Hamas and Hezbollah fire rockets at Israel on October 7 anniversary
- Hamas fires a volley of rockets at Tel Aviv on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks with Israelis holding memorials to mourn the victims of the deadly assault.
- Large explosions rocked southern Beirut as Israeli forces continue to pound the Lebanese capital, while at least 10 people were wounded in the Israeli city of Haifa following a Hezbollah rocket attack.
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon at risk as Israeli forces ‘move very close’
Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon, says the safety of its troops is at risk during the ongoing border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We have been seeing in recent days heavy shelling throughout the area of operations,” Tenenti told Al Jazeera. “The fact [Israeli] troops have moved very close to our position, the Irish contingent, at the moment is also a concern.”
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soldiers are caught in the crossfire, he said.
“Definitely also concerning is the fact we were told to move from certain positions along the Blue Line, but we are staying because we want the UN flag to fly in all these positions close to the Blue Line.”
Tenenti was referring to the UN-drawn “provisional border of withdrawal” between Israel and Lebanon established in the year of 2000.
How Gaza war disinformation spread
Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, says social media and tech companies have played a significant role in spreading disinformation about the October 7 attack in southern Israel, and about Palestinians and Arabs as a whole.
“The most significant was the one at the very beginning, which was the disinformation that Hamas had beheaded up to 40 babies. This news originated in the i24 News report, and it spread virally on social media, unchecked. It was then on front pages of newspapers across the world the next day,” he told Al Jazeera.
Owen Jones noted that the so-called “dead baby propaganda” has long been used at times of war.
“The idea that killing babies is a red line for any society, culture across the world, and this was the pretext which allowed Israel to basically launch the genocidal campaign in Gaza because it allowed them to say, ‘look, Hamas is brutal, they’re beheading babies’,” Owen Jones said.
Over the past year, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 17,000 children, according to health officials, with the UN calling the besieged and bombarded territory “a graveyard for children”.
Death toll in Israeli attack on fire station rises to 10: Lebanese ministry
Ten firefighters have been killed after Israeli fighters targeted a fire station affiliated with the Islamic Health Authority in the town of Baraachit, according to officials.
The earlier death toll in the attack stood at eight.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency quoted the Health Ministry as saying that the killed firefighters were “in the building ready to go out on rescue missions”, adding efforts to remove the rubble were ongoing.
Many aspects of of life in Gaza have become ‘unrecognisable’
What we’re seeing right now is too much to comprehend.
I’m not sure if people in Gaza can actually remember how their life was before October 7.
Many aspects of their lives have become unrecognisable because of the intensity of the bombing campaign and the rapid pace of unfolding events for a whole year.
They have relived these unfolding tragedies and miseries on a daily basis, from enforced displacement to pretty much running for their lives to stay protected and safe. It is understood that many, if not all, of the repeated narratives of “safe zones” are not true and don’t have any solid basis.
Many of the people that were told to evacuate to safe zones end up being killed in these areas designated by the Israeli military within days and hours of their arrival.
When we talk about the humanitarian level, the Israeli military has created a multifaceted catastrophe.
Israeli army announces death of second soldier on Lebanese border
The military has announced the death in combat of a soldier on the Lebanese border, adding that his family has been informed.
This was the second soldier death announced today, with the military saying earlier that a 25-year-old reserve soldier had been killed in fighting on the border, while two others were seriously wounded.
Netanyahu says Israel ‘obligated’ to bring the captives home
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to bring back all captives in Gaza as Israel marks the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack.
“On this day, in this place, and in many places across our country, we remember our dead, our hostages, whom we are obligated to bring back and our heroes who fell in defence of the homeland and the nation. We went through a terrible massacre a year ago,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.
Netanyahu and West Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion also visited the October 7 memorial for civilians and soldiers who have died since that date.
“As the months of war taught us well, our strength is in our unity. Only together will we win,” Netanyahu said.
Jordan’s foreign minister arrives in Beirut
Ayman Safadi has landed in the Lebanese capital on a “solidarity” visit, according to state media.
The foreign minister arrived on a plane carrying 13 tonnes of food supplies, relief materials, medication, and medical equipment.
While in Beirut, Safadi will meet Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun.
Israeli army calls on Palestinians to leave Khan Younis
The military ordered civilians in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza to evacuate to the so-called “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi.
Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, said on X the recent rocket attack on central Israel claimed by Hamas’s armed wing “will be met with extreme force”.
“Because of Hamas’ terrorist acts … you must evacuate these areas immediately and move to the humanitarian area in al-Mawasi,” said Adraee.
The army said earlier the rockets were launched from Khan Younis, with medics reporting two minor injuries in Tel Aviv.
Israeli forces arrest 45 Palestinians across occupied West Bank
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces have arrested at least 45 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including a journalist and a former prisoner, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs say.
In a joint statement, the organisations said the arrests occurred across several governorates, including Hebron, Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Jenin.
Israeli forces continue to conduct extensive raids across those areas and issue threats against the detainees and their families, the statement added.
Since the war began exactly one year ago, Israeli forces have arrested more than 11,100 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the statement added.
