This blog is now closing. You can read our full report on Israel’s attack on Lebanon here. We’ll be back soon with the latest live updates.
Here’s our earlier video of the aftermath of the attack on Dahieh in Beirut, in which senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi was killed along with five other people:
Hassan waited until the last minute to flee. As Israeli warplanes thundered overhead and bombs began to fall on the forests surrounding his home town of Deir al-Zahrani, south Lebanon, on Monday morning, he told himself he still had some time. For almost a year the town, 12 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, had been mostly spared from the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that had engulfed much of south Lebanon.
The bombs grew closer. His neighbours began to get calls from unknown numbers with a recorded message, the voice speaking classical Arabic with a strange accent: “If you are in a building where there are Hezbollah weapons, distance yourself from the village.” Hassan had no idea if the homes around him contained weapons. Houses in the village began to get hit.
“Civilians, houses, they hit everything. When they started striking civilians, we had to flee. A few of my relatives were killed,” Hassan, 23, said, sitting in a school in Dekwaneh, a suburb north of Beirut, which had been converted into a shelter for displaced people less than 24 hours earlier.
Dier al-Zahrani was no longer safe as Israel carried out a devastating aerial barrage on swathes of south Lebanon and the Beqaa valley that killed 558 people, injured 1,835 and pushed tens of thousands to flee their homes.
It was Lebanon’s deadliest day in almost 50 years, bringing the death toll of the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in September to more than 1,200, exceeding that of the brutal 2006 war between the two.
Hassan and the six other members of his family grabbed a few possessions, crammed into a BMW sedan and headed towards Beirut.
The United States has approved the sale of $740 million in Stinger missiles to Egypt, which has become an increasingly close partner over the Gaza crisis despite concerns on rights, Reuters reports.
The State Department informed Congress that it was approving the sale of 720 Stinger missiles for use on existing systems.
The sale will help “improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” a State Department statement said.
Congress can still block the sale, but such attempts are usually unsuccessful.
The US has also continued to supply billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel, even while calling on it to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza and stop escalating its conflict with Lebanon.
Israel has also continued its deadly attacks on Gaza on Tuesday evening, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting, killing at least seven Palestinians in the north of the strip.
Israeli warplanes targeted a group of civilians in Mashrou’ Beit Lahia, killing two and injuring others, Wafa reported. In the north-west of Gaza Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment killing five civilians, including a woman and two children. Several others were missing and others injured, the agency reported.
It is not possible to independently verify reports from Gaza because Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza. It has also been accused of targeting local Palestinian journalists as part of its campaign, with at least 116 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza as of Tuesday according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of senior commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in an airstrike on Beirut.
The Israeli military had earlier claimed to have killed him in a strike on Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, on Tuesday while Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed that six people were killed in the attack and 15 injured.
The Lebanese foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib also said that the number of Lebanese displaced by the fighting had soared from around 110,000 before this week’s Israeli attacks to “approaching half a million” now.
Noting that Israel had also seen displacement in the northern areas, he said, “All for what?”
“It’s a very difficult situation – a very expensive, costly situation – in a time that the country is still weak economically,” he said.
Lebanese foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib has expressed disappointment with US President Joe Biden’s remarks about the escalating crisis between Lebanon and Israel, but said he held out hope that Washington could still intervene to help. Reuters quotes him as saying of Biden’s earlier UN speech:
It was not strong. It is not promising and it would not solve this problem … I [am] still hoping. The United States is the only country that can really make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.
Habib was speaking at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This is Helen Livingstone taking over the blog from Léonie Chao-Fong.
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Thousands of Lebanese people fled the continuing bombing in the country’s south on Tuesday as Israel said it was conducting “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets, including on the southern suburbs of Beirut, for the second day in a row and third time this week. Israel carried out an airstrike in Jiyeh, a seaside town 20 kilometers south of Beirut late Tuesday night. The strong explosion was heard across Beirut and the surrounding mountains.
Israel’s military said an attack in Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, on Tuesday had killed Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, also known as Abu Issa, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile division. Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy raid on Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed six people and injured 15”.
At least 569 people were killed from two days of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah, according to the latest death toll by Lebanese health authorities. The death toll includes 50 children and 94 women. On Monday, Lebanon recorded more casualties than in any other single day since the 15-year civil war that started in 1975. Israel struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight and during Tuesday.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to maintain the offensive against Hezbollah and said the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was leading Lebanon “to the edge of the abyss”. Israeli officials have said the recent rise in airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon is designed to force the group to agree to a diplomatic solution, cease its own attacks on Israel or unilaterally withdraw its forces from close to the contested border.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel is striving for its current military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to be as short as possible. But in his briefing with reporters on Tuesday, he added that Israel is also prepared for the operation to take time. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Hezbollah has suffered “extremely severe blows” and Israel has “more strikes ready”.
Hezbollah said it had targeted several Israeli military targets including an explosives factory about 35 miles (56km) into Israel and the Megiddo airfield near the town of Afula, which it attacked three separate times. Officials in Israel said more than 50 missiles and rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern parts of the country on Tuesday morning, most of which were intercepted.
Syrian air defences intercepted suspected Israeli missiles targeting the city of Tartous, Reuters reported, citing Syrian army sources. It comes after reports of multiple explosions heard over the Mediterranean port city early on Wednesday.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”. In response, Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, accused the UN on Tuesday of not fulfilling its obligations in preventing rocket attacks into Israel by Hezbollah.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as almost a “full-fledged war”. World leaders gathered in New York for the opening of the 79th UN general assembly as diplomatic efforts appear to have had little impact so far on the tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said his country is open to ideas for de-escalating the conflict in Lebanon. “We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere ... We prefer a diplomatic solution,” Danon told reporters on Tuesday.
Two staff members of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) were among the 558 people killed in Lebanon on Monday, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi said. The UN agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened by the killing of two beloved members of the UNHCR family in Lebanon” and warned that the protection of civilians is a must under international humanitarian law.
Nearly 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat and Bureij camp refugee camps in central Gaza on Tuesday, according to hospital officials. A total of 29 Palestinians, including 14 children and 6 women, died as a result of the Israeli strikes on Tuesday, officials at Awda hospital said.
The US president, Joe Biden, addressed the risk of a potential full-scale war in Lebanon. During an address to the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday, Biden said that a “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest” and added that “even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.”
Britain is moving 700 troops to Cyprus to be ready for an emergency evacuation of UK citizens from Lebanon. The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, called for “restraint and de-escalation” at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Starmer made an unfortunate slip-up during his Labour party conference speech on Tuesday, calling for the return of “sausages” from Gaza.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called for coercive UN measures against Israel to be put on the agenda, including the use of force against Israel. Erdoğan, in his UN general assembly speech, accused the US of continuing to arm Israel so it can continue its massacres when in public it pretends it is looking for a ceasefire.
