This blog has now closed. You can read our full coverage of the continuing conflict in the region here.
The international community should work to end the conflict in the Middle East and address the “huge” humanitarian crisis that has engulfed countries in the region, the head of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department says.
In updated economic estimates, the IMF slightly downgraded its outlook for economic growth in the Middle East and north Africa to 2.1 percent this year, while maintaining its 4.0 percent growth outlook for 2025.
However, these estimates do not take into account the economic impact of the recent escalation of conflict in southern Lebanon, where Israel has invaded to fight Hezbollah.
Jihad Azour, a former Lebanese finance minister, noted that the most severely affected places, including Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, were facing a “huge humanitarian problem” which has devastated their economies.
“You have massive loss in output, you have a massive destruction in infrastructure, and you have a huge set of needs for additional spending, for shelter, for health and so on,” he told AFP.
“We expect that growth will be negative in those cases, and we expect that the recovery would take longer to materialize,” he added.
The IMF has suspended its forecasts for the Lebanese economy, citing an “unusually high degree of uncertainty.” But a recent UN Development report estimated that the country’s GDP would be 9.2% smaller as a “direct consequence” of the conflict.
“You have massive destruction of infrastructure in a large region, which is the south, and mass destruction of livelihood, because this is an agricultural region that was severely affected,” Azour said, adding that almost 20% of Lebanon’s population had been displaced.
Iran preparing multiple military plans in response to potential Israeli attack – report
As it braces for an expected retaliatory strike from Israel, Iran has ordered the armed forces to be prepared for war but also to try to avoid it, having witnessed the decimation of its allies in Lebanon and Gaza, the New York Times is reporting.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered the military to devise multiple military plans for responding to an Israeli attack, the report says, citing four unnamed Iranian officials. The scope of any Iranian retaliation, they said, will largely depend on the severity of Israel’s attacks.
If Israeli strikes – a response to a barrage of missiles from Iran earlier this month – inflict widespread damage and high casualties, they said, Iran will retaliate. But if Israel limits its attack to a few military bases and warehouses storing missiles and drones, Iran might well do nothing.
The officials said Mr. Khamenei had directed that a response would be certain if Israel strikes oil and energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities, or if it assassinates senior officials.
For the country – and the region – the stakes could not be higher. An all-out war between Iran and Israel would deepen the chaos, likely doom any prospects for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, and possibly lead the US into military action in support of Israel.
Israel says it killed Hamas commander who doubled as UN aid worker
Israel’s military said it had killed a Hamas commander who took part in the 7 October 2023 assault on southern Israel and worked for the UN aid agency in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
The agency, Unrwa, has been accused by Israel of having many employees who double as members of Hamas and other armed groups. The UN, after an investigation, said in August that nine Unrwa staff had possibly been involved in the 7 October attacks, and fired them.
The Israeli military said Mohammad Abu Itiwi had been killed on Wednesday. It said he was a Hamas commander and had been involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians. It also said he had been employed by Unrwa since July 2022 and that his name appeared on a list of the agency’s employees. Juliette Touma, Unrwa’s director of communications, said:
Unrwa confirmed Itiwi was a staff member and was killed on Wednesday. It said Itiwi’s name was included in a letter Unrwa received from Israel in July that included a list of 100 staff members who were also allegedly members of armed groups, including Hamas.
The Unrwa commissioner general responded to that letter immediately stating that any allegation is taken seriously. He urged (the government of Israel) to cooperate with the agency by providing more information so he could take action. To date, Unrwa has not received any response to that letter.
Unrwa provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel but relations have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for Unrwa to be disbanded.
“Israel has requested urgent clarifications from senior UN officials and an urgent investigation into the involvement of Unrwa employees in the 7 October massacre,” said Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.
Philippe Lazzarini, the Unrwa commissioner-general, said last month that the Israeli government was seeking to drive the agency out of existence, having failed to persuade western donors to stop funding it on the grounds of allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas.
He said his agency had responded promptly and seriously to the initial Israeli allegations that 12 staff members had taken part in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. He said 10 staff had been sacked immediately and two investigations completed, including one by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna.
“There is a deliberate attempt to eliminate and dismantle the agency and the reason behind that has nothing to do with neutrality issues, but there is a political purpose behind it,” Lazzarini said at the time.
Updated
UN secretary-general António Guterres told Brics leaders including Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday that the world needed peace in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan, Reuters reports.
“Across the board, we need peace,” Guterres said at the Brics summit in the Russian city of Kazan.
“We need peace in Ukraine. A just peace in line with the UN charter, international law and UN general assembly resolutions.”
Guterres’s office later issued a statement saying he had met Putin on the sidelines of the Brics meeting, and restating his call for peace in line with his address.
The statement said Guterres reiterated his position that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine was “in violation of the UN Charter and international law”.
Guterres, the statement said, also said freedom of navigation in the Black Sea was “of paramount importance” for Russia, Ukraine and overall food and energy security.
The two men also discussed the “absolute need for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the need to avoid a further regional escalation”.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza, Beirut and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israeli warplanes launched a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, just minutes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued evacuation warnings. Footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the area. The IDF issued additional evacuation warnings for south Beirut later on Thursday night.
An Israeli airstrike reportedly struck the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday night, resulting in many fatalities and many residential buildings destroyed. Gaza’s civil defence agency estimated that 150 people – including women and children – were killed or wounded, the Palestinian news agency reported. At least a dozen residential buildings were blown up during the Israeli attack, Al Jazeera reported.
At least 17 people, nearly all women and children, have been killed in Israeli bombing of a school turned shelter in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics in the territory have said. Another 42 people were wounded in the strike in the overcrowded camp, according to nearby al-Awda hospital. Among the dead were 13 children under the age of 18 and three women, it said. The strike marked the latest Israeli bombing of a school sheltering displaced people across Gaza. Israel’s military said the school was being used as a Hamas command and control centre. Jordan’s foreign ministry called the strike “a heinous crime that is added to the war crimes committed by Israel.”
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Thursday that more than 770 Palestinians have been killed in the north of the territory since Israel launched a new offensive in northern Gaza on 6 October. The agency also said it had been forced to suspend operations in northern Gaza after what it called threats from the Israeli military to “bomb and kill” rescue crews working in Jabalia camp. Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday that 42,847 Palestinians have been killed and 100,544 wounded since Israel launched its military offensive last year.
