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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Livingstone (now); Léonie Chao-Fong, Yohannes Lowe, Neha Gohil and Helen Davidson (earlier)

Middle East crisis: Iran confirms resumption of air traffic – as it happened

Israel Beirut Gaza Hamas Middle East Benjamin Netanyahu Emmanuel Macron IDF Iran the Israeli Air Force

This blog has now closed. You can see all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war: one year on here and all our coverage of the Israel-Lebanon conflict here.

Iranian authorities have confirmed the resumption of air traffic after flight cancellations at some airports over “operational restrictions”, state media is reporting according to AFP.

Flights have been operational again since 11pm (1930 GMT) on Sunday and were being “carried out in accordance with the flight schedule”, said Jafar Yazarloo, spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, quoted by the Irna state news agency.

The Israeli military’s blanket call for civilians to evacuate from northern Gaza may be part of a plan published by retired military commanders last month to put Hamas militants who remain in the area under siege in order to force the release of hostages.

The Likud MP Avichai Boaron told the Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo last month that the plan was being evaluated by the government. He said:

According to the plan, the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the border to the Gaza River … And after they will evacuate, the IDF will assume that only the terrorists will remain. When the civilians population has left, you can find and kill all the terrorists without harming the civilians.

The plan does not tackle the question of what would happen to Palestinian civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave, or how it will help with releasing the hostages.

Between 300,000 and 500,000 Palestinians are though to remain in northern Gaza under increasingly ire humanitarian conditions, though exact circumstances are difficult to verify as Israel does not allow in foreign journalists.

You can read Lorenzo’s full report here:

And some pictures from Haifa, where at least five people were injured in a rocket attack launched from Lebanon:

Updated

Some more footage from the scene of one of the rocket explosions in Haifa:

One person is in a “moderate to serious” condition following a rocket attack launched from Lebanon on the northern Israeli city of Tiberias, the Times of Israel is reporting, citing a local ambulance service.

Israeli media reported that several explosions had taken place in the city, citing police.

The Israeli military has claimed in a statement that its latest attacks on Beirut targeted Hezbollah’s headquarters as well as the militant organisation’s “munitions warehouses in the Beirut area”.

It claimed that secondary explosions in the areas targeted indicated the presence of weapons.

It also said its warplanes were continuing to attack targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley region, about 30km east of Beirut, “ including munitions warehouses, military buildings, a headquarters and a launcher”.

“Fighter planes continue to attack Lebanon even at this time,” it said in a post on X.

Summary of the day so far

It’s 1.30am in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • Israel launched fresh strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Sunday, a day after heavy consecutive strikes on the Lebanese capital. Israeli jets launched a strike targeting the Saint Therese area, and a second targeting the Burj al-Barajneh area, Lebanese state media reported, as well as two additional strikes, including one it described as “violent”. Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh were keeping rescue workers from scouring the site of Thursday night’s attack.

  • Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base near the northern city of Haifa late on Sunday, the third attack on a military position in the area in one day. Five people were wounded in the rocket attack, the Times of Israel reported. Police said that some buildings and properties were damaged.

  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered a “closed military zone” around three towns on the border with Lebanon and issued new evacuation orders for areas in southern Lebanon on Sunday. In a statement, the IDF said it is “strictly prohibited” to enter the communities of Manara, Yiftach, and Malkia. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson ordered residents of about 25 areas in southern Lebanon to head immediately to the north of the Awali river.

  • Israel expanded its actions in Lebanon, making its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, and Israeli troops launched raids in the south. A Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah.

  • The UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) has said it is deeply concerned by what it called Israel’s “recent activities” adjacent to the mission’s position inside Lebanon. Unifil said on Sunday that the activities by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are an “extremely dangerous development” as it “urgently” reminded all actors of “their obligations to protect UN personnel and property.” Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, said it is “outrageous” for the IDF to have “threatened” Unifil.

  • More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon nearly a year of fighting, most of them in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The ministry said on Sunday 23 people had been killed on Saturday.

  • The latest Israeli strikes on Beirut came after days of Israeli bombing that killed the Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine. A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Safieddine had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli airstrike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have shattered Hezbollah’s leadership. On Sunday, the Israeli foreign ministry said its air force killed Hezbollah commander, Hader Ali Taweel.

  • At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, according to latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday. The health ministry also reported at least 97,166 people have been injured. Thousands more are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.

  • Israel issued a new blanket evacuation order for all of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, where hundreds of thousands of civilians remain. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million people fleeing to the south, even though people say there is nowhere safe to go.

  • For the first time in months, Israel sent a column of tanks into northern Gaza and launched major operations there, surrounding Jabalia, the largest of strip’s eight historic refugee camps. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 24 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in central Gaza early on Sunday. Witnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli military said it was being used as a Hamas command centre.

  • Palestinians across northern Gaza have been told to flee to al-Mawasi on the southern coast, a so-called “humanitarian area” where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering. Mawasi, which has been the target of deadly Israeli airstrikes, is severely overcrowded and aid agencies struggle to provide even the most basic services. In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

  • The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s escalating airstrikes, some of which have violated international law. About 40% of Lebanon’s 1.25 million school pupils have become displaced by ongoing Israeli attacks, Lebanon’s director general of education, Imad Achkar, said. The Lebanese government has said schools will postpone the start of the academic year due to intensifying Israeli airstrikes. Israeli strikes have forced 1.2 million people – almost a quarter of Lebanon’s population – from their homes, officials say. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes on camps in Lebanon.

  • Israeli authorities said they were on the lookout for attacks timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Monday. One woman was killed and 10 people were wounded in the suspected terror attack on Sunday at the central bus station in Be’er Sheva, a city in the Negev desert in southern Israel, the second attack in the last week. Israel’s military reportedly said it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

  • Syria’s defence ministry said Israel launched airstrikes on military positions in central Syria on Sunday, causing “material damage”. “Israeli strikes” targeted a “weapons depot south of Homs and a rockets depot in the eastern Hama countryside,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights War Monitor, told AFP.

  • Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said his country is closely coordinating with the US as it prepares to strike back at Iran, but that Israel will make its own independent decisions about how to retaliate. Despite the US having made clear that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Gallant told CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table”. Gallant is expected to visit the US this coming week where he is scheduled to meet with the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. In a statement on Sunday, Gallant warned Iran that it may end up like Gaza or Beirut if it attempts to harm Israel.

  • The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Washington will not stop putting pressure on Israel and Arab leaders during ongoing diplomatic efforts. Harris was asked, in an interview with “60 Minutes” if the US has a “real close ally” in Netanyahu, to which she responded: “The better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? The answer to that question is yes.”

  • The last currently scheduled plane for British nationals leaving Lebanon landed in Birmingham airport on Sunday night. The flight was the fourth charter flight to have left Beirut for the UK. There are no further flights scheduled, the UK Foreign Office said, citing a reduction in demand but it said the situation will be “closely” monitored. In addition, the UK has advised its citizens on Sunday against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

  • The UK government is advising Israel to show “restraint” as Keir Starmer warned that “sparks”’ from the Middle East conflict could “light touchpapers in our communities at home”. Peter Kyle, a UK cabinet minister, did not rule out the possibility of the UK military helping Israel attack Iran, but noted any “operational decision to be taken” would be based on “delicate negotiations”.

  • A call by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from Benjamin Netanyahu. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The pair spoke on Sunday in a call that the Élysée Palace described as “frank”.

  • Thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities around the world for a second day on Sunday to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the wider Middle East as the start of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory approaches its first anniversary. About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town, New York City, Sydney and Melbourne.

  • This post was amended on 7 October 2024. An earlier version said “Tel Aviv” would decide on how to retaliate against Iran: Israel’s seat of government is in Jerusalem.

Updated

Israel launched four strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli jets launched a strike targeting the Saint Therese area, and a second targeting the Burj al-Barajneh area, it reported.

It later reported two additional strikes, including one it described as “violent”.

The strikes came shortly after an Israeli military spokesperson issued immediate evacuation orders to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, added:

You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, and the IDF (Israeli military) will operate against them in the near future.

The latest strikes came after Israel launched airstrikes in the night from Saturday to Sunday in what NNA called the “most severe” bombing of the war.

Last UK charter flight carrying Britons from Lebanon lands

The last currently scheduled plane for British nationals leaving Lebanon has landed in Birmingham airport.

The flight was the fourth charter flight to have left Beirut for the UK.

There are no further flights scheduled, the UK Foreign Office said, citing a reduction in demand but it said the situation will be “closely” monitored.

It said that the UK has “helped over 430 people to leave Lebanon” over the last week.

British nationals who remain in Lebanon are advised to register their presence to receive up-to-date information, and to take the “next available commercial flight”.

Rockets hit Israeli port city of Haifa

Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base near the northern city of Haifa, the third attack on a military position in the area in one day.

Hezbollah fighters launched “a salvo of Fadi 1 rockets at the Carmel base south of Haifa,” the group said in a statement, AFP reported.

Five people were wounded in the rocket attack, the Times of Israel reported, citing Ramban hospital.

The UK has advised its citizens on Sunday against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to a heightened state of tension and violent clashes in the region.

A statement from the Foreign Office said it “advises against all travel to the area close to the border with Gaza and all but essential travel to the rest of Israel and the OPTs.”

Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Beirut, after Israel launched fresh strikes on the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs.

A Hezbollah official has accused Israel of obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where senior Hezbollah leader, Hashem Safieddine, is thought to have been during Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday.

Safieddine, the most likely candidate to replace Hassan Nasrallah as leader of Hezbollah and the head of its executive council, was the target of one of the most intense Israeli bombardments on the city since the campaign began last week. Safieddine’s fate remains unclear.

Mahmolud Qmati, a senior Hezbollah political official, told Iraqi state media that Israel should “let rescue teams do their work, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah was now being jointly led until it could pick a new leader, which would take time, he saidm adding:

The method of choosing a replacement for the secretary-general takes time and requires appropriate circumstances, and for that reason we suffice today with temporary joint command.

Qmati said Nasrallah’s body remained in Lebanon and that he would be laid to rest in Beirut’s southern suburbs, when conditions allowed.

New Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs

Israeli strikes have struck Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Sunday.

Loud blasts were heard and fireballs seen above the darkened skyline, according to Reuters’ Timour Azhari.

Flight restrictions lifted in Iran - state media

We reported earlier that Iran’s aviation body announced the cancellation of flights at the country’s airports, citing “operational restrictions”.

Flight restrictions have now been lifted after ensuring safe conditions, according to state media reports.

Two airports in the capital Tehran – Mehrabad and Imam Khomeini – have resumed flights, the BBC reported.

Updated

Summary of the day so far

It’s nearly midnight in Tel Aviv, Beirut and Gaza. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • Israel issued a new blanket evacuation order for all of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, where hundreds of thousands of civilians remain. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million people fleeing to the south, even though people say there is nowhere safe to go.

  • For the first time in months, Israel sent a column of tanks into northern Gaza and launched major operations there, surrounding Jabalia, the largest of strip’s eight historic refugee camps. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 24 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in central Gaza early on Sunday. Witnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli military said it was being used as a Hamas command centre.

  • Palestinians across northern Gaza have been told to flee to al-Mawasi on the southern coast, a so-called “humanitarian area” where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering. Mawasi, which has been the target of deadly Israeli airstrikes, is severely overcrowded and aid agencies struggle to provide even the most basic services. In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

  • At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, according to latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday. The health ministry also reported at least 97,166 people have been injured. Thousands more are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.

  • More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon nearly a year of fighting, most of them in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The ministry said on Sunday 23 people had been killed on Saturday.

  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered a “closed military zone” around three towns on the border with Lebanon and issued new evacuation orders for areas in southern Lebanon on Sunday. In a statement, the IDF said it is “strictly prohibited” to enter the communities of Manara, Yiftach, and Malkia. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson ordered residents of about 25 areas in southern Lebanon to head immediately to the north of the Awali river. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited troops along the border with Lebanon on Sunday, where he told them that “Together we will fight, and together we will win.”

