Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday killing a civilian, after Israel carried out a deadly strike in south Lebanon. The news came as the southern Gaza Strip came under intense Israeli bombardment overnight, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where famine is looming. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Summary:
- Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday, killing a civilian.
- An official belonging to Lebanese group Jamaa Islamiya says an Israeli strike on an emergency centre killed seven "rescuers" overnight. The strike happened in Habariyeh, in southern Lebanon.
- The southern Gaza Strip came under intense Israeli bombardment overnight, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire.
- Witness says Israeli forces are surrounding the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from the fighting.
- At least 32,490 Palestinians have been killed and 74,889 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
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One of the Israeli hostages kidnapped during the October 7 Hamas attack has been killed and his body is being held in Gaza, two groups representing hostage families said Tuesday. The Israeli army told the family of Uriel Baruch, 35, that his body is being held in Gaza.
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A strike Tuesday hit a displacement camp in southern Gaza, killing at least 12 people including children, the Gaza health ministry said. The ministry in a statement reported "12 martyrs including children in an air strike that hit a tent for displaced people" in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis city.
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The United States will continue dropping essential aid from the air into the Gaza Strip, the White House said Tuesday after Palestinian militant group Hamas called for them to end following fatal drownings and stampedes.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