Israeli and US negotiators are scheduled to meet in Doha this weekend to try to restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the US, Qatar and Egypt continue their efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, “welcomes Egypt’s readiness” to advance a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza, according to his office.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, landed in London on Thursday night ahead of meetings with Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and his Jordanian and Emirati counterparts. Earlier on Thursday, Blinken said the US was open to “different options” to ending the Gaza war after months of pushing a US-led ceasefire plan. He also announced another $135m in US aid for Palestinians.
A senior Hamas official said the group told Egyptian officials on Thursday it was ready to stop fighting in Gaza if Israel committed to a ceasefire deal. According to Egyptian state media reports, a delegation of Hamas leaders met with an Egyptian security delegation in Cairo as part of efforts to resume the Gaza ceasefire negotiations. According to the Hamas official, the group “expressed readiness to stop the fighting, but Israel must commit to a ceasefire, withdraw from the Gaza Strip, allow the return of displaced people, agree to a serious prisoner exchange deal and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, warned Benjamin Netanyahu that “civilisation is not best defended by sowing barbarism ourselves”. Macron also vowed to help train 6,000 extra Lebanese official forces, and called for a ceasefire and an end to Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers, as a conference in Paris raised $200m (£154m) for Lebanon’s official military and $800m in humanitarian aid for the country.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin met with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, at the Brics summit in Russia on Thursday. At a news conference at the summit, Putin said Russia is “not interested” in escalating conflict in the Middle East, adding to Abbas that he is “strongly for a quick end to the bloodshed” in Gaza.
Turkey launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday that Turkish airstrikes killed 12 civilians in north-east Syria. Funerals were held on Thursday for the victims of the deadly attack at the Tusaş headquarters.
PEN International said it is “outraged” by “threats” made by the Israeli military against six Palestinian journalists working at Al Jazeera. On Wednesday, the IDF published documents it said it had found in Gaza that proved that six Al Jazeera journalists had a military affiliation with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the allegations amounted to the smearing of Palestinian journalists “with unsubstantiated terrorist labels”. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the country was proud of Al Jazeera’s news network, and said it carried out its work to the “highest international standards.”
An Israeli soldier and former Palestinian detainees have said that the Israeli military has used civilians as human shields in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have forced Palestinians to enter potentially booby-trapped houses and tunnels in Gaza to avoid putting its troops in harms way, the IDF soldier and former Palestinian detainees told CNN.
The IDF soldier said his unit held two Palestinian prisoners for the explicit purpose of using them as human shields to probe dangerous places, adding that the practice was prevalent among Israeli units in Gaza. He told the outlet:
We told them to enter the building before us. If there are any booby traps, they will explode and not us.
“He told me to take them. In the next attack, use them as a human shield.”
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) October 24, 2024
An IDF soldier and five former Palestinian detainees tell CNN that the Israeli military has used civilians as human shields in Gaza, as @JDiamond1 reports. pic.twitter.com/o49EZNtTXS
Updated
Blinken to meet with key Middle East leaders in London
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to meet with Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, in London on Friday, AFP reported, citing a US official.
Blinken will also meet separately with the foreign minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, and that of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Friday, a US state department official said.
The US has stopped short of calling on Israel to end attacks immediately in Lebanon. Blinken, at a news conference earlier on Thursday, said Israel was working to remove the “threat” of Hezbollah but there must ultimately be a diplomatic solution.
Updated
The Israeli military has issued additional evacuation warnings for south Beirut before expected airstrikes on the Lebanese capital.
As we reported earlier, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avichay Adraee published maps showing specific buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb and warning people to evacuate the area immediately.
Adraee has now shared about three additional buildings in south Beirut and warned residents to evacuate them and stay away at a distance of more than 500 metres (1,640ft).
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في المناطق التالية:
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 24, 2024
🔸برج البراجنة
🔸حدث بيروت
⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على المدى الزمني… pic.twitter.com/EAmVkDbCiB
Updated
Here’s more on the reports of a massive Israeli assault on al-Hawaja Street in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
At least a dozen residential buildings were blown up during the Israeli attack on Thursday, Al Jazeera is reporting.
Gaza’s civil defence agency estimated that 150 people – including women and children – were killed or wounded as a result of the airstrike, the Palestinian news agency reported.
Updated
There are reports of an Israeli airstrike in western Jabalia in Gaza.
Al Jazeera is reporting that residential buildings have been blown up and there are many fatalities.
BREAKING: Israeli forces carried out a major attack on al-Hawaja Street in Gaza's Jabalia. At least a dozen residential buildings were destroyed, and an estimated 150 Palestinians were either killed or wounded, according to the report.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 24, 2024
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/LvP9C5HBdZ pic.twitter.com/wvTkzDAQCg
Updated
Israeli airstrike reported in south Beirut
Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, just minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for two buildings.
“Israeli warplanes launched a new strike a short while ago on the Choueifat” area, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
AFP reported footage showing a plume of smoke rising from the targeted site.
A delegation from Moscow arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss negotiations for the release of two Israeli-Russian dual citizens held in Gaza, according to the Times of Israel, citing a Saudi report.
It comes after a senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told Russian state news agency Ria that the group was consider the release of the two hostages, Alexander (Sasha) Trufanov and Maxim Herkin, as a “priority” but only as part of a ceasefire deal that would include an exchange of Palestinian prisoners.
Updated
PEN International 'outraged' by Israeli "threats' against Al Jazeera journalists
PEN International has said it is “outraged” by “threats” made by the Israeli military against six Palestinian journalists working at Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published documents it said it had found in Gaza that proved that six Al Jazeera journalists had a military affiliation with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The papers could not be immediately independently verified.
In response, Al Jazeera said the Israeli accusations were “criminal, draconian and irresponsible” and “part of a wider pattern of hostility”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East programme said the allegations amounted to the smearing of Palestinian journalists “with unsubstantiated terrorist labels”.
PEN International, posting to X on Thursday, said it condemned the “ongoing threats, impunity over their killings, and severe restrictions” on freedom of expression in Gaza since October 2023.
