Israeli military reports close-quarter combat, air raids on Lebanon, Gaza

The Israeli military says soldiers are pushing on with their ground incursion inside both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip while being supported by dozens of air raids.

Fighter jets launched attacks on more than 110 targets in Lebanon and 30 in Gaza. In besieged Jabalia in northern Gaza, Israel claimed its forces killed Palestinian fighters and found weapons.

In southern Lebanon, it reported “face-to-face encounters” with Hezbollah soldiers and said it destroyed antitank missile launchers and rockets aimed at northern Israel.

Hezbollah claims rocket attacks on northern Israel

The armed Lebanese group has claimed the rocket attacks that landed in northern Israel in the past hour, saying it has launched four barrages so far today. Hezbollah said its forces sent a “large rocket salvo” toward Kiryat Shmona, where sirens sounded.

It also said another rocket barrage was directed toward a site along the border, with other strikes targeting Israeli soldiers spotted in Beit Hillel and Maayan Baruch also close to the border.

Israeli army radio reported two Israeli citizens were lightly wounded by shrapnel to the legs in the Upper Galilee.

Diplomatic efforts for ceasefire ‘intensified’ ahead of UN meeting: Mikati

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said diplomatic communications to achieve a ceasefire have “intensified in recent hours” ahead of a UN Security Council meeting.

“There are contacts taking place between the United States and France with the aim of reviving a ceasefire declaration for a specific period in order to resume the search for political solutions,” he is quoted as saying by the official X account of the Lebanese parliament.

“We also stressed the priority of stopping the Israeli aggression that is causing a large number of martyrs and wounded and does not spare civilians, ambulances and relief personnel, and this is a matter that violates all international laws and regulations,” he said, adding that the government is ready to implement Resolution 1701 that was adopted after the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Israeli soldiers open fire at UN peacekeeper positions in southern Lebanon: Report

A UN source has told Reuters that Israeli soldiers opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

The source did not specify the type of fire and said one of the attacked sites was UNIFIL’s main base in Naqoura.

Earlier this week, UNIFIL refused a request from the Israeli military to vacate bases near the border. The area has been a demilitarised zone since the end of the war in 2006.

Two UNIFIL peacekeepers injured in Lebanon: Source

A source in UNIFIL forces has told Al Jazeera that two peacekeepers were slightly wounded in the Israeli shelling of a UNIFIL site on Lebanon’s southern border.

The source added that Israeli forces hit a UNIFIL guard tower at the headquarters in the Naqoura area, injuring two soldiers.

UN peacekeeping bases designed to be highly visible

What we’re hearing from UNIFIL sources is that there was an attack against their base. Israeli soldiers opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

They told us two of the solders were slightly injured in the Israeli bombardments, one of those took place in Naqoura.

But these bases are all over southern Lebanon… these are high profile bases, they are designed like that. The UN peacekeepers drive around in white military vehicles, they wear blue hats, they are designed to be high visibility.

There is no way the Israelis didn’t know what they were shooting on. This is a very worrying development for the United Nations.

Emergency rescuers face increasing Israeli attacks in south Lebanon

Israel’s air force continues bombarding Lebanon, killing five paramedics recently. We’ve been speaking to several medics who tell us they feel they’re being targeted.

More than 100 medical staff have been killed since October 8 last year, and that number is increasing now. Rescuers say the Israelis know where they are. “We are clearly marked, we’re the first responders, and we’re being targeted.”

This latest is a very serious attack on the Lebanese emergency services, they say.

About 40 front-line medical centres have had to shut down because the Israeli bombing has come too close to the hospitals or the clinics for the staff to feel safe. This is an extremely worrying development for the Lebanese emergency sector.

Ship damaged in attack off Yemen’s Hodeidah

The United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said the attack took place 70 nautical miles (about 130km) southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah.

“The master of the vessel reports being hit by unknown projectile and the vessel has sustained damage,” it said on X. “No fires or casualties reported. The crew are reported safe and the vessel [is] proceeding to its next port of call,” UKMTO added.

Two more projectiles explode near vessel in Red Sea

Earlier, we reported the United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a ship was struck with an “unknown projectile” 70 nautical miles (about 130km) southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah.

UKMTO now reports that two more projectiles have exploded in close proximity to the same vessel. The crew is reported to be safe. We will bring you more information on this incident when we have it.

Five Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on Khan Younis

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have bombed a house in the al-Fakhari area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least five people.