Updated
Explosion heard across Beirut as Israel carries out airstrike in nearby Jiyeh
Israel carried out an airstrike in Jiyeh, a seaside town 20 kilometers south of Beirut late Tuesday night.
The strong explosion was heard across Beirut and the surrounding mountains.
The target of the strike was unknown, but a video filmed by local residents showed a car engulfed in flames, near a gas station.
The airstrike comes off the back of two days of intense Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, including the nation’s capital city, killing 569 people.
Updated
An Israeli strike has hit the Lebanese town of Jiyyeh for the first time, Reuters reported, citing two security sources.
Jiyyeh is a seaside town 75 km north of the border with Israel, 23 km south of Beirut.
The BBC’s Nafiseh Kohnavard reported hearing an strong explosion:
The explosion we heard in Beirut has come from Saadiyat neighbourhood in Jiyeh, about 20 min drive from Beirut
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) September 24, 2024
It was a strong explosion
Updated
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the government was “ramping up the contingency plans” to rescue British nationals as he urged Israel and Lebanon to “pull back from the brink”.
Speaking from a flight to New York, where he will discuss Lebanon with world leaders at the United Nations general assembly, Starmer said:
The most important message from me this evening is to British nationals in Lebanon, to leave immediately and I just want to reinforce that.
It is important that we be really, really clear: now is the time to leave. More broadly, I am worried about the situation and I think we need to be clear we need de-escalation, we need a ceasefire, we need to pull back from the brink.
UK moves 700 troops to Cyprus ready to evacuate Britons from Lebanon
Britain is moving 700 troops to Cyprus to be ready for an emergency evacuation of UK citizens from Lebanon.
The UK government said military teams were moving there to further support British nationals in Lebanon, where Israel has been bombarding the south of the country.
The Royal Air Force also has aircraft and helicopters on standby to provide support if necessary.
It is the first phase of contingency plans for Lebanon, as the government seeks to avoid the chaos seen when British nationals were evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021.
The military teams will be supported by Border Force and Foreign Office officials.
The president of the European council, Charles Michel, said Israel had the right to exist and defend itself but without inflicting “collective punishment” on civilians.
Michel, at an event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Tuesday, said:
Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has the right to exist, and we support the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself. But defending itself, it doesn’t mean collective punishment. It needs a principle of proportionality.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will speak at the UN general assembly on Friday, NBC News is reporting, citing an Israeli official.
Netanyahu had originally been expected to address world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
Iran says Israeli strikes in Lebanon 'cannot go unanswered'
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, addressed the UN general assembly for the first time on Tuesday after his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this year.
Pezeshkian said the world has witnessed the “true nature of the Israeli regime” over the past year, and urged the international community to bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and “an end to the desperate barbarism” of Israel in Lebanon “before it engulfs the region and the world”.
The Iranian president said Israeli “state terrorism” over the past few days in Lebanon “cannot go unanswered”. He said:
The responsibility of all consequences will be borne by those governments who have thwarted all global efforts to end this horrific catastrophe.
A senior Israeli official has claimed responsibility for the pager attacks targeting members of Hezbollah across Lebanon in simultaneous explosions last week, according to the BBC.
The official told the broadcaster that the pager attack was followed by the assassination of senior Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil and leadership of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan special forces. They added:
The purpose of this is to strengthen the deterrence against Hezbollah and make it reach a situation where it allows Israel to return the residents of the north to their homes safely. Another goal is to deter the entire Iranian axis.
The UN security council will meet at 6pm ET (10pm GMT) on Wednesday to discuss the escalation in fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
Slovenia’s mission to the UN, which holds the rotating presidency of the council, said:
After consulting with the delegations... the Presidency intends to schedule the briefing on the situation in Lebanon for tomorrow.
Syrian air defences intercept suspected Israeli missiles in Tartous - report
Syrian air defences intercepted suspected Israeli missiles targeting the city of Tartous, Reuters reported, citing Syrian army sources.
It comes after reports of multiple explosions heard over the Mediterranean port city.
From Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr:
MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS HEARD OVER SYRIA'S PORT CITY OF TARTOUS … possible Israeli strikes
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) September 24, 2024
Nearly 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat and Bureij camp refugee camps in central Gaza on Tuesday, according to AP, citing hospital officials.
A total of 29 Palestinians, including 14 children and 6 women, died as a result of the Israeli strikes on Tuesday, officials at Awda hospital said.
Twins Osama and Bilal Fayad were two young men who were killed in the strikes in Nuseirat along with three women, the outlet reported. Their father. Ahmed Fayad. said:
I raised those two boys.. they were killed together after being struck. They were born together and died together.
UK to deploy 700 troops to Cyprus for potential Lebanon evacuation – report
The UK is expected to announce that it will send 700 troops to Cyprus to prepare for the possible evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon, according to the BBC.
Britain’s military has been preparing for months for the possibility of an emergency evacuation and the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has urged British nationals to leave Lebanon.
UK defence secretary John Healey, after an emergency Cobra meeting on Thursday, said:
Our concern is always for the safety of British nationals and our advice to them is to leave Lebanon now, that hasn’t changed. This was a meeting simply to make sure that we’ve got plans in place for future developments.
A senior military source told the BBC that the UK’s next steps would depend on what Hezbollah and Israel do next and whether Lebanon’s international airport remains open.
Two British warships are already in the region and could be used to help evacuate people, Sky News reported.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Lebanon, where authorities say at least 569 people have been killed – including 50 children and 94 women – in Israeli strikes since Monday.
Updated
It is now clear that last Tuesday’s exploding pager operation was just a first step.
What is now unfolding is an Israeli strategy of military escalation against Hezbollah, premised on the risky belief that the militant group can be bombed into a ceasefire before fighting in Gaza ends.
Monday’s wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 569 people and displaced many thousands, and there is little sign of the campaign slowing. Israel’s air force has said it had dropped 2,000 bombs in 24 hours – and there can be little doubt that this is now a full-on war, though it is not yet an all-out conflict.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is in some disarray. First, hundreds of its operatives were wounded in the pager and subsequent walkie-talkie attack; then, commanders in its elite Radwan military unit were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on Friday. On Tuesday, Israel claimed it had killed Ibrahim Qubaisi, the head of Hezbollah’s missile systems, again in an attack in the south of the Lebanese capital.
Nevertheless, Hezbollah is also escalating its attacks.
Read the full analysis by the Guardian’s defence and security editor here: Israel escalation based on risky belief it can bomb Hezbollah into a ceasefire
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, accused the UN on Tuesday of not fulfilling its obligations in preventing rocket attacks into Israel by Hezbollah.