We are outraged by @IDF threats against six Palestinian journalists, labelling them as terrorists for reporting on Israel’s war crimes. We condemn the ongoing threats, impunity over their killings, and severe restrictions on FoE in #Gaza since Oct 2023. Read our #PENCongress…
— PEN International (@pen_int) October 24, 2024
Israel outlawed Al Jazeera earlier this year for what it termed “security reasons”, and raided its offices in the occupied West Bank.
Several of the network’s journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza war, deaths the Israeli military denies were deliberate.
Updated
The Israeli military has issued new evacuation warnings for southern Beirut in advance of expected airstrikes on the Lebanese capital’s suburbs.
The Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted on Twitter/X maps showing specific buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb, warning people to evacuate the area immediately.
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في المناطق التالية:
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 24, 2024
🔸شويفات العمروسية
🔸حارة حريك
⭕️تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على المدى الزمني… pic.twitter.com/zHKH6eAznP
Updated
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said five soldiers were killed and seven others wounded during fighting with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
הותר לפרסום: רס״ב (מיל׳) מרדכי חיים אמויאל בן 42 מלוד, רס״ם (מיל׳) שמואל הררי בן 35 מצפת, רס״ר (מיל׳) שלמה אביעד ניימן בן 31 ממצפה יריחו ורס״ל (מיל׳) שובאל בן-נתן בן 22 מרחלים, לוחמים בגדוד 222 בחטיבת כרמלי, נפלו בהתקלות עם מחבלים בדרום לבנון. יהי זכרם ברוך pic.twitter.com/S6vqZVW2XA
— איתי בלומנטל 🇮🇱 Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) October 24, 2024
Updated
Hamas official says it is ready to stop fighting if Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire deal
A senior Hamas official has said the group had told Egyptian officials it was ready to stop fighting in Gaza if Israel committed to a ceasefire deal.
As we reported earlier, a delegation of Hamas leaders met with an Egyptian security delegation in Cairo on Thursday as part of efforts to resume the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Egyptian state media reported.
The Hamas official told AFP that the group’s delegation discussed “ideas and proposals” related to a ceasefire deal with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Thursday. The official added:
Hamas has expressed readiness to stop the fighting, but Israel must commit to a ceasefire, withdraw from the Gaza Strip, allow the return of displaced people, agree to a serious prisoner exchange deal and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, “welcomes Egypt’s readiness” to advance a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza, his office posted to X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Egypt's readiness to advance a deal for the release of the hostages.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 24, 2024
Updated
As we reported earlier, Israeli and US negotiators are scheduled to meet in Doha this weekend to try to restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
An Egyptian security delegation met with a delegation of Hamas leaders in Cairo as part of efforts to resume the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Egyptian state media reported on Thursday.
A Hamas delegation, headed by chief negotiator and deputy Hamas Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo to meet with Egypt’s head of general intelligence agency, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV reported.
Updated
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin met with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, at the Brics summit in Russia on Thursday.
Putin, in televised comments, told Abbas:
We are strongly for a quick end to the bloodshed [in Gaza].
At a news conference at the summit, Putin said Russia is “not interested” in escalating conflict in the Middle East. He said:
We are very concerned about what is happening in the region. Russia is not interested in the conflict getting worse. We will not gain anything from this strategically, we will only see additional problems.
Updated
Israel’s top general has said there was a possibility for a “sharp conclusion” to the conflict with Hezbollah.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, said in a video statement on Wednesday:
In the north, there’s a possibility of reaching a sharp conclusion. We thoroughly dismantled Hezbollah’s senior chain of command.
Updated
Funerals were held on Thursday for the victims of a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company near Ankara.
Five people were killed and 22 others wounded in the explosion and assault at the Tusaş headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.
Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said investigators had confirmed that both attackers were members of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK.
The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in south-east Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the country’s western allies.
In response, Turkey launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday that Turkish airstrikes had killed 12 civilians in north-east Syria.
Updated
Gaza is 'dying', aid group chief tells Lebanon conference in Paris
Gaza is “dying”, the vice-president of aid group Doctors of the World has warned, as he called for immediate cessation of hostilities.
Jean-François Corty, speaking at an international conference for Lebanon in Paris on Thursday, welcomed the mobilization of aid for Lebanon but lamented the lack of concrete efforts to pressure the warring parties to stop the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza, AP reported.
“There was no mention of any potential constraints on the parties involved in the conflict, particularly the Israeli government,” Corty said, adding:
I also reminded them that whilst we are mobilizing for Lebanon, Gaza is dying today. Thousands of people are being eliminated … in the north of Gaza, and it seems that the international community no longer considers the Gazans to be our fellow human beings.
Updated
Footage shows large crowds gathering outside a bakery in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip as people try to secure bread.
The prices of basic food items have become unaffordable for many Palestinians amid Israel’s restrictions on produce entering Gaza.
Reuters’ analysis of official Israeli data shows that the flow of goods into the Palestinian territory is at its lowest level since the start of the war.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It has gone 8pm in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Beirut. This blog will shortly be handed over to the US team. Here is a summary of the day’s news so far:
At least 17 people, including children, have reportedly been killed by an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Al Jazeera reported that more than one missile was used in the area, which was close to the local market, and that the injured were being taken to two nearby hospitals. Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned the strike, calling it “a heinous crime that is added to the war crimes committed by Israel”.
Israel’s military posted to Telegram to claim that a strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza was targeting what it described as “Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre in the area”, accusing Hamas of the “systemic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law”.
An Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Sunday, a spokesperson for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. The head of Israel’s the Mossad will meet the head of the CIA and the Qatari prime minister in Doha, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The US state department said that secretary of state Antony Blinken “discussed renewed efforts to secure the release of the hostages and end the war in Gaza” with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Blinken added that he anticipates negotiators will get together in the coming days for discussions on a ceasefire deal. He also said that the US was open to “different options” to ending the Gaza war.
World powers raised $1bn to ease the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and support its army at a conference in Paris on Thursday, with France’s foreign minister urging Israel to heed the message to cease fire and focus on diplomacy. On Thursday, 70 government delegations and 15 international organisations met in Paris to help Lebanon.
Emmanuel Macron launched the one-day international conference on Lebanon on Thursday, announcing €100bn of French humanitarian aid and warning the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that “civilisation is not best defended by sowing barbarism ourselves”. The twin aims of the French president’s Paris conference are to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Lebanon and to strengthen Lebanese state institutions including the official army.