The killings came as Israel’s military continues its attacks across the Gaza Strip, including a devastating siege on the northern parts of the enclave and air raids on areas near the central Nuseirat camp.

Earlier, at least three people were killed in Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.

Three children, including 7-month-old baby, among Khan Younis victims

Earlier, we reported that Israeli fighter jets bombed a house in the al-Fakhari neighbourhood of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killing five people. Now, the Wafa news agency reports that three children, a seven-month-old girl among them, have been killed, along with their mother and father – named Saqr al-Amur.

Israel’s deadly ground assault on northern Gaza continues

Talking to sources on the ground in the battered Jabalia refugee camp, the Israeli military is actively operating. The camp is surrounded and the army has called in more reinforcements.

The military has waged a deadly campaign of air raids on homes. In one of the latest attacks, three Palestinians were killed. The streets of Jabalia are completely strewn with rubble from destroyed high-rise blocks.

The civil defence agency reports the Israelis destroyed key public infrastructure throughout the camp. Some families managed to flee to Beit Lahiya, but they are now trapped there.

The military plan is to isolate Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoon from Gaza City, and force residents to flee to the south in order to control the northern Strip.

Death toll rises to 22 in Gaza school attack

Ambulances continue to bring victims to the hospital in Deir el-Balah after the deadly Israeli strike on a school shelter.

This is the latest in a series of Israeli raids on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders have taken shelter.

A strike on the United Nations-run al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported deaths.

Victims on the floor at Al-Aqsa Hospital after school strike

Many of the victims are women and children after Israeli forces bombed a school shelter. Dozens of victims are being driven to the hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.

No immediate comment was available from Israel’s military.

On August 1, at least 15 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Dalal al-Mughrabi School in northern Gaza City, while on August 3 another 16 died in the bombing of the Hamama School, also in Gaza City.

Al-Aqsa Hospital overwhelmed

We have come across bloody and disturbing scenes of victims transferred from the site of the strike in Deir el-Balah to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where we are right now.

The situation is quite turbulent and chaotic. The school that was hit in the western side of Deir el-Balah was housing thousands of Palestinian families who were forcefully displaced from central parts and across the Gaza Strip.

At least 22 were killed in the strike that was conducted without any sort of warning, and more casualties are still being transferred to the hospital to get medical treatment.

I was inside the emergency department of the hospital and saw disturbing scenes. I saw children completely burned, and many women were also killed or critically injured.

Medical sources said they are facing difficulty in coping with the situation because of the chronic shortage of essential medical supplies. Some of the injured people are now being treated on the floor of the hospital.

Women and children among the victims in Deir el-Balah attack

Israel claims Hamas has been using civilian shelters for Gaza’s war-displaced as “command and control centres”.

Hospital officials say, however, the vast majority of victims in the latest Israeli strike in central Deir el-Balah are women, children, and young men.

Ambulances are streaming into the Al-Aqsa Hospital and some bodies arrived in pieces. Israel’s war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

_{A wounded Palestinian is carried to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, on October 10}

PRCS says death toll from shelter attack has risen to 27

The number of people killed in an Israeli attack on a school in Deir el-Balah has risen to 27, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

“Palestine Red Crescent teams responded to 27 fatalities and 54 injuries following the Israeli occupation army’s targeting of Rafida School, located near the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Deir Al-Balah,” PRCS said on X.

Israeli military again claims school-turned-shelter used by Hamas

Without providing any evidence, the Israeli military claims that the school for displaced Palestinians that it attacked in Deir el-Balah was being used by Hamas fighters operating in the compound.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” it said.

The Israeli military has hit dozens of schools sheltering civilians since the start of its war on Gaza, predominantly killing children and women in the attacks. Many of the schools run by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have also been damaged or destroyed.

UK relief group urges world to ‘act before Gaza is erased entirely’

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said it is deeply alarmed by Israel’s forced displacement orders for northern Gaza, including the evacuation and closure of its hospitals.

“The Israeli military’s actions in northern Gaza are systematically collapsing the little of what remains of the health system and eliminating the conditions needed to maintain Palestinian survival,” said Rohan Talbot, MAP’s director of advocacy and campaigns.

The international community’s “catastrophic failure” to take action and enforce a ceasefire has enabled Israel to ramp up its deadly assault, Talbot said, despite the International Court of Justice’s calls to prevent potential genocide in Gaza.

