Lebanese hospital offers tour to refute Israel’s bunker claims

The administrator of the Sahel General Hospital in Beirut’s southern suburbs has offered to give journalists a tour to disprove an Israeli claim that Hezbollah is storing “millions of dollars in gold and cash” there, Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting.

The Israeli army “didn’t show any proof” to back up its claims, Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan reported from the Lebanese capital. “But it made the hospital essentially a target, so the hospital director immediately said they would start evacuating” on Monday, Khan said.

Israeli forces have directly attacked hospitals and health workers in both Lebanon and Gaza on multiple occasions, with Israeli officials offering scant and sometimes spurious claims to justify their actions.

_{Paramedics check an ambulance that was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese village of al-Habbariyeh in March}


Planes forced to switch runways after Israeli strikes near Beirut airport, says security official

Lebanon’s national airline had to switch landing strips on Monday due to Israel’s attacks near the main runway at Beirut international airport, a Lebanese security source has told the AFP news agency.

“Middle East Airlines switched the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the site of the Ouzai strike,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

Number of injured in Israeli attack near Beirut hospital rises

The Lebanese Health Ministry says at least 32 people were injured in the attack near Rafik Hariri Hospital, up from a preliminary toll of 24 wounded.

As we reported earlier, at least four people – including a child – were killed in the Israeli assault near the hospital.

UN-supported shelter for women and girls destroyed in south Beirut

The UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, says a shelter for women and girls was destroyed in attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday night.

The space was a “home-away-from-home” that “changed the lives of dozens of women and girls” escaping gender-based violence, the agency said in a post on social media. It was run by UNFPA partner Amel Association International, it added.

Beirut has come under repeated Israeli bombardment in recent days, including at least 12 Israeli missiles that hit its southern suburbs on Sunday night.

Humanitarian situation in Lebanon deteriorating quickly: Aid worker

Zeina Salhani of the Humanity & Inclusion aid group says the NGO’s team and partners are trying to respond to the needs of displaced people in Beirut, in the north and other areas. “We are talking about massive needs as the humanitarian situation has recently seen a very quick deterioration,” she told Al Jazeera from Beirut.

Salhani said about 1.5 million people have been rapidly displaced to move to safer areas of the country. “Lebanon is also still witnessing an economic collapse, with over 80 percent of the population below the poverty line,” she said.

Salhani added: “The country is also hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees and has a collapsed healthcare system, which makes the situation more and more difficult.”

Hezbollah claims missile attack on Tel Aviv

Hezbollah said it bombed the Nirit area in Israel’s Tel Aviv suburbs with missiles. In a post on Telegram, the Lebanese group said the attacks were in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and in defence of the Lebanese people.

Hezbollah’s statement came after videos verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency showed smoke rising near the Beit Aryeh settlement located north of the occupied West Bank and east of Tel Aviv after sirens sounded in three settlements in the West Bank.

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, according to a Reuters witness. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

State of emergency declared in Tel Aviv

All air traffic at Ben Gurion airport has been halted and the Israeli military has declared a state of emergency in the Tel Aviv area, according to our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues, quoting Israeli media reports.

Earlier, we reported Hezbollah said it had bombed the Nirit area in Israel’s Tel Aviv suburbs with missiles, resulting in large explosions.

Hezbollah says it bombed military base south of Tel Aviv, no injuries reported

The Lebanese armed group has said it has bombed the Glilot base of military intelligence unit 8200 in the suburbs of Tel Aviv with a “qualitative missile salvo”.

Earlier, Hezbollah said it bombed the Nirit area in Israel’s Tel Aviv suburbs with missiles, seemingly referring to a separate attack.

The Israeli military has said there have been no casualties reported so far.

Hezbollah fires medium-range rockets on Israel for the ‘first time'

It is the first time we have seen medium-range rockets used from this direction.

Minutes later, air raid sirens were sounding in Tel Aviv. Air traffic has been completely stopped at the Ben Gurion airport, according to the Israeli media. And the Israeli army announced emergency measures in the Tel Aviv area.

We counted around 12 medium-range rockets launching towards Haifa and Tel Aviv. It is a big sign from Hezbollah that they still have the capability despite all the fighting that is taking place.