  • The UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) has said it is deeply concerned by what it called Israel’s “recent activities” adjacent to the mission’s position inside Lebanon. Unifil said on Sunday that the activities by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are an “extremely dangerous development” as it “urgently” reminded all actors of “their obligations to protect UN personnel and property.” Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, said it is “outrageous” for the IDF to have “threatened” Unifil.

  • Heavy consecutive Israeli strikes on Saturday night sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, following days of Israeli bombing in suburbs of the city that are thought to be Hezbollah strongholds. In the Lebanese capital, the Israeli strikes sent booms across the city and sparked flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away. Lebanon’s National News Agency called it the “most severe” bombing of the war. Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh were keeping rescue workers from scouring the site of Thursday night’s attack.

  • The Israeli strikes on Beirut came after days of Israeli bombing that killed the Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine. A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Safieddine had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli airstrike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have shattered Hezbollah’s leadership. On Sunday, the Israeli foreign ministry said its air force killed Hezbollah commander, Hader Ali Taweel.

  • Israel expanded its actions in Lebanon, making its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, and Israeli troops launched raids in the south. A Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah.

  • In northern Israel, air raid sirens on Saturday sent people running for shelters amid rocket fire from Lebanon. Hezbollah said it had fired missiles at what it called “ATA company for military industries near Sakhnin base”, close to Haifa.

  • The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s escalating airstrikes, some of which have violated international law. About 40% of Lebanon’s 1.25 million school pupils have become displaced by ongoing Israeli attacks, Lebanon’s director general of education, Imad Achkar, said. The Lebanese government has said schools will postpone the start of the academic year due to intensifying Israeli airstrikes. Israeli strikes have forced 1.2 million people – almost a quarter of Lebanon’s population – from their homes, officials say. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes on camps in Lebanon.

  • Israeli authorities said they were on the lookout for attacks timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Monday. One woman was killed and 10 people were wounded in the suspected terror attack on Sunday at the central bus station in Be’er Sheva, a city in the Negev desert in southern Israel, the second attack in the last week. Israel’s military reportedly said it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

  • Najib Mikati, the caretaker Lebanese prime minister, said that his government continues to support the “joint call for a ceasefire” which was launched last week by France and the US. Mikati said a diplomatic end to the escalating war would be a “win-win” for Israel and Lebanon and that “all parties” would respect such a deal. He said he hoped to deploy 10,000 Lebanese army troops in the south if a ceasefire is agreed.

  • Syria’s defence ministry said Israel launched airstrikes on military positions in central Syria on Sunday, causing “material damage”. “Israeli strikes” targeted a “weapons depot south of Homs and a rockets depot in the eastern Hama countryside,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights War Monitor, told AFP.

  • Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said his country is closely coordinating with the US as it prepares to strike back at Iran, but that Tel Aviv will make its own independent decisions about how to retaliate. Despite the US having made clear that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Gallant told CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table”. Gallant is expected to visit the US this coming week where he is scheduled to meet with the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. In a statement on Sunday, Gallant warned Iran that it may end up like Gaza or Beirut if it attempts to harm Israel.

  • The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Washington will not stop putting pressure on Israel and Arab leaders during ongoing diplomatic efforts. Harris was asked, in an interview with “60 Minutes” if the US has a “real close ally” in Netanyahu, to which she responded: “The better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? The answer to that question is yes.”

  • The UK government is advising Israel to show “restraint” as Keir Starmer warned that “sparks”’ from the Middle East conflict could “light touchpapers in our communities at home”. Peter Kyle, a UK cabinet minister, did not rule out the possibility of the UK military helping Israel attack Iran, but noted any “operational decision to be taken” would be based on “delicate negotiations”.

  • A call by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from Benjamin Netanyahu. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The pair spoke on Sunday in a call that the Élysée Palace described as “frank”.

  • Thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities around the world for a second day on Sunday to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the wider Middle East as the start of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory approaches its first anniversary. About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town, New York City, Sydney and Melbourne.

Israeli airstrikes hit central Syria, says Syrian defence ministry

Syria’s defence ministry said Israel launched airstrikes on military positions in central Syria on Sunday, causing “material damage”.

A statement by the Syrian defence ministry said:

At approximately 20:05 (17:05 GMT) the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression coming from the direction of north Lebanon, which targeted military sites in the central region, causing material losses.

Syrian state media earlier reported that Syrian air defences were intercepting “hostile targets” in central Syria.

“Israeli strikes” targeted a “weapons depot south of Homs and a rockets depot in the eastern Hama countryside,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights War Monitor, told AFP.

As a powerful barrage of Israeli airstrikes pummelled Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight, cousins Nader Ismail and Lyne Nassar sat on a balcony in a nearby Baabda overwhelmed with shock.

Ismail said the terror made him freeze where he sat, while Nassar said she stood up suddenly before sitting down and attempting to calm herself about what is now a near nightly occurrence. Nassar said:

It felt like we could feel the pressure waves from the bombings washing over usThe windows shook, the whole building shook. It was traumatising.

The two students and their families are struggling to adapt quickly to the new reality of wartime, where the strikes have upended the lives of people across Beirut.

In some parts of the city north of Dahiyeh, shops, bars and restaurants remain open but sometimes with limited hours, as people attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy and hope for a swift end to the conflict.

Read the full story here: ‘I’m bracing for worse’: Beirut’s youth adjust to an emptied city

Hamas’s deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, has accused Israel of continuing to block a ceasefire agreement and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of trying to stall and undermine talks.

In a speech shown on Hamas’ Aqsa television on Sunday, Hayya said Hamas was not prepared to make concessions on its demands that Israel end the war, pull out its forces from Gaza, return internally displaced residents to their homes, and strike a prisoners-for-hostages deal, Reuters reported.

Hayya, who is also the chief negotiator for Hamas, accused the world of double-standards over Gaza and Lebanon, which he said would lead to more disruption and instability in the region.

He reaffirmed the group’s standing behind the 7 October attack on Israel, saying it put the Palestinian cause on top of the world agenda. Hayya said:

We can say in full confidence, that the Palestine cause has become the prime cause in the world and all parties now realize that there can be no security and no stability in the region unless our people gain their full rights.

Israel defence minister says 'everything is on the table' for retaliation against Iran

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said his country is closely coordinating with the US as it prepares to strike back at Iran, but that Tel Aviv will make its own independent decisions about how to retaliate.

