This blog has now closed. You can read our latest report on the Israel-Gaza war here and all our Middle East coverage here.
US calls on Israel to urgently address 'catastrophic conditions' in Gaza
Israel needs to address urgently “catastrophic conditions” among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop “intensifying suffering” by limiting aid deliveries, its ally the US has told the UN security council. Reuters reports:
Referring to reports of squalid conditions in south and central Gaza, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “These catastrophic conditions were predicted months ago, and yet, have still not been addressed. That must change, and now.”
“We call on Israel to take urgent steps to do so,” she said in a blunt statement.
The 15-member Security Council met over the humanitarian crisis a year after a deadly attack by Palestinian militants Hamas on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel has since laid to waste much of the enclave and almost the entire population of 2.3 million has been displaced.
Israel says Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, while health authorities in Gaza say nearly 42,000 people have been killed so far during Israel’s retaliation. Thomas-Greenfield also addressed a recent Israeli order for civilians in Gaza’s north to evacuate again, saying they must be able to return to communities to rebuild.
“There must be no demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, told the security council: “Hundreds of thousands of people are again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are intolerable.
“Yet again, Gazans are teetering on the edge of a man-made famine,” he said.
The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it during the war. Reuters reported last week that food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses.“We need to see fewer barriers to the delivery of aid, not more of them,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon defended his country’s record: “Israel imposes no restrictions on humanitarian aid. In fact, 82% of all requests for humanitarian coordination have been approved and implemented.”
A bit more on the reports of Israeli targeting of Palestinian journalists in northern Gaza today.
The Hamas affiliated TV channel al-Aqsa said on Telegram earlier that one of its photojournalists, Mohammad al-Tanani, had been killed in an Israeli attack in Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday, while its journalist Tamer Labad, was injured.
As we reported earlier, Al Jazeera has issued a press release accusing Israel of deliberately targeting journalists in and around Jabalia on Wednesday; one of its own cameramen, Fadi Al Wahidi, was also shot by an Israeli sniper on Wednesday and critically injured. Two days earlier, another Al Jazeera cameraman, Ali Al-Attar, was also critically injured in an Israeli attack on a hospital in northern Gaza.
Hossam Shabat, one of the few remaining journalists in the area, where Israel is carrying out a renewed ground assault, has been posting about his colleagues Al Wahidi and Labad.
“They are in critical condition, and not much treatment is available for them here. Please pray for them and for us,” he wrote in a post on X.
Fadi Alwahdi and Tamer Lobod are both journalists who were targeted in the north today. They are in critical condition, and not much treatment is available for them here. Please pray for them and for us. pic.twitter.com/rAzJahY3lk
— حسام شبات (@HossamShabat) October 9, 2024
Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif wrote in another post that Al Wahidi, who had been wearing a press vest, “sustained severe injuries to his neck vertebrae and spinal cord.
“According to hospital specialists, he urgently requires surgery, and there is a risk of partial paralysis due to the extent of the damage.”
The doctor informed me a short while ago that my dear friend and colleague, Fadi Al-Wahidi, an Al Jazeera cameraman, is currently in critical condition after being shot by Israeli forces while covering the siege of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) October 9, 2024
Despite wearing a press vest, Fadi… pic.twitter.com/IXCyIoJB4m
It was not possible to verify the circumstances of the Israeli attacks as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza. However Israel has previously been accused of deliberately targeting journalists, which it denies.
Updated
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have killed five people and injured at least 12 in the town of Wardiniyeh, about 40 kilometres south of Beirut, Al Jazeera is reporting.
Their reporter noted that the area is not one Israel has tried to empty of its residents.
The Associated Press reported earlier that the strike had targeted a hotel sheltering displaced people, citing Lebanon’s health ministry.
An AP reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets before the strike. Plumes of smoke rose from the building after the explosion.
More on the apparent Israeli attack on Syria, where state news agency Sana is reporting that the “air attack” targeted not only a factory but also vehicles “loaded with medical and relief supplies... which led to a large fire” that firefighters were working to extinguish, citing the manager of the industrial area in Hassia.
Explosions were also heard in the Syrian city of Daraa near the border with Jordan and they are being investigated, state media reported.
State media said Israeli bombardment on Wednesday killed a policeman in southern Syria near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, in a raid the Israeli army claimed killed a figure from Hezbollah inside Syria.
“An Israeli attack” has targeted an industrial area in the town of Hassia, around 30 kilometres south of the city of Homs, state news agency Sana news agency is reporting, according to AFP.
It added that “initial information” indicated the attack targeted a “car factory”, reporting material damage. We’ll bring you more details when we have them.
Israel has carried out numerous attacks on Syria in weeks and months, despite western calls for deescalation in the region, including an attack on a residential building in Damascus on Tuesday in which at least seven people were killed including women and children.
Other attacks include a strike on the Iranian consular building in Damascus in April. That attack, the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders, according to Iran.
Updated
Just an hour ago, and as we posted previously, the editor of the Palestinian Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud, has reported the killing of his sister, Dr. Soma Baroud and six other civilians in an Israeli attack on a taxi in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
The photo agency EPA has now sent through photos of what it says was an Israeli attack on two civilian vehicles in Khan Younis on Wednesday, in which it says six people were killed; it is not possible to verify whether this was the same attack.
UN security council warns Israel against anti-Unrwa law
Members of the UN security council have warned Israel against proceeding with a law aimed at curbing the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency.
Israel has long been at odds with the agency known as Unrwa and alleged, without providing any evidence, that 12 of its thousands of employees were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks that triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel has long opposed the agency because its very existence confirms that Palestinians are refugees, and has been accused of deliberately hindering its humanitarian work, including by harassing and beating its staff, while Israeli residents of Jerusalem repeatedly attacked its headquarters this year and set fire to it at least twice.
AFP reports further:
The foreign affairs and defense committee in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved two bills on Sunday essentially aimed at ending Unrwa’s activity and privileges in Israel. These bills were quickly condemned by UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Washington’s envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Wednesday that the United States was “following with deep concern the Israeli legislative proposal that could alter UNRWA’s legal status.”
She said it risked “hindering its ability to communicate with Israeli officials and removing privileges and immunities afforded to UN organizations and personnel around the globe.”
Algeria, which along with Slovenia called the emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis in the Palestinian territories, said “for years, the Israeli authorities has made clear its desire, its will to dismantle UNRWA.”
“It symbolizes the Palestinian refugees and their inviolable rights. We reiterate that the rights of Palestinian refugees are not subject to statutes of limitation,” said Amar Bendjama, ambassador of non-permanent Security Council member Algeria.