Gallant, posting to X, responded to comments by the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has become “a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region down”.
Gallant wrote that Hezbollah has “taken Lebanon hostage” and referred to the UN resolution that requires Hezbollah to disarm.
The UN is neither acknowledging their actions, nor fulfilling its fundamental obligation – preventing Hezbollah attacks and demanding the implementation of resolution 1701.
Mr. Secretary General @antonioguterres, the nightmare you speak of, is in fact reality. The reality is that Hezbollah has taken Lebanon hostage, and the UN is neither acknowledging their actions, nor fulfilling its fundamental obligation - preventing Hezbollah attacks and… https://t.co/wbQ8XrXK3W
— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) September 24, 2024
Israel has 'more strikes ready' after Hezbollah suffered 'extremely severe blows', says defence minister
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Hezbollah has suffered “extremely severe blows” and Israel has “more strikes ready”.
Gallant, addressing Israeli troops on Tuesday, said:
Today’s Hezbollah is not the Hezbollah of a week ago. The sequence of blows it faced in its command and control, its operatives, its weapons, all these things are extremely severe blows.
“We have more blows ready, we know what to do,” he added in remarks carried by the Times of Israel.
Iran is denying a report that it turned down a request from Hezbollah to enter the war because the timing is not right while the president Masoud Pezeshkian is in New York.
The Iranian president is under domestic pressure over a denied news report that he told US reporters he was willing to disarm if Israel also disarmed.
Death toll in Lebanon rises to 569 in current wave of air strikes - health ministry
The number killed by Israeli air strikes in Lebanon in a counteroffensive against Hezbollah has risen to 569 since Monday morning, up from 558 earlier today, the Lebanese health minister said, according to reports.
The minister was speaking to Al Jazeera Mubasher TV, Reuters reports.
The death toll includes 50 children and 94 women, the minister, Firass Abiadtells, said.
A different funeral scene:
Israel is striving for its current military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to be as short as possible, the Israeli chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said.
But he added when addressing reporters a few moments ago that Israel is also prepared for the operation to take time, Reuters reported.
DF Spox. RAdm. Daniel Hagari Spokesperson: “We are striving for the campaign to be short, but we must be prepared for it to take longer.” pic.twitter.com/B1sCpoiZdx
— War Watch (@WarWatchs) September 24, 2024
During the briefing, Hagari also said that Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets at Israel on Tuesday.
Today, approximately 300 rockets were fired at Israel... injuring six civilians and soldiers, most of them lightly,” he said.
Hezbollah says it has attacked Israeli military base
Hezbollah has issued a statement saying it has attacked Israel’s Atlit Navy Base in the north of the country, using drones.
The Navy base is just south of Haifa, the third largest city in Israel, a port which sits on the Mediterranean Sea in the north of the Jewish state very close to the border with southern Lebanon.
The initial report has come in via the Reuters news agency and there are few details yet and we await further reports.
The base is home to Israel’s Navy commando unit. Hezbollah often makes use of swarms of drones in addition to rockets when it is attacking northern Israel.
Hezbollah is claiming to have launched a Drone Attack tonight against the Israeli Navy Base near the Town of Atlit in the Northwest, which houses the “Shayetet 13” Special Forces Unit. The Israel Defense Force reports that Two of Three Drones were Intercepted in the Attack, with… pic.twitter.com/TQmov19FAM
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 24, 2024
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israel’s military said it was conducting a new wave of “widespread strikes” on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the fourth wave of strikes on Tuesday. Israel’s military said an attack in Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, had killed Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, also known as Abu Issa, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile division. Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy raid on Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed six people and injured 15”.
At least 558 people were killed from two days of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah, according to the latest death toll by Lebanese health authorities. On Monday, Lebanon recorded more casualties than in any other single day since the 15-year civil war that started in 1975. Israel struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight and during Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon, with the mayor of Sidon reporting that 10,000 internally displaced people had made their way to the city, of which 6,000 were in shelters.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to maintain the offensive against Hezbollah and said the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was leading Lebanon “to the edge of the abyss”. Israeli officials have said the recent rise in airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon is designed to force the group to agree to a diplomatic solution, cease its own attacks on Israel or unilaterally withdraw its forces from close to the contested border.
Hezbollah said it had targeted several Israeli military targets including an explosives factory about 35 miles (56km) into Israel and the Megiddo airfield near the town of Afula, which it attacked three separate times. Officials in Israel said more than 50 missiles and rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern parts of the country on Tuesday morning, most of which were intercepted.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as almost a “full-fledged war”. World leaders gathered in New York for the opening of the 79th UN general assembly as diplomatic efforts appear to have had little impact so far on the tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said his country is open to ideas for de-escalating the conflict in Lebanon. “We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere ... We prefer a diplomatic solution,” Danon told reporters on Tuesday.
Two staff members of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) were among the 558 people killed in Lebanon on Monday, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi said. The UN agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened by the killing of two beloved members of the UNHCR family in Lebanon” and warned that the protection of civilians is a must under international humanitarian law.
At least six people were killed, including three women, after an Israeli airstrike hit a family house in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medical officials. The strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday also wounded 21 others, according to the Awda hospital in the camp, where the casualties were taken.
The US president, Joe Biden, addressed the risk of a potential full-scale war in Lebanon. During an address to the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday, Biden said that a “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest” and added that “even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.”
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, called for “restraint and de-escalation” at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Starmer made an unfortunate slip-up during his Labour party conference speech on Tuesday, calling for the return of “sausages” from Gaza.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, dialed up his denunciation of Israel during his address to the UN general assembly. Lula, a longtime critic of the war in Gaza, said the Gaza Strip and West Bank were already suffering “one of biggest humanitarian crises in recent times” and voiced concern that the conflict was now spreading “dangerously” into Lebanon.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called for coercive UN measures against Israel to be put on the agenda, including the use of force against Israel. Erdoğan, in his UN general assembly speech, accused the US of continuing to arm Israel so it can continue its massacres when in public it pretends it is looking for a ceasefire.
Israel 'not eager to start any ground invasion', says UN envoy
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said his country is open to ideas for de-escalating the conflict in Lebanon.
“As we speak there are important forces trying to come up with ideas and we are open-minded for that,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere ... We prefer a diplomatic solution.
The charity ActionAid said its partner organisation was forced to suspend vital refugee and host community services in southern Lebanon following an escalation in attacks by Israeli forces.
The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL), which works in the Bekaa Valley to provide protection services for Palestinian and Syrian refugees and host communities in Lebanon, has had to suspend its activities due to the escalating violence, ActionAid aid said.
“There’s a growing concern that the situation may worsen in the coming hours,” Malak, a safe space offer at RDFL, said in a statement.