Despite the US having made clear that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Gallant told CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table”. He said:

Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far – we have proved it. We will respond to the Iranian attack appropriately. We will not stand by and neither should the international community.

As we reported earlier, Gallant is expected to visit the US this coming week where he is scheduled to meet with the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin.

A US state department spokesperson has said that military pressure “can at times enable diplomacy” but that it can also “lead to unintended consequences”.

In a statement reported by Reuters, the spokesperson said the US state department supported Israel going after extremist targets but did not want the targeting of civilian infrastructure, adding:

Every civilian casualty is one too many.

The UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, has said that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s escalating airstrikes, some of which have violated international law.

Grandi was speaking during a visit to Beirut on Sunday, where he met with the country’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.

He also said there had been “many instances of violations of international humanitarian law in the way the airstrikes have been conducted that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure.”

The UN agency confirmed that two of its workers were killed in Lebanon. Dina Darwiche, an UNHCR workers for 12 years, was killed when an Israeli missile hit the building where she and her husband and young children lived.

Lebanese government officials estimate that 1.2 million people are now displaced.

As we reported earlier, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said that 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been forcibly displaced by Israeli strikes on camps in Lebanon.

Thousands of people gathered in London on Sunday to take part in a memorial for the victims of the 7 October Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel.

Speakers included Mandy Damari, whose daughter Emily Damari, 28, is the only British-Israeli hostage still being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Speaking at the memorial, she said her her daughter’s “plight seems to have been forgotten”.

In a statement on Sunday, Israel’s army chief, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said Israeli troops have “dealt a severe blow to Hezbollah, which has lost all of its senior leadership.”

“We are not stopping,” he added ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on 7 October. Halevi said:

This is a long war, measured not only by capabilities but also by the willpower and perseverance over time.

Updated

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say Israel's recent military activities an 'extremely dangerous'

The UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) has said it is deeply concerned by what it called Israel’s “recent activities” adjacent to the mission’s position inside Lebanon.

In a statement posted to X on Sunday, Unifil said the activities by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are an “extremely dangerous development”, adding:

It is unacceptable to compromise the safety of UN peacekeepers carrying out their Security Council-mandated tasks.

The UN force “urgently” reminded all actors of “their obligations to protect UN personnel and property,” it said.

Israeli military declares three areas on Lebanon border 'closed military zones'

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered a “closed military zone” around three towns on the border with Lebanon.

In a statement, the IDF said it is “strictly prohibited” to enter the communities of Manara, Yiftach, and Malkia.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday in a phone call that the Élysée Palace described as “frank”.

Both leaders accepted their divergence of views, as well as their desire to be well understood by each other, Macron’s office said in a statement after the call.

“France’s commitment to Israel’s security is unwavering,” Macron was quoted as telling Netanyahu.

But the French leader added that arms deliveries, the prolongation of the war in Gaza and its extension to Lebanon will not produce security for either Israelis or others living in the region.

In a readout of the call by Netanyahu’s office, the two leaders agreed to maintain a dialogue on the matter during a visit by France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, to Israel on Monday.

France provides few arms to Israel but is keen to strengthen its longstanding influence in Lebanon by showing it wants the US to put some genuine pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire.

Washington appeared to mount little diplomatic resistance when Israel – after sending mixed signals – rejected a US-French plan for a 21 day ceasefire in Lebanon announced at the UN in New York nearly a fortnight ago.

Macron’s remarks, welcomed by the Lebanese, Qatari and Egyptian governments as well as the Palestinian Authority, may reflect French concern that some officials in the White House appeared to be willing to be relaxed to the point of welcoming the Israeli rejection of the French-US plan for a 21-day ceasefire. Few US officials have condemned Israel for escalating the conflict.

Macron, in an interview broadcast on Saturday, also announced he was convening an international conference on aid to Lebanon and the establishment of Lebanese government armed troops on the border with Israel.

Netanyahu hits out at Macron over call for halt to arms exports to Israel

A call by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, for a halt in arms supplies to Israel for use in Gaza has been met with an angry rebuttal from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The French president’s comments were directed mainly at the US and were part of continuing French efforts to revive its call for a ceasefire in Lebanon. In an interview recorded on Monday, but broadcast on Saturday, Macron told France Inter radio:

I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop supplying weapons to lead the fighting in Gaza.

“France is not supplying them,” he immediately clarified, indirectly turning the spotlight on the US, Israel’s main arms supplier. He also warned about “a resentment that is being born, a hatred that is being fuelled by this” . Lebanon could not be turned into another Gaza, he added.

His comments brought a swift response from Netanyahu. “As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” he said in a statement.

Yet, President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them.

US and Israeli defence ministers to meet at Pentagon

The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, will host his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The pair will “discuss ongoing Middle East security developments,” the Pentagon said on Sunday.

It will be Gallant’s third US visit since the start of the war a year ago, after trips in March and June, the Times of Israel reports.

The Israeli minister is expected to meet with other senior Biden administration officials as well, it says.

As we reported earlier, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited troops along the border with Lebanon on Sunday.

Netanyahu visited the Lebanon border for a situation assessment with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) northern command head, Maj Gen Uri Gordin, and division commander Brig Gen Moran Omer, his office said.

“A year ago we suffered a terrible blow,” Netanyahu said during the visit, according to his office. He added:

Over the past 12 months, we are changing reality from end to end.

Netanyahu, addressing his troops, said:

The whole world is amazed by the blows you are delivering to our enemies, and I salute you ... Together we will fight, and together we will win.

Pope Francis issued a new appeal for peace “on every front” in his Sunday prayer, during which he called for a day of prayer and fasting on Monday to mark the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks.

“Brothers and sisters, tomorrow it will be a year since the terrorist attack by Hamas against the people of Israel, to whom I renew my closeness,” the pope said. He continued:

From that day the Middle East has fallen into worse suffering because of destructive military actions that continue to hit the Palestinian people. It is most of all innocent civilians, they must receive the necessary humanitarian aid.

He once again called for an “immediate ceasefire on every front”, including Lebanon, adding:

Let’s pray for Lebanese people, especially for the people in the south forced to leave their villages.

