Middle East crisis live: Beirut hit by ‘most severe’ strikes of conflict after intense overnight bombardment by Israel

As we reported in an earlier post, the Israeli military has said its forces have surrounded the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

Moath al-Kahlout, from Al Jazeera, was broadcasting a news update near Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalia when he was interrupted by what appeared to be an airstrike. Shortly afterwards, a van rushed to the hospital bringing injured people.

“The situation here in northern Gaza is deteriorating as the Israeli army intensifies its bombing,” al-Kahlout said.

He added:

An entire family was killed by the Israeli army in the overnight attacks.

The Israeli army dropped leaflets on the Jabalia refugee camp ordering them to flee their homes, and this alarming development suggests that the Israeli army is preparing for further attacks.

This may lead to more civilian casualties and injured people.

The Lebanese government has said schools will postpone the start of the academic year due to intensifying Israeli airstrikes against the Hezbollah militant group.

Education minister, Abbas Halabi, has said the new start date for the more than one million Lebanese students will be 4 November due to “security risks,” , according to news agency AFP.

Israeli military preparing for possible rocket launches ahead of 7 October anniversary

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the first anniversary of Israel’s war on the territory, which broke out after the Hamas-led 7 October attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.

“Unfortunately, on this first anniversary of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, peace or even reconciliation in the Middle East seem more distant than ever,” Scholz said in a video message.

The German government “continues to persistently advocate for a ceasefire, which must now finally come about,” he added.

“We are in close contact with our international partners to prevent a further escalation of the conflict,” Scholz said.

He went on to warn against rising anti-Jewish sentiment in Germany, which has been one of Europe’s most unconditional backers of Israel since last October.

“It must never be the case that Jewish citizens here in Germany have to live in fear and terror,” Scholz said.

“We will never accept antisemitism and blind hatred of Israel. The Jewish people here in Germany have the full solidarity of our state,” he added.

More than 5,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Germany in 2023, half of them after the 7 October attacks, according to Felix Klein, the government’s commissioner for the fight against antisemitism.

There were a record 1,926 anti-Muslim incidents registered in Germany last year by the CLAIM network of NGOs monitoring Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. That marked a 114% rise on 2023, with incidents shooting up in particular after 7 October.

The Israeli military are reported to have detained at least 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank during the last 24 hours, including a journalist and former prisoners.

The arrests were made across the areas of Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Tubas, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said.

Over 11,000 Palestinians have been detained in Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank since last October, the groups said.

Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the occupied West Bank.

They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.

A member of the UK government has said it is on “standby” should there be more demand for Britons to get out of Lebanon.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, science and technology secretary Peter Kyle said the government would use “whatever is needed whether it’s more chartered flights or whether it’s the military” to get people out.

Kyle said: “We’ve already laid on three flights which have brought people out, there’s a fourth one leaving today. And we’re on standby: if the demand is there we will use whatever is needed, whether it’s more chartered flights or whether it’s the military.”

Nations around the world have begun evacuating their citizens from Lebanon due to escalating tensions and conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement, Hezbollah.

The U.S. deployed dozens of troops to Cyprus to prepare for an evacuation of Americans. It is also working with airlines to ensure additional flights are available for Americans to leave the country.

Other countries coordinating evacuation efforts include: Brazil, China, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Australia and Turkey.

26 people killed in Israeli attacks on former school and mosque in Gaza, health ministry says

At least 23 people were killed and 93 others wounded in Israeli bombing across Lebanon yesterday, the health ministry has said.

Israeli raids targeted towns and villages of south Lebanon, Nabatieh, the eastern governorate of Beqaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Mount Lebanon, and the north, the ministry added in a tweet on their X account.

These figures do not include casualty deaths from more recent Israeli bombardment on Beirut’s southern suburbs after midnight.

Since 23 September, Israeli strikes against Hezbollah across Lebanon have killed more than 1,110, according to official figures released earlier today.

Death toll from war in Gaza rises to 41,870

Al Jazeera is reporting the Israeli military has surrounded the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The media outlet quoted a Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal who said there were many casualties after multiple strikes rocked Jabalia through the night.

The Israeli military said in a statement: “The troops of the 401st Brigade and the 460th Brigade have successfully encircled the area and are currently continuing to operate in the area.”

The statement added intelligence indicates the “presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area of Jabalia … as well as efforts by Hamas to rebuild its operational capabilities in the area.

“Prior to and during the operation, the [air force] struck dozens of military targets in the area to assist ground troops.”

The Jabalia refugee camp has regularly been targeted by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza, displacing and killing its residents.

Najib Mikati, the caretaker Lebanese prime minister, has said that his government continues to support the “joint call for a ceasefire” which was launched last week by France and the US, as Israeli airstrikes continue to hit his country.

The BBC are quoting him as saying earlier today that Lebanon continues to “demand that pressure be exerted on Israel to respect the ceasefire and immediately implement resolution 1701”.

Mikati has said that a diplomatic end to the escalating war would be a “win-win” for Israel and Lebanon and “all parties” would respect such a deal. He has said he hoped to deploy 10,000 Lebanese army troops in the south if a ceasefire is agreed.

The proposal for a 21-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced by the US president, Joe Biden, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on 26 September 2024, to make way for broader negotiations.

They urged Israel and Lebanon to back the move, which was also endorsed by the UK, Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

As we have mentioned in a previous post, there have been reports of intense Israeli airstrikes over Beirut from late Saturday into Sunday. Nafiseh Kohnavard, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent, who is in Beirut, described it as the worst night of attacks on the Lebanese capital and its suburbs since the start of this conflict, which began in late September (although the Israeli military and Hezbollah have been trading fire since 8 October 2023).

Lebanon’s official national news agency said targets included a petrol station and a warehouse for medical supplies. Lebanese media described the blasts on the Lebanese capital as “very violent”, saying ambulances rushed to affected sites. Israeli attacks hit several neighbourhoods in Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as the road leading to the Rafic Hariri international airport, according to Al Jazeera.

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said it targeted Israeli forces with artillery after they tried to infiltrate towards Khallat Shuaib in Blida, in southern Lebanon.

A statement said fighters fired rockets at Israeli troops during the evacuation of “dead and wounded soldiers” in the Menara border area shortly after midnight. Hezbollah also said it launched assault drones against an Israeli military base.

23 out of 38 hospitals in Gaza now out of service – report

Summary

Heavy Israeli airstrikes hit southern Beirut

Israel has issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians in the north of the strip.

On Sunday morning it said two evacuation routes from northern Gaza have been reopened to allow for people to move to the southern “humanitarian zone”: one along the Salah al-Din road and the other along the Al-Rashid coastal road.

A spokesperson for the military told residents that Hamas had established “terrorist infrastructure in your region, exploiting the population, shelters, and health facilities as a human shield”, according to Al Jazeera, and ordered people to head south ahead of continued Israeli operations in the north.