At least 1.540 people have been killed across Lebanon since the outbreak of hostilities between Lebanon's pro-Iranian extremist organization Hezbollah and Israel, according to a report released in Lebanon today.
At least 5.410 people have been injured since then, the disaster risk management unit added, the agencies reported.
Among the victims, 60 people died today and 81 people were wounded today, judging by that report, which does not distinguish between extremists and civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border for months, forcing tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border to flee their homes.
The violence has escalated over the past week with a series of surprise Israeli attacks and airstrikes.
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President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, today condemned Israel and that country's offensive in the Gaza Strip in front of world leaders, appealing to stop the "genocidal war".
Abbas has previously criticized Israel at the UN, but now he did so for the first time since October 7 last year, when the Palestinian Hamas attacked southern Israeli territory, triggering a military operation that destroyed the Gaza Strip.
"We will not leave," Abbas repeated three times at the beginning of his speech at the annual session of the UN General Assembly, which was met with loud applause and only a small number of whistles.
He accused Israel of destroying Gaza, which makes it impossible to live in that territory.
He also announced that his government should rule post-war Gaza as part of an independent Palestinian state, a vision rejected by Israel's heavy-handed government.
Abbas has had little influence in Gaza since Hamas forcibly defeated the forces of Abbas's rival Fatah and took control of the territory in 2007.
The US believes that a reformed Palestinian Authority should play a future role in Gaza, but Israel does not consider it a reliable partner and has ruled out that possibility.
"Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers and grandfathers. It will remain ours. If anyone should leave, it should be the occupying usurpers," Abbas said.
Israel claims that military operations are justified and necessary to defend itself.
South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel for genocide in the UN's highest court, the Associated Press reminds. Israel rejects the accusations.
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The commander of the air force of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Muhammad Sarour, was killed today in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the Israeli army confirmed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the attack while on a plane to New York, his cabinet said.
The agencies report that several people died and 15 were wounded in the attack on a building.
Sarur commanded numerous airstrikes against Israel, including drones carrying explosives and cruise missiles, according to Israeli media.
In recent years, he directed Hezbollah's drone production and set up facilities in Lebanon where the extremist organization made drones, even under civilian buildings in Beirut.
Sarur joined Hezbollah in the 1980s, and was also Hezbollah's attaché in Yemen, where he cooperated with the Houthi rebel forces, according to the claims of the Israeli army.
In the war against Israel, he commanded attacks and reconnaissance using drones.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that at 15.15:XNUMX local time today, Israeli warplanes fired three rockets at an apartment in a ten-story building near a busy intersection in Al-Kaim neighborhood in the suburbs of Beirut, Dahiyeh.
It is the sixth Israeli attack on Beirut this year, according to the agencies.
Since the start of the conflict with the Israeli army almost a year ago, several high-ranking commanders of that extremist organization and an official of the Palestinian Hamas have been killed in targeted Israeli airstrikes on the suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah is based.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today upon his arrival in New York that Israel is attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon with full force and will not stop until it achieves its goals.
Netanyahu made the comments as he arrived in the US for the annual session of the UN General Assembly as US and European officials press for a 21-day ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah in order to negotiate.
Netanyahu said Israel's policy is clear.
"We continue to strike Hezbollah with full force and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, the main of which is the safe return of the people of the north (of Israel) to their homes," Netanyahu said, the Associated Press reported.
He added that the assassination of the head of the Hezbollah air force was part of that policy, alluding to today's Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut in which the commander of the Lebanese extremist organization was killed, according to Israeli media.
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At least 39 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that 13 people were killed - six in an Israeli rocket attack on the house of Khan Younis and seven in the bombing of Al-Fallujah school in Jabalia.
The Israeli army announced that it carried out an attack "against terrorists who were operating from a command and control center in the former school complex." These claims have not been independently verified.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Palestinian Hamas and which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, announced that 41.534 Palestinians have been killed and 96.092 wounded since the start of the war with Israel.
Israel said 346 members of the Israeli armed forces were killed in a ground offensive launched after Palestinian extremists attacked southern Israel on October 7 from Gaza.
Tel Aviv previously announced that about 1.200 people were killed in that attack by Hamas and more than 250 were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities believe Hamas is holding another 101 hostages there.
(Radio Free Europe)
In the Israeli air attack on Lebanon, 23 people were killed and eight were wounded, the Lebanese State News Agency reported.
It is reported that a building housing Syrian workers was hit near the ancient city of Balbek.
Officials confirmed to the State News Agency that the bodies of 23 Syrian nationals had been pulled from the rubble.
It is added that four Syrians and four Lebanese were wounded.
The state news agency reported that more than 23 people, including 600 children, had been killed and 50 wounded in Israel's offensive on Lebanon since September 1.835.
The US, France and other allies have called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire to allow negotiations in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The joint statement, agreed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, said the recent fighting was unacceptable and posed an unacceptable risk of wider regional escalation.
US President Joseph Biden has warned of "all-out war" in the Middle East, urging leaders to find diplomatic solutions in both Lebanon and Gaza.
"All-out war is in nobody's interest," Biden told the UN General Assembly on Sept. 24 after Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah killed more than 23 people on Sept. 550. Meanwhile, thousands of people are fleeing the north of the country.
The September 23 attack was the deadliest attack on Lebanon since the 1990 civil war.
Attacks on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border have intensified since the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said attacks on Israel would continue until a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
(Radio Free Europe)
Israeli airstrikes overnight hit about 75 Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including weapons depots and launchers ready to fire, the Israeli military said today, reports Reuters.
The Chinese embassy in Lebanon has warned Chinese citizens not to travel to the country, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The embassy activated an emergency response plan, issued multiple security warnings and told citizens to take commercial flights back to China, a spokesman said at a regular press briefing.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed hope that a truce could soon be reached to end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has rocked his country and raised fears of a ground invasion, Reuters reports.
The United States (US), France and several allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, while voicing support for a ceasefire in Gaza after intense discussions at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Mikati welcomed the call for a truce, but said the key to its implementation was whether Israel, which is bringing troops closer to Lebanon, is committed to implementing international resolutions.
Asked if a truce could be secured soon, Mikati told Reuters: "Let's hope so."
Mikati's interim administration includes ministers chosen by Hezbollah, which is considered the most powerful political force in the country.
The ceasefire would apply to the "blue line" between Israel and Lebanon, the demarcation line between those countries, and would allow the sides to negotiate a potential diplomatic solution to the conflict, a senior administration official of US President Joseph Biden said.
The Special Coordinator of the United Nations (UN) for Lebanon, Jeanine Henis-Placher, today welcomed the call for an immediate ceasefire lasting 21 days in order to provide space for the success of diplomacy.
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