All UN Security Council members that spoke were unanimous in calling for Israel to respect UNRWA’s work and to protect its staff.
“Senior Israeli officials have described destroying Unrwa as a war goal,” Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini warned the Security Council, noting that 226 Unrwa personnel have been killed in 12 months.
“Legislation to end our operations is ready for final adoption by the Israeli Knesset.
“It seeks to ban Unrwa’s presence and operations in the territory of Israel, revoking its privileges and immunities, in violation of international law.
“If the bills are adopted, the consequences will be severe. Operationally, the entire humanitarian response in Gaza - which rests on UNRWA’s infrastructure - may disintegrate.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that he had written to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning the legislation “could prevent Unrwa from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told the Security Council that “we totally support UNRWA and what Lazzarini said and take it very seriously, and honor what is a very indispensable organization that should be protected by all means.”
“It is the greatest success story in the history of the United Nations,” Mansour said.
Unrwa was created in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees across several countries.
The editor of the US-based Palestinian Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud, has paid tribute to his sister, whom he said had been killed in an Israeli attack on a taxi in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis along with six other people. He said in a post on X:
Early this evening, Israel killed, or more accurately assassinated, my sister Dr. Soma Baroud, by bombing her taxi in the Khan Yunis area, killing her and six other innocent people.
She was the kindest soul, a great mother and a most loving sister. She was a member of a generation of female doctors that revolutionized medicine in the Strip.
She healed many people, never charged the poor and until the last day of her life remained principled, loving, kind and patient, even when Israel blew up her house a few weeks ago.
I don’t know what else to say, aside from the fact that I suddenly feel as if a child who became orphaned all over again.
𝐀 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐳𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 @RamzyBaroud, 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 9, 2024
Early this evening, Israel… pic.twitter.com/NLXXCzmWJc
Interim summary
Here’s a look at where things currently stand:
Israel’s defense minister said the next strike against Iran will be “lethal, precise and surprising”. “Our attack will be lethal, precise and above all surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Yoav Gallant said during a speech to Israeli troops.
Al Jazeera has accused Israel of targeting journalists covering its attack on northern Gaza, killing a photojournalist for al-Aqsa television and critically injuring a cameraman for Al Jazeera Arabic. “Al Jazeera strongly condemns the continued targeting of its journalists by the Israeli Occupation Forces. This comes in the aftermath of targeting another Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Al-Attar, two days ago, who is still in critical condition, deprived of the necessary medical care due to the siege imposed on the area,” the network said in a statement.
The White House has released a readout of Joe Biden’s call with Benjamin Netanyahu in which the US president emphasized “the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut”. In the last few weeks, Israel’s deadly bombardment across Lebanon has killed at least 1,200 civilians while forcibly displacing 1.2 million residents.
Five members of Lebanon’s civil defence were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their base in the town of Dardghaya, south Lebanon, on Wednesday night. Pictures of the strike show burnt cars with civil defence written on the side of it, crumpled from the force of the blast as efforts to locate survivors and bodies remain ongoing.
Canada will provide C$15m ($11m) in humanitarian assistance to Lebanese civilians who have been affected by Israel’s ongoing strikes across the country. In a statement reported by Reuters on Wednesday, Canada’s foreign minister Mélanie Joly said: “Canada is deeply alarmed by the rapid escalation of the crisis in Lebanon. We are mobilizing to ensure that Canada is there to bring much-needed assistance to the Lebanese people.”
Speaking to the BBC about Gaza’s devastation caused by Israel’s attacks in the past year, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the main UN aid relief organization in Gaza, said: “We are becoming wordless.” Lazzarini added: “We soon have exhausted all our vocabulary to try to describe what has become a wasteland … an unlivable area.”
Updated
Al Jazeera has released a statement condemning Israel for the killing of a camera operator for another network and critically injuring another while they were working in Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza:
The Israeli Occupation Forces targeted a number of journalists working in and around Jabalia camp in the Gaza Strip this afternoon, killing one of the cameramen and seriously injuring Al Jazeera Arabic Channel’s cameraman Fadi Al Wahidi with a bullet to his neck, causing critical injury while covering the attack on the camp.
Al Jazeera strongly condemns the continued targeting of its journalists by the Israeli Occupation Forces. This comes in the aftermath of targeting another Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Al-Attar two days ago, who is still in critical condition, deprived of the necessary medical care due to the siege imposed on the area.
Statement from Al Jazeera Media Network pic.twitter.com/VtOVNIWWPS
— Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) October 9, 2024
Updated
Biden urges Netanyahu to 'minimize harm to civilians' in Lebanon
The White House has released a readout of Joe Biden’s call with Benjamin Netanyahu in which the US president emphasized “the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut”.
In a statement, the White House said:
The president affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security. He condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st. On Lebanon, the president emphasized the need for a diplomatic arrangement to safely return both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line. The president affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut.
On Gaza, the leaders discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas. The president also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the imperative to restore access to the north, including by reinvigorating the corridor from Jordan immediately.
In the last few weeks, Israel’s deadly bombardment across Lebanon has killed at least 1,200 civilians while forcibly displacing 1.2 million residents. Across the country, thousands of Syrian refugees, in addition to Lebanese residents, have fled into Syria in recent days in attempts to escape Israeli airstrikes.
The Biden administration has previously also asked Israel to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians while displacing nearly 2 million survivors. The Biden administration has also spent a record $17.9bn in military aid to Israel since last October.
Updated
Five members of Lebanon's civil defence killed in Israeli airstrike
Five members of Lebanon’s civil defence were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their base in the town of Dardghaya, south Lebanon, on Wednesday night. Pictures of the strike show burnt cars with civil defence written on the side of it, crumpled from the force of the blast. Efforts to locate survivors and bodies are still ongoing.
In a statement, the director general of Lebanon’s Civil Defence, Brig Gen Raymond Khattar said that the body would continue working, “no matter how great the sacrifices”.
More than 100 paramedics, firefighters and doctors have been killed by Israeli strikes since fighting started in October – the majority of which were killed in the last two weeks.
On Sunday, 10 firefighters were killed by an airstrike in the border town of Bint Jbeil. The Union of Municipalities of Bint Jbeil said on Wednesday that rescue crews were still unable to get to the site of the strike due to Israeli strikes in the area and that they were unsure if there were survivors under the rubble.
Last week, head of World Health Organization Tedros Ghebreyesus called for the protection of healthcare workers in Lebanon amid the spike in killings in Lebanon.
Updated
The International Federation of the Red Crescent in the Middle East and North Africa has released the following aid figures from Lebanon this month as Israel continues its strikes across the country:
The @RedCrossLebanon is working tirelessly amidst the escalating armed violence in Lebanon, responding day and night by transporting the wounded and injured, distributing blood, and providing support to displaced people in affected areas.