Flights from Iran's airports cancelled due to "operational restrictions"

Iran’s aviation body has announced the cancellation of flights at the country’s airports, citing “operational restrictions”, according to state media.

Iran’s civil organisation said that “the flights at some airports of the country will be cancelled from 21:00 tonight (1730 GMT), Sunday, 6 October, until 6:00 am tomorrow, 7 October,” IRNA state news agency reported.

Iran implemented flight restrictions on Tuesday when it launched ballistic missiles at Israel earlier this week, an attack that Israel has vowed to retaliate.

Pro-Palestinian protests have been taking place in cities around the world ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October, which led to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed and 97,166 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory since 7 October, according to the latest figures by Gaza’s health ministry.

US vice-president Kamala Harris, asked if the US has a “real close ally” in Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, replied:

With all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? The answer to that question is yes.

Kamala Harris, the US vice-president and Democratic presidential nominee, discussed her country’s relationship with Israel during an interview that will air in full on Monday.

CBS has released a clip from the “60 Minutes” election special interview, which will air on the one year anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel.

Harris was asked if the US has any sway over the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, despite Washington supplying Tel Aviv with billions of dollars in military aid and after the US pressed Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire.

Harris replied that the US military aid “allowed Israel to defend itself” against the Iranian ballistic missile attack last week that was “just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel.” She added:

When we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran presents, I think that it is, without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.

She said the US is engaged in ongoing diplomatic efforts that “include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire.” She added:

We’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.

We reported in an earlier post that one woman was killed and 10 other people injured in a suspected terror attack at the central bus station in Beersheba in southern Israel.

In reaction to the shooting, Miri Regev, Israel’s transportation minister, wrote that the family of the suspected attacker should be deported from the country.

“The time has come for a deterrent punishment that prevents attacks on Israeli territory,” she wrote on X.

Updated

40% of Lebanese pupils displaced by Israeli attacks - official

About 40% of Lebanon’s 1.25 million school pupils have become displaced by ongoing Israeli attacks, director general of education Imad Achkar has said.

“There are 1.25 million pupils in Lebanese schools,” Achkar said, adding that “40 percent of them have been displaced” by Israeli bombardment.

UN officials said on Friday most of Lebanon’s nearly 900 shelters were full and that people fleeing Israeli military airstrikes were increasingly sleeping out in the open on the street or in public parks.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said 1.2 million people – out of Lebanon’s total 2022 population of 5.49 million (according to UN data) – have been forced from their homes by Israel’s intensifying air and ground attacks.

The Lebanese government said earlier today that the start of the academic year will be delayed until 4 November due to “security risks” (see earlier post at 11.13 for more details).

Updated

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp have killed at least 17 people, including nine children.

“There are 17 martyrs, including nine children, in Israeli air raids in Jabalia,” civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Basal was quoted by Al Jazeera as having said. These figures have not been independently verified yet by the Guardian.

As we reported in an earlier post, the Israeli military has said its forces have surrounded the Jabalia area of northern Gaza because of what it is claiming is the presence of “terrorists” and their “infrastructure”. Israeli forces have regularly targeted Jabalia, displacing most residents there.

Updated

Hezbollah said it launched attack drones at an Israeli military base near the northern city of Haifa on Sunday. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group said it fighters “launched an air assault with a squadron of attack drones on the maintenance and rehabilitation base south of Haifa”.

Israel has reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of northern Gaza.

Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained in the heavily destroyed north after earlier Israeli warnings that sent around a million people fleeing to the south, even though people say there is nowhere safe to go.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets dropped over the area, according to the Associated Press. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.”

Palestinians across northern Gaza have been told to flee to al-Mawasi on the southern coast, a so-called “humanitarian area” where an estimated one million displaced people are sheltering. Mawasi, which has been the target of deadly Israeli airstrikes, is severely overcrowded and aid agencies struggle to provide even the most basic services.

In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

Another said the coast was “totally jam packed, with block after block of tents and only narrow gaps between them”.

“There is no infrastructure inside the camps and very limited new supplies getting in of course,” he said.

Updated

Summary of the day so far...

  • Police and emergency responders said at least one person was killed and 10 others injured in a shooting attack at a bus station in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba. The attacker has been killed and the shooting is being treated as a “suspected terrorist attack”.

  • The Israeli foreign ministry said its air force has killed Hezbollah commander, Hader Ali Taweel. The statement said Taweel, along with Mohamed Hader and Hassan Nteer el Rasheeni who were killed earlier in the week, were responsible for an anti-tank missile that hit Israel’s northern border in January.

  • The Israeli military issued new evacuation alerts for residents of about 25 areas in southern Lebanon, calling on them to head immediately to the north of the Awali river.

  • Israel’s military has said it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire from the Gaza Strip ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks, according to reports from the Times of Israel.

  • Gaza’s health ministry said 26 people were killed by Israeli strikes on a school, and a mosque serving as a shelter in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Saturday. The ministry said at least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since last October.

  • There were reports of intense Israeli airstrikes over Beirut from late Saturday into Sunday. The Lebanese health ministry said 23 people were killed in Israeli bombing across Lebanon yesterday, which targeted areas including those in southern Lebanon and in the eastern region of Bekaa.

An Israeli airstrike targeted three cars carrying medical and relief materials in the central Syrian province of Homs, the country’s state news agency reported on Sunday, adding that material damage was reported.

Updated

We have some more information on the shooting in southern Israel. Police and emergency responders have said at least one person was killed and 10 others injured during the shooting in Beersheba, which is being treated as a “suspected terrorist attack”. The attack took place near a McDonald’s inside Beersheba’s central bus station terminal, BBC News reports.

“Paramedics have pronounced a 25-year-old female deceased, and are evacuating 10 casualties,” emergency service provider Magen David Adom said in a statement.

“A short time ago a report was received at the police headquarters about a suspected shooting incident at the central station in Beer Sheva,” said a police spokesperson in a statement.

“A number of injured on the scene. The terrorist was neutralised at the scene and many police forces of the southern district are at the scene,” the statement added.

The incident comes just days after a Hamas-claimed shooting attack last week in which seven people were killed in Tel Aviv.

