Gaza’s Beit Lahiya declared ‘disaster’ zone amid Israeli siege
- The Municipality of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza has declared the town a ‘disaster’ area amid weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment and military siege. A senior UNRWA official described scenes in northern Gaza as “catastrophic”.
- Israeli forces on Tuesday killed more than 110 Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in an attack that the US called “horrifying”.
Drone explosion hits factory in Israel’s Nahariya: Report
A drone that exploded in Israel’s northern industrial area of Nahariya hit a factory producing aircraft components, a report from the Israeli Army Radio has said.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said it shot down three unmanned aircraft in the country’s north that crossed from Lebanon. Firefighters were working to put out a fire that broke out in the Ziv Bridge area.
Earlier today, the Israeli army said it detected a surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon which broke up in the air. A drone was also intercepted, it said.
Israeli settlers uproot dozens of olive trees in occupied West Bank village
Israeli settlers have cut down and uprooted dozens of olive trees in areas surrounding the Qaryut village, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.
Anti-settlement activist Bashar al-Qaryuti said trees next to the illegal settlement of Eli had been destroyed.
Violence in the occupied Palestinian territory has dramatically intensified since Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza.
OCHA estimates that 730 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since October 7, 2023. This year, Israeli authorities have also green-lighted the largest West Bank land seizure in more than three decades. Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international laws.
At least 14,280 trees have been damaged or destroyed in the past year, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, read the Wafa report.
In July, the International Court of Justice asked Israel to end the occupation of Palestine, dismantle the settlements and provide reparations to Palestinian victims.
Death toll from Israel’s attack on Lebanon’s Haret Saida rises to 10
As the Israeli military expands and intensifies its bombardment, civilian casualties are mounting.
There were two strikes in the Sidon area. We are at one of those locations, in Haret Saida, where a residential building was destroyed.
So far, nine bodies have been pulled from the rubble. An 18-year-old survived and is now in hospital. She was pulled out alive, but what people here are telling us is that a girl who they believe to be 17 is still stuck underneath the rubble and believed to be dead.
So in this strike alone, 10 killed. This is a densely populated area. These are residential buildings.
People who were here were displaced from southern Lebanon. They came to this area in search of safety.
This is not the first time Haret Saida has been targeted.
On Sunday, there was another attack not very far from here, about a kilometre [0.6 miles], and eight people were killed in that strike.
Now, the Israeli military says it is going after Hezbollah members who are in civilian areas, but human rights groups are saying that attacks like this – when you have so many civilian casualties – are just unlawful. In fact, among the dead here were children.
And yesterday, we were reporting from Baalbek. That’s in eastern Lebanon, and it was a very violent day there with more than 60 people killed. So the trajectory of this war is only escalating.
‘Genocide is only possible because of impunity’ – Palestine’s UN envoy
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the UN, has demanded that the Security Council act to protect civilians enduring more than a year of Israeli attacks.
“Israel has crossed every red line, broken every rule, defied every prohibition. When is enough really enough? When are you going to act? You are the Security Council. You have to reach every single one who is in pain among the Palestinians. That is your duty,” the envoy said at a council meeting on Tuesday.
Besides the 43,000 people killed in Gaza, he noted 100,000 Palestinians have been maimed in Israeli attacks, many with amputations and other permanent disabilities. Two million Palestinians are displaced with “people enduring unspeakable pain”, Mansour said.
“By ending impunity and ensuring accountability, by finally bringing to an end this terrible injustice, let your actions match your words. Stop this genocide or forever remain silent,” he said.
Israeli attacks on Gaza killed 14 aid workers, 4 medical staff in October
More from the UN’s humanitarian agency.
OCHA said Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 14 aid workers and four health workers since October 3.
These include seven UNRWA staff and seven staff of national and international NGOs.
Since Israel launched its war on Gaza last year, Israeli attacks have killed at least 322 aid workers, including 315 Palestinians and seven foreigners. The number includes 237 UN staff, 33 Palestinian Red Crescent Society staff and volunteers, and at least 52 other aid workers with national and international NGOs, OCHA said.