Blinken on Thursday announced an additional $135m in US aid for Palestinians, bringing the US total to $1.2bn since the 7 October 2023. “Today, we’re announcing an additional $135m in humanitarian assistance, water sanitation, internal health for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in the region,” Blinken said in Qatar.
The US, Qatar and Egypt continue their efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, Qatar’s prime minister said on Thursday. “This painful period in the region should come to an end,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also the foreign minister, after meeting with the US secretary of state in Doha.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Thursday that more than 770 people have been killed in the north of the territory since Israel launched an assault aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping there. “Since the start of the military operation in northern Gaza more than 770 people have been killed,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the territory’s civil defence agency, adding that the toll could rise as there were people buried under the rubble.
Qatar’s prime minister has said that Israeli accusations that six Al Jazeera journalists based in Gaza have links to terror groups cannot be taken “at face value”. He told the gathered media that “we have never seen the journalists being treated the way they have been treated in Gaza unfortunately,” adding that “what we have learnt” since the war began is “we cannot take those accusations of Israel at face value”. Israel’s military named six specific journalists it accused of being members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera has forcefully denied Israel’s allegations, calling the accusations “a blatant attempt” to silence its coverage.
The European Union will give the Lebanese army €20m (£16.6m / $21.6m) this year and €40m (£33.3 / $43.1m) next year, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Thursday during a conference held in Paris aimed to raise humanitarian aid for Lebanon.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Thursday that it could no longer provide first responder services in the north of the territory, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to “bomb and kill” its crews.
Emmanuel Macron has called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, criticising Israel’s incursion into the south of the country, and calling on Hezbollah to stop its operations.
At the Paris event, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has said his country still supports the 21-day ceasefire proposal on the table that was brokered by the US and France. He said the Lebanese army could deploy more troops in the south to support any ceasefire agreement, but needed international resources to bolster their capability.
Mikati also said on Thursday that only the state should carry weapons. “Lebanese authorities must deploy over [all] Lebanese territory and weapons should be carried only by the state and the Lebanese army,” Mikati said on the sidelines of a Lebanon aid conference in Paris, without explicitly calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the only group that did not lay down its arms after the end of the Lebanese civil war.
An Israeli group representing families of Gaza hostages called on Netanyahu and Hamas to secure an agreement for the release of captives, after new truce talks were announced on Thursday. “We demand the Israeli prime minister grant the negotiating team full authority to secure this deal. Time is running out for the hostages,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said a joint proposal made by France and the US remains the basis for any potential ceasefire in Lebanon, adding that the full implementation of UN resolution 1701 was still the goal of diplomatic efforts. Speaking to the media in Paris, Reuters reports Barrot also called for Lebanon to end a two-year power vacuum and elect a new president.
Hezbollah claimed to have destroyed at least one Israeli tank in direct clashes in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military has not yet commented on the claim.
Israel’s military reported that 95 rockets had been launched at Israel from inside southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israeli media reported that five people had been injured so far on Thursday by shrapnel in locations across the north of the country.
Israel’s army radio reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) located two explosive devices in a cistern near the illegal Israeli settlement of Avni Hefetz, which is near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank. It reported that the devices were destroyed and there were no casualties.
Two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle on the main road from Beirut to the east of Lebanon in what has been described as an apparent targeted assassination.
Four people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike “which targeted a facility housing displaced people in the al-Maghazi refugee camp”, reported the Palestinian news agency Wafa on Thursday. Medical sources told Wafa that at least four people were killed at the Al-Maghazi Services Club.
Israel’s Arabic language military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a statement in which he claimed that Hezbollah was “using ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons” and said that Israel would target vehicles “regardless of its type”. Without providing evidence of the claim, Adraee said Israel “calls on medical teams to avoid dealing with Hezbollah elements and not to cooperate with them”.
Israel’s military has claimed that during its operations inside southern Lebanon it has “discovered an underground hideout” which Hezbollah was using for a planned attack inside Israel.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services reported on Thursday that an 84-year-old man had been “lightly wounded by shrapnel” in northern Israel.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has told China’s Xi Jinping at the Brics summit in Kazan that Israel is the main threat to peace in the region, and that Tehran would give a firm and decisive response to any act of aggression against it. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin at the summit described the Middle East as being on the bring of all-out war.
Turkey has launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization said it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Sri Lankan police arrested three men after a US intelligence warning of possible attacks against Israeli tourists visiting the island, the foreign minister said on Thursday. “We are questioning three local men,” Vijitha Herath told reporters in Colombo. “We are taking the US warning seriously and have increased security.”
Updated
Turkey has launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people.
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization said it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.
The targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday that Turkish airstrikes killed 12 civilians in north-east Syria.
“Over the past hours … a new wave of [Turkish] attacks on northern and eastern Syria” killed 12 civilians, including two children, and wounded 25 others, a statement from the US-backed SDF said.
“In addition to populated areas, Turkish warplanes and UAVs [drones] targeted bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and [Kurdish] Internal Security Force checkpoints,” added the statement, which also reported Turkish shelling.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out strikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after Turkish government officials blamed the PKK for the deadly attack at the headquarters of the aerospace and defence company Tusaş near Ankara.
An Israeli group representing families of Gaza hostages called on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to secure an agreement for the release of captives, after new truce talks were announced on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We demand the Israeli prime minister grant the negotiating team full authority to secure this deal. Time is running out for the hostages,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, adding:
We urgently call on world leaders to exert maximum pressure on Hamas to accept this deal and end a humanitarian catastrophe that has already claimed too many innocent live”.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) have published a part of the statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office mentioned earlier (see 4.24pm BST)
“At the direction of prime minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, will leave on Sunday for a meeting in Doha with the head of the CIA, Bill Burns, and with the prime minister of Qatar,” said the statement, adding that “the parties will discuss the various options to restart the negotiations to release hostages from Hamas captivity following the latest developments”.
Further to the news that an Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Sunday (see 4.24pm BST), prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has shared a bit more detail, reports Reuters.
The head of Israel’s the Mossad will meet the head of the CIA and the Qatari prime minister in Doha, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Updated
Israeli delegation to travel to Doha on Sunday, Israeli official says
An Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Sunday, a spokesperson for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, reports Reuters.