People are arriving with nothing after being forced to abandon their homes. Their immediate needs must be addressed urgently. Our priority is ensuring their safety and providing shelter – whether through temporary accommodation in shelters, hotels, or with host families – and ensuring security, especially for vulnerable groups such as women, children, and the elderly.
International airlines have suspended more flights to Lebanon amid an Israeli bombardment that authorities said had killed almost 560 people since Monday.
The United Arab Emirates-based airline Emirates announced the temporary suspension of its flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday. Its sister airline flydubai also cancelled flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Qatar Airways, which operates two flights a day to the Lebanese capital, also cancelled services for two days.
Air France on Tuesday extended the suspension of its Beirut flights until 1 October, which a spokesperson told AFP was due to the “security situation”. Flights to and from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, suspended by Air France last week, were operating normally after resuming at the weekend, the spokesperson added.
Germany’s Lufthansa had already suspended Beirut flights until 26 October and on Tuesday it extended the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv and the Iranian capital, Tehran, up to and including 14 October in response to the tensions.
Egypt’s state-owned flag carrier Egyptair said it was suspending all of its flights to Beirut until the situation in Lebanon stabilised.
The Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission said on Monday that Royal Jordanian Airlines flights to Beirut had been suspended until further notice.
Six people killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza, Palestinian medics say
Palestinian medical officials said at least six people were killed, including three women, after an Israeli airstrike hit a family house in central Gaza on Tuesday.
The strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp also wounded 21 others, according to the Awda hospital in the camp, where the casualties were taken.
Updated
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a longtime critic of the war in Gaza, has dialed up his denunciation of Israel during his address to the UN general assembly in New York.
The South American leftist said the Gaza Strip and West Bank were already suffering “one of biggest humanitarian crises in recent times” and voiced concern that the conflict was now spreading “dangerously” into Lebanon.
“What began as an act of terror carried out by fanatics against innocent Israeli civilians has turned into the collective punishment of all the Palestinian people. There have been more than 40,000 fatal victims - the majority women and children,” Lula said, adding:
The right to self-defence has become the right to revenge that stands in the way of a deal for the liberation of hostages and delays a cease fire.
Israel has bristled at criticism from left-wing Latin America leaders such as Lula, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro.
Speaking at the UN after Lula, Petro also slammed the “genocide” he said was unfolding in Gaza and called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a criminal”.
The White House said US officials were in talks with allies to help find an off-ramp to the escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We’re working on that in real time right here in New York and in capitals around the world,” the White House’s principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said at an Axios event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly on Tuesday.
We’re not going to reveal all the details of those sensitive conversations, but we very much want that conflict to de-escalate.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Beirut, as Israel said it was conducting “widespread strikes” on Hezbollah targets, including on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
Israel said an airstrike on Tuesday killed Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, also known as Abu Issa, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile division.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the “Israeli enemy raid on Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed six people and injured 15”.
Israel struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight and during Tuesday, with the death toll from the recent wave of attacks now nearing 560 people.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, was heckled during his speech at the Labour conference on Tuesday over his party’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.
“Every child, every person, deserves to be respected for the contribution they make.”” Starmer said, to which a member of the audience shouted:
Does that include the children of Gaza?
Daniel Riley, 18, told reporters that he shouted out during Starmer’s speech because “everyday we’re still sending British bombs and British bullets that are being used in Lebanon and in Gaza right now and the prime minister – he could stop that, he could stop that right now but he doesn’t.”
In his party conference speech, Starmer called for peace in the Middle East and urged “restraint and de-escalation” at the border between Lebanon and Israel. “I call again for all parties to step back from the brink,” he said.
The British leader made an unfortunate slip-up where he called for the return of “sausages” from Gaza.
I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages – the hostages – and a recommitment to the two-state solution: recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.”
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called for coercive UN measures against Israel to be put on the agenda, including the use of force against Israel.
Using an inflammatory second world war analogy, he said:
Just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity so Netanyahu and his murder network must be stopped by an alliance of humanity.
He accused the US of continuing to arm Israel so it can continue its massacres when in public it pretends it is looking for a ceasefire.
And he asked the US, a fellow Nato member:
How long are you going to be able to carry the shame of witnessing this massacre? ... Countries that have a say over Israel are openly complicit in this massacre.
Addressing the UN general assembly in New York, Joe Biden said diplomacy was the only path to lasting security in the Middle East, adding he was working tirelessly to prevent a wider war in Lebanon that engulfs the entire region.
A deal was needed “that will allow residents from both Israel and Lebanon to return to their homes on either side of the border,” the US president said.
He blamed Hezbollah for launching an unprovoked attack on Israel after October 7 and said the group was still launching rockets in Israel almost a year later.
Full scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even if the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.
Israel says it is carrying out new wave of 'widespread' strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
Israel’s military said it was currently conducting a new wave of “widespread strikes” on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
It marks the fourth wave of strikes in Lebanon today.
Two UN staff killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon
Two staff members of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) were among the 558 people killed in Lebanon on Monday, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi said.
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon are now relentlessly claiming hundreds of civilian lives.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) September 24, 2024
And I am very saddened to confirm that two UNHCR colleagues were also killed yesterday.
On behalf of all us at UNHCR, heartfelt condolences to their families, friends and colleagues.
Dina Darwiche, a Lebanese woman who had worked for UNHCR for 12 years, was killed along with her son in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s Bekaa region on Monday, AP reported. Her husband and another son were seriously injured.
Ali Basma, who worked as a cleaner for the agency’s office in the city of Tyre for seven years, was killed in a separate strike in the south, it said.
UNHCR said it was “outraged and deeply saddened by the killing of two beloved members of the UNHCR family in Lebanon” and warned that the protection of civilians is a must under international humanitarian law.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a statement addressing Lebanese citizens telling them at the war is “not with you, our war is with Hezbollah.”
In a video message posted to X and translated by the BBC, the Israeli leader said that the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was “leading you to the brink of the abyss... Rid yourself from Nasrallah’s grip, for your own good”.
He also warned that “anyone who has a missile in their living room and a rocket in their garage will not have a home”.
נמשיך להכות בחיזבאללה.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 24, 2024
מי שיש לו טיל בסלון - לא יהיה לו בית. pic.twitter.com/Ep2UfpkkXe
Biden: 'Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest'
Joe Biden has been speaking in the UN general assembly headquarters in New York in his final time as the US president.
Biden says the US is working to bring a “greater measure of peace and stability” in the Middle East, and urged UN member states not to “flinch from the horrors” of the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October.
He says it is times to finalise the terms of the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, and calls for the hostages to be returned home, Hamas to lose its grip on Gaza, and an end to the war.
Biden says the US has been determined to prevent a wider war from engulfing the entire Middle East region, as he moves on to the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel. Biden says:
Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest … A diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security.