The Tel Aviv attack – one of the deadliest in the country since the 7 October Hamas attack – came as Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel, sending hundreds of thousands of people into public shelters.

Updated

Woman killed and several injured in attack in southern Israel

A woman has been killed and several people injured in a shooting attack at a bus station in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba, police have said.

Police say the suspected “terror attack” took place in the last hour while Israel’s ambulance service have now said eight people are being treated.

Officers say the attacker has been killed.

Updated

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops along the border with Lebanon on Sunday, his office has said.

This comes nearly a week after the Israeli military launched ground operations against Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon and ahead of the one year anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

You can read the Guardian’s series marking one year since the Hamas attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza here.

Updated

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has warned Iran that it may end up like Gaza or Beirut if it attempts to harm Israel, according to the AFP news agency.

“The Iranians did not touch the air force’s capabilities - no aircraft was damaged, no squadron was taken out of order,” Gallant said in a statement, referring to Iran’s recent missile strike on Israel.

“Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action should take a look at (our achievements) in Gaza and Beirut,” Gallant added.

Iran said the missile strike, that hit two bases of the Israeli air force, was in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan in a September 27 strike on Beirut.

20,000 Palestinian refugees forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

The UN has said 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes on camps in Lebanon.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) said it has activated emergency shelters for over 4,300 displaced people, including Palestinian refugees, Lebanese and Syrians.

“We have been preparing for this emergency for weeks and months,” Dorothee Klaus, Unrwa’s director in Lebanon, said.

Updated

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq group has said it launched three separate attacks on Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights, according to reports by the BBC.

This comes after the group launched two drones at a military base in the occupied territory earlier this week, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding 24.

The Islamic Resistance is a group allied to Hezbollah and Iran who are opposed to Israel in the region.

The IDF has not commented and it remains unclear if any damage has been caused.

Updated

Iran’s oil minister has visited an oil facility on Kharg Island amid growing concerns over possible Israeli air strikes targeting the region, according to the ministry’s news agency.

Israeli officials have warned the country is preparing a response after Iran launched a barrage of missiles this week. Iran said the missiles were fired in response to the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan in a September 27 strike on Beirut.

Oil minister Mohsen Paknejad said on state television: “We are not afraid that our enemies will ignite a crisis, and visiting the region is a normal business trip.”

Kharg Island is home to Iran’s largest crude oil export terminal.

On Friday US president Joe Biden advised Israel against striking Iran’s oil facilities, after previously stating he was in “discussions” with Israel over possible air strikes.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned Iran would respond to Israeli strikes in Iran with a “a proportional and similar reaction…and even stronger.”

Lisa O’Carroll is a senior correspondent for the Guardian

Ireland’s president has said it is “outrageous” for the Israeli Defence Force to have “threatened” the UN peace keeping mission on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

But his comments drew the ire of Israel which responded through a statement from its embassy in Dublin saying it did not threaten troops but merely asked them to move for their own safety.

“It is outrageous that the Israel Defense Forces have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending. Indeed, Israel is demanding that the entire Unifil operating under UN mandates walk away,” Michael D Higgins said, in relation to the 10,000 strong peace keeping mission.

The embassy said the IDF “made a request through different channels to have some Unifil troops move from areas of military activity for their own protection and safety.”

“Let it be clear that the safety of peacekeeping forces is of immense importance to Israel. To attempt to characterise this as a threat to Unifil forces is another unfounded and inflammatory accusation levelled at Israel, as we have seen in the past months.”

Updated

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has visited the Nevatim airbase, in the Negev desert, which was struck by Iranian missiles in Tehran’s attack against Israel on Tuesday.

He said no aircraft was damaged in last week’s Iranian attack on the facility, which was directly hit at least 32 times, according to experts who analysed social media and satellite footage.

Gallant was quoted by Hareetz as having said earlier today:

The Iranians haven’t even scratched the capabilities of the air force. There has been no disruption in our operations.

Those who think that attempting to strike Israel will deter us from responding should look at what’s happening in Gaza and Beirut.

We are strong in both defence and offense, and we’ll demonstrate this in the manner, time and place of our choosing.

Updated

IDF says they have killed Hezbollah commander

The Israeli foreign ministry has said its air force has killed Hezbollah commander, Hader Ali Taweel.

The statement said Taweel, along with Mohamed Hader and Hassan Nteer el Rasheeni who were killed earlier in the week, were responsible for an anti-tank missile that hit Israel’s northern border in January.

The missile resulted in the deaths of a member of Kfar Yuval’s emergency response squad, Barak Ayalon, and his 76-year-old mother.

Hezbollah is yet to comment on the statement.

Updated

Israeli military issues new evacuation alerts for areas in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson has issued new evacuation alerts for residents of about 25 areas in southern Lebanon, calling on them to head immediately to the north of the Awali river (which is north of the southern Lebanese city of Sidon).

“Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, installations or weapons is putting his life in danger,” Avichay Adraee said. “Village residents, you must evacuate your homes,” he said. Houla, Meiss el-Jabal and Bilda are among the villages told to evacuate.

“We will inform you of the appropriate and safe time to return to your homes,” Adraee added.

Updated

The UK prime minister has warned the conflict in the Middle East risks lighting the “touchpapers in our own communities” and condemned the spread of “vile hatred” since the 7 October attacks.

Writing for the Sunday Times, ahead of the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks, Keir Starmer said:

The flames from this deadly conflict now threaten to consume the region. And the sparks light touchpapers in our own communities here at home. Because Israel and the Middle East are not just inseparable from our nation’s history. They have a deep relationship with our multicultural society. Millions have family ties to the region …

Since 7 October, we have watched vile hatred against Jews and Muslims rise in our communities. So we will not look the other way as Jewish children are afraid to wear their school uniforms, Jewish shops are defaced, or Jews targeted on the streets.

And we will not ignore it when mosques are attacked, and British Muslims are assaulted or told to “go home”. Any attack on a minority is an attack on our proud values of tolerance and respect. We will not stand for it.

Starmer reiterated calls for the release of the hostages, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the removal of restrictions on all humanitarian aid.

