Israeli strikes kill 143 across Gaza, more than 77 in Lebanon
- Israel continues deadly strikes on southern Lebanon, with many women and children among the 15 people killed in the latest attacks in Sarafand and Haret Saida near Sidon city.
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 girl 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 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 kilometer 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.
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.
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
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.
At least two children killed in Lebanon every day, rights group says
Save the Children said Israel’s attacks have killed more than 100 children in Lebanon since hostilities with Hezbollah escalated on September 23.
That amounts to an average of two children a day, it said.
“We’re plunging into a humanitarian crisis that is, first and foremost, a children’s crisis. We’re starting to see the same pattern we’ve witnessed in over a year of war in Gaza: mass casualty events with civilians, including children; health workers killed while on duty; more than 50 attacks on healthcare facilities; UN installations attacked, and journalists targeted,” said Jennifer Moorehead, the NGO’s country director for Lebanon.
“The longer the conflict lasts, the more challenging it will be for children to regain a sense of normalcy. Six out of 10 public schools have been repurposed as shelters for the displaced, with the beginning of the school year now postponed to November 4, and possibly longer,” she said.
“Every day away from the classroom is a growing threat to children’s long-term physical and mental wellbeing. By law, children must be off-limits in war and must be protected. There is no time to waste. We urgently need a ceasefire, now.”
Amnesty says Israel’s UNRWA ban ‘amounts to criminalization of humanitarian aid’
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, has called on the international community to quickly condemn the Israeli laws and urge the country’s government to repeal them.
“This unconscionable law is an outright attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees. It is clearly designed to make it impossible for the agency to operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by forcing the closure of the UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem and ending visas for its staff,” she said in a statement.
“It amounts to the criminalization of humanitarian aid and will worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.”
Callamard added that the ban “flies in the face of” the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) orders on Israel to ensure sufficient humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
“This appalling, inhumane law will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable hardship and whose need for global support is greater than ever,” she said.
If you’re just joining us
Here’s what happened overnight:
- Israeli military attacks have continued across Gaza overnight, including separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah, killing several people.
- The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has appealed to the “entire world” for help, as he told Al Jazeera about the continuing Israeli military siege of his medical facility, which has been turned into a “war zone”.
- Sixteen countries have issued a joint statement in support of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), saying Israel will be violating international law if it implements new legislation banning UNRWA.
- The UN reports that it recorded seven “mass casualty incidents” in Gaza between October 22 and 29, including an Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp which killed or wounded 150-200 people.
- Residents of the Haret Saida neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Lebanese city of Sidon say the Israeli military gave no warning before carrying out an attack which killed at least seven people on Tuesday night.
Sirens sound in dozens of Israeli towns following rocket attack
Israel’s Army Radio has said that a salvo of rockets has been launched from Lebanon, causing air raid sirens to be activated in several areas of northern Israel.
Israel’s Home Front Command reports that sirens are sounding in dozens of towns in the Sharon region, the Upper Galilee and the northern occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli military has said that at least some of the alerts were caused by a surface-to-surface ballistic missile fired from Lebanon which exploded. No casualties or damage has been reported.
UN records seven ‘mass casualty incidents’ in Gaza in one week
The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) said the seven incidents took place between the afternoons of October 22 and 29. They are:
- October 24: Between 150-200 people were killed or wounded when Israeli forces bombed a residential block of 11 houses in the northern Jabalia refugee camp.
- October 24: At least 17 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed and 52 others wounded in an Israeli attack on the Ash Shuhada school in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.
- October 24-24: Thirty-eight Palestinians were killed and tens of others, mostly women and children, were wounded when Israeli forces destroyed several residential buildings during an operation in the Qizan an-Najjar and al-Manara areas in southern Khan Younis. About 20 people are reported missing.
- October 25: Twenty-five people were killed when Israeli forces bombed two houses in northern Beit Lahiya.
- October 26: At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli forces hit a residential block in Beit Lahiya.
- October 27: Eleven Palestinians, including a girl and four women, were killed when Israeli forces attacked the UNRWA-run Asma school in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.
- October 29: At least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing following another Israeli attack on a residential building in Beit Lahiya
The list does not include Israel’s latest attack on Beit Lahiya on Tuesday evening which killed at least 19 Palestinians.
Qatari ambassador addresses UNSC as Israel escalates attacks
Qatar’s representative to the UN, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, accused Israel of “clear violations of the Geneva Conventions” on Tuesday as she addressed the Security Council in a meeting focused on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
The council convened as Israeli air strikes continue unabated in northern Gaza, resulting in dozens of deaths over recent days and amid a weeks-long siege of the area.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reports from UN headquarters in New York:
Deaths of Israeli soldiers mount as gov’t pushes controversial military draft law
The Israeli army announced the deaths of four soldiers, including an officer, in Jabalia.
They died from an explosion in a house that was booby-trapped. The Israeli army has been encircling Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and the rest of northern Gaza for over 23 days and they have suffered casualties during that period.
Also, the Israeli military announced the death of a soldier who died from wounds sustained on the northern front, in battles in southern Lebanon.
These numbers continue to rise and over 600 have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the ground offensive, and over 900 soldiers injured just in the recent past period of the assault on Lebanon.
This all comes at a time when the Israeli Knesset is discussing a new conscription law. The Israeli right-wing coalition is fighting to stay together as they try to get as many votes as they can for a law that would still exempt religious youth from [being drafted] into military service.
This is a very controversial bill in Israel and it had threatened to unravel the government.
Residents of Lebanon’s Sidon say Israel gave no warning before deadly attack
We’ve been covering an Israeli attack on the suburb of Haret Saida on the outskirts of Sidon which killed at least seven people.
People there say the Israeli military gave no warning before the assault on Tuesday night.
“We were sitting and all of a sudden, we heard a missile. When it hit the building, it came down, then a second missile hit and a second building came down and the one next to it too,” said Ahmed al-Teryaqi, a resident of Sidon. “They have no mercy and no faith.”
Lebanese health officials say the Israeli attack also wounded more than 20 people.
As we’ve been reporting, Israeli forces also went on to attack the southern Lebanese town of Sarafand, killing at least 10 others.