— IFRC Middle East and North Africa (@IFRC_MENA) October 9, 2024
Here are the latest figures that… pic.twitter.com/zGVnb6WG8i
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had a “productive” conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
In a statement reported by Agence France-Presse, the White House said: “This morning, President Biden spoke with prime minister Netanyahu of Israel. Vice president Harris also joined the call.”
The call lasted about 30 minutes and was “direct”, “honest” and “productive”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, adding: “The US and the Israeli government have had discussions since last week since after the Iran attack. Those discussions continued with the president and the prime minister.”
“We’re going to continue to have those discussions with Israel on how they’re going to respond,” she continued.
Updated
In a press briefing on Wednesday, the US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Israel must avoid conducting military operations in Lebanon like it has in Gaza.
In response to question about a video address released by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday in which Netanyahu said: “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Miller said:
I’m making very clear that there should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which has largely been funded by US military aid, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in the past year while leaving 2 million survivors forcibly displaced amid severe food, water and aid shortages due to Israeli aid restrictions.
Updated
There are numerous reports that an Al Jazeera cameraperson, Fadi al-Wahidi, has been shot and grievously wounded while covering the Israeli army attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where displaced Palestinians have been taking shelter.
There is footage on social media of him running amid the gunfire saying (in translation): “The situation is very difficult, Israeli forces have raided the shelters and forced the displaced people out.”
He appears to have escaped the loudest bangs and then the next shots show him lying on the ground, reportedly having been shot in the neck by a sniper. The Guardian has not independently verified the details of this incident.
Updated
Canada will provide C$15m ($11m) in humanitarian assistance to Lebanese civilians who have been affected by Israel’s ongoing strikes across the country.
In a statement reported by Reuters on Wednesday, Canada’s foreign minister Mélanie Joly said:
Canada is deeply alarmed by the rapid escalation of the crisis in Lebanon. We are mobilizing to ensure that Canada is there to bring much-needed assistance to the Lebanese people.
According to Reuters, the new funding brings Canada’s assistance pledge for Lebanese civilians to C$25m.
Updated
UNRWA chief on Gaza: 'We are becoming wordless'
Speaking to the BBC about Gaza’s devastation caused by Israel’s attacks in the past year, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the main UN aid relief organization in Gaza, said: “We are becoming wordless.”
Lazzarini added:
We soon have exhausted all our vocabulary to try to describe what has become a wasteland … an unlivable area. The war has been the war of all the superlatives, look at the number of civilians and people who have been killed, the number of humanitarian workers, Unrwa workers … [killed], the level of destruction, the number of times people have been moved around … There is a kind of post-apocalyptic atmosphere prevailing in Gaza right now.
“We are becoming wordless, we soon have exhausted all our vocabulary to try to describe what has become a wasteland” @UNLazzarini to @BBC on the post-apocalyptic situation in #Gaza, as the humanitarian crisis worsens by the day with constant displacement & increasing violence pic.twitter.com/cljPc45B7u
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 9, 2024
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza where Unrwa said at least 400,000 Palestinians are trapped by Israel’s latest attacks on Jabaliya refugee camp:
Updated
Summary of the day so far…
It is 8pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza, 8.30pm in Tehran, and 1pm in Washington. Here are the headlines …
US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a 50 minute phone call, in which they were joined by US vice-president Kamala Harris. It was anticipated that they would discuss Israeli plans to retaliate against Iran for a wave of missiles fired by Tehran on 1 October. That attack had been a response, the Iranians said, to the assassination by Israel of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant has said the Israeli strike will be “lethal, precise and surprising” and that “they won’t understand what happened and how”. Iran has already vowed it will respond to any Israeli attack
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has published a flash update about the latest situation in Lebanon which says one quarter of Lebanese territory is now under Israeli military displacement orders. It said “Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis is deteriorating at an alarming rate” as “Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded” and are “increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure”
The governor of Akkar, in the far north of Lebanon, has said there are obstacles to delivering aid to the people who have sought refuge there after being internally displaced by Israeli strikes
Hezbollah has said its fighters have fired rockets and artillery shells “as Israeli troops tried to advance in the Mays al-Jabal area from several directions” it said, adding that “clashes are ongoing”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has condemned Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, saying that the international community should not “remain indifferent” to it
Two Israelis were killed in Kiryat Shmona in the north-east of Israel after it was reported to have been hit by a rocket barrage from Hezbollah. Israel’s military says it has destroyed the launcher used for the attack
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks inside the Gaza Strip on Wednesday risen to 60, including in an incident which it reported as “15 civilians were killed today when the Israeli occupation forces bombed the tents of displaced people in Jabalia. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict
The IDF has ordered the closure once again of several hospitals in northern Gaza, including the Kamal Adwan, Indonesia and al-Awda hospitals. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights described the situation as “deja vu” on social media, adding: “We all know the horrors that follow such orders”
The International Rescue Committee warned that after a year of conflict, as many as 51,000 children in Gaza could be unaccompanied or separated from their parents or caregivers
A number of Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli security forces claim they eliminated “five wanted terrorists”, while the Palestinian health authorities said four people had been killed. At least 25 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past day
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has been highly critical of Israel, saying Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had a desire “expand the geography of armed escalation in the region”
Israel defense minister: Israel's next strike against Iran will be 'lethal, precise and surprising'
Israel’s defense minister said the next strike against Iran will be “lethal, precise and surprising”.
“Our attack will be lethal, precise and above all surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said during a speech to Israeli troops.
Last week, Iran launched several dozen missiles towards Israel in a significant escalation between the two countries. Iran has already vowed to respond to any further strike by Israel against it.
גלנט: התגובה שלנו למתקפה האיראנית תהיה קטלנית, מדויקת ובעיקר מפתיעה - הם לא יבינו מה קרה ואיך@Doron_Kadosh
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) October 9, 2024
(צילום: אלעד מלכה) pic.twitter.com/FOJwaCJAXP
Updated
The number of people killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus remains unclear. Israel’s security forces claim to have killed five people, while Al Jazeera reports that medical sources have confirmed to it that four Palestinians were killed and a fifth wounded.
The Times of Israel reports that “Israel Police says no Israeli forces were hurt and that the operation was carried out in coordination with the IDF, Shin Bet and border police. The five armed men presented an immediate threat to Israeli forces during an attempt to arrest them, the police statement says.”
Barak Ravid at Axios has this to say about the Biden-Netanyahu-Harris call. He writes:
The call was the first between Biden and Netanyahu since Aug. 21, and comes as Israel considers a major attack against Iran that could significantly escalate its regional war.
