Summary of the day
Pagers used by hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exploded simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding thousands in a dramatic and unprecedented attack at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East.
Among those killed was an 10-year-old girl, according to Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad. The latest casualty figures by officials include about 2,750 wounded, with most injuries to the face and hands. Those wounded include Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani.
Hezbollah fighters in Syria were also injured in the attack, with several reportedly being treated in hospitals in Damascus. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Saberin News reported that some guards in Syria had also been killed.
The pager explosions across Lebanon marked “an extremely concerning escalation,” the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said. The spokesperson for the secretary general of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, noted the “extremely volatile” context.
A Hezbollah official said the detonation of the pagers was the biggest security breach for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. The blasts appeared to exploit the low-tech pagers that Hezbollah has adopted in order to prevent the targeted assassinations of its members. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the country was bracing for a major retaliation by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel. “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” a statement said. The son of the Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar reportedly also died in the explosions, as did two sons of other prominent Hezbollah figures.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the blasts. The attack took place just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by the 7 October Hamas attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s health ministry put hospitals across the country on “maximum alert” and instructed citizens to distance themselves from wireless communication devices. Schools in Lebanon will close on Wednesday.
The US government said it “was not aware of this incident in advance”. The state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told a briefing that Washington was not involved and did not know who was responsible. He added it was “too early to say” how it would affect Gaza ceasefire talks.
Israel’s domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior Israeli defence official in the coming days. The Shin Bet agency said it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
Israeli tanks fired on an aid convoy on a mission to northern Gaza at the weekend, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. Shots were fired from two Israeli tanks near the WHO-led convoy, he said, adding that nobody was hurt during the incident.
Gaza’s health ministry has identified 34,344 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in the territory, publishing a list of names, ages, gender and ID numbers that cover more than 80% of those who have been killed in the war so far.
At least 41,252 Palestinian people have been killed and 95,497 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday. The Palestinian education ministry said 11,001 students – from schools and universities – have been killed and 17,772 injured in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has urged for more pressure on Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that every day that passes without a deal risks the lives of hostages and civilians – as well as a regional war breaking out.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is reportedly contemplating dismissing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and replacing him with Gideon Saar, a member of the opposition and the New Hope party leader.
We’re now closing this blog. You can read all our latest reporting here:
Updated
Most of the injuries from Tuesday’s pager explosions in Lebanon have been to the face and hands.
Most “appear to be to the face and especially to the eyes, and also the hand with some amputations, whether it’s in the hands or the fingers,” Lebanon’s public health minister Firass Abiad told the BBC.
The “vast majority” presenting to emergency rooms are in civilian clothes, Abiad told the broadcaster, adding that this makes it “very difficult to discern whether they belong to a certain entity like Hezbollah or others”. He added:
But we are seeing among them people who are old or people who are very young, like the child who unfortunately died, and there are some of them who are health care workers.
Abiad said the incident was a “major escalation at a time when everybody was hoping that things were moving to a kind of cessation of hostilities or some kind of ceasefire”, adding that Israel was the “obvious culprit”.
There has been no comment from the Israeli military on the blast.
'This is unacceptable': WHO chief says Israeli tanks fired on Gaza aid convoy
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Israeli tanks fired on an aid convoy on a mission to northern Gaza at the weekend.
Posting on X, he wrote that a WHO-led convoy encountered two Israeli tanks while on the way back from a mission last Saturday.
Shots were fired from the tanks near the convoy, he said, adding that the convoy had received clearance. Nobody was hurt during the incident, he said.
“This is unacceptable,” he said, noting that humanitarian workers in Gaza deliver critical aid “amid extreme danger and life-threatening conditions”. He added:
The minimum they deserve for their service is safety. The deconfliction mechanism needs to be adhered to. Ceasefire!
Last Saturday, on the way back from a mission to the northern #Gaza and after a @WHO-led convoy got clearance and crossed the coast road checkpoint, the convoy encountered two Israeli tanks. Shots were fired from the tanks near the convoy. Luckily nobody was hurt.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 17, 2024
This is… pic.twitter.com/jDstTVatyv
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The airline Lufthansa announced it is suspending all flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran through to Thursday, citing the “recent change in the security situation”. A statement by Lufthansa reads:
During this period, the Israeli and Iranian airspace will also be bypassed by all Lufthansa Group Airlines.