The statement came after Qatar and Washington’s top diplomats said that negotiators will gather in Doha to try to restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
The Netanyahu spokesperson gave no other details, according to Reuters.
World powers raise $1bn for Lebanon at Paris conference
World powers raised $1bn to ease the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and support its army at a conference in Paris on Thursday, with France’s foreign minister urging Israel to heed the message to cease fire and focus on diplomacy, reports Reuters.
On Thursday, 70 government delegations and 15 international organisations met in Paris to help Lebanon.
“The message [for Israel] is simple: Cease fire!” France’s soreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told a news conference, reiterating that a Franco-American proposal for a temporary truce was still on the table, reports Reuters.
Barrot said more than $800m, including $300m from Washington, had been raised primarily to help up to one million displaced with food, healthcare and education.
A further $200m would go to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), deemed as the guarantor of internal stability, and also vital to implementing 2006 UN security council resolution 1701 that calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
France has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with Washington in trying to secure a ceasefire, although the two allies differ on approach regarding 1701, reports Reuters.
“The storm we are currently witnessing is unlike any other, because it carries the seeds of total destruction,” Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati told delegates, pleading for more pressure to be put on Israel.
Opening the conference, French president Emmanuel Macron said there must not be a return to past cycles of violence. “More damage, more victims, more strikes will not enable the end of terrorism or ensure security for everyone,” he said.
Despite the repeated calls for a ceasefire, there was no sign on Thursday of the conflict abating. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike near the border, the Lebanese army said.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken skipped Paris and appeared to make little progress during a tour of the Middle East, a final push for peace before next month’s US election.
Updated
Macron warns Netanyahu against ‘sowing barbarism’ in remarks on Lebanon
Emmanuel Macron launched a one-day international conference on Lebanon on Thursday, announcing €100bn of French humanitarian aid and warning the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that “civilisation is not best defended by sowing barbarism ourselves”.
He also vowed to help train 6,000 extra Lebanese official forces as he called for a ceasefire and an end to Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers, for which he said there was no justification.
The twin aims of the French president’s Paris conference are to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Lebanon and to strengthen Lebanese state institutions including the official army.
In his opening remarks Marcon also said it was a matter of bitter regret that Iran, backers of the Hezbollah group, had “engaged Hezbollah against Israel, while Lebanon’s higher interest required that it stay away from the Gaza war”.
France is hoping to raise €460m at the conference, more than the latest UN target of €400m.
In words directed at Netanyahu, with whom his relationship has deteriorated badly, he said:
We have been talking a lot in recent days about a war of civilisations or about civilisations that must be defended. I am not sure that we defend a civilisation by sowing barbarism ourselves.”
Netanyahu had said on Europe 1 radio on Wednesday:
It is a war of civilisations against barbarism; we are at the forefront of this war and France must support Israel.”
Macron argued:
I am sure of one thing, that the possibility of a civilisation is at stake in Lebanon, that is to say the possibility for women and men whose origins are different, whose religions are different, to share the same territory and to live for the same project.”
He added:
The war must end as soon as possible. There must be a ceasefire in Lebanon. More damage, more victims, more strikes will neither put an end to terrorism nor ensure the security of all.”
A joint proposal made by France and the US remains the basis for any potential ceasefire in Lebanon, said French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot, adding that the full implementation of UN resolution 1701 was still the goal of diplomatic efforts, reports Reuters.
The resolution calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
France’s top diplomat also said Lebanon must end a two-year vacuum and elect a new president, calling the lack of an elected head of state “inconceivable”.
“To preserve its unity in the face of challenges, to be represented at the negotiating table in the future, Lebanon must have a head of state,” Barrot told a news conference in Paris.
Gaza rescuers say 770 people killed in Israel assault on north
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Thursday that more than 770 people have been killed in the north of the territory since Israel launched an assault aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping there.
“Since the start of the military operation in northern Gaza more than 770 people have been killed,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the territory’s civil defence agency, adding that the toll could rise as there were people buried under the rubble.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that he also said a strike on a school turned shelter in central Gaza killed 17 people, while the Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants when it hit the site.
The civil defence agency also said on Thursday that it can no longer provide first responder services in the north, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to “bomb and kill” its crews.
The Israeli military says the goal of its assault is to destroy the operational capabilities Hamas is trying to rebuild in the north. It has repeatedly told people to evacuate, and to do so they must pass through army-staffed checkpoints.
Images posted online and verified by AFP show crowds of Palestinians waiting to cross such checkpoints, while several Palestinians reported mistreatment or detention during the process.
Israel’s army radio reports that the IDF located two explosive devices in a cistern near the illegal Israeli settlement of Avni Hefetz, which is near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank.
It reports the devices were destroyed and there were no casualties.
Warning sirens have again sounded in northern Israel due to the threat of rockets being fired from the direction of Lebanon. Israeli media reports that five people have been wounded so far on Thursday by shrapnel in locations across the north of the country.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said a joint proposal made by France and the US remains the basis for any potential ceasefire in Lebanon, adding that the full implementation of UN resolution 1701 was still the goal of diplomatic efforts.
Speaking to the media in Paris, Reuters reports Barrot also called for Lebanon to end a two-year power vacuum and elect a new president.
It quotes him saying:
To preserve its unity in the face of challenges, to be represented at the negotiating table in the future, Lebanon must have a head of state.
UN resolution 1701 calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state or UN peacekeeping forces. It would effectively create a buffer zone of 30km (18 miles) between the blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon and the Litani River inside Lebanon.
Neither Israel or Hezbollah have publicly agreed to the ceasefire proposal, and some hardline members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have threated to collapse his coalition if a ceasefire is agreed with Hezbollah.
Updated
Here is a video report on the Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza. It is reported that at least 17 people, including children, were killed by the Israeli strike.
Jordan’s foreign ministry has condemned an Israeli strike on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, calling it “a heinous crime that is added to the war crimes committed by Israel.”
In the statement, quoted by Palestinian news agency Wafa, the ministry accused Israel of continued crimes against civilians, which it said constituted a flagrant violation of the rules of international law. The ministry added that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government did not care about what Jordan described as the international will calling for an end to the war and the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.