Netanyahu hunkered down for hours on Tuesday night with senior ministers and the heads of Israel’s military and intelligence services to discuss the scope and timing of Israel’s attacks, according to two Israeli officials.
Israeli officials say the retaliation is expected to be significant, and will likely include a combination of airstrikes on military targets in Iran and clandestine attacks like the one the killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On Thursday, Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet.
Tehran said its [1 October missile attack] response would end there unless Israel attacked Iran. Israel, for its part, has vowed retaliation. Both US and Israeli officials believe the tit-for-tat will continue.
Earlier we reported that the Palestinian health authority said that four Palestinians had been killed by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
In the last few moments a joint statement from the IDF, Israel Police and the Shin Bet has claimed that in an operation Nablus it killed “five wanted terrorists”, including the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in the Balata refugee camp.
“The wanted individuals were involved in terrorist activities against Israeli civilians and forces and posed a threat to the forces,” the statement said.
More details soon …
Biden-Netanyahu-Harris call ends after 50 minutes – Israeli media reports
The White House has also now confirmed that the US president, Joe Biden, spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone today. The Times of Israel reports, citing Netanyahu’s office, that the call has ended and lasted 50 minutes, and that US vice-president Kamala Harris participated.
Updated
The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Nablus. Images from the city taken today appear to show a bullet-riddled car.
Reuters reports that Israeli officials have confirmed that Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken by phone with the US president, Joe Biden, in what is thought to be the leaders’ first chat since August. The White House did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Updated
Biden-Netanyahu call begins, with Kamala Harris expected to join – reports
US vice-president Kamala Harris is expected to join president Joe Biden for his call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters, with Netanyahu’s office reporting the call has started.
The talks are expected to include discussion of Israeli plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran, after Iran launched a wave of missiles against Israel on 1 October in response to Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Netanyahu has also said that Israel believes it killed Nasrallah’s most likely successor.
Harris, who is standing for election against former US president Donald Trump in November, is generally considered to be more lukewarm an ally to Netanyahu than Biden has been, although there is no sign that a Harris administration would not continue to provide financial and military assistance to Israel.
Biden has been anxious that any Israeli action against Iran is limited and avoids widening the crisis in the Middle East and starting a full blown regional war. Iran, for its part, has already promised that it will respond to any Israeli attack, and media reports in the Islamic Republic have said Tehran’s military has already prepared at least ten possible response scenarios.
OCHA report: 'One quarter of Lebanese territory now under Israeli military displacement orders'
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has published a flash update about the latest situation in Lebanon. Among its key points are that it finds:
2,083 people killed and 9,869 injured
608,509 persons internally displaced
180,700 people seeking refuge
350,000 children have been displaced by the ongoing conflict
It says “Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis is deteriorating at an alarming rate” as “Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded” and are “increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure.”
The report continues:
Now issued on a daily basis by the Israeli army, displacement orders for more than 100 villages and urban neighbourhoods across southern Lebanon continue to force people to flee. One quarter of Lebanese territory is now under Israeli military displacement orders. Lebanon’s health sector is under immense pressure of relentless attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel. The education sector in Lebanon similarly faces enormous challenges, with the majority of public schools currently repurposed as collective shelters.
Israel’s military, in a statement on its official Telegram channel, says that it has destroyed a launcher which was used to fire rockets at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. Two Israelis were reported dead there earlier from an attack [See 13.14 GMT]
In addition, in the statement the military says approximately 90 projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel and Israeli-controlled territory in the Upper Galilee, western Galilee, and southern Golan Heights. It said “Israeli fire and rescue services are currently operating to extinguish fires” without specifying a location.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks inside the Gaza Strip has risen to 60, including in an incident which it reported as “15 civilians were killed today when the Israeli occupation forces bombed the tents of displaced people in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.”
Other were injured, it said, in the attack on the courtyard of the Al Yemen Assaeed hospital. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israeli media reports that a home in Safed, to the north of the Sea of Galilee, has suffered a direct hit from a projectile fired into Israel from Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, will discuss bilateral issues and efforts to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza on his visit to Saudi Arabia today, a senior Iranian official has said. Araqchi arrived in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, earlier and is set to visit Qatar later in the day.
A source told Reuters:
Regional unity and cooperation to secure peace in the Middle East, ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza as well as bilateral issues will be discussed during the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
The meeting comes as Israel considers options for a strike on Iran that could potentially escalate the war on yet another front. Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas, launched a wave of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in retaliation for the killing of senior leaders from both groups.
Spanish PM urges world not to 'remain indifferent' to Israel's invasion of Lebanon
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has condemned Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, saying that the international community should not “remain indifferent” to it.
The Socialist leader was quoted by Al Jazeera as telling the Spanish parliament:
It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore, the international community cannot remain indifferent.
We denounced (this situation) in Ukraine, we also denounce it in Gaza and now we are also denouncing the invasion of Lebanon.
Since February 2022, Spain has commanded the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) and deployed 650 troops along the southern Lebanese border with Israel.
Sánchez has been one of the most persistent European critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, calling the number of Palestinians killed in the conflict “truly unbearable” and has said he has had “genuine doubts” about whether Israel is complying with international humanitarian law in its assault on the territory.
Spain – which has halted arms sales to Israel – is working to rally other European capitals behind the idea of recognising a Palestinian state.
Israel’s intense bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon is estimated to have killed over 1,400 people in less than three weeks and displaced well over 1 million more.
Updated
We have some more information on the reports that a man and a woman were killed in Kiryat Shmona, a border town in the north-east of Israel, after it was reported to have been hit by a rocket barrage from Hezbollah (see post at 13.34).
Israel’s emergency service provider, Magen David Adom, said in a statement:
We found a man and a woman aged around 40 years old, unconscious and injured by shrapnel.
We carried out medical examinations, but their injuries were serious and we had to declare them dead on the spot.
Hezbollah claimed the strike on Kiryat Shmona, saying it targeted “a gathering of enemy forces” with a rocket salvo. Ofir Yehezkeli, the town’s acting mayor, said the two people killed were a couple who were walking their dogs when a rocket fell near them.
Kiryat Shmona, Israel’s northernmost town, has been declared a closed military zone because of its proximity to the Lebanese border, and is a frequent target of Hezbollah rocket attacks.
The Israeli military said about 20 projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon after air raid sirens were activated in Kiryat Shmona.
Updated
The governor of Akkar, in the far north of Lebanon, has said there are obstacles to delivering aid to the people who have sought refuge there after being internally displaced by Israeli strikes on Beirut and the south and the east of the country.