It added that it was closely monitoring the situation and “will assess it further in the coming days”.
Hamas has condemned the series of pager explosions across Lebanon and Syria in a statement. The statement reads:
We appreciate the struggle and sacrifices of our brothers in Hezbollah, and their insistence on continuing to support and back our Palestinian people in Gaza, and we affirm our full solidarity with the Lebanese people and our brothers in Hezbollah.
Lebanon pager explosions 'an extremely concerning escalation', says UN official
The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the pager explosions across the country marked “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”
In a statement, she urged “all concerned actors to refrain from any further action, or bellicose rhetoric, which could trigger a wider conflagration that nobody can afford”.
Hennis-Plasschaert "underlines the urgency of restoring calm and calls on all concerned actors to prioritize stability as paramount,” the statement continues, concluding that “too much is at stake to do anything less.”
Updated
Pager explosions: what we know so far
Pagers used by hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exploded simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding thousands in a dramatic and unprecedented attack at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East.
Here’s what we know so far:
At least nine people were killed in the attack in Lebanon, officials said. Among those killed was an 10-year-old girl, according to Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad. The latest casualty figures by officials include about 2,750 wounded. Those wounded in the attack include Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani.
Hezbollah fighters in Syria were also injured in the attack, with several reportedly being treated in hospitals in Damascus. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Saberin News reported that some guards in Syria had also been killed.
A Hezbollah official said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. The blasts appeared to exploit the low-tech pagers that Hezbollah has adopted in order to prevent the targeted assassinations of its members. The pagers were reportedly a new brand.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were among the dead and threatened a “just punishment” for Israel. “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” the group said. The son of the Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar reportedly also died in the explosions, as did two sons of other prominent Hezbollah figures.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the blasts. The attack took place just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by the 7 October Hamas attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah.
The attack followed months of targeted assassinations by Israel against senior Hezbollah leaders.
Lebanon’s health ministry put hospitals across the country on “maximum alert” and instructed citizens to distance themselves from wireless communication devices. Hezbollah maintains its own communication network separate from the rest of Lebanon.
It also comes as US officials try to de-escalate tensions between the two sides, and could derail US efforts to prevent Iran from retaliating against Israel for the July bombing in Tehran that killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The US said it “was not aware of this incident in advance”. A US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told a briefing the US was not involved and did not know who was responsible. He added that it was “too early to say” how it would affect Gaza ceasefire talks.
Updated
After the pagers blasts, a Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic.
At Mount Lebanon hospital just outside Beirut, a Reuters reporter saw motorcycles rushing to the emergency room and people with bloodied hands screaming in pain.
The head of the Nabatieh public hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that around 40 wounded people were being treated at his facility. The wounds included injuries to the face, eyes and limbs.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Lebanon, after at least nine people were killed and almost 3,000 others wounded during the pagers explosion on Tuesday.
Pentagon says US had no involvement in explosions
A Pentagon spokesperson said the US had no involvement in Tuesday’s pager blasts in Lebanon.
Air force Maj Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing:
To my knowledge, there’s no US involvement in this at all. Again, it’s something that we’re monitoring.
Updated
Schools in Lebanon will close on Wednesday, according to state media, after the pager explosions killed at least nine people and injured 2,800 on Tuesday.
The pagers that exploded were new and had been bought by Hezbollah in recent months, a Lebanese security source told CNN.
The source did not provide any information on the exact date the pagers were purchased or their model.
A Hezbollah official told Associated Press that the pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded.
A former British Army munitions expert told the BBC that the devices would have likely been packed with between 10 and 20 grams each of military-grade high explosive, hidden inside a fake electronic component. This would have been armed by a signal, something called an alphanumeric text message, according to the expert.
Gaza publishes identities of 34,344 Palestinians killed in war with Israel
Gaza’s health ministry has identified 34,344 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in the territory, publishing a list of names, ages, gender and ID numbers that cover more than 80% of those who have been killed in the war so far.
The remaining 7,613 people included in its death toll, now more than 41,000, are Palestinians whose bodies have been received by hospitals and morgues, but whose identities have not yet been confirmed.
The dead range from the very young to the very old. They include 169 babies born after the Hamas attacks of 7 October that began the war whose lives were shorter than the war that claimed their lives, and a man born in 1922 who survived more than a century of war and upheaval before he was killed.
