Airstrikes in Beirut on Thursday night killed 11 people and wounded at least 48, said Lebanon’s health ministry, as a Lebanese security source said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks.
A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.
An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people including women and children on Thursday, while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate, putting patients’ lives at risk, medics said.
Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut kill 11
Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut on Thursday night killed 11 people and wounded at least 48, Lebanon’s health ministry said, as a Lebanese security source said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks.
Reuters witnesses said at least one strike hit near a petrol station. A large fire blazed in the background as rescue workers used torches to search the rubble for survivors, according to video broadcast by Hezbollah’s al-Manar television.
The identity of the Hezbollah target was not clear. The neighbourhood was not previously hit by Israel and is well removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s headquarters which have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.
A thick column of smoke rose above central Beirut after what appeared to be Israel’s latest major aerial attack in a widening offensive against Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
There was no immediate comment on the incident by Israel, but its army issued a new evacuation warning on Thursday night for Beirut’s southern suburbs including specific buildings.
Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south to avoid harm from fighting.
The Unifil force said two of its peacekeepers were injured when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing the peacekeepers to fall. There were no casualties in two other incidents, said a UN source.
“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” said Unifil in a statement, adding it was following up with the Israeli military.
Israel’s military said in a statement its troops operated in the Naqoura area, “next to a Unifil base”.
“Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,” said Israel’s statement.
Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces on Thursday as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit.
The conflict erupted one year ago when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs, the south and the Bekaa Valley, before sending in ground forces.
UN inquiry accuses Israel of ‘extermination’ in Gaza
A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.
A statement by former UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay that accompanied the report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war, triggered by Hamas militants’ deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay, whose 24-page report covering the first 10 months of the war will be presented to the UN General Assembly on 30 October.
Israel’s prime minister’s office and its foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel says that Gaza’s militants operate from the cover of built-up populated areas including private homes, schools and hospitals and that it will strike them wherever they emerge, while also trying to avoid harming civilians. Hamas denies hiding militants, weapons and command posts among civilians.
The UN inquiry’s statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.
As an example, it cited the death of a Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, in February along with family members and two medics who came to rescue her from under Israeli fire as they evacuated. The report said the ambulance was hit by a tank shell while within 50m of the family despite its route having been coordinated in advance with Israeli security forces.
The World Health Organization says more than 10,000 patients requiring urgent medical evacuation have been prevented from leaving Gaza since the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was shut in May. The Palestinian health ministry says nearly 1,000 medics have been killed in Gaza in the past year in what the WHO called “an irreplaceable loss and a massive blow to the health system”.
In cases where four hospitals were asked to evacuate by Israeli forces, the inquiry found that the orders were “not feasible” since they did not give medics the time to evacuate hundreds of patients and Israeli forces did not assist them.
It also said the treatment of both Palestinian detainees in Israel and hostages seized by Hamas fighters in the 7 October attack had been investigated and it accused both sides of involvement in torture and sexual violence.
Israel has not cooperated with the inquiry, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The commission has accused Israel of obstructing its work and preventing investigators from accessing both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Israeli airstrike kills 28 people sheltering in Gaza school
An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 28 people including women and children on Thursday, while three hospitals in the north were told to evacuate, putting patients’ lives at risk, medics said.
The strike, in which many more were wounded, occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere after more than a year of war.
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a “precise strike on terrorists” who had a command and control centre embedded in a school.
“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organisation’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law,” said a military statement.
The Palestinian militant group denies such accusations. Medics said 54 other people were injured at the school.
In Gaza’s north, the Israeli military was pursuing an offensive begun six days ago when it sent its troops into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
On Thursday, the military said it had killed at least 12 militants from Hamas and the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad who it said were operating from a command and control centre in what was previously a medical compound in Jabalia. It said large quantities of weapons and ammunition were stored at the site.
Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.
The health officials said the Israeli military on Wednesday gave patients and medics 24 hours to leave the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals or risk being stormed as happened earlier in the war at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said eight patients, mostly children with critical shrapnel wounds, were at risk inside intensive-care units should the army force their evacuation, and the hospital was also running out of fuel.
Abu Safiya called for international pressure on Israel to allow medical staffers in north Gaza’s three hospitals to continue to operate, saying: “Our message is a message of peace for the sake of those children.”
The Israeli military told residents of Jabalia and nearby areas to head to humanitarian-designated zones in southern Gaza, but Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the densely populated enclave.
Residents said Israeli forces had encircled Jabalia and ordered them to leave through one corridor. They said troops were interrogating those leaving and making arrests, while anyone trying to leave via a different route gets fired at.
Hamas and ally Islamic Jihad said they continued to fight Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
The Israeli military said it killed dozens more militants, seized arms and dismantled militant infrastructure in the north.
Israel began its offensive after Hamas-led militants carried out a cross-border attack on southern Israeli communities on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, the Gaza health ministry says. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the enclave has been laid to waste.
Houthis strike tanker off Yemen, causing minor damage
A Liberia-flagged tanker was struck twice with missiles and drones in the Red Sea on Thursday morning, in an attack claimed by Iran-aligned Houthi militants.
The Olympic Spirit was hit about 135km southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, said British maritime security firm Ambrey.
The tanker, en route from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to Muscat in Oman, was struck on its starboard side. The projectile hit the bridge causing minor damage, said Ambrey.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said in a statement that the captain of the Olympic Spirit did not report any fires on board or casualties.
“The damage is minor. The vessel has some technical issues, but it is seaworthy and continues its journey,” a maritime security source said. “They [the crew members] are all safe.”
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said later on Thursday it had targeted the Olympic Spirit with 11 ballistic missiles and two drones.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November and say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
Stop Israel from bombing Iran’s oil sites, Gulf states urge US
Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.
As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, said the three sources close to government circles.
Israel has promised Iran will pay for its missile attack last week while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the region that could suck in the United States.
The moves by the Gulf states come after a diplomatic push by non-Arab Shi’ite Iran to persuade its Sunni Gulf neighbours to use their influence with Washington amid rising concerns Israel could target Iran’s oil production facilities.
During meetings this week, Iran warned Saudi Arabia it could not guarantee the safety of the Gulf kingdom’s oil facilities if Israel were given any assistance in carrying out an attack, a senior Iranian official and an Iranian diplomat told Reuters.
Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Saudi royal court, said: “The Iranians have stated: ‘If the Gulf states open up their airspace to Israel, that would be an act of war’.”
The diplomat said Tehran had sent a clear message to Riyadh that its allies in countries such as Iraq or Yemen might respond if there was any regional support for Israel against Iran.
A potential Israeli strike was the focus of talks on Wednesday between the Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a Gulf tour to rally support, said Gulf and Iranian sources.
The Iranian minister’s visit, along with Saudi-American communications at the defence ministry level, was part of a coordinated effort to address the crisis, a Gulf source close to government circles told Reuters.
A person in Washington familiar with the discussions confirmed that Gulf officials had been in touch with US counterparts to express concern about the potential scope of Israel’s expected retaliation. DM
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