Israel has claimed it was targeting a Hamas command and control centre located at the school building. 17 people are reported to have been killed by the Israeli strike, including children.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services are reporting that an 84-year-old man has been “lightly wounded by shrapnel” in northern Israel.
Reuters has a quick snap to report that France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has said that the international conference on the Lebanon crisis response being hosted in Paris today has raised €185m (£154m / $200m).
More details soon …
Four reported killed by Israeli strike in northern Gaza
Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that four people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike “which targeted a facility housing displaced people in the al-Maghazi refugee camp.”
Medical sources told Wafa that at least four people were killed at the Al-Maghazi Services Club.
Earlier today at least nine children were reported among 17 people killed by an Israeli strike on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp. Israel’s military has claimed it was targeting a Hamas command and control centre in the building.
In the last few moments, using its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has made more allegations against the Al Jazeera news network, claiming it had obtained documents that showed Hamas sought to exert editorial influence on Al Jazeera’s output, and also set up a secure communications channel between the two. Hamas has been the de facto government in the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and recently raided the network’s office in Ramallah.
Al Jazeera has forcefully denied Israeli allegations linking six of its journalists to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, calling the accusations “a blatant attempt” to silence its coverage from the besieged Palestinian territory.
Qatar’s prime minister has said that Israeli accusations that six Al Jazeera journalists based in Gaza have links to terror groups cannot be taken “at face value”.
During a joint press conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the country was proud of Al Jazeera’s news network, and said it carried out its work to the “highest international standards.”
He told the gathered media that “we have never seen the journalists being treated the way they have been treated in Gaza unfortunately,” adding that “what we have learnt” since the war began is “we cannot take those accusations of Israel at face value”.
Israel’s military named six specific journalists it accused of being members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
In a statement, Al Jazeera, which has been banned from operating inside Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, dismissed the allegations.
It said:
Al Jazeera rejects Israeli army allegations against six of its journalists in Gaza that claim they can be linked to the military wing of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. These accusations are a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists documenting Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Anas Al Sharif has been reporting from besieged northern Gaza, where ten of his family members were killed by Israel on Sunday.
Israel’s allegations are part of a pattern targeting Al Jazeera and may serve as a pretext for further attacks.
Israeli soldiers have killed three Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza since October 2023, while two are in critical condition, and Israel is refusing to allow their evacuation.
Al Jazeera has also cited a statement from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which said “Israel has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence.”
Speaking at the same press conference, Blinken did not address the issue of the Al Jazeera journalists specifically, but said:
We very much support the work of journalists in Gaza and everywhere else around the world, including in areas of conflict, and we’re equally determined that journalists be protected. Far too many have lost their lives in Gaza.
On the CPJ website, it says:
As of 24 October 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 128 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Thursday said that the US was open to “different options” to ending the Gaza war after months of pushing a US-led ceasefire plan, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We’re looking at different options,” Blinken told reporters in Qatar. He added:
We haven’t yet really determined whether Hamas is prepared to engage, but the next step is getting the negotiators together … we’ll certainly learn more in the coming days.”
The US, Qatar and Egypt continue their efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, Qatar’s prime minister said on Thursday, reports Reuters.
“This painful period in the region should come to an end,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also the foreign minister, after meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Doha.
Reuters also reports Sheikh Mohammed as saying that US negotiators will meet Israeli negotiators in Doha in an effort to reach a breakthrough.
Blinken announces additional $135m in aid to Palestinians
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Thursday announced another $135m in US aid for Palestinians as he called again for a ceasefire in Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Today, we’re announcing an additional $135m in humanitarian assistance, water sanitation, internal health for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in the region,” Blinken announced in Qatar, saying it brought the US total to $1.2bn since the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Updated
Blinken says he expects Gaza negotiators to meet in coming days
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said after talks in Qatar on Thursday that he anticipates negotiators will get together in the coming days for discussions on a ceasefire deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza, reports Reuters.
Speaking alongside Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said the two discussed options to capitalise on the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and move the abortive negotiations forward.
Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday that only the state should carry weapons, as he pushed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Lebanese authorities must deploy over [all] Lebanese territory and weapons should be carried only by the state and the Lebanese army,” Mikati said on the sidelines of a Lebanon aid conference in Paris, without explicitly calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the only group that did not lay down its arms after the end of the Lebanese civil war.
The European Union will give the Lebanese army €20m (£16.6m / $21.6m) this year and €40m (£33.3 / $43.1m) next year, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Thursday during a conference held in Paris aimed to raise humanitarian aid for Lebanon.
Israel’s military has posted to Telegram to claim that a strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza was targeting what it described as “Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre in the area”, accusing Hamas of the “systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.”
17 people have been reported dead after the strike, including children, according to Palestinian news sources.
Sri Lankan police arrested three men following a US intelligence warning of possible attacks against Israeli tourists visiting the island, the foreign minister said on Thursday.
“We are questioning three local men,” AFP reports Vijitha Herath told reporters in Colombo. “We are taking the US warning seriously and have increased security.”
Yesterday Israel warned its nationals to stay away from certain locations on the island.
The US state department has said that secretary of state Antony Blinken “discussed renewed efforts to secure the release of the hostages and end the war in Gaza” with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Qatar, alongside Egypt, has consistently sought to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages who have been held in captivity for over a year.
AFP reports that the death toll after an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza has risen to 17.
Summary of the day so far …
16 people, including children, have reportedly been killed by an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Al Jazeera reported that more than one missile was used in the area, which was close to the local market, and that the injured were being taken to two nearby hospitals
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Thursday it can no longer provide first responder services in the north of the territory, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to “bomb and kill” its crews
Emmanuel Macron has called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, criticising Israel’s incursion into the south of the country, and calling on Hezbollah to stop its operations. The French president is hosting a conference aimed at bringing together humanitarian and military aid for Lebanon. France has pledged €100m (£83m / $108m) in humanitarian aid
At the Paris event, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has said his country still supports the 21-day ceasefire proposal on the table that was brokered by the US and France. He said the Lebanese army could deploy more troops in the south to support any ceasefire agreement, but needed international resources to bolster their capability
Hezbollah has claimed to have destroyed at least one Israeli tank in direct clashes in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military has not commented on the claim
Israel’s military has reported that 95 rockets have been launched aimed at Israel from inside southern Lebanon on Thursday. At least two Israelis have been wounded by shrapnel
Two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle on the main road from Beirut to the east of Lebanon in what has been described as an apparent targeted assassination
Israel’s Arabic language military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has issued a statement in which he claims that Hezbollah is “using ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons” and says that Israel will target vehicles “regardless of its type”. Without providing evidence of the claim, Adraee says Israel “calls on medical teams to avoid dealing with Hezbollah elements and not to cooperate with them”
Israel’s military has claimed that during its operations inside southern Lebanon it has “discovered an underground hideout” which Hezbollah was using for a planned attack inside Israel
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has told China’s Xi Jinping at the Brics summit in Kazan that Israel is the main threat to peace in the region, and that Tehran would give a firm and decisive response to any act of aggression against it. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin at the summit described the Middle East as being on the bring of all-out war
The IDF has released drone footage from inside Gaza showing Palestinians being forced to flee northern Gaza.