Hezbollah claims attack on Haifa naval base, missile falls in Caesarea

The Lebanese armed group has said it bombed the “Stella Maris” naval base, northwest of the coastal city of Haifa.

Hezbollah also posted a photo on its Telegram channel with a caption claiming a missile strike in an area north of Caesarea, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home is located, without explicitly claiming the attack.

Hezbollah rocket attack injures one in north Israel: Reports

According to multiple Israeli media reports, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says a man has been wounded in the town of Ma’agan Michael by falling interceptor fragments.

Multiple media reports also said a residential building and several cars were damaged in the northern Israeli town due to falling shrapnel following the interception of rockets fired from Lebanon.

Northern Israeli hospital says it received 16 wounded soldiers

The Ziv Medical Center in the city of Safad says the soldiers were injured in fighting in southern Lebanon, where intense clashes are reported, according to Israeli media reports. Reports said they were treated in the emergency room except for one who required further treatment in the orthopaedics department.

Israeli army issues forced displacement order for al-Haush in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army “is operating within your town and has no intention of harming you,” Avichay Adraee, the army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, said on X.

“For your own safety, you must immediately evacuate your homes and move at least one kilometre outside the town,” he added. “Anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, facilities, and combat equipment is putting his life in danger.”

According to the UN, one-quarter of Lebanon’s territory has been impacted by the Israeli army’s so-called “evacuation” warnings.

Death toll rises to 13 in Israeli attack near Lebanon hospital

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says 13 people were killed, including a child, and 57 others were wounded in the strike near a south Beirut hospital the previous night, revising upwards its initial toll of four. The number of wounded in the strike near the Rafik Hariri University Hospital was previously reported as 32.

The hospital is Lebanon’s biggest public health facility, located a few kilometres from the city centre, the Health Ministry said.


_{The site of the attack close to Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Lebanon’s capital}


Israeli army says it strikes Hezbollah naval base in Beirut

A military statement says the base was used by the Lebanese Hezbollah group to store fast boats, conduct tests and train naval forces. Other attacks hit weapons depots, command centres and other infrastructure, it added. The army also said some of the targets were underground.

Lebanon state media reports Israeli strikes near south Lebanon city

Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after Israel’s military issued a forced displacement order.

AFPTV footage captured smoke billowing after the Israeli military on X warned residents of al-Haush, just south of Tyre, to evacuate, while Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that “enemy aircraft launched a series of strikes” that targeted the area.

Hezbollah claims rocket attack on Israeli troops

The Lebanese group says it conducted a rocket attack on Israeli soldiers gathered in the west of the southern Lebanese town of Odaisseh. The Israeli army has been conducting ground operations in southern Lebanon for more than three weeks as warplanes kept pounding various parts of Lebanon.

In a separate statement on Telegram, the group also said it struck the Israeli settlement of Hatzor with rockets.

Hezbollah claims drone attack on Israeli PM’s residence

Hezbollah has taken responsibility for the recent drone attack on Netanyahu’s house in the Israeli town of Caesarea. “The Islamic Resistance claims responsibility for the Caesarea operation and targeting Netanyahu’s home,” said the head of Hezbollah’s media office, Mohammad Afif.

Afif also said there will be no negotiations while fighting continues with Israel.

Netanyahu’s spokesman said that one of three drones launched from Lebanon hit Netanyahu’s residence in the town of Caesarea on Saturday, adding that he was not in the vicinity and there were no casualties.

Israel army issues new forced displacement order for south Beirut suburb

The military has threatened residents of an area in Ghobeiry in southern Beirut to leave before military operations against Hezbollah’s alleged facilities in the area. “For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate these buildings and the surrounding ones immediately and move at least 500 meters away,” the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X alongside a map showing two specific buildings to be targeted.

The Israeli army has repeatedly issued similar orders in Lebanon, forcing residents out of their homes before attacking residential areas.

Israel strikes on Hezbollah-linked finance firm warrant war crime probe: Amnesty

Amnesty International says the Israeli army’s bombing of branches of a Hezbollah-linked financial firm in Lebanon should be “investigated as a war crime”.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is sanctioned by the US, which accuses Hezbollah of using it as a cover to gain access to the international financial system. The Israeli military hit branches of the organisation across Lebanon late on Sunday and early Monday.