The document runs to 649 pages, with the dead listed largely by age. Gaza’s population is youthful, and the grim register underlines the high toll of Israeli attacks on Palestinian children.
Updated
The US continues to believe that there needs to be a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah promised to retaliate after blaming Israel for detonating pagers on Tuesday that killed at least nine people and wounded 2,750 others, including many of the militant group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
“So we continue, we continue to believe that there … should be a diplomatic resolution to this,” Jean-Pierre said.
Updated
Analysis: If caused by the Mossad, explosions would be a big escalation
It may not have been acknowledged by Israel, but the extraordinary, coordinated attack on Hezbollah, blowing up thousands of pagers used by members of the Lebanese group, is almost certainly a Mossad operation.
The Israeli intelligence service has been engaged in the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders for decades but, if its involvement is confirmed, this represent a significant escalation.
Reports continue to come in but, with at least nine dead and about 3,000 wounded in dozens, if not hundreds, of coordinated explosions, the episode demonstrates a ruthless – if indiscriminate – desire to target Hezbollah. The group had been using pagers as an alternative to mobile phones, which can be tracked and used to pinpoint deadly missile strikes on its commanders.
It is unclear how the explosions were caused and, although there is inevitable speculation about hacking, it is most likely they came from sabotaged devices. Initial reports said that the pagers that exploded were a new model manufactured by a company whose supply chain may have been compromised by the perpetrators of the attack.
Yossi Melman, co-author of Spies Against Armageddon and other books on Israeli intelligence, emphasised that it appeared the exploding pagers had been “recently supplied”, and added: “We know that Mossad is able to penetrate and infiltrate Hezbollah time and time again.” But he questioned the strategic wisdom of the attack, in which a 10-year-old girl died.
Updated
Hamas has condemned the series of pager blasts across Lebanon as part of Israel’s “aggression” in the region, saying they were an escalation that would only lead Israel to “failure and defeat”, according to a statement released by the group.
The United States said on Tuesday it is gathering information after at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members – including fighters and medics – detonated simultaneously across Lebanon.
State department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular news briefing the United States was not involved in the incidents and did not know who was responsible.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatened to punish Israel in response to the incidents, Reuters reported.
Lebanon foreign minister threatens retaliation after pager explosions
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the country was bracing for a major retaliation by Hezbollah.
Bou Habib told the New York Times:
If Israel thinks by this that they’re going to return their displaced people from the north of Israel, they are mistaken. This escalates this war.
He added that the Lebanese government was now preparing to lodge a complaint at the UN security council.
Hezbollah are definitely going to retaliate in a big way. How? Where? I don’t know.
Updated
Hezbollah MP whose son was reportedly killed vows retaliation
Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar, whose son Mahdi was reportedly killed on Tuesday in the pager explosion in Lebanon, spoke to the Associated Press.
“This is a new Israeli aggression against Lebanon,” Ammar said.
The resistance will retaliate in a suitable way at the suitable time.
The sons of two other senior officials were wounded, the news agency reported, citing a Hezbollah official said.
They are the son of Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah and the son of senior security official Wafiq Safa, according to the report.
Updated
'Tomorrow is already too late’ for Gaza ceasefire, warns EU's top diplomat
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has urged for more pressure on Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that every day that passes without a deal risks the lives of hostages and civilians – as well as a regional war breaking out.
“The only thing I can say is that all actors involved have to continue putting pressure on both parties to reach this agreement,” Borrell told journalists in Dubai on Tuesday.
Every day that the agreement is not being reached, it means more hostages will be retained and more people will be killed. So it’s not a matter of waiting for tomorrow. Tomorrow is already too late.
The EU diplomat was speaking just after news broke from Lebanon of at least nine people killed and 2,800 others wounded by pager explosions across the country.
Borrell said he would seek more information from Beirut, but acknowledged it could escalate the already-boiling tensions in the region:
Certainly there is the possibility of the war spilling over to Lebanon.
Updated
14 wounded in Syria in pager blasts – report
The UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 people were wounded in Syria by explosions of pagers.
A statement by the group said:
Fourteen people whose nationalities are unknown have been wounded in Damascus and its countryside after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded.
