BLOG Israel is bombing northern Gaza and Lebanon, there are dead, reports of famine have appeared again...

The Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that at least 42.175 Palestinians have been killed and 98.336 others wounded in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

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Detail from Beirut, Photo: REUTERS
Detail from Beirut, Photo: REUTERS
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 12.10.2024. 22:02h
Finished
21: 56h

A senior United Nations official expressed concern today during a visit to Beirut that Lebanon's ports and airport could stop working, which would have serious consequences for food deliveries.

Israel continues its offensive against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"What I've seen and heard today is devastating, but this could be worse and it needs to be avoided," said Deputy Executive Director of the UN World Food Program Karl Skau in an interview with AP.

He appealed for "every possible diplomatic effort to try to find a political solution" and to keep supply lines open.

About 1,2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to government estimates, of whom about 200.000 are staying in collective shelters, where the UN program supplies them with food.

(BETA)

19: 50h

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported on Saturday that a peacekeeper was wounded a day earlier in a shooting of unknown origin.

This is the fifth wounded peacekeeper in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border in just two days.

"Last night (Friday), a peacekeeper at the UNIFIL headquarters in Nakura was shot by gunfire as a result of ongoing military activities nearby," the X Network said in a statement, adding that the peacekeeper was "stable" after the operation.

"We still don't know the origin of the fire," it added.

The United States and European countries earlier called on Israel to guarantee the safety of UN peacekeepers after four UN soldiers were wounded in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon this week.

US President Joseph Biden said he is "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing on peacekeepers.

At the same time, the Israeli army stated on Saturday that dozens of missiles were fired from Lebanon at Israel, but that one of them was intercepted.

Earlier on Saturday, the army warned residents of southern Lebanon "not to return" to their homes as fighting continued in the area against the Hezbollah militant group.

The US has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, while the European Union blacklists only its armed wing, not the political party, which has a seat in the Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah has supported Hamas, a Palestinian militant organization, since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is involved in a war on several fronts, while in the Gaza Strip it continues to fight against Hamas, which the US and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.

In recent days, the Israeli army has launched an intensive ground and air attack in the northern area of ​​the Gaza Strip, especially in the area of ​​the city of Jabalia.

Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said on Saturday that 49 people were killed and 219 wounded in five Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.

It was pointed out that rescue operations are continuing, that people are still under the rubble.

The war in the Gaza Strip began after Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing around 1.200 people and taking 250 hostages.

After that, Israel launched an offensive against Gaza. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 42.175 people died in the fighting. About 2,3 million people live in that Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said on October 7 that it bombed more than 40.000 targets in the Gaza Strip last year, discovered 4.700 tunnels and destroyed a thousand rocket launch sites.

(Radio Slobodna Evropa, Ne.V.)

19: 36h

The Israeli army today declared areas around some towns in northern Israel closed to the public, following a security assessment, as many areas were evacuated due to rocket fire from the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah, reports Reuters. 

It was announced that the closed military zones along the border with Lebanon will now include the areas of Zerait, Shomara, Shtula, Natua and Eben Menachem.

19: 35h

The Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, announced today that on Friday it attacked the suburbs of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv with drones, Reuters reports.

18: 32h

Palestinians in northern Gaza described today's Israeli bombardment as one of the largest, as Israel continued to warn people in the area and in southern Lebanon to evacuate due to an offensive against the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

In Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping forces announced that their headquarters in Nakura was hit again, and that the soldiers, who were wounded yesterday, are in a stable condition.

Israel warned peacekeepers to leave their positions.

As reports of famine resurfaced, residents of the northern Gaza Strip said they had received no aid since the beginning of the month.

The UN's World Food Program said food aid had not arrived in the north since October 1. He stated that there is no estimate of how long the food supplies that were previously sent to northern Gaza will last. 400.000 people remained there.

Israel's military launched a new offensive in northern Gaza nearly a week ago and has stepped up air and ground operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Lebanon's state news agency said Israeli bombs hit a residential building in the coastal area of ​​Zarout south of Beirut, and the health ministry said four people were killed.

The ministry said five people were killed in a second airstrike on the village of Maisra, northeast of Beirut.

Hezbollah continued to attack Israel.

"We will continue to be with the Lebanese people in these difficult circumstances, as well as with the Palestinian people," Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Kalibaf said today as he toured the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

In northern Gaza, residents said many were trapped in their homes and shelters with dwindling supplies as they looked at lifeless bodies in the streets.