He addresses the “rise of violence against innocent Palestinians” on the occupied West Bank, and says it is time for a two-state solution “where Israel enjoys security and peace full recognition and normalise relations with Palestinians.”
My colleague Chris Stein is covering Biden’s speech in full on our US politics live blog.
Updated
Israel claims to have killed senior Hezbollah commander in targeted strike on Beirut
Israel has claimed to have killed Ibrahim Qubaisi, the head of Hezbollah’s missile systems, in what it described as a targeted attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Qubaisi was killed in an airstrike carried out by Israeli fighter jets in the the Dahiyeh suburb.
Other senior officers in Hezbollah’s rocket and missile division were at the apartment where the commander was killed, the IDF said.
From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:
The IDF confirms that Ibrahim Qubaisi, the commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile division was killed in an airstrike in Beirut. https://t.co/PAlp5VgXZ7
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 24, 2024
Earlier Israel’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, had said “Hezbollah must not be given a break – we will speed up the offensive operations today.”
Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad earlier reported the death toll from the Israeli strikes on Lebanon since Monday had reached nearly 560, including dozens of children and women.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, with the mayor of Sidon reporting that 10,000 internally displaced people had made their way to the city, of which 6,000 were in shelters.
The death toll in Lebanon comes on top of those killed and wounded in last week’s detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies, with an official from the World Health Organization saying that some hospitals were being overwhelmed with casualties.
The IDF has claimed to have dropped nearly 2,000 weapons on 1,500 Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon in the last day. Hezbollah, for its part, has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, some of which have started fires. One person was reported to have been wounded by shrapnel, and there are unconfirmed reports of other Israeli injuries in the north of the country. Overnight Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military bases and an airfield.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in an interview with US network CNN that Israel is “armed to the teeth and has access to weapons systems that are far superior to anything else” and that “we must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza. We must prevent the ongoing criminal acts being committed by Israel.”
Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed Islamist militant organisation fired rockets into northern Israel on Tuesday, a day after a wave of Israeli airstrikes killed nearly 500 people in Lebanon and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.
Here’s our latest video report:
Unicef deputy representative to Lebanon Ettie Higgins has spoken at a press briefing in Geneva, saying any further escalation in the situation for the country’s children is would be “catastrophic”.
She said:
Children are in danger as I speak, exposed to ongoing attacks, displaced from their homes and unable to rely on an overstretched and under-sourced health system.
Any further escalation in this conflict would be catastrophic for all children in Lebanon, but especially families from villages and towns in the south and the Bekaa, in Eastern Lebanon, who have been forced to leave their homes. These newly displaced add to the 112,000 people who have been displaced since October.
Schools are closed today across the country, leaving children at home in fear. Their caregivers are themselves afraid of the uncertainty of the situation. This fear cannot be overstated, as the barrage of shelling and air raids continue, and increase, daily.
We are ramping-up our response. We are preparing to deliver food, water, and essential supplies such as mattresses and hygiene kits to displaced families, especially those in collective shelters.
Unicef urgently calls for an immediate de-escalation and for all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilian infrastructure and civilians, including children, humanitarian workers and medical personnel.
Yesterday was Lebanon’s worst day in 18 years. This violence has to stop immediately or the consequences will be unconscionable.
UN secretary-general Guterres: world cannot afford 'Lebanon to become another Gaza'
UN secretary-general António Guterres has said the world “cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza” at the UN general assembly. Citing wars in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip and Sudan he denounced what he said was a growing number of governments and other groups who feel they are “entitled to a get out of jail free card.”
Without specifying who, he said:
They can trample international law. They can violate the United Nations Charter. They can invade another country, lay waste to whole societies, or utterly disregard the welfare of their own people. And nothing will happen. The level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable.
On Lebanon specifically he said:
Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world – cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.
UK prime minister calls for 'restraint and de-escalation' in Lebanon
Speaking at his party’s conference in Liverpool, the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer has called for “restraint and de-escalation” in Lebanon and “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.
To applause from delegates, PA Media quotes him saying:
This is a time when great forces demand a decisive government prepared to face the future. We can see that again in the Middle East today. So I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Again, all parties to pull back from the brink.
I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.
And that’s the message I will take to the UN general assembly when I travel there later today, alongside our steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”
Hezbollah used a new rocket, Fadi 3, in an attack on an Israeli army base, the group announced in a message posted on Telegram on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Reuters reports Lebanese sources have informed it that a leading member of Hezbollah, Ibrahim Qubaisi, head of Hezbollah’s rocket unit, was killed in the Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
More details soon …
Six killed and 15 injured in Israeli strike on Beirut
William Christou reports from Beirut for the Guardian
Six people were killed and 15 injured by Israel’s strike on Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said on Tuesday afternoon, as search and rescue operations continued.
Israeli media has reported the strike was targeting a senior Hezbollah commander.
More details soon …
Updated
Here are some pictures of the scene in Beirut, where Israel has carried out what it described as a “targeted strike” believed to be aimed at a senior Hezbollah commander. Local news sources report that rescue teams are attempting to reach civilians inside the building.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports rescue teams are on the scene of an Israeli strike in the Beirut suburbs. The state news agency writes:
A number of people were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a six-story residential building in the Ghobeiry area in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The National News Agency correspondent reported the airstrike destroyed three floors of an inhabited residential building, and rescue teams are trying to reach civilians in the building.
In an operational update Israel’s air force has said that it has dropped nearly 2,000 weapons on Lebanon in the last 24 hours.
ביממה האחרונה המריאו טייסות הקרב של חיל-האוויר למאות גיחות תקיפה בשמי לבנון לטובת הסרת איום ופגיעה ביכולות ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה והטילו קרוב ל-2,000 חימושים לעבר 1,500 תשתיות טרור בעומק ובדרום לבנון. pic.twitter.com/69NMK2YRKa
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 24, 2024
Israeli media is reporting that the target of the strike in Beirut was the head of Hezbollah’s missile unit.
More details soon …
William Christou reports from Beirut for the Guardian
Videos from the strike site appear to show crowds of people gathered in a rubble-filled street in Beirut. One video shows a severely damaged body lying on the roof of a car, in what appears to be someone who was ejected from the building by the airstrike. “This is the aggression of Israel. This is Israel! Don’t you see what they are doing to us? Despite all of this, we will wipe them from the earth” a man screams in the video, amid the sound of people calling for one another through the smoke.
Reuters reports that at least one person has been killed in an Israeli strike on a southern suburb of Beirut, which security sources indicate was targeting a senior Hezbollah commander.
More details soon …
Israel carries out airstrike on Dahieh in southern suburbs of Beirut
William Christou reports from Beirut for the Guardian
Israel carried out an airstrike in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday afternoon – the second day in a row and third time this week it struck at Lebanon’s capital city.