Updated
Death toll rises to nine – Lebanon's health minister
Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, said nine people are now confirmed dead in a series of explosions that targeted pagers across the country.
Among those killed is an eight-year-old girl from Bekka Valley, Abiad said, according to Al Jazeera.
At least 2,800 people have been wounded, he added, and more than 200 are in critical condition.
Hezbollah in a second statement blamed Israel and vowed that it will get its “fair punishment for this blatant aggression.”
— Kareem Chehayeb | كريم شهيب (@chehayebk) September 17, 2024
Health Minister Abiad told Al Jazeera that a 9th person has died. https://t.co/vT62MkH1mM
Updated
As we reported earlier, Lebanon’s information minister condemned what he called “Israeli aggression” in reference to the explosions of pagers across the country.
Ziad Makary, in quotes carried by Al Jazeera, said:
Lebanon’s main priority is putting an end to the Israeli attacks targeting our citizens’ lives and livelihoods.
“These crimes are the responsibility of the international community,” Makary added.
Updated
The spokesperson for the secretary general of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, has described the developments in Lebanon as “extremely concerning”, noting the “extremely volatile” context.
“We deplore the civilian casualties that we have seen,” he said, adding:
We cannot underscore enough the risks of escalation in Lebanon and in the region.
Updated
The leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was not harmed in the pager explosions, a senior Hezbollah source told Reuters.
Hezbollah says Israel 'fully responsible’ for pager blasts
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the explosion of pagers on Tuesday and warned Israel will receive a “just punishment”.
A statement by the group translated by AFP reads:
We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression.
Updated
Electronic pager devices also exploded in Syria, according to multiple reports.
Seven people were killed from blasts from their devices in the Damascus neighbourhood of Seyedah Zeinab, Saberin News, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported.
A number of Hezbollah members arrived at hospitals in Damascus after their devices exploded, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Updated
The Lebanese government sees Israel as responsible for the pager explosions and sees it as violation of Lebanese sovereignty, a Lebanese government spokesperson has reportedly said.
From Axios’s Barak Ravid:
The Lebanese government spokesman said the government see Israel as responsible for the pager explosions and sees it as violation of Lebanese sovereignty https://t.co/RNGWoAObeP
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) September 17, 2024
According to Reuters’ Timour Azhari, Lebanon’s information minister has also condemned “Israeli aggression”.
BREAKING - Lebanese information minister condemns "Israeli aggression" in reference to the explosion of pagers across the country today.
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) September 17, 2024
First time official source directly blames Israel.
In an earlier statement, Hezbollah said three people had been killed but did not mention Israel.
Updated
Eight killed and 2,750 wounded in pager blasts across Lebanon – health minister
At least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded after pager explosions across Lebanon, according to the country’s health minister, Firass Abiad.
Updated
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded on Tuesday when a pager exploded, according to state media.
Amani’s wounds were “superficial”, state media are reporting, adding that he was “conscious and in no danger”.
Updated
Hezbollah says three people killed in pager explosions
Two Hezbollah fighters and a girl have been killed in a series of simultaneous detonations of pagers on Tuesday, the group said.
In a statement, Hezbollah did not directly accuse Israel of being behind the operation. According to Al Jazeera, it said:
At approximately 3:30pm on Tuesday 09-17-2024, a number of message receiving devices known as ‘pagers’ exploded, which were owned by a number of workers in various Hezbollah units and institutions.
These explosions, the causes of which are still unknown, led to the martyrdom of a girl and two brothers, and the injury of a large number of people with various injuries.
Updated
10-year-old girl in Lebanon killed by exploding pager – report
The 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed when his pager exploded on Tuesday, her family has told AFP.
The news agency quoted her relatives as saying:
A 10-year-old girl was martyred in the Bekaa Valley after her father’s pager exploded while he was next to her.
BREAKING: Girl in Lebanon killed by exploding pager: family.
— Aya Iskandarani (@Aya_Isk) September 17, 2024
The 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed in Lebanon's east when his pager exploded on Tuesday, her family and a source close to the group said., via @AFP.
Updated
Son of Hezbollah MP killed in pager blast - report
A Hezbollah fighter, the son of a Hezbollah MP, was killed in the pager explosion, two security sources told Reuters.
Lebanese media are also reporting that the son of Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar was killed.
From Timour Azhari of Reuters:
Son of Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar killed in pager blast, security sources say.