“The Israeli military’s targeting of branches” of al-Qard al-Hassan “likely violates international humanitarian law and must be investigated as a war crime”, Amnesty said in a statement. “Under the laws of war, branches of financial institutions are civilian objects unless they are being used for military purposes. Therefore, these attacks likely constitute a direct attack on civilian objects,” it added.

The financial firm, officially registered as a charity, has been offering customers credit in exchange for gold deposits on an interest-free basis since the 1980s. Amnesty’s Erika Guevara Rosas said the Israeli military had “targeted an institution that serves as an economic lifeline for countless Lebanese civilians”.

“This, along with an evacuation warning issued less than 40 minutes before the start of the strikes, shows Israel’s disregard for international humanitarian law,” she said.

More than 400,000 forcibly displaced children in Lebanon at growing risk of diseases

More than 400,000 forcibly displaced children in Lebanon are at risk of skin diseases, cholera and other waterborne illnesses due to overcrowding, minimal infrastructure in shelters and a lack of water and sanitation facilities, Save the Children has warned.

The charity said in a statement that the first case of cholera and cases of scabies had already been reported among some of the 1.2 million people who have been forced from their homes by Israeli attacks.

Kamal Nasser El Deen, emergency response coordinator at Save the Children Lebanon said, families and children at shelters typically have been waiting in long lines simply to access bathrooms.

“The facilities are inadequate for the number of people, and to make matters worse, the water supply is inconsistent,” El Deen said. “This lack of clean, reliable water creates a significant risk for waterborne diseases. It’s heartbreaking to know that these children, already displaced and vulnerable, face the additional threat of illness simply because basic needs like sanitation and clean water aren’t being met.”

Lebanon Red Cross says 3 paramedics wounded in Israeli attack on country’s south

Three paramedics have been wounded in an Israeli attack while on a rescue mission coordinated with UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross says.

Four ambulance teams were dispatched to the southern city of Nabatieh in coordination with UNIFIL after an attack there, the Lebanese Red Cross said, adding: “The site was bombed again and three … volunteers were injured and are being transported to hospital.”

Latest casualty figures from Israeli attacks on Lebanon

These are the latest casualty figures issued by the Lebanese Health Ministry:

Israeli army claims killing of Hezbollah’s Safieddine

The Israeli army is saying it killed Hashem Safieddine, who was touted to take over as the next Hezbollah chief, in an air strike earlier this month.

Earlier this month, a Lebanese security source told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah has lost contact with Safieddine, who was seen as a possible successor to slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, after an Israeli air strike on Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood. As the chairman of the armed group’s Executive Council, Safieddine is a very high-ranking member of the organisation and also Nasrallah’s cousin.

In a post on X, Israeli army said that it killed Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine as well as “Hossein Ali Al-Zima, head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, killed in an attack in Dahiyah in Beirut, along with other commanders in Hezbollah”.

There has been no comment from Hezbollah yet on the Israeli army claims.

Four Israeli air strikes hit southern suburbs of Beirut

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting that there have been Israeli air strikes targeting Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and al-Laylaki areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Another night of Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs

The strikes started around 11pm in Beirut (20:00 GMT). The southern suburbs have been predominantly emptied of people, with thousands forcibly displaced from their homes. We know the areas of Haret Hreik, Burj al-Barajneh and al-Laylaki have all been targeted.

We’ve been seeing this for the past few nights since Saturday evening. There have been heavy bombardments. Some of the worst of them was yesterday in an area called Jnah, where we saw at least 60 people injured and 18 people killed, including children.

The Israelis are saying they are targeting Hezbollah and Hezbollah infrastructure, but clearly, many civilians are caught in the crossfire, and we’ve seen at least 1,952 people killed since mid-September alone and 1.2 million people displaced across the country.

So, even though we did see a lull last week for about five days, it seems they’ve now started this up again.

Israeli says about 140 projectiles fired by Hezbollah today

The majority of the projectiles appear to have been rocket barrages, according to the Israeli military war updates published throughout the day.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military had reported that a drone also crossed into Israel, triggering sirens in various areas. Hezbollah said it launched “a squadron of suicide drones” at the Eliakim military base south of Haifa and struck its targets.