Lebanon’s National News Agency quotes Imad Labaki announcing that 54,102 people and 12,319 families were distributed between homes and shelters in the region, which has an estimated population of about 330,000.
He said “The aid is still late” and that an accumulation of waste around shelters was presenting a health hazard. “The municipalities of Akkar do not have the ability to confront this crisis,” he said.
Another wave of warning sirens has gone off across northern Israel.
Two people killed in northeast Israel by rockets fired from Lebanon - reports
Israeli media report that two people have been killed in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel after a barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon. Reports have described them as a man and a woman in their 40s.
More details soon …
Updated
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has been highly critical of Israel today, saying Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had a desire “expand the geography of armed escalation in the region.”
Raising Israel’s repeated airstrikes in the region, Zakharova said “Once again, Israel has grossly violated the sovereignty of Syria by launching a missile attack on a multi-storey apartment building in a densely populated area of Damascus. It is outrageous that such actions have literally turned into a routine practice applied to Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip.”
Zakharova also claimed, Reuters reports, that according to Russian assessments “Hezbollah, including the military wing, has not lost its chain of command and is demonstrating organisation.”
At least 25 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank over the past day, including a reporter and former prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reports that the detentions took place in Hebron, Qalqilya, Jenin, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Tubas and Bethlehem.
Over 11,200 people from the occupied West Bank are reported to have been arrested by Israeli soldiers since last October.
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.
Hezbollah has said its fighters have fired rockets and artillery shells “as Israeli troops tried to advance in the Mays al-Jabal area from several directions” it said, adding that “clashes are ongoing”.
Hezbollah said earlier today that its fighters had repelled two Israeli army attempts to infiltrate Lebanese territory near other frontier villages.
IDF orders closure of several hospitals in northern Gaza
Peter Beaumont is a senior Guardian foreign correspondent
Along with evacuation orders, the IDF has ordered the closure once again of several hospitals in northern Gaza, including the Kamal Adwan, Indonesia and al-Awda hospitals. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights described the situation as “deja vu” on social media, adding: “We all know the horrors that follow such orders.”
Among those raising the alarm has been the international medical group Médecins Sans Frontières, whose staff described the situation in northern Gaza.
“All of a sudden, I was told that we had to move from the north,” said Mahmoud, an MSF guard, who left Jabaliya at night to find refuge at the MSF guest house in Gaza City.
“We left our home in despair, under bombs, missiles and artillery. It was very, very difficult. I would prefer to die than to be displaced to the south; my home is here, and I do not want to leave.”
Sarah Vuylsteke, an MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said:
The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert while aggravating the situation in the south.
Access to water, healthcare and safety is already almost nonexistent, and the thought of more people fitting into this space is impossible to imagine. People have been subjected to endless displacement and relentless bombing for the past 12 months. Enough is enough. This must stop now.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and dozens of humanitarian facilities had been affected by the Israeli military’s latest forced evacuations across north, central and southern Gaza.
Between Saturday and Monday, evacuations orders were in place for several areas in the north of the Palestinian territory as well as areas in central Deir al-Balah and southern Khan Younis.
“There are growing risks that humanitarian access will be further constrained, particularly between southern and northern Gaza,” OCHA warned.
You can read the full story here:
Here are some of the latest images from Gaza that have been sent to us over the newswires:
Summary of the day so far...
400,000 civilians in northern Gaza remain trapped by the latest Israeli offensive centred on Jabaliya refugee camp, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said, as there is nowhere safe for them to flee to.
At least 42,010 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,720 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said. Of those, 45 Palestinians were killed and 130 were injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, officials said.
Palestinian medics have described deadly Israeli military strikes on Gaza overnight. Two strikes hit tents for displaced people in the urban Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza.
The Gaza health ministry said the army had ordered three hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate. Hundreds of patients and medics were trapped inside those facilities, it said.
The US president, Joe Biden, is expected to hold a telephone call later today with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, that will reportedly include discussion of any plans to strike Iran. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, is visiting Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for talks later today.
The International Rescue Committee warned that as much as 51,000 children in Gaza could be unaccompanied or separated from their parents or caregivers.
At least six people were injured in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.
Updated
Israel police say six people have been injured in 'terrorist attack' in city of Hadera
Israeli police said at least six people have been injured in a stabbing in four locations in the northern city of Hadera, describing it as a “terrorist attack”. We will bring you more details on this breaking news as we get it.
A police statement read:
The attack took place on four different sites where six people were stabbed... a short time ago, the police located the suspect and neutralised him by shooting.
In a statement, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said:
We treated several injured individuals in varying conditions, some of whom were in serious condition,” said emergency service provider Magen David Adom.
We provided life-saving medical treatment and began transporting them to Hillel Yaffe medical centre.
The attack comes more than a week after seven people were killed in a shooting and stabbing – which Hamas claimed responsibility for - in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital.
IDF footage of strikes on Gaza shows 'unprecedented rates of civilian harm' - investigation
Airwars, an investigative war monitor, has analysed hundreds of clips of Israeli strikes on Gaza released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over the past year. The footage was geolocated and linked to incidents in which Palestinians had publicly reported that civilians were injured or killed.
The investigation, which was conducted in collaboration with Sky News’ data and forensics unit, identified 17 incidents from the first month of the war – which broke out last October – in which the footage released by the IDF corresponded with the location of where Airwars had documented civilians being harmed.
Just from these 17 clips, over 400 Palestinian civilians, including more than 200 children, were reported to have been killed, Airwars said. You can view the interactive map with strike footage here and watch a short film based on Airwar’s reviewing of the devastating impact from three specific strikes here.
Airwars says the footage in the short film shows how the IDF’s bombing campaign has caused “unprecedented rates of civilian harm”.
Commenting on the investigation, Emily Tripp, Airwars’ director, said:
The Israeli military has shared hundreds of videos of their own strikes on social media in Gaza - grainy black and white clips with few details but captions declaring they were striking Hamas targets. The message they wanted the world to see was one of a precise campaign, a controlled narrative of careful and calculated warfare.
But by locating these clips and matching them to civilian harm allegations we uncovered a different story. Even in the strikes the Israeli military itself published footage of - the ones it chose to show the world - we found hundreds of civilians killed. This is yet more evidence that the practices of the Israeli military are leading to unprecedented levels of civilian harm.
Israel has tweeted so many videos of its own strikes on Gaza, but what did they bomb, and who was really killed?
— Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown) October 9, 2024
Important work by @airwars in documenting these events from above and showing the reality on the ground.
https://t.co/SQSq541XE5 pic.twitter.com/EIeZOJSMsJ
An Oxfam analysis, published last week, found that more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the past year than the equivalent period of any other conflict over the past two decades. The charity cited “conservative figures” that estimated over 6,000 women and 11,000 children in Gaza had been killed by the Israeli military since last year. Gaza’s health ministry said earlier today that at least 42,010 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,720 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023. Israel has denied targeting civilians in its war on Gaza.
Updated
The Palestinian civil emergency service said it had received unconfirmed reports that dozens of Palestinian people may have been killed in Jabalia and other areas of northern Gaza, but is unable reach them because of Israeli bombardments.
The Israeli army has surrounded Jabalia since Sunday, as well as other nearby neighbourhoods, ordering residents to flee southward, even though there is nowhere area completely safe for them to go.
Up to 51,000 children in Gaza could be unaccompanied or separated from parents, charity warns
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has shared a new report detailing the devastating impact Israel’s war on Gaza has had on the children in the territory.
Here are some of the main findings from the report:
About 17,000 children are estimated to be unaccompanied or separated from parents and caregivers. The IRC thinks this figure could be three times as high (51,000).
Frequent Israeli evacuation orders, detentions and attacks have contributed to more families being separated in Gaza over the past few months.
Some children have been found living alone in hospitals.
Unaccompanied and separated children face high risks of child labour, exploitation, neglect, starvation, and long-term mental health impacts.
Every child, parent and caregiver in Gaza is experiencing trauma.
IRC teams in Gaza are seeing increased rates of severe and acute malnutrition in children under five.
Children in Gaza have now missed one year of education because of the collapse of the education destruction of school buildings caused by Israeli bombardment.
Bart Witteveen, the IRC’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said:
Children are bearing the brunt of this war, and it’s clear that without an immediate and lasting ceasefire in sight, the long-term impacts will only become greater. Prolonged toxic stress from violence and displacement can lead to long-term health challenges for children.
Without support through psychosocial activities or safe spaces for children, there is a significant risk of long-term developmental impacts, including on brain development. The international community must act immediately to safeguard children, not just in the immediate term, but also taking into account their long-term health needs, whether related to mental health, healthcare or education.
Children in Gaza cannot wait any longer, prolonged restrictions on humanitarian aid and continued fighting means that a generation of children will now experience life-long health and developmental issues.
Death toll in Gaza reaches 42,010, says health ministry
At least 42,010 Palestinian people have been killed and 97,720 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Of those, 45 Palestinians were killed and 130 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the ministry, which has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
One Syrian security personnel member was killed and another injured in an Israeli airstrike east of the southern city of Quneitra, Syria’s state news agency has reported. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has intensified attacks since last October.
Updated
Leaders from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement will hold unity talks in Cairo today, a Hamas official has told Reuters.
“The meeting will discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause,” Taher Al-Nono, the media adviser of the Hamas political chief, said.
The meeting will be the first in months since the two groups held talks in Beijing in July, when they agreed on steps to form a national unity government at an unspecified point in the future. Similar rounds in the past have so far failed to make progress. You can read more on the Beijing declaration from my colleague, Amy Hawkins, in this story.
Hamas and Fatah have been long time rivals. The split came in 2007 when Hamas became the sole ruler in Gaza after violently routing out Fatah from the territory. This was a year after Hamas won legislative elections. Since then, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Abbas, runs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control.
Western states support the idea of post-war Gaza being run by a reformed PA, which receives security assistance from the US and the EU.
Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist group by Israel, the UK and other countries, recognises it cannot be part of any internationally recognised new government of the Palestinian territories when Israel’s war on Gaza finally ends, a source has told Reuters.
But it reportedly wants Fatah to agree to a new technocratic administration for the West Bank and Gaza as part of a wider political deal.
Israel vowed it would not accept any role for Hamas in post-war Gaza. It says it doesn’t trust the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority to do it either.
Updated
The spokesperson of the Iranian foreign ministry has confirmed reports that Tehran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will arrive in Saudi Arabia later today.
In a post on X, Esmaeil Baghaei said:
Following the diplomatic consultations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and coordination with the countries of the region to stop the genocide and aggression of the Israeli regime and reduce the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Lebanon, Dr. Araghchi, the minister of foreign affairs, is leaving for Saudi Arabia today. Genocide and rape must stop.
Iran is determined to further strengthen relations with its neighbours, to ensure stability and security, as well as to develop economic cooperation in order to benefit all the nations of the region.
در ادامه رایزنیهای دیپلماتیک جمهوری اسلامی ایران و هماهنگی با کشورهای منطقه جهت توقف نسلکشی و تجاوزات رژیم اسراییل و کاهش درد و رنج برادران و خواهرانمان در #غزه و #لبنان، دکتر عراقچی وزیر امورخارجه، امروز عازم #عربستان سعودی میشوند.
— Esmaeil Baghaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) October 9, 2024
نسل کشی و تجاوز باید متوقف شود.
ایران… pic.twitter.com/yzVxRhYn9P
Updated
Gulf states must not allow use of airspace against Iran - official
Tehran is still bracing for Israeli retaliation for Iran’s missile attack on the country last week. The strikes, which Iran said were aimed at military bases, were largely thwarted by Israel’s aerial defences with support from its western allies. Iran said the attack was launched in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and Israel’s war on Gaza and assault on Lebanon.
Gulf Arab states have sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in the escalating conflict between Tehran and Israel, according to reports. Gulf states include Saudi Arabia, which has expressed interest in normalising relations with Israel after the war in Gaza, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar.
A senior Iranian official has told Reuters that Tehran has told Gulf Arab states it would be “unacceptable” if they allowed use of their airspace or military bases against Iran and warned that any such move would draw a response.
The senior official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters:
Iran made it clear that any action by a Persian Gulf country against Tehran, whether through the use of airspace or military bases, will be regarded by Tehran as an action taken by the entire group, and Tehran will respond accordingly.
The message emphasised the need for regional unity against Israel and the importance of securing stability.
“It also made clear that any assistance to Israel, such as allowing the use of a regional country’s airspace for actions against Iran, is unacceptable,” the official added.
It is not clear yet how Israel will respond to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack. The US president, Joe Biden, has cautioned against striking Iranian oil facilities (after he had suggested Washington was “discussing” such action). Some of the other targets Israel could try to strike are Iran’s cluster of missile and drone bases, its economic infrastructure or its oil terminals.
As we mentioned in an earlier post, Biden is expected to hold a telephone call later today with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, that will reportedly include discussion of any plans to strike Iran. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, is heading to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for talks later today.
Updated
Israeli forces launched a “raid” on the city of Sidon (or Saida), in southern Lebanon, killing one person and injuring several others, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported earlier today. We will give you more details on this as they come in.