Updated

As we reported in an earlier post, the Israeli military has said its forces have surrounded the Jabalia area of northern Gaza because of what it is claiming is the presence of “terrorists” and their “infrastructure”. Israeli forces have regularly targeted Jabalia, displacing most residents there.

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

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

He added:

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

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

This may lead to more civilian casualties and injured people.

Updated

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

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

Updated

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

Israel’s military has said it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire from the Gaza Strip ahead of the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, according to reports from the Times of Israel.

Military sources told the newspaper it is bolstering its defences along the Gaza border and in the Netzarim Corridor area in the Strip’s centre, where the IDF maintains a semi-permanent presence, in anticipation of possible attacks.

The IDF said it is also coordinating with police and medical services in Israeli border towns.

“The Southern Command is prepared in defence and attack for several scenarios during the coming month, along with allowing memorial events in the [Gaza border communities] to be carried out safely,” the IDF said in a statement seen by the newspaper.

Although much of Hamas’ military organisation has been dismantled, Israeli operatives said it can still carry out rocket attacks.

This week marks one year since the 7 October attacks on Israel, where Hamas militants and allied groups killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.

Updated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updated

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

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

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

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

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

Updated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaza’s health ministry has issued an update on the amount of people killed by Israeli strikes on a school, and a mosque serving as a shelter in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Saturday. The previous death toll was 24. It has been increased to 26. Dozens of people were reported to have been injured. The Israeli military claimed it had targeted Hamas militants in the strikes.

Updated

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

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

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

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

Updated

Death toll from war in Gaza rises to 41,870

At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, according to latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry.

The health ministry also reported at least 97,166 people have been injured. The ministry previously said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.

The Guardian’s Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh spoke with families in Gaza about their year of loss and displacement. You can read more about this here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updated

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

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

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

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

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

Reporters from Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, have been told by medical sources that 23 out of 38 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are now out of service amid relentless Israeli airstrikes which have targeted healthcare facilities over the nearly year-long war.

Local health authorities further reported that 986 healthcare workers have been killed during the war, with Israeli attacks reportedly rendering 130 ambulances inoperable. These figures have not been independently verified by the Guardian.

The following is from a press release from Doctors without Borders published earlier this week. Citing data from a UN humanitarian update on 23 September 2024, the charity said 17 out of 36 hospitals are partially functional amid crippling shortages of fuel, medicine and essential supplies.

The press release reads:

As medical needs are growing exponentially, people’s options for care are shrinking. Israeli forces have committed widespread and systematic attacks on Gaza’s health care system and other vital civilian infrastructure. The health care system is now on the edge of collapse.

Today, only 17 out of 36 hospitals are partially functional. Warring parties have conducted hostilities near medical facilities, endangering patients, caretakers, and medical staff. Six MSF colleagues have been killed. From October 2023, staff and patients from MSF have had to leave 14 different health structures, due to serious incidents and ongoing fighting.

Each time a medical facility is evacuated, thousands of people lose access to lifesaving medical care. This will have consequences on people’s health, not just in the immediate term, but in the weeks and months to come.

Summary

  • Israel strikes hit south Beirut and its outskirts on Saturday night, official Lebanese media reported. “Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat” area, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon’s National news agency said. Correspondents in Beirut reported hearing explosions, and footage from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas.

  • At least 24 people have been reported killed in the strike on a school and mosque in Gaza. Eyewitnesses and a nearby hospital told news agencies that the mosque was being used to house displaced people.

  • An Israel military spokesperson said the country would retaliate against Iran for the Iranian missile attack at “the timing which we decide”. “The way in which we respond to this disgraceful attack will be in the manner, at the location and the timing which we decide, according to the political leadership’s instructions,” Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement on Saturday.

  • Iran said any attack by Israel would be met with an “even stronger” retaliation, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. “Our reaction to any attack by the Zionist regime is completely clear,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, told reporters in Damascus, Syria. “For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and even stronger.”

  • Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was a “disgrace” for calling for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel. “The axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this [axis] call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace,” Netanyahu said. “Well let me tell you this Israel will win with or without their support but their shame will continue long after the war is won.” Macron’s office responded with a statement of its own later Saturday, describing Netanyahu’s reaction as “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel”. It said France was still “a steadfast friend of Israel”.

  • The president of Ireland sharply criticised Israel’s demand that UN peacekeepers leave their positions in southern Lebanon. “It is outrageous that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending,” Michael Higgins said. The IDF had requested that peacekeepers operating on the “blue line” between Israel and the Golan Heights “relocate”.

Updated

Heavy Israeli airstrikes hit southern Beirut

Here is our latest wrap of the events overnight.

Heavy consecutive strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, witnesses said, while Gaza’s civil defence agency said 21 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque in central Gaza early on Sunday.

The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, came as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory approaches its first anniversary on 7 October. Witnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people, while the Israeli military said it was being used as a Hamas command centre.

In the Lebanese capital, the Israeli strikes sent booms across the city and sparked flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.

The strikes came after days of Israeli bombing of Beirut suburbs considered strongholds for the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, killing its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor. A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor, had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli airstrike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him.

Read more:

Updated

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

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

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

Updated

Death toll from Gaza mosque strike rises to 24 – authorities

The death toll from the Israeli strike on the Gaza mosque has risen to 24, according to local authorities. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 93 people were also wounded in the strikes on the mosque and the school, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital told the Associated Press that the strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the same. However Israeli forces say the mosque was being used as a Hamas command and control centre “to plan and carry out terrorist operations against the IDF forces and the State of Israel”, and that it took steps to reduce the chance of harming civilians. An AP reporter counted 18 bodies at the hospital morgue, and said hospital records listed all those killed as men.

Updated

Israel says it successfully intercepted two surface-to-surface missiles launched from Lebanese territory. Sirens were earlier reported between Haifa and Hadera along the coast.

The Israeli air force has published a statement about the air strikes on Beirut, which appear to be over for the night. The statement, posted to its X account, is in full below:

During the night, Air Force fighter jets under the precise intelligence guidance of the Intelligence Division, carried out a series of targeted attacks throughout Beirut against several munitions warehouses and other terrorist infrastructures in the area. Before the attacks, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming those not involved, including advance warnings to the population in the area. The terrorist organization Hezbollah places its weapons and production sites under residential buildings in the heart of Beirut and puts the population in the area at risk. The IDF will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon.