“The world must act before Gaza is erased entirely,” he added.

Israel ‘must do much more’ to avoid civilian casualties: UK envoy

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon defended his country’s record on allowing aid into Gaza after a torrent of criticism. The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it during the war.

“Israel imposes no restrictions on humanitarian aid. In fact, 82 percent of all requests for humanitarian coordination have been approved and implemented.” He accused Hamas of diverting aid from those in Gaza who need it.

The UK’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the UN Security Council that Israel “must do much more” to avoid civilian casualties and ensure the UN and aid groups can operate safely and effectively in Gaza.

“Delivery of humanitarian assistance is being hindered, and humanitarian workers are constantly under threat,” French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere also noted.

More than 300 humanitarian aid workers – most of them staff from the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees – have been killed since Israel launched its attack on Gaza in October 2023.

Al Jazeera cameramen in critical condition after being shot in Gaza

Attacks by Israel’s army on journalists continue in the Gaza Strip with more than 175 media workers killed during its war on the Palestinian territory. Two Al Jazeera cameramen remain in critical condition after being shot by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza this week.

Fadi al-Wahidi was hit by a live round to his neck on Wednesday while covering the Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp. Two days before, his colleague Ali al-Attar was covering the conditions of displaced Palestinians in central Deir el-Balah when he was shot and wounded.

“This incident marks yet another grave violation against journalists in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been increasingly hostile towards media workers,” Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement.

“The deliberate targeting of journalists is a flagrant violation of international laws protecting the press and humanitarian workers in war zones.”

Palestinians stuck in ‘apocalyptic’ situation as no aid gets to northern Gaza

The northern part of the Gaza Strip is under a heavy siege imposed by the Israeli military.

Palestinians are still trapped in the Jabalia refugee camp. The army has been extensively operating there, using its resources on the ground while fighter jets have been hammering residential areas. This is the sixth consecutive day of attacks since the start of the military incursion there.

A lot of the streets of the Jabalia camp are filled with rubble of destroyed buildings. We have been talking with people in northern Gaza, who are saying the situation there is utterly apocalyptic and they are unable to leave.

We also understand that fighting between Hamas operatives and the Israeli army is ongoing.

The siege imposed in the northern part of the Gaza Strip will bring very deteriorating consequences in the lives of patients in the hospitals there. According to UNRWA, only two out of eight water wells are operational in the area. People there are starving and thirsty. No aid is getting into northern Gaza because the army has been tightening its blockade.

No justification for ICC arrest warrants delay: Lawyer

It’s been more than four months since the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he was applying for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders.

However, The Hague-based court’s pre-trial chamber is yet to approve the warrants.

“This is in stark contrast to what other chambers have done in other contexts, for instance in Ukraine, by issuing arrest warrants in a very few weeks,” Triestino Mariniello, a law professor at Liverpool John Moores University and a member of the legal Team representing Gaza victims before the ICC since 2020, told Al Jazeera.

“The ICC has so far failed to provide any sort of justice to Palestinian victims and surprisingly is delaying any decision on the issuance of potential arrest warrants enabling states, political bodies to interfere with the work of the court,” he said.

“Just by placing this delay into the wider context we know that the International Criminal Court, as also revealed by investigative journalists, has been under incredible pressure and also threats by different states and also by individuals,” Mariniello added.

He noted that the delay might be “due to this pressure” but stressed that “from a legal perspective at least, there is no justification” for it.

Likely pressured to hold off any arrest warrants until after the US elections... It's not going to look good to have Netanyahu and Gallant visiting DC as wanted war criminals, backed by Biden/Harris.


Israel ‘destroying any chance for ceasefire’ by besieging northern Gaza

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned “ongoing and repeated crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement” by Israel in Gaza, especially its northern areas.

“It denounces Israel’s targeting of civilians and deliberate actions aimed at mass displacement, collective punishment, and siege of the entire population in northern Gaza. The aim is to isolate this area from the rest of Gaza and impose full Israeli control over it,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

The statement added that Israel is claiming war is the only solution to achieving security, and will continue to block any efforts to end the conflict.

“The ministry warns that the Israeli occupation’s expansion of its aggressive war against Gaza aims to deepen Israel’s crimes and confusion in the region, mixing agendas for the benefit of colonialism and far from the Palestinian cause.”


_{Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee areas in northern Gaza Strip in Jabalia, October 6, 2024}