Israel said it hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in its latest strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Sunday, while officials in Gaza said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli attack that killed dozens.
Israel would carry out targeted strikes on sites belonging to Hezbollah’s financial arm in Lebanon in the coming hours and Lebanese residents had been urged to evacuate areas close to those facilities, said Israel’s chief military spokesperson on Sunday.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) said an Israeli army bulldozer had demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Israel intensifies offensive in Gaza, Lebanon
Israel said it hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in its latest strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Sunday, while officials in Gaza said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli attack that killed dozens.
At least 87 people were dead or missing following the air strike on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza late on Saturday, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory said, one of the highest death tolls for months from a single attack. Israel said it was investigating reports of the incident.
It marked an intensification of Israel’s offensives against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire negotiations to end more than a year of conflict.
With US elections approaching, officials, diplomats and other sources in the region say Israel is seeking through military operations to try to shield its borders and ensure its rivals cannot regroup.
Israel is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile barrage earlier this month, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was the subject of an assassination attempt by “Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah” on Saturday when a drone was directed at his holiday home. In a call with former US president Donald Trump, the prime minister reiterated that Israel would make decisions based on its interests, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
Israel’s government has spurned several attempts by the US, its main ally and military backer, to broker ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.
In Beirut, Israel said its air force had followed strikes on Saturday with an attack on Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters there as well as an underground weapons workshop.
Fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, said the Israeli military.
Reuters witnesses saw smoke rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs, once a densely populated zone that also housed Hezbollah offices and underground installations.
On a visit near the border, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said forces were dismantling Hezbollah tunnels, weapons stores and infrastructure. “Our goal is to completely ‘clean’ the area so that Israel’s northern communities may return to their homes," he added.
Hezbollah made no immediate comment on the strikes, but said it had fired missiles at Israeli forces in Lebanon and at a base in northern Israel.
Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the group began launching rockets in support of Hamas.
At the start of October, Israel launched a ground assault inside Lebanon in an attempt to stabilise the border region for its citizens who had fled rocket attacks in northern Israel.
On Sunday in southern Lebanon, security and civil defence sources said two aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike on a house being used as a clinic, while the Lebanese military said three of its soldiers were killed in a strike on an army vehicle.
Over the last year, Lebanese officials estimate that more than 2,400 people have been killed and more than 1.2 million people displaced. Fifty-nine people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period, say Israeli authorities.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in the attack that sparked the war, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military response in Gaza has left more than 42,500 people dead, say Palestinian officials.
A 41-year-old Israeli colonel was killed, and another officer was wounded in combat in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli military said. Israel’s Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan reported an explosive device had gone off under a tank.
Gaza’s health ministry said rescue operations following the strike in Beit Lahiya were being hindered by communications problems and ongoing Israeli military operations.
The strike came two weeks into a major assault around Jabalia, just south of Beit Lahiya, where Israel says its troops backed by tanks have been trying to root out remaining Hamas fighters.
Israel said the strike hit a Hamas target, questioning an earlier death toll of 73 released by the Hamas media office.
As the fighting has continued, two of the three remaining hospitals in northern Gaza have been hit and patients, medical staff and displaced people injured, according to the United Nations.
Israel says militants use civilian areas including schools and hospitals for cover, a charge Hamas denies.
More than 5,000 Palestinians left Jabalia via designated routes, said Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee on the social media platform X.
Evacuation orders have fuelled fears among many Palestinians that the operation is intended to clear them from northern Gaza to enable Israeli control of the area after the war.
Israel has denied this, saying it is trying to protect civilians and separate them from Hamas fighters.
Palestinians were also shocked by footage appearing to show people in a street in Jabalia being hit by a strike as they approached to rescue someone who had already been hit. Reuters verified the location of the footage, but not the date. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The Israeli offensive, triggered by the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, has made most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people homeless, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools.
Israel will hit targets 'connected to Hezbollah’s financial arm’
Israel would carry out targeted strikes on sites belonging to Hezbollah’s financial arm in Lebanon in the coming hours and Lebanese residents had been urged to evacuate areas close to those facilities, said Israel’s chief military spokesperson on Sunday.
“We will attack a number of targets in the coming hours,” spokesperson Daniel Hagari told a news briefing.
Israeli army ‘demolished watchtower and fence at UN site’
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) said an Israeli army bulldozer had demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Israel to take legal action against Macron over trade show ban
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday he had ordered his ministry to start legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Paris banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show.
The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest incident in a row fuelled by the Macron government’s unease over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Euronaval, the organiser of the 4-7 November event in Paris, said last week that the French government had informed it that Israeli delegations were not allowed to exhibit stands or show equipment, but could attend the trade show. The decision affected seven firms, it said.
“I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to take legal and diplomatic action against French President ... decision to prevent Israeli companies from showcasing their products at the @SalonEuronaval exhibition in Paris next month,” said Katz on X.
“The boycott of Israeli companies for the second time, or the imposition of unacceptable conditions, are undemocratic measures that are not acceptable between friendly nations. I urge President Macron to cancel them entirely.”
Gaza health ministry says 87 killed in northern Gaza airstrike
A total of 87 people were killed or missing under the rubble after an Israeli attack on Saturday on northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya, with more than 40 wounded, said the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry on Sunday.
The Israeli military has said it was investigating reports of the incident, which left one of the highest casualty tolls in months.
Gaza’s health ministry said rescue operations were being hindered by communications problems and by the Israeli military operation still going on around the area, close to the borderline with Israel.
“Victims are still under the rubble and on the road and ambulance teams and civil emergency can’t reach them,” it said in a statement.
The strike, late on Saturday night, came two weeks into a major operation around the town of Jabalia, just to the south of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli troops backed with tanks have been trying to squeeze out remaining Hamas fighters.
“Horrifying scenes unfolding in Gaza, amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes & an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis. I condemn the continuing attacks on civilians,” UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland posted on X.
“Hostages must be freed, displacement of Palestinians must cease, & civilians must be protected,” he added.
The military says it has killed scores of armed Palestinian fighters, located weapons, and dismantled a variety of military infrastructure during the operation in Jabalia, home to one of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps.
Residents in Jabalia said Israeli forces raided shelters housing displaced families and detained dozens of men.
As the fighting has continued, health officials have reported stark shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies to treat patients in the three remaining hospitals still partially operating in the area.
Officials at the Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals said their facilities were besieged by Israeli forces, and at Kamal Adwan Hospital officials said the facility came under Israeli fire.
US investigates leak on intelligence about Israel’s Iran attack plans
The US was investigating the leak of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel’s preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, said House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday.
The documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, describing US interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from 15-16 October.
They began circulating last week on the Telegram messaging app. Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic missile barrage carried out by Iran on 1 October, its second direct attack on Israel in six months.
Asked about the leak of the documents during an interview with CNN, Johnson, the US House of Representatives’ top legislator, said an “investigation [is] under way and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours.”
Israel’s military says it attacked Hezbollah’s intelligence HQ
Israel said its air force attacked Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Sunday as well as an underground workshop for the production of weapons.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, including Alhaj Abbas Salameh, a senior figure in the group’s southern command, Radja Abbas Awache, a communications expert, and Ahmad Ali Hussein, who it said was responsible for strategic weapons development.
It was not clear if the three were killed in the attack on the headquarters or in separate actions.
Hezbollah made no immediate comment.
Israel’s military said on Saturday it had destroyed tunnel shafts and underground infrastructure in southern Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander of the Bint Jbeil area on Friday.
Early on Sunday, two Israeli strikes targeted the Harat Hreik neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, hitting a residential building near Bahman Hospital, said Lebanon’s state-run national news agency. DM
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