Thousand protest worldwide as 7 October anniversary nears

The Australian protests on Sunday are among many held across the world this weekend.

Thousands also took to the streets in the US and across Europe on Saturday. In London, thousands marched through the capital to Downing Street amid a heavy police presence. The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestinian protesters and counter-demonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed one another. Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon. At least 17 people were arrested, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a count by police. Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

Several thousands protesters gathered peacefully at Paris’ Republique Plaza in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many were waving Palestinian flags while holding posters reading ”stop the genocide,” “free Palestine,” and “hands off Lebanon.”

In Rome police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators after a rally turned violent. Several thousands had demonstrated peacefully Saturday afternoon until a smaller group tried to push the rally toward the centre of the city, in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorise protests, citing security concerns.

Some protesters, dressed in black and with their faces covered threw stones, bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons, eventually dispersing the crowd. At least 30 law enforcement officers and three demonstrators were injured in the clashes, local media reported.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at New York’s Times Square to call for a cease-fire, chanting “Gaza!” to a drumbeat. Some wore keffiyeh scarfs, waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags and held a large cardboard image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with red paint symbolizing blood across his face.

Updated

Gaza’s civil defence agency says an Israeli strike on a mosque-turned-shelter in central Deir al-Balah killed 21 people.

“The number of deaths rose to 21 and a large number of wounded as a result of the occupation (Israel) bombing of a mosque sheltering displaced people in front of the gate of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip,” said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Israel’s military has said it targeted the mosque because Hamas was using it as a command and control centre.

Australian supporters of Palestine have taken to the streets in Sydney and Melbourne, a day before the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel.

Rallies were scheduled to take place in cities across Australia, with demonstrators warned not to display symbols linked to designated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Police in New South Wales had sought to block the Sunday rally from taking place, but an agreement reached with organisers allowed the event to go ahead with an altered route.

The full story is here:

Updated

António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, released a video message this morning on the eve of the anniversary of the 7 October attack that sparked this latest round of extraordinary violence.

He said the attacks “scarred souls”.

“On this day we remember all those who were brutally killed and suffered unspeakable violence, including sexual violence as they were simply living their lives. This is a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas including the taking of hostages.”

Guterres said he had met many families of hostages and “shared their pain and anguish”, demanding again the immediate and unconditional release.

He said 7 October was “naturally a day to focus on events of the awful day”.

“Since October 7th a wave of shocking violence and bloodshed has erupted. The war that has followed the terrible attacks of a year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza and now the people of Lebanon.

I have spoken out about this often and clearly. It is time for the release of the hostages, time to silence the guns, time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law and justice.”

He said the UN was committed to achieving the goals, and that it was important to “hold on to hope” amidst the bloodshed.

“Let us never stop working for a lasting solution to the conflict, where Israel, Palestine and all other countries of the region can finally live in peace and dignity and with respect for one another.”

Last week Guterres spoke to the UN Security Council, demanding an end to what he called a “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence”. It came after a statement by Israel’s foreign minister declaring Guterres persona non grata and barring him from entering Israel, accusing him of failing to “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack.

The US state department has said it evacuated 145 US citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families from Lebanon on Saturday.

The cohort left on two flights from Beirut to Istanbul. Each flight could take 300 passengers.

A spokesperson for the state department said more than 600 people had been assisted to leave Lebanon via the government-organised flights, and more than 2,600 seats have been made available on those and commercial flights. The department has advised Americans since late September to depart Lebanon “while commercial options still remain available,” and warned those who stay to “be prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate further.”

The death toll at the Gaza mosque strike has risen to 18, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Israeli air strike on the Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, also reportedly injured dozens of people. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.

The Israeli Air Force earlier confirmed that the mosque in Deir al-Balah was a target, saying it was being used by Hamas. It also said it struck another site “that was previously used as the Ibn Rushd school”.

“The command and control complexes were used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist operations against the IDF forces and the State of Israel,” it said in a statement published on the Air Force’s X account.

The IAF did not detail casualties. It said that prior to the attack “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information.”

Beirut hit by 'most severe' strikes of conflict after intense overnight bombardment by Israel

In the last few hours Beirut has been under intense air strikes by Israeli forces. Local media have described the strikes as the most severe of the conflict so far, with some landing near the airport where flights are taking off with hundreds of foreign evacuees. Explosions have been reported and photographed across the city.

Israel has also continued to target Gaza and the West Bank, with air strikes on a mosque in Gaza killing at least five people, according to Reuters. Al Jazeera reports up to 18 fatalities at the mosque, which eyewitnesses told Reuters was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli air force said the mosque was being used by Hamas as a command centre, and that it took steps to reduce harm to civilians.

In other developments:

  • Israel strikes hit south Beirut and its outskirts on Saturday night, official Lebanese media reported. “Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat” area, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. Correspondents in Beirut reported hearing explosions, and Agence France-Presse footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas.

  • An Israel military spokesman said the country would retaliate against Iran for the Iranian missile attack at “the timing which we decide”. “The way in which we respond to this disgraceful attack will be in the manner, at the location and the timing which we decide, according to the political leadership’s instructions,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement on Saturday, according to a Reuters report.

  • Iran said any attack by Israel would be met with an “even stronger” retaliation, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. “Our reaction to any attack by the Zionist regime is completely clear,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, told reporters in Damascus, Syria. “For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and even stronger.”

  • Benjamin Netanyahu said Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was a “disgrace” for calling for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel. “The axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this [axis] call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace,” the Israeli prime minister said. “Well let me tell you this Israel will win with or without their support but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”

  • Macron’s office responded with a statement of its own later Saturday, describing Netanyahu’s reaction as “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel”. It said France was still “a steadfast friend of Israel”.

  • The president of Ireland sharply criticised Israel’s demand that UN peacekeepers leave their positions in southern Lebanon. “It is outrageous that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending,” Michael Higgins said. The IDF had requested that peacekeepers operating on the “blue line” between Israel and the Golan Heights “relocate”.

Updated

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