Israel says more than 100 targets attacked across Lebanon, no mention of civilian casualties
Israel’s military said its jet fighters hit more than 100 targets throughout Lebanon on Tuesday, claiming that dozens of “terrorists” were eliminated.
Hezbollah rocket launch sites were among the targets hit, the Israeli military said in a post on social media that did not mention civilian casualties resulting from its widespread bombing of civilian areas in Lebanon.
In Gaza, Israel’s military said its forces continue to operate in the Jabalia refugee camp, which has been under military siege for more than three weeks. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be trapped there under heavy bombardment and without access to food, water, or medicine.
Kamala Harris’s stance on Gaza could affect her presidential bid
John Zogby, a senior partner at polling firm John Zogby Strategies, says US Vice President Kamala Harris has “made a mistake” on Gaza which could turn costly for her presidential bid.
“She needs the support of people of colour, she needs the support of young voters, particularly young women, and they say Gaza is one of the top issues,” Zogby told Al Jazeera.
“They are in fact much more friendly with withholding aid, leveraging aid to Israel to demand – not to support – an immediate ceasefire and she has refused to do that and that could hurt her,” he said.
Throughout her presidential campaign, Harris worked on a balancing act to address a segment of her party’s constituency opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza while avoiding alienating the general electorate sympathetic to Israel.
The Democratic party’s candidate has repeatedly said she supports a ceasefire in Gaza, and that along with US President Joe Biden, she has been working “around the clock every day” to get a deal done.
But the Biden administration has continued to send weapons to Israel, which has been bombing Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Senior Biden advisers to arrive in Israel to discuss Lebanon ceasefire
Two senior advisers to US President Joe Biden are set to arrive in Israel today to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, The Times of Israel reports, quoting an anonymous Israeli official.
During the meetings, Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and Amos Hochstein, a US special envoy, will reportedly raise the prospect of securing a ceasefire with armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli military carries out another attack on tents in Gaza
Israeli forces have shelled tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area west of Rafah city in southern Gaza, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report.
No casualties or injuries have been reported so far. We will bring you more information when we have it.
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had attacked tents housing displaced Palestinians in both Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, resulting in several casualties.
Hezbollah names Naim Qassem as new chief to replace Nasrallah
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has announced that it has promoted deputy leader Naim Qassem to the position of secretary-general. Qassem replaces slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Beirut in late September by an Israeli strike.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Qassem was elected to the position due to his “adherence to the principles and goals of Hezbollah”.
It added that the group would “[ask] God Almighty to guide him in this noble mission in leading Hezbollah and its Islamic resistance”.
A sudden Israeli bombing, then a Beirut family’s scramble for safety
On the evening of October 10, the Merhis were all at home.
Mahdi sat in the living room while his wife prepared pasta for dinner in the kitchen. Their eldest son, Mustapha, 23, was home from his job as a chef and sat in the one “kids” bedroom with his three sisters.
The Merhi family called this two-bedroom flat in Beirut’s Basta Fawqa neighbourhood home for the previous 18 months. They had moved here to be closer to their eldest daughter’s university.
But shortly after 7pm that night, a year and a half of building a home was lost in an instant.
“We heard the sound of rockets,” Mustapha said. “All the glass [in the apartment] broke and the building shook.”
UNRWA chief calls on the UN General Assembly to intervene over Israel’s ban
Philippe Lazzarini has written to the president of the UN General Assembly calling for “decisive intervention” to help the UNRWA carry out its mandate in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Knesset’s laws forbidding Israeli officials from contact with UNRWA and banning the agency’s operations in Israeli-controlled territory risk the collapse of the UNRWA’s operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, posing “dire consequences for international peace and security”, he wrote.
“Today, even as we look into the faces of children in Gaza, some of whom we know will die tomorrow, the rules-based international order is crumbling in a repetition of the horrors that led to the establishment of the United Nations, and in violation of commitments to prevent their recurrence,” he said.
“The attacks on UNRWA are an integral part of this disintegration,” he wrote.
“Under such untenable conditions, I seek Member States’ support, commensurate with the gravity of the situation and risks, to ensure the Agency’s ability to fully implement the mandate conferred by the General Assembly,” he added.