Iranian and Chinese presidents meet at Brics summit
Iran’s Tasnim news agency has reported that president Masoud Pezeshkian met with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping directly during the Brics summit in Kazan.
It reports Pezeshkian told Xi that Iran does not seek clashes and believes that wars do not benefit anybody, but that Tehran would give a firm and decisive response to any act of aggression against it.
Israel is believed to be planning retaliatory strikes for two waves of missiles launched at it by Iran on 1 October. That attack was in turn a response to Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
Pezeshkian reportedly told Xi that Israel is the main threat to regional peace, and denounced the unconditional support Israel receives from the US and other western governments.
Reporting on an Israeli strike on a school in Nuseirat in Gaza which is believed to have killed at least 16 people including children, Al Jazeera states the school “was hosting hundreds of internally displaced families when it was directly hit.”
It says “More than one missile was used in the area, which was close to the local market,” and that the injured are being taken to two nearby hospitals.
Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but still has correspondents in neighbouring Gaza and Lebanon.
More details soon …
Gaza's civil defence agency says it can no longer provide first responder services in north of territory
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Thursday it can no longer provide first responder services in the north of the territory, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to “bomb and kill” its crews.
AFP reports Mahmud Bassal, the agency’s spokesperson, said “We are unable to provide humanitarian services to citizens in the northern governorate of the Gaza Strip due to threats from Israeli occupation forces, who have threatened to kill and bomb our teams if they remain inside Jabalia camp.”
He told AFP first responders had been “targeted” by Israeli forces on several occasions, leaving “several members injured, and others are left bleeding on the streets with no one able to rescue them.”
16 killed including children in Israeli strike on school in Nuseirat – reports
16 people have been killed by an Israeli strike on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, Reuters reports.
Earlier Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least nine people had been killed, including four children. The Al-Shuhada school was sheltering displaced Palestinians.
More details soon …
Hezbollah has claimed to have hit two Israeli tanks in clashes in southern Lebanon, AFP reports.
The agency states Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in “heavy clashes in the village of Aita al-Shaab” at close range, adding that they hit a Merkava tank that came to assist the troops after earlier saying it had “destroyed” another tank.
The claims have not been independently verified. There has been no immediate comment on the claims from Israel.
Israel’s military has reported that 95 rockets have been launched aimed at Israel from inside southern Lebanon so far today.
The Hamas-led health authority in Gaza has issued new casualty figures from the conflict, claiming that 42,847 Palestinians have been killed and 100,544 wounded in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive last year.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has claimed that during its operations inside southern Lebanon it has “discovered an underground hideout” said to contain “bunk beds, storage cabinets, food supplies, infrastructure for long-term stay, a large amount of equipment, weapons, and launch positions” which it says were left behind by Hezbollah, and were intended for use in an attack on Israel.
The claims have not been independently verified.
AFP reports that a German foreign ministry statement has said it is pledging €96m (£80m / $103m) in aid to Lebanon at today’s international conference on the crisis being hosted by Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
The ministry said the money will “reach the internally displaced” and be used to “ensure social, economic and institutional stability in Lebanon.”
The Lebanese government has stated that over 2,500 people have been killed, more than 12,000 wounded, and 1.2 million people displaced since Israel stepped up its aerial attacks and staged an incursion into southern Lebanon.
Lebanese media is now reporting that two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle on the main road from Beirut to the east of the country.
More details soon …
At least one person is reported to have been killed by an Israeli strike inside Lebanon on a vehicle on the main road that links Beirut with the east of the country and Damascus in Syria.
Zeina Khodr, at the scene for Al Jazeera, described it as looking like “yet another targeted assassination”. She reported that the Lebanese army and forensics teams were on the site.
More details soon …
Speaking at an international conference organised by France in Paris, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has said his country still supports the 21-day ceasefire proposal on the table that was brokered by the US and France.
Neither Israel or the Iranian-backed Hezbollah have accepted the proposal.
Mikati said that the Lebanese army had begun recruitment, and could deploy additional troops in the south of the country to help enforce a ceasefire, but said that the armed forces needed financial and training support from the international community.
Mikati also said that UN security council resolution 1701, which was intended to resolve the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, should form the basis of any settlement. The resolution calls for a buffer zone between the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon up to the Litani River where only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces would be allowed to operate. The result would effectively force Hezbollah back about 30km (18 miles) from northern Israel, while removing any Israeli presence inside southern Lebanon.
Macron: international conference will support strengthening of Lebanese armed forces
Emmanuel Macron has called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, criticising Israel’s incursion into the south of the country, and calling on Hezbollah to stop its operations.
Speaking at an international conference in Paris to rally humanitarian and military aid for Lebanon which is being attended by about 70 nations and international groups, including Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, Macron said that the conference would support the recruitment of 6,000 new troops for the Lebanese army. The French president said it would also provide key supplies.
Speaking about the UN peacekeeping force, Unifil, which has been operational in Lebanon since 1978, Macron said it needed to adapt its role to the circumstances, and said that attacks on it by Israeli forces were not justified.
Macron announced that France would be supplying €100m (£83m / $108m) in humanitarian aid.
He said “in the immediate term, massive aid is needed for the Lebanese population, both for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war and for the communities hosting them.”
Earlier, France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot described Lebanon as being “on the edge of the abyss.”
Describing Lebanon, a country that France held a mandate over in the aftermath of the first world war, as “France’s friend”, Barrot added “It is our duty to act and that’s why France has taken this initiative.”