Reuters, quoting security sources, said that a leader in Hezbollah was targeted by the strike. The strike hit the top floor of an apartment building in the Ghobeiri neighbourhood, with videos and pictures of the strike showing a collapsed roof with a large smoke cloud billowing from it.
Yesterday, Israel carried out what it said was a targeted strike in Dahieh as well, targeting the third-in-command of Hezbollah’s military wing, Ali Karaki. Hezbollah said in a statement that Karaki had survived the blast.
Updated
The mayor of Sidon, Hazem Khader Badieh, has said that 10,000 refugees from the south of Lebanon spent the night in the city, with 6,000 of them in cities. He said the number of schools opening as shelters increased from four to “about 16.”
Lebanon’s National News Agency quoted Badieh saying that international agencies need to “urgently extend a helping hand and provide the necessary supplies for the displaced, especially since a number of schools need maintenance and the provision of drinking water, electricity, and other necessary things.”
There are some indications that the strike on Beirut that Israel just announced was intended to take out a senior Hezbollah figure. Itay Blumental, who is a military correspondent for Israel’s Channel 11, posted a picture purporting to be the targeted building, with a note that “A security official tells me that the attack target in Beirut is a ‘man’s target’ – that is, the assassination of a senior official.”
גורם ביטחוני אומר לי ששהתקיפה הממוקדת בדחייה בביירות היא "מטרת איש" - כלומר חיסול של בכיר pic.twitter.com/mF0pFibjVd
— איתי בלומנטל 🇮🇱 Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) September 24, 2024
Security sources in Lebanon, meanwhile, have told Reuters that the target was “a Hezbollah commander” whose “fate was not immediately clear”.
Israeli military carries out targeted strike in Beirut
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has said that its jets have carried out a targeted strike in Beirut.
ראשוני: צה״ל תקף כעת באופן ממוקד בביירות.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 24, 2024
פרטים נוספים בהמשך
Updated
Sky news reports that John Healey, the British defence secretary, will chair an emergency meeting on the Middle East.
BREAKING: UK Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP has left the Labour Party conference early to chair an emergency Cobra meeting on the Middle East, @SkyNews understands.
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) September 24, 2024
h/t ace colleague @tamcohen
The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, has said that Americans should leave Lebanon while commercial options are available.
"We don't believe it's in Israel's interest for it to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the North, on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon." — White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby on the U.S.' decision to send more troops to Middle East. pic.twitter.com/2T90zWV4m0
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 24, 2024
Hezbollah said that Israel was dropping leaflets with a “very dangerous” barcode onto Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, warning that scanning the code would “withdraw all information” from any device, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military says it has started another round of strikes against Hezbollah targets.
"חיצי הצפון"
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 24, 2024
צה״ל החל כעת גל תקיפה נוסף של מטרות טרור של חיזבאללה בלבנון
Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor, has said that we are seeing continuing, sustained exchange of fire at the Israel-Lebanon border, Reuters reported.
He also said that the challenge is that Hamas does not want to do a deal and that the hostages remain a top priority for the White House.
Israel's chief of staff: we will speed up operations against Hezbollah today
Israel’s army radio is carrying a quote from Israel’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, who has said “Hezbollah must not be given a break – we will speed up the offensive operations today.”
Lebanon’s health ministry reports that at least 50 children are among the 558 dead in Lebanon since Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Lebanon yesterday. Israeli media reports that one person has been wounded in northern Israel by rocket shrapnel.
More details soon …
Patrick Wintour, the diplomatic editor for the Guardian, reports from New York
US-UK airstrikes in Yemen designed to end the Houthi disruption of commercial shipping have not seriously degraded the group’s military capability, the vice-chair of the UN-recognised government in Yemen has said.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi told the Guardian in an interview he feared the Houthis were using the strikes to rally support behind their cause by portraying the west as the aggressor in Yemen.
Calling for a change to a better coordinated strategy between the west, the region and the Yemeni government, he said it was to time to accept that the Houthis were not interested in a power-sharing deal in the country – an offer made to them more than a year ago, first by Saudi Arabia and then the UN.
Zubaidi heads Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council, which holds three seats on the eight-strong Presidential Leadership Council, the Aden-based coalition government opposed to the Houthis.
Read more of Patrick Wintour’s report here: US-UK airstrikes have not seriously hurt Houthis’ capability, says Yemeni leader
Haaretz in Israel reports that a political source has told it that part of the aim of Israel’s airstrike assault on Lebanon was to act as a deterrent against Iran.
The source told the Israeli media outlet:
The operation in the north has two goals: ensuring the safe return of northern residents and signaling to the Iranian axis that Israel is unafraid to act decisively to prevent further escalation. Israel has additional potential targets in Lebanon and will not hesitate to strike if Hezbollah does not grasp the message.
Iran’s president, meanwhile, has told CNN in the US that Israel’s actions could cause an escalation. Masoud Pezeshkian told the news network:
The danger does exist that the fire of events that are taking place will expand to the entire region. We must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel. Hezbollah cannot do that alone. Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by western countries, European countries, and the United States of America. We must prevent the ongoing criminal acts being committed by Israel.
Pezeshkian told interviewer Fareed Zakaria that Israel is “armed to the teeth and has access to weapons systems that are far superior to anything else.”
In April this year, under Pezeshkian’s predecessor Ebrahim Raisi, Tehran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel in its first ever direct attack on the state. Tehran said it was responding to a strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 1 April that killed a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and eight other officers. It blamed the strike on Israel.
50 children among 558 killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon - ministry
The death toll from the Israeli strikes on Lebanon since Monday reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women, with 1,835 wounded, health minister Firass Abiad said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Israel’s air force continued to strike on Tuesday morning, with the IDF claiming it had hit 1,600 Hezbollah terror targets inside the country. Hezbollah, for its part, has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, some of which have started fires. Overnight Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military bases and an airfield.
The death toll in Lebanon comes on top of those killed and wounded in last week’s detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies, with an official from the World Health Organization saying that some hospitals were being overwhelmed with casualties.
The Hamas-led health ministry in the Gaza Strip has claimed 41,467 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started its military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with 95,921 people wounded. The Israeli campaign began after the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel on 7 October 2023 which killed nearly 1,200 people and during which more than 250 people were seized and abducted into Gaza, some of who are still being held hostage nearly a year later.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict, in which at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed. Media access to Gaza has been limited by Israel, which has also banned Al Jazeera and raided and closed the new agency’s office in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that authorities in Sidon “are witnessing heavy crowding at the doors of gas stations and bakeries as a result of the large displacement from the south.”
It reports that security patrols have been sent to some locations “to prevent any monopoly or exploitation of citizens in light of the state of war that we are living in.”