Updated
We have more reports coming in of deadly Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza (see post at 07.54) and Bureij refugee camp, which is located nearby.
Two Israeli airstrikes hit tents for displaced people in the camps earlier, the Associated Press reports. The bodies of nine people, including three children, were brought to the al-Aqsa martyrs hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.
Al Jazeera is reporting that at least 20 Palestinian people were killed during the night and early hours of this morning in Israeli airstrikes. We have not been able to verify this figure yet.
400,000 people 'trapped' in northern Gaza, Unrwa chief warns
The commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, has warned that at least 400,000 people are essentially “trapped” in northern Gaza, where there is “no end to hell” because there is nowhere safe in the territory to flee to.
He said many people in Northern Gaza, particularly in the Jabalia refugee camp, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic urban refugee camps, are now refusing to comply with Israeli evacuation orders telling them to go southward.
The Israeli army has surrounded Jabalia since Sunday, as well as other nearby neighbourhoods, ordering residents to flee towards the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi, even though it has been targeted in deadly Israeli airstrikes and is severely overcrowded.
The Israeli military claims its forces are in Jabalia to fight Hamas militants, dismantle military infrastructure and prevent Hamas from regrouping.
In a post on X, Lazzarini added:
Unrwa shelters + services are being forced to shut. Some for the first time since the war began. With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading & deepening again.
This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children. Children are as ever, the first & most to suffer. They deserve so much better, they deserve a ceasefire now, they deserve a future.
Northern #Gaza: no end to hell.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 9, 2024
At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.
Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp.
Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere…
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reports from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which has been the frequent target of Israeli attacks.
The outlet has been told by medical sources that three Palestinians were killed and others injured earlier today when the Israeli military bombed a tent housing displaced people in the northwest of the camp.
In a statement issued after midnight, Hezbollah said its fighters detonated an explosive device targeting Israeli forces and engaged in combat with them as they “attempted to infiltrate the border town of Blida” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah also said its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers with artillery “and rocket-propelled weapons” as they tried to advance towards the border area of Labouneh at 4:55am. These claims have not been independently verified by the Guardian yet.
The Lebanese militant group claims to have prevented a number of such infiltration attempts since the Israeli military launched its ground invasion of Lebanon on 30 September, which has sparked a humanitarian and refugee crisis.
Updated
At least seven civilians killed in Israeli airstrike in Damascus, says Syrian defence ministry
The Syrian defence ministry said seven people, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the capital Damascus on Tuesday.
At least 11 others were also wounded in the attack, the ministry said, adding that they were only preliminary figures as rescuers are still searching for survivors under the rubble.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people were killed in the airstrike, including five civilians.
The strike obliterated the first three floors of a building in the Mezzeh neighbourhood, east of Damascus, according to an AP journalist at the scene. The AP report says:
The debris covered the surrounding area, crushing several cars. Ambulances and excavators arrived at the scene to rescue survivors and clear the wreckage.
Electrician Adel Habib, 61, who lives in the building which was hit, told AFP the strike was like “Judgment Day”.
I was on my way home when the explosion happened and communications and electricity were cut off so I could no longer contact my family.
These were the longest five minutes of my life until I heard the voices of my wife, children and grandchildren.
The Syrian foreign ministry condemned “in the strongest terms this brutal crime against defenceless civilians” calling for “immediate measures” to stop Israel from dragging the region “into a confrontation that will have disastrous consequences”.
Israel has not commented on the strike.
Biden to hold phone call with Netanyahu over Iran – reports
Joe Biden is expected to hold a phone call on Wednesday with Benjamin Netanyahu about any plans to strike Iran, Axios reported late on Tuesday, citing three unnamed US officials.
The call would be the first between Biden and Netanyahu since August, and comes as Israel considers major attacks that could significantly escalate its regional war.
“We want to use the call to try and shape the limitations of the Israeli retaliation,” a US official was quoted as saying by Axios.
The official said the US wants to make sure Israel attacks targets in Iran that are significant, without being disproportionate.
Reuters also has separate confirmation that the call will take place, citing an unnamed source, and reports the two leaders are also expected to discuss the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Biden said late last month that he would speak to Netanyahu in an effort to ward off all-out war in the Middle East. That conversation, however, did not immediately transpire, and when asked about it last week Biden said it was “because there’s no action going on right now”.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant would not go ahead with a visit to Washington and a meeting with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, planned for Wednesday.
Biden also pulled out of scheduled talks between the leaders of the US, UK, France and Germany on the Middle East and Ukraine on Saturday. Biden will no longer be travelling to Berlin in order to focus on the response to Hurricane Milton, the White House said.
Updated
The Israeli military says it has intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon on Wednesday shortly after air raid sirens sounded in and around the coastal town of Caesarea, south of Haifa.
Hezbollah has launched barrages of rockets towards the Israeli port of Haifa over the last two days. Haifa is Israel’s biggest port and contains petrochemical plants and oil refineries, making it a target for Hezbollah to try to strike.
Updated
Nine members of same family killed in Israeli attack on northern Gaza as Israel steps up attacks
Nine members of the same family have been killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Shejaia neighbourhood of Gaza City, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting, according to Reuters, as Israel steps up its attacks on the area.
The victims were from the Farhat family and their bodies were transferred to the Baptist hospital.
Meanwhile, three others were killed at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, including a child, and several were wounded in an Israeli attack, Wafa reported.
Israel ordered the evacuation of all of northern Gaza on Sunday and has stepped up attacks in the area. Al Jazeera reported early Wednesday that dozens of bodies lay in the streets of Jabalia refugee camp and that rescue workers could not reach the area because of the continuous bombardment.
The Palestinian Civil Defence warned earlier of a worsening humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, saying that Israeli forces were “preventing the entry of water, food and medical supplies” to the area and “committing massacres, killing dozens and injuring hundreds”.
Medécins sans Frontières (MSF) said the evacuation and bombings had turned northern Gaza into an “unliveable wasteland” and that no humanitarian supplies had entered the area for more than a week.
Israel also ordered the evacuation of the three main hospitals on Tuesday: the Indonesian, Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals.
Hossam Shabbat, one of the few remaining journalists in northern Gaza, said that the head of Kamal Adwan had been given 24 hours on Tuesday to evacuate the hospital, but that hundreds of injured people were unable to be moved. The Israeli order amounted to a “death sentence for all the sick and injured”, he wrote on X.
Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif reported that Israeli forces had also burned the only bakery in northern Gaza, as well as the area’s largest flour warehouse. It was not possible to independently verify either report as Israel does not allow foreign reporters into Gaza.