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) September 17, 2024
Updated
More than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were injured when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources told Reuters. This figure – which we have not yet independently verified - is far higher than the hundreds of injuries estimated in earlier reports.
In other developments:
The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources told Reuters.
The head of the the Nabatieh public hospital in southern Lebanon, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that around 40 injured people were being treated at his facility, including for wounds to the face, eyes and limbs.
The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 50 ambulances and 300 emergency medical staff were dispatched to help in the evacuation of victims.
There has been no official comment by Israel yet about the simultaneous explosions in Lebanon.
Updated
Summary of the day so far ...
Hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously injured on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, a security source told Reuters. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who were injured by the explosions, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported. A Hezbollah official said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel. No deaths have been reported. A source close to Hezbollah told AFP the explosions were an “Israeli breach” of its communications.
Israel’s domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official in the coming days. The Shin Bet agency said it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
At least 41,252 Palestinian people have been killed and 95,497 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said.
The Palestinian education ministry said 11,001 students – from schools and universities – have been killed and 17,772 injured in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
There are reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is contemplating firing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and replacing him with Gideon Saar, a member of the opposition and the New Hope party leader. Israel’s Business Forum, which consists of 200 heads of Israel’s largest companies that employ many private sector workers, urged Netanyahu to keep Gallant in his position as defence minister, saying it would create more division and weaken the country if he was let go.
Updated
The Israeli daily Haaretz is reporting that the local council head of the northern Israeli town of Shlomi, Gabi Na’aman, has urged residents to stay near shelters.
Na’aman wrote:
Due to the unique security situation in which we have found ourselves in the past hour, I ask out of an abundance of caution to stay near your children and your shelters.
Exploding pagers injure hundreds in Lebanon, health minister says
Hundreds of people were injured across Lebanon when their pagers exploded earlier today, health minister Firass Abiad has said, with a source close to Hezbollah telling Agence France-Presse (AFP) its members were targeted. No deaths have been reported.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who were injured by the explosions, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said Amani suffered a slight injury. “Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital,” Fars quoted a source as saying.
Updated
Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding. In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out someone standing at a fruit stand at a market area.
Lebanon’s crisis operations center has asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of injured people coming into for urgent care. It said health care workers should not use pagers.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the incident was a result of an “Israeli breach” of its communications.
Detonation of pagers in Lebanon 'biggest security breach' Hezbollah has faced since start of the war, official says
We have some more information on the reports that dozens of Hezbollah members were injured in Lebanon after the devices they use for communications exploded (see earlier post at 14.11).
A Hezbollah official has told Reuters that the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.
A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, with residents saying explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts.
There are reports – not yet verified by the Guardian - that the security breach that led to the explosions happened simultaneously in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Dahieh.
Since October, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group from Lebanon, has carried out strikes on Israeli targets, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians impacted by Israel’s war on Gaza.
Updated
Qatar’s foreign ministry said efforts to forge a Gaza truce, being mediated alongside Egypt and the US, were “ongoing”.
Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by the US president, Joe Biden, and a “bridging proposal” presented to Hamas and Israel in August. The May proposal offered a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in return for the release of all hostages and the long-term reconstruction of the shattered coastal strip.
“The efforts are still ongoing and channels of communication remain open... the goals and visits and meetings are ongoing,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, told reporters.
The US state department said yesterday that the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, would visit Egypt this week to “discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire”, his tenth trip to the region since October.
Pressure inside Israel for a deal has intensified after authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September after their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
A major impasse in the negotiations has been the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has claimed that Israel should retain control of the corridors to prevent smuggling and catch militant fighters. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, however, is demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Dozens of Hezbollah members injured in Lebanon when pagers exploded – report
The Reuters news agency has been told by sources that dozens of members of Hezbollah were seriously injured today in Lebanon’s south, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, when the pagers they use to communicate exploded.
A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh. These claims have not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Updated
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that Israel’s security forces have demolished two homes belonging to Palestinians in Khirbet Jbara, south of the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
One of those whose home was destroyed, Muhammad Jabara, said that he had not been able to remove family possessions from the building before the Israeli forces demolished the house.
Updated
In the last hour Israel’s military has reported on its official Telegram channel that “a number of UAVs were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the UAVs were intercepted and some fell in an area adjacent to Ramot Naftali. No injuries were reported.”