Those who rushed to the site of the latest airstrikes in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya found a hole 20 meters deep where a house once stood.

Another strike hit a house in the town of Jabaliya, killing at least four people, including a woman, said Fares Abu Hamza, an emergency services official.

The Israeli army has not yet announced anything about the attacks.

Army spokesman Avichay Adri told people in parts of Jabalia and Gaza City to evacuate south to a humanitarian zone designated by Israel, which plans to use heavy forces "and will continue to do so for a long time."

Israel repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza as Hamas and other militants regrouped.

The war destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 percent of its population of 2,3 million people. They have been displaced several times since the beginning of the war.

"Everything is like the first days of the war," said Ahmed Abu Goneim, a resident of Jabalia.

"The occupation is doing everything to eradicate us. But we will not leave," he added.

Hamza Sharif, who lives with his family in a shelter that has been converted into a school in Jabalia, said that "the bombing continues both day and night."

(IBeta)

14: 42h

Hezbollah said it continued to fire rockets into Israel, targeting what it claimed was a "gathering of Israeli enemy forces" in villages south of the border, CNN reports.

Sirens warning people of an impending attack sounded in multiple locations across northern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later said they had identified about 30 missiles that crossed from Lebanon into the Upper Galilee area and two that were fired toward northeastern parts of Israel.

"Some of the missiles were intercepted," the IDF said.

The IDF also said that the Israeli air force intercepted two drones approaching Israeli territory from Lebanon before they crossed the border.

14: 11h

Hezbollah said it carried out a drone attack on a military base in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, AFP reports, hours after it claimed responsibility for an attack on another base south of the city.

Earlier this morning, Hezbollah fighters carried out an "air attack by a group of explosive-laden drones on an air defense base" in Haifa, the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

13: 29h

The 11-hour-old baby suffered a head injury Friday when an Israeli strike hit her home, just moments after she was brought there from the hospital where she was born, Fares Afana, the head of emergency services in northern Gaza, told CNN.

The newborn girl's father and uncle were killed in the attack, and her mother and grandmother were injured, Afana said. Video from the hospital, where the family is being treated, shows the tiny baby being stitched up on the wound at the base of the neck.

The mother of the newborn baby was in critical condition at Kamal Advan Hospital in northern Gaza, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit, hospital director Husem Abu Saifia told CNN on Saturday. He added that the girl is stable and "next to her mother".

The Israel Defense Forces told CNN they were "not aware" of an attack in the area at the time described by witnesses, but added they would need exact coordinates to confirm it.

11: 52h

At least 22 people were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the town of Jabali in northern Gaza, according to emergency workers.

The bodies were taken to Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, according to the head of emergency services in northern Gaza, Fares Afana, the Guardian reports.

Afana said that, in addition to the dead, there are also injured, and "a certain number of people are still buried under the rubble".

11: 17h

The Israeli army has warned residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes, while fighting with Hezbollah militants in the area continues, Agence France-Presse reports.

Israeli forces continue to "target Hezbollah positions in or near your villages," military spokesman Avishai Adrae said at Platform X.

In a separate post on Xu, he reiterated an earlier call for health workers and medical teams in southern Lebanon to avoid using ambulances, claiming they were being used by Hezbollah fighters.

"We call on medical teams to avoid contact with Hezbollah members and not to cooperate with them. The IDF (Israeli Army) confirms that it will take the necessary measures against any vehicle carrying armed individuals, regardless of its type," Adrae said.

Palestinians leave northern Gaza after new evacuation order
Palestinians leave northern Gaza after new evacuation orderphoto: REUTERS

An Israeli army spokesman urged residents of the area around Sheikh Radwan, south of the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, to evacuate.

"The specified area, including shelters within it, is considered a dangerous combat zone," Adrae said, ordering residents to move to a humanitarian zone in the southern part of the strip.

10: 15h

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 42.175 Palestinians were killed and 98.336 others wounded in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The Ministry does not distinguish between dead militants and civilians.

10: 12h

Sean Clancy, the Irish army chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel's explanation for Friday's incident, according to which the Israeli army fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in Nakura and wounded two peacekeepers "unintentionally" in response to "an immediate threat", reports AFP.

"So from a military perspective, this is not a random act," said Clancy, whose country has soldiers in UNIFIL.

09: 39h

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets at an Israeli military base south of the city of Haifa as Israelis celebrated the Yom Kippur holiday.