Neither Iran or Israel have been invited to the conference.
France is hosting an international conference today for Lebanon to rally military and humanitarian aid. Emmanuel Macron is speaking to open it. We will bring you the key lines that emerge.
Speaking at the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has warned that the Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war.
State-owned news agency Tass quotes Putin saying that the Russian Federation’s position was that it opposes any terrorist acts on any side of the conflict.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Lebanon.
Warning sirens have again sounded in northern Israel.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that later today India will deliver 33 tons of medical aid to Lebanon.
Israel’s Arabic language military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has issued a statement in which he claims that Hezbollah is “using ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons” and says that Israel will target vehicles “regardless of its type”.
Without providing evidence of the claim, Adraee says Israel “calls on medical teams to avoid dealing with Hezbollah elements and not to cooperate with them.”
In the message, Israel’s military again orders Lebanese citizens to avoid moving toward the south of the country.
The Lebanese government states that 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes due to the escalation in fighting and the widespread airstrikes being carried out by Israel on the country. Tens of thousands of Israelis have also had to flee their homes in the north of Israel due to the continuous rocket fire into Israel from southern Lebanon.
Israel’s military reports that “approximately 50 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory” this morning.
In a message on its official Telegram channel, it stated “Some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified.”
Two people are reported to have been wounded. In a post to social media, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said:
Paramedics are treating two 27-year-old males in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries and evacuating them to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya
Israeli media is reporting that the Magen David Adom ambulance service has treated two people who were “seriously wounded” during a rocket barrage aimed at the northern Israeli coastal city of Nahariya earlier this morning.
Lebanese MP Bilal Abdullah has said that France is the only country standing by Lebanon during the current escalation in the Middle East.
Lebanon’s National News Media quotes him criticising what he called “the international community’s double standards regarding the Israeli aggression on Lebanon”, saying:
As international bodies concerned with health and human rights turn a blind eye to this crisis, despite the continuous Lebanese appeals, France is the only country that stands by Lebanon, providing aid to support the Lebanese army and [to] mitigate the repercussions of the war.
Israel’s military reports that sirens have been sounding in Dovev and in Malkia in northern Israel.
Reporting on three Lebanese soldiers being killed by Israeli fire during the IDF operation inside Lebanon, Imran Khan of Al Jazeera describes it as “a very serious incident for the Lebanese army.”
Reporting from Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, he writes:
Since 29 September, a total of 13 Lebanese soldiers have been killed. The Lebanese army is not fighting the Israelis in these cases. What they are doing is providing support services for the Civil Defence or the emergency services. They are trying to help the civilian population and it is in that role that they have been attacked.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel.
Israel claims to have struck 160 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon during the past day
In a statement overnight, Israel’s military claims to have “eliminated approximately 20 terrorists” and to have struck “over 160 Hezbollah terror targets” inside Lebanon in the past day.
On its official Telegram channel, the IDF said:
IDF troops continue their limited, localised, targeted ground raids against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon. Over the past day, the troops eliminated dozens of terrorists and the IAF [Israel’s air force] struck over 160 Hezbollah terror targets, including launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites throughout Lebanon.
In addition, the troops located living quarters belonging to Hezbollah terrorists, as well as dozens of weapons, including AK-47s and shoulder-fired missiles that were located inside a house in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has stated that over 2,500 people have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded since Israel stepped up its campaign of airstrikes on the country. More than 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been forced to flee in northern Israel after a year-long campaign of near continuous rocket fire from Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces from positions in southern Lebanon.
US voices ‘deep concern’ after Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli strike
Hello and welcome to the Guardians continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday that Washington had “deep concerns” about strikes against the Lebanese armed forces while urging Israel to take steps to ensure the safety of the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Pentagon said.
Hours after the call, three Lebanese soldiers were killed, including an officer, in an Israeli strike during the evacuation of wounded people on the outskirts of the village of Yater in southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon also says its troops have come under Israeli attack several times. Israel has disputed accounts of those incidents.
Austin also told Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant that Washington welcomed the movement of humanitarian assistance through the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and urged Israel take steps to address the dire situation there, the Pentagon’s summary of the call said.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news:
Israeli strikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday night, levelling several buildings and destroying the offices of a Lebanese broadcaster. Lebanese state media reported 17 Israeli raids with six buildings levelled, marking one of the most violent nights in the area since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated a month ago. The country’s health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded. Al-Mayadeen said an Israeli strike targeted an office it had vacated there.
Hezbollah said it struck a military manufacturing firm in the Tel Aviv suburbs with rockets, claiming the hit was accurate. Around the time of Hezbollah’s claim, air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and neighbouring cities. There was no immediate indication of any defence facility having been hit around Tel Aviv and no casualties reported according to the IDF.
Israeli forces have killed 2,574 people and wounded 12,001 others since its attacks across Lebanon, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. At least 28 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the last 24 hours, it said.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 42 people on Wednesday as Israeli forces intensified a siege of northern parts of the Palestinian territory. The health ministry said at least 650 people had been killed since the new Israeli offensive began in the north of Gaza. Gaza’s civil emergency service said all its operations in northern Gaza were suspended after Israeli forces detained five staff members and bombed its only fire truck.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said one of its staff members was killed when an Unrwa vehicle was hit in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Gaza’s civil emergency service said three of its rescuers were wounded in northern Gaza in what it said was a “targeted strike” that aimed to force them out of Jabalia.
Israel carried out airstrikes on Wednesday in Tyre, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, which had become a refuge over the past year for thousands of families displaced by fighting further south. Videos showed large plumes of smoke billowing between residential buildings in the centre of the city.
The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said planned airstrikes on Iran will make the world understand Israel’s military might. The Middle East has been braced for more than three weeks for a threatened Israeli response to Iran’s 1 October missile attack, which was in turn a reprisal for Israel’s killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Gallant visited aircrews at Hatzerim airbase on Wednesday and made clear that Israel still intended to strike back.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said his country is tracking “very, very, very carefully” efforts by Israel to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He accused Israel of previously having fallen back on promises of sustained deliveries. Blinken said Israel’s success against Hamas had come at “great cost” to Palestinian civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of “military affiliation” to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reacted with scepticism, saying that “Israel has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence”.
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