Iraqi armed groups say launched attack on Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-linked groups, says the drone attack was carried out in solidarity with people in Palestine and Lebanon. The coalition said it aimed at an Israeli target in the Syrian Golan Heights, which is occupied by Israel.

The Israeli military has yet to comment.

Earlier this month, Iraqi drones killed two Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights. Despite its sophisticated air defence systems, Israel has struggled to deal with low-flying drones launched from Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

US Justice Dept lawyers push for probe into Israel’s killing of Americans: Report

Lawyers at the US Department of Justice have sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to investigate “potential‬‭ violations‬‭ of‬‭ US‬‭ law‬‭ by‬‭ Israel’s‭ government,‬‭ military,‬‭ and‬‭ citizenry”, the news website Zeteo is reporting.

The lawyers highlighted three areas of potential inquiry, the report said: (Illegal) Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, possible war crimes and torture committed by Israeli forces and recent Israeli army killings of US citizens.

That includes American Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was fatally shot by Israeli forces at a West Bank protest in September, and Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was killed by the Israeli army in 2022 while covering a raid in Jenin.

Washington initially called for accountability in Abu Akleh’s killing. But it shifted its position after Israel admitted that its soldiers killed her and dismissed the incident as an accident, refusing to open a criminal investigation.

By September 2022, the US dropped its demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted.

Palestinians used as human shields – new investigations support Al Jazeera’s evidence

The Israeli military has again been accused of using Palestinian detainees as human shields.

Multiple investigations by international media have further supported an exclusive report first published by Al Jazeera in June. Al Jazeera reporting also found evidence of detainees dressed in Israeli military uniforms, who were forced to go ahead of Israeli soldiers to check for explosives and possible booby traps.

It’s believed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza have been used as human shields in this way, which would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Michael Lynk, a former UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, explains why the use of Palestinians as human shields is against international humanitarian law.

Iran’s Pezeshkian says the West ‘shamelessly defends crime against humanity’

The Iranian president says the ongoing conflict “cannot end by killing one or two people, but end by establishing justice”, referring to Israel’s recent killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

He condemned European countries and the US for “supplying Israel with weapons and shamelessly defending every crime against humanity”.

“The governments and forces that talk about human rights and international law are violators of all laws and rights,” he added.

PEN America condemns Israeli censorship of film about Palestinian city

PEN America has condemned the Israeli government’s banning of the sci-fi feature documentary film Lyd, which was meant to be shown at the al-Saraya Theater in Jaffa earlier this month.

“We are particularly concerned about the Israeli government’s demand that al-Saraya Theater submit all future programming for approval by the Ministry of Communications,” PEN said in a statement.

Israeli police stopped the theatre from showing the film after Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar said it slandered Israel and its soldiers, The Times of Israel reported earlier this month.

Co-directed by Rami Younis, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and Sarah Ema Friedland, a Jewish-American media artist, Lyd tells the story of the Palestinian city south of Tel Aviv. It is also known as Lod in Israel.

“The occupation can take many things, but one thing it can’t take is your ability to imagine,” Younis told Al Jazeera when the film premiered in London earlier this year.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12683280/

War sets Gaza development back 69 years: UNDP

As we reported earlier, the UNDP in an assessment says the poverty rate across the Palestinian territory will almost double this year to 74.3 percent.

The UNDP research also said the Human Development Index (HDI) for Gaza, a measure of “average achievement in key dimensions of human development”, is projected to drop to a level estimated for 1955, “erasing over 69 years of progress”.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, the HDI was expected to drop to a level “reflecting a loss of 16 years” and was likely to worsen.

Israeli settlers hold ‘preparing to settle Gaza’ conference


<sub>Daniella Weiss, founder of Nachala, an Israeli settler organisation, speaks during the conference in Be’eri, southern Israel, October 21


Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, as well as several members of Netanyahu’s Likud party, also spoke at the two-day event</sub>

_{Ben Zion Gopstein, founder and leader of Lehava, a group on the US sanctions list for its involvement in threats or violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank}

Israel’s latest assault in Gaza ‘is another ethnic cleansing’

Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies says Israel’s latest assault in northern Gaza was “another ethnic cleansing” campaign unfolding.