قوات الاحتلال تدمر المخبز الوحيد في شمال غزة وتحرق أكبر مستودع للدقيق في الشمال. pic.twitter.com/ynV0LSKUtG
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) October 8, 2024
Lebanese health ministry says 36 people killed, 150 injured in Israeli attacks on Tuesday
The Lebanese health ministry said late on Tuesday 36 people have been killed in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours. Another 150 people have been injured in Lebanon, it said.
The latest figure brings the total number of people killed in Lebanon since October 2023 to 2,119, most of them in the past two weeks, the ministry said.
Beirut’s southern suburbs have been the target of intense Israeli strikes for several consecutive days. Lebanese state media reported massive destruction from Tuesday’s strikes, including the collapse of four adjacent residential buildings in the Burj al-Barajneh area in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed a week and a half ago.
“Beirut’s southern suburbs are still being subjected to a series of strikes, the latest of which hit the main road at Al-Kafaat, and caused massive destruction” in several south Beirut neighbourhoods, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamieh, said his country has received “assurances” that Israel will not target its international airport but that those assurances fell short of guarantees.
Beirut “seeks to keep its public airport, seaports and land crossings – chief among them the Rafik Hariri International Airport – functional,” he told AFP on Tuesday.
“Ongoing international calls have given us a sort of assurance” the airport will be spared Israeli strikes, Hamieh added, however “there is a big difference between assurances and guarantees”.
On Monday, the US warned Israel not to attack the Beirut airport or the roads leading to it, after repeated Israeli strikes near the facility.
Hamieh denied Israeli accusations that Hezbollah was using the airport and border crossings to smuggle weapons. The airport “is subject to Lebanese laws and to the scrutiny of various relevant departments and security agencies”, he said.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
Nine members of the same family have been killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Shejaia neighbourhood of Gaza City, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting, according to Reuters.
Israel ordered the evacuation of all of northern Gaza on Sunday and has stepped up attacks in the area. Al Jazeera reported early Wednesday that dozens of bodies lay in the streets of Jabalia refugee camp and that rescue workers could not reach the area because of the continuous bombardment.
The Lebanese health ministry said late on Tuesday that 36 people had been killed in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, as Israel launched new strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. After repeated Israeli strikes near Beirut’s international airport, Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh said his country has received “assurances” that Israel will not target the Beirut airport but that those assurances fell short of guarantees.
Lebanese state media reported massive destruction, including the collapse of four adjacent residential buildings in the Burj al-Barajneh area in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed a week and a half ago.
It comes as the Israeli military said it was expanding its ground operation with the deployment of a fourth division.
At least seven people, including women and children, were meanwhile killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Damascus on Tuesday, the Syrian defence ministry said.
The strike obliterated the first three floors of a building in the Mezzeh neighbourhood, east of Damascus, according to AP. Israel did not immediately comment on the attack.
More on that in a moment – first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Lebanese people that they could face “destruction and suffering” like the Palestinians in Gaza if they don’t “free” the country from Hezbollah. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video address directed to the people of Lebanon.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has cancelled plans for a visit to Washington scheduled for this week, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. The Israeli minister was expected to visit Washington and meet with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, on Wednesday. The announcement came after reports that Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered Gallant not to travel to the Pentagon for talks on Iran until the Israeli prime minister receives a phone call with Joe Biden and until the Israeli security cabinet approves the response to Iran’s missile attack.
Israel said it is expanding its ground operation in Lebanon with the deployment of a fourth division. The number of Israeli troops on the ground is now likely to number 15,000. The rapid deployment of four divisions operating across south Lebanon, alongside evacuation orders for Lebanese villages on the coast upwards of 20 miles from the blue line and the intensive bombing of the country’s south and east and the capital, suggests Israel is preparing for a wider push north against the Lebanese militia.
Fighting also continues to rage in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes killed 17 people in a refugee camp in the centre of the Palestinian territory on Tuesday, medics said. At least 15 people, including two women and four children, were killed on Tuesday in ground fighting in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City, the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital said, after new Israeli evacuation orders for the city were issued on Monday.
The Israeli military also ordered the full evacuation of all three main hospitals in northern Gaza – Al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan hospitals, the territory’s health ministry said. Israeli forces shot at the administration office at the Kamal Adwan hospital, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which said that the complex was being besieged.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces have taken out the would-be successors of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, without naming them. The Israeli prime minister also warned the people of Lebanon they could face “destruction and suffering” like the Palestinians in Gaza.
Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, said that the question of who will succeed Nasrallah remains undecided. In a defiant speech on Tuesday, Qassem said the group’s military capabilities were still functional despite two weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, warned Israel that any attack on Iran’s infrastructure will be met with retaliation, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel. On Monday evening Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran’s military had prepared at least ten scenarios preparing for an expected Israeli attack.
Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday and warned that it would intensify attacks on Israel, including the northern port city of Haifa, if it continues to strike Lebanon. The IDF said Hezbollah launched more than 170 rockets across the border.
Israel’s home front command tightened restrictions on civilians in the port city of Haifa on Tuesday in the wake of a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets towards the Haifa and Krayot area in northern Israel, having launched “a large salvo of missiles”. About seven people were injured in the attack, according to reports.
Hezbollah said it killed and injured Israeli soldiers crossing the Lebanese border near a UN position near the al-Labouneh forest, in the western section of the border area. Hezbollah said that the attack forced Israeli soldiers to withdraw behind the border.
Ireland’s prime minister, Simon Harris, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrawal from a firing position next to Irish peacekeepers on the Lebanese border was “extremely welcome”. Harris said he had spoken to UN secretary general, António Guterres, about his deep concerns about their safety after the IDF requested them to vacate their positions to make way for their war on Hezbollah.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that Lebanon is on the verge of “an all-out war” and Gaza is “in a death spiral.” Guterres, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said that the Middle East “is a powder keg with many parties holding the match” and that the conflict is “getting worse by the hour”. He said he has written to Netanyahu warning him that draft Israeli legislation to prevent the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) from working in the occupied Palestinian territory would be a “catastrophe”.
The World Food Programme country director in Lebanon voiced concern about the country’s food supply, saying thousands of hectares of farmland across the country’s south has burned or been abandoned. “Agriculture-wise, food production-wise, (there is) extraordinary concern for Lebanon’s ability to continue to feed itself,” Matthew Hollingworth told reporters on Tuesday.
British foreign secretary David Lammy is to meet leaders in Bahrain and Jordan as part of efforts to prevent the conflict in the Middle East from escalating further, Reuters reports.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands are considering a request to open a criminal case against senior Israeli intelligence officials for allegedly interfering with an investigation by the international criminal court (ICC).
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