Israel’s military has released an operational update on its latest wave of airstrikes against targets in Lebanon, which are so far known to have killed nearly 500 people including 35 children, and wounded thousands of others. Thousands of people have taken to Lebanon’s roads to flee the attacks.
In its statement on its official Telegram channel, the IDF says:
A short while ago, with the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF struck terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Beqaa and several areas in southern Lebanon. Among the targets struck were buildings in which weapons were stored, command centers, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites. During the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating that large amounts of weapons were stored in the buildings. The IDF will continue operating to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure.
The claims have not been independently verified.
In diplomatic reaction to the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia views Israel’s actions as “potentially extremely dangerous” and warned they could destabilise the region.
The UN human rights chief Volker Türk has made a general appeal for people with interests in the region to help calm the situation, saying they should exert their influence “to avert further escalation and do everything they can to ensure full respect for international law.”
China has said it fully supports Lebanon’s sovereignty, and said that foreign minister Wang Yi met his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in New York, where world leaders and top diplomats are gathering for the UN general assembly.
The Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza has raised the death toll of people it claims have been killed by Israel’s military offensive there since 7 October to 41,467 Palestinians, with 95,921 wounded. In the same timeframe, Israel says 346 of its service personnel have been killed during ground operations inside Gaza.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
With reports that the healthcare system in Lebanon is at risk of being overwhelmed by casualties from a series of Israeli airstrikes on the country, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory has posted to social media a reminder that the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip is also under duress. It posted to say “The health crisis in Gaza is deepening. Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain functional – all partially. Just 57 of 132 primary healthcare facilities can operate. Shortages of fuel and medicine are crippling health facilities.”
At least 35 children killed and thousands of people fleeing amid airport chaos as new wave of Israeli airstrikes hits Lebanon
Israel’s army radio and Lebanon’s National News Agency both reported a fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Tuesday morning as thousands continued to take to the roads to flee the south of the country.
An official from Unicef said that at least 35 children had been killed so far in the airstrikes, which have killed nearly 500 people and wounded thousands of others. Reuters, citing an official from the World Health Organization, reports that some hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of dead and injured, which come on top of last week’s pager and walkie-talkie detonations that killed dozens and wounded thousands of others. That attack was widely attributed to an Israeli attempt to target Hezbollah operatives, although nobody has claimed responsibility for the mass sabotage of the electronic devices.
Options for leaving the country are becoming limited, with over 30 flights cancelled at Beirut’s international airport, with destinations in Europe and the Middle East affected. Qatar Airways, Turkish Airways and various airlines from the United Arab Emirates are among those who have withdrawn services.
Before this week’s escalation, tens of thousands of people had already been displaced from the southern area of Lebanon because of months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces. About 60,000 people have also had to evacuate their homes in northern Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has set as an explicit war goal for them to be able to return.
Michael Adams, the Lebanon country director for Care International UK, said “All the roads leading to Beirut from the south and the Beqaa Valley are now flooded with people attempting to flee the bombardment, leaving everything behind. Civilians are paying the highest price”. The Israeli air force claimed it struck about 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Earlier a barrage of about 50 rockets from the direction of Lebanon were fired at Israel, with some debris falling into open ground and starting fires. Israel’s military reported that emergency services were attending, but there were no casualties. Hezbollah claimed it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight, and also the Megiddo airfield near the northern Israeli town of Afula.
Israeli army radio reports that another wave of Israeli airstrikes against Lebanon has begun.
More details soon …
Care International UK, an NGO which has been working in Lebanon for almost 20 years, has launched a humanitarian response to the crisis unfolding in Lebanon, with the local regional director, Hazem Fahmy, saying “It is shocking to witness once again in this region the total disregard for international law.”
Describing scenes of panic in the country has people sought to move away from araes being targeted by Israel’s airstrikes, country director Michael Adams said:
The situation is very tense here in Lebanon. All the roads leading to Beirut from the south and the Beqaa Valley are now flooded with people attempting to flee the bombardment, leaving everything behind. Civilians are paying the highest price, and women and girls are disproportionately affected. The people of Lebanon need help to cope with this new crisis, and quickly. Humanitarian agencies like Care and our partners cannot reach people under bombing. Humanitarians must also be protected.
Many flights into and out of Beirut have been cancelled already today. Flights affected include those to Egypt, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE. “Ongoing regional developments” has been cited by Etihad Airways as their reason.
While attention is focused on Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon, which have killed nearly 500 people in the last 24 hours, Israel also continues to carry out strikes on the Gaza Strip, which it has been bombarding for over 11 months.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “paramedics recovered the bodies of five slain people and a number of wounded, following an Israeli raid that targeted a house” in Khan Younis, while another two people were killed and five injured by a separate Israeli bombing in the area. The Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City has also again been a target, Wafa reports. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s air force has confirmed that there was damage caused to buildings in the Upper Galilee area by the latest barrage of rockets from the direction of Lebanon, and that “Israeli fire and rescue services are currently operating to extinguish fires caused by the strikes in the area”. It reported no casualties.
בהמשך להתרעות שהופעלו בשעה 09:36 במרחב העמקים, זוהו כחמישה שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון, חלקם יורטו והשאר נפלו בשטחים פתוחים.
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 24, 2024
זוהו נפילות של רסיסי יירוטים במרחב, אין נפגעים.
בהמשך להתרעות שהופעלו במרחב הגליל העליון בין השעות 09:42-09:44, זוהו כ-50 שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון.
מרבית…
Israeli and Lebanese media are reporting continued strikes on either side of the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon. Haaretz reports that about 50 rockets have been fired into northern Israel, with at least one fire breaking out as a result. Lebanese outlets report airstrikes in the Beqaa Valley and north of the city of Baalbek.
Charbel Massaad, an independent Maronite MP in Lebanon, has described Israel’s airstrikes as “an attack not only on geography, but also on dignity, on rights and on the future of our generations.”
In a message to the Lebanese people carried by the state National News Agency, Massaad said:
In these difficult times that our beloved country Lebanon is going through, and with the continued brutal Israeli aggression on our land, I find myself compelled to address you. The Israeli aggression that brutally targets our people, our homes, our villages and our cities is an attack not only on geography, but also on dignity, on rights and on the future of our generations.
But we, as a people accustomed to steadfastness and we will steadfastly face all challenges. This critical moment requires all of us, regardless of any political or sectarian affiliation, to stand as one. Our unity is our strength. Israel seeks to sow fear and division among us, but we know very well how to confront such conspiracies. Just as we were victorious in the past, we will be victorious today, because we are right, and right always triumphs, and the will to live among the Lebanese is stronger than any aggression or conspiracy.
The IDF has reported that warning sirens are sounding again in northern Israel.