“In some ways, it reminds me of 1948,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera, referring to the Nakba – when Palestinians were expelled. “And I think we’re seeing another ethnic cleansing unfold before our eyes in 2024,” Elmasry, a media studies professor, told Al Jazeera.

Elmasry said it was important to note the concept of “Greater Israel”, which he said was “deeply rooted in Israeli policy and in Zionist philosophy”.

“It’s this idea, based on biblical interpretations that all of this land is supposed to be for the Jews and to that end, it’s necessary to transfer the Arab population,” he added.

Elmasry pointed out that in the early weeks after October 7, Israel lobbied Egypt and the European Union for a plan to remove Palestinians “out of Gaza”.

“Netanyahu approached one of his closest aides, Ron Dermer … in the very early weeks after the war to create a plan to quote, ‘thin out the population of Gaza'” he said.

UNRWA activities must be outlawed: Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party in Israel, has called for the banning of the UN refugee agency, claiming that it helps Hamas.

“UNRWA employees are collaborators of monsters Hamas, who assisted the murder, kidnapping and rape of Jews on the seventh of October, and continue to assist Hamas to this day,” the former defence minister said in a post on X.

“Therefore, their activities must be outlawed.”

Blinken tells Netanyahu to secure release of captives after Sinwar’s killing

Following a meeting with Israel’s PM Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Blinken urged Israel to capitalise on the killing of Hamas’s chief Sinwar by securing the release of captives and ending the war in Gaza.

The US State Department said Blinken also emphasised the need for Israel to boost humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Blinken is also due to meet Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant and other officials at the start of a week-long trip that will also take him to Jordan and Qatar.

 
Head of Shin Bet against increasing aid to Gaza

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that the head of Israel’s Internal Security Service Shin Bet opposes increasing aid to Gaza and supports providing a minimum amount of it to pressure captive-release negotiations.

Gaza officials are saying that no aid has entered the northern part of the Strip that has been under a deadly Israeli siege for almost three weeks now.

Israel minister says he expects US support ‘following attack on Iran’

Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant told visiting US official Blinken that his government expects Washington’s support when it attacks Iran in response to a missile strike earlier this month.

“The United States’s stance with Israel following our attack on Iran will strengthen regional deterrence and weaken the axis of evil,” Gallant said according to a statement from his office.

Statement on Blinken-Netanyahu talks did not mention ceasefire

The statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office after his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not once mention ceasefire. It talked about the fighting in the north and in southern Lebanon, briefing Blinken about that and the prospects for releasing the captives now that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed.

But that word “ceasefire” has not been mentioned by the Israeli side. That explains why a few dozen Israelis have been protesting right in front of the hotel where Blinken is staying because they say the urgency and the focus should be on a ceasefire agreement, and they don’t really trust Netanyahu’s intentions in that regard.

Protesters outside Blinken’s hotel are chanting ‘ceasefire now’

The families of Israeli captives are the ones who are trying to keep the ceasefire issue alive. They’re protesting in front of the hotel where Blinken is said to be staying to tell him that that should be the priority.

They’re chanting “ceasefire now” and demanding a deal in any way as it must be reached now because it is still possible to bring the captives home. That is their one concern, their one demand, while in the Israeli political establishment, so much else is being talked about.

Some media reports are saying that Blinken even offered a road map to the Israelis about how to end the war on Gaza and what “the day after” would look like. But as far as the Israeli discussions are concerned, the focus and chatter are on everything except a ceasefire.

US diplomacy ‘proven completely feckless’

Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, has questioned the goal of US Secretary of State Blinken’s 11 trips to the region since the Gaza war began.

“What has come out of those 11 trips? Nothing but continued Israeli aggression, war, mass killing, the expansion of the war into other fronts,” Rahman told Al Jazeera from New York.

“I think it’s fair to wonder or to say whether this is just a show for appearances, something to run interference for the Israelis while the United States continues in every possible way to support Israel, including in its war aims.”

Washington says it wants regional de-escalation and a ceasefire in Gaza, but the Biden administration has refused to suspend US weapons transfers to Israel or condition any assistance to its top ally. The US provides Israel with $3.8bn in military assistance annually, and the Biden administration has greenlit an additional $14bn since the war began.