Hezbollah fighters hit the base "south of the city of Haifa, targeting an explosives factory in the area with a barrage of rockets," according to the group's statement, reports Agence France-Presse.

08: 29h

Israel's military said it was investigating the case after Lebanese authorities accused Israel of an attack that killed two Lebanese soldiers on Friday.

The Lebanese army said earlier that Israeli strikes targeting a military base in Kafra, southern Lebanon, killed two of its soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that they were investigating the incident and added that they were not aware of the existence of a Lebanese Armed Forces facility in the area:

"Earlier today, the IDF attacked Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon. Shortly thereafter, a report was received that several Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers were injured in the area during the attack. After the report was received, the IDF began a detailed investigation into the incident. The IDF emphasizes that they were unaware of the existence of a Lebanese Armed Forces facility in the area of ​​the attack," the Israeli military said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka announced that it strongly condemns the Israeli attack on the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, in which two of their soldiers were injured on Friday.

Peacekeepers were injured in an attack on the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern city of Nakura, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that it had hit a UNIFIL base and said it was investigating the circumstances of the incident. Their soldiers fired at an "imminent threat to them" and later discovered that a UNIFIL facility had been hit near the "source of the threat", injuring two UNIFIL peacekeepers, the statement said.

A nursing home was damaged in central Israel after a drone that came from Lebanon was shot down, officials said.

The Israeli military said alarms were activated after two aircraft were detected crossing the border from Lebanon, according to a statement on Friday evening.

The military said the air force successfully intercepted one aircraft, but did not say what happened to the other.

08: 15h

At least 30 people were killed yesterday in Israeli attacks on the town of Jabalia and a refugee camp in northern Gaza, Gaza's civil protection agency said, a week after Israel launched an offensive it says is aimed at preventing the regrouping of Hamas.

The agency's spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, said that 21 people, including women and children, were killed in the attack, which took place before 40:12 p.m. local time, while 14 are missing and likely trapped under the rubble, the Guardian reports.

Before that incident, Ahmad Al Kahlut, director of the agency in northern Gaza, said 18 people had been killed in several attacks, including attacks on eight schools in the camp that served as shelters for displaced people.

In total, yesterday's attacks left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Basal and Kahlut. The Israeli military did not respond to questions from the AFP news agency regarding the attacks on schools in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's historic refugee camps.

Medical sources told Reuters that at least 61 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Wounded Palestinian in hospital in Jabalia
Wounded Palestinian in hospital in Jabaliaphoto: REUTERS

The Israeli army claims to have killed dozens of militants in Jabalia, but has not provided evidence for these claims. Photos from the area, published by news agencies, showed many children among the dead.

Journalists have also been killed and wounded in a renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which has also targeted hospitals, while the Al Jazeera television network again this week accused Israel of deliberately targeting them after two of its journalists were seriously wounded. Israel denies that it is deliberately targeting journalists.

Al Jazeera reporter Anas Al Sharif said on Platform X on Friday that the health of his colleague Fadi Al Wahidi, who was shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper and left paralyzed on Wednesday, is deteriorating, and called for help in evacuating him from the area .

08: 09h

The leaders of the nine Mediterranean members of the European Union called for an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon at a summit in Cyprus on Friday.

"Amidst the conflict in Gaza in the wider region, we express our deep concern about the escalation of the military confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah," the EU leaders said in a statement after the MED9 summit in Cyprus.

"We demand an immediate ceasefire along the Blue Line and the timely dispatch of humanitarian aid to Lebanon," the leaders said in a joint statement, referring to the UN demarcation line that separates Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis said MED9 called for a cease-fire in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, while French President Emmanuel Macron said "a cease-fire is necessary in both Gaza and Lebanon."

The MED9 group includes France, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the militant organization began launching rockets into northern Israel in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.

The US considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, while the EU has blacklisted only its armed wing, but not the political party that has representatives in the Lebanese parliament. Palestinian Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by both the US and the EU.

The conflict in Lebanon has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders and sending ground troops into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, for its part, fired rockets deeper into Israel.

French President Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni condemned as "unacceptable" Israel's shooting of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which was echoed by the Prime Minister of Spain.

Together, the three countries have about 2.000 troops in the UNIFIL mission, which said Israeli tank fire on Thursday wounded two UN peacekeepers.

On Friday, it was announced that two more members were injured in "explosions" near the observation post.

(RSE)

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