For the Guardian’s First Edition newsletter today my colleagues Nimo Omer and senior international reporter Peter Beaumont spoke about the potential fallout of the intensification of this conflict. Here is a snippet:
Hezbollah is one of the most heavily armed non-state militia groups in the world. Its army is tens of thousands strong and it is backed by Iran, so even though the attacks from Israel have put Hezbollah on the back-foot, it has not deterred them. “In militias like this the number two in command is always ready to step into the number one position,” Peter says. Destabilising an organisation that is inherently fluid in that way is not straightforward. And when all that is needed to keep parts of Israel uninhabitable are a few rockets fired over the border, it is hard to see how Israel can achieve its goal through force alone.
“The pager attack was significant in its ambition and most clearly signifies that Israel has moved on from the somewhat agreed upon red lines,” Peter says. Both sides have acknowledged that their conflict of attrition, limited in its geography and scope, has entered a far more critical phase.
As their airstrikes intensify, the Israeli military have flown jets low above Beirut to create thundering sonic booms that shook the capital, with critics decrying the tactic as a form of psychological warfare against civilian populations. “It’s not just Hezbollah, Lebanese society is feeling under attack,” Peter says.
Read more here: Tuesday briefing – How to make sense of the new wave of violence in the Middle East
Israel’s Magen David Adom reports that overnight one of its ambulances was damaged in a blast in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel.
Following the Red Alert sirens in the north of Israel last night, the damage was caused to a MDA ambulance in the Jezreel Valley, as a result of the blast, the ambulance's windshields were shattered and damage was caused by shrapnel that penetrated. There were no casualties! pic.twitter.com/4dsMVLLpC8
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) September 24, 2024
Zeina Khodr, reporting for Al Jazeera from Beirut, says that people in Lebanon are scared of what might happen next. She writes for the news network:
Tens of thousands of people fled their homes and they really didn’t have much time before they had to evacuate … We were in southern Lebanon and we saw people pack whatever they could to make their way further north … Whole families. People were scared. They were afraid and they were concerned about what would happen next.
Some of the families we spoke to said that they had to escape while there was bombardment around them. There were nonstop airstrikes almost everywhere you looked. You didn’t know which road was safe, even along the main highway linking south Lebanon to Beirut, we saw airstrikes along that highway.
This is an impoverished society, a country where the economy has all but collapsed. And it’s also a state which is nearly bankrupt. So there is a lot of concern among these people about how long they are going to be displaced because already in 11 months of fighting, 110,000 people have been displaced from border villages.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel, and at the weekend raided and closed the news network’s offices in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Turkey has condemned Israel’s attacks on Lebanon as “efforts to drag the region into chaos” and called for a halt to support for Israel.
In a statement late on Monday, the Turkish foreign ministry said countries that “unconditionally support Israel” were helping Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “shed blood for his political interests”.
“It is imperative that all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security, especially the UN security council, as well as the international community, take the necessary measures without delay,” it said.
Nato member Turkey has condemned Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which began in retaliation for Hamas’ cross-border attack on 7 October. Ankara also halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the world court.
Tens of thousands flee homes after Israel warning to evacuate
Tens of thousands have reportedly fled for safety in southern Lebanon, after Israel on Monday warned people to evacuate areas where it claimed Hezbollah was storing weapons.
Families loaded cars, vans and trucks with belongings and people, sometimes multiple generations in one vehicle. Children crammed on to parents’ laps and suitcases were tied to car roofs.
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US sends additional forces to Middle East
The US is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East due to escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Pentagon said on Monday, declining to specify the precise number or mission of the deployed forces.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” air force Maj Gen Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters.
“We have more capability in the region today than we did on April 14th when Iran conducted its drone and missile attack against Israel,” Ryder said, referring to Iran’s attack by more than 300 missiles and drones, which caused only modest damage inside Israel thanks to air defence interceptions from the United States, Britain and other allies in the region.
“So all of those forces combined provide us with the options to be able to protect our forces should they be attacked.”
The US capabilities in the region include the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, fighter aircraft and air defences.
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Israel launches strikes on southern Lebanon overnight
The IDF has said it launched a fresh wave of strikes on Lebanon overnight, targeting positions from which rockets were fired towards Israel.
In an update online, IDF officials said that “warplanes targeted dozens of sites” in several areas in southern Lebanon.
The statement said that secondary explosions were observed during the strikes “indicating the presence of weapons stored in the buildings.” The Guardian was unable to verify this.
Monday saw some of the heaviest cross-border fire exchange in almost a year. Israel says it has started shifting its focus north to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Israel has said it launched a fresh wave of strikes on Hezbollah overnight, targeting positions that had fired rockets into Israel. The IDF said it had attacked “dozens of targets” in several areas in southern Lebanon.
The announcement comes a day after 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes. Almost 1,650 people were injured as well, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the military was changing the “security balance” along its northern border.
Tens of thousands of people fled from south Lebanese towns and villages along the main road towards the capital, Beirut, in Israel’s most intense barrage in nearly a year of cross-border clashes, as sirens were also heard in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. The Lebanese health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among those killed.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon on Monday destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. The Israeli military is preparing for the next stage of its operation in Lebanon after launching a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets on Monday morning, the military chief of the general staff Herzi Halevi said. There is rising tension on the ground in Lebanon and a collective bracing to see whether Israel intends a ground invasion of its neighbour.
Nasser Yassin, the Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, told Reuters 89 temporary shelters in schools and other facilities had been activated, with capacity for more than 26,000 people. Families from south Lebanon loaded cars, vans and trucks with belongings and people, sometimes multiple generations in one vehicle. As bombs rained down, children crammed on to parents’ laps and suitcases were tied to car roofs. Highways north were gridlocked.
The United States does not think Israeli escalation to force Hezbollah to reduce tensions will yield the desired outcome of de-escalation, a senior State Dept official said on Monday, effectively disagreeing with Israel’s strategy. The conflict is a key focus for secretary of state Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the UN general assembly this week, where Washington had concrete ideas to prevent a broader war and would seek an “off ramp” to the tensions, the official told reporters in New York.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) issued a statement on Monday afternoon expressing “grave concern” for the safety of civilians in southern Lebanon amid the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October and urging the need for de-escalation from both Hezbollah and Israel.
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, has called Israel’s wave of airstrikes “a genocide in every sense of the word”. Mikati made the comments at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beirut on Monday in which he said that Israel’s airstrikes aim to destroy Lebanon’s towns and villages, according to an update from the Associated Press news agency. Mikati said that the Lebanese government was calling on the United Nations, the UN security council and world nations to “deter the aggression”.
France has requested an emergency UN security council meeting to discuss Lebanon. “I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week,” French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the UN general assembly on Monday, calling on all sides to “avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone.”.