Sirens have been sounding in northern Israel “due to the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception”, it said.
Updated
Lebanon’s house speaker, Nabih Berri, met with the head of Unrwa Philippe Lazzarini today. Lebanese state media reports that:
Lazzarini expressed concern over the escalating conflict, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, and the growing tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
He highlighted the increasing displacement on both sides of the border and emphasised the need for preparedness, while hoping to avoid further escalation.
Moreover, Lazzarini also raised concerns about continuous attacks on Unrwa and Israeli efforts to dismantle the agency, mentioning that its facilities and staff in Gaza face daily threats.
Updated
Al Jazeera reports that its verification unit has ascertained via satellite imagery that in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel has completely destroyed nine UN-run schools, and partially destroyed three others that had been sheltering displaced civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel.
Here are some of the latest images coming from the newswires out of Gaza:
Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defence official
Israel’s domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official in the coming days, Reuters reports. The official was not named.
The Shin Bet agency said it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
Shin Bet said the attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago, without giving further details.
There have been near daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since 7 October 2023, when Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, stormed into Israeli communities and military bases, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages.
Updated
Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor for the Guardian
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has said Tehran has shown restraint so far in its response to the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh because it believes Israel has been trying to lure it into a regional war.
Pezeshkian, a reformist who was elected unexpectedly three months ago, was speaking at a wide-ranging and unprecedented two-and-half-hour press conference in which nearly half of the questions were from foreign media.
“What Israel has done in the region and what Israel tried with the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran was to drag us into a regional war,” he told reporters. “We have exercised restraint so far but we reserve the right to defend ourselves at a specific time and place with specific methods.”
It remains a matter of debate whether Pezeshkian, who has a frank, consensual style, has access to the real levers of power or the political will to transform Iran’s relations with the west. But his use of a large international platform and often unpretentious direct manner suggests he is a new and unpredictable element in Iranian politics.
You can read the full story here:
German news media outlets have called on Israel to grant them access to Gaza, and for neighbouring Egypt to allow entry to the territory via the Rafah border crossing.
“After almost a year of war, we call on the Israeli government: allow us to enter the Gaza Strip,” a group of newspapers, agencies and broadcasters wrote in an open letter.
The media organisations wrote that “anyone who makes independent reporting on this war impossible is damaging their own credibility”.
“Anyone who prohibits us from working in the Gaza Strip is creating the conditions for human rights to be violated.”
The open letter was addressed to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and had been delivered on Monday.
Signatories included editors and reporters from Der Spiegel, Die Welt, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and the German Journalists Association.
As of today, the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) preliminary investigations showed at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began last October, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began collecting data in 1992. 111 of these journalists were Palestinian, three were Lebanese and two were Israeli.
The CPJ said:
To date, CPJ has determined that at least five journalists were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders: Issam Abdallah, Hamza Al Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Ismail Al Ghoul, and Rami Al Refee. CPJ is still researching the details for confirmation in at least 10 other cases that indicate possible targeting.
Israel denies that it targets journalists, saying it only targets Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
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Business leaders warn Netanyahu that Israel will be weakened in the 'eyes of her enemies' if he fires Gallant
As we mentioned in an earlier post, there are widespread reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is contemplating firing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and replacing him with Gideon Saar, who is currently a member of the opposition and the New Hope party leader.
Saar has been critical about making a deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, while Gallant has been pushing for a truce. Gallant has dismissed Netanyahu’s repeated aim of “total victory” as nonsense. He has also called for a clearer post-war plan that would see the enclave governed by Palestinians.
Israel’s Business Forum has urged Netanyahu to keep Gallant in his position as defence minister, saying it would create more division and weaken the country if he was let go.
The forum, which consists of 200 heads of Israel’s largest companies that employ many private sector workers, said Netanyahu should stop “messing around with petty politics” during a time of war.
In a statement, the forum said:
Immediately stop the process of replacing (Gallant). The firing of the minister weakens Israel in the eyes of her enemies, and will further deepen the division in the people of Israel…
The prime minister knows better than anyone that all the economic indicators also prove that Israel is deteriorating into an economic abyss and sinking into a deep recession.
The last thing Israel needs at this time is the firing of a defence minister - which will continue to shock the country.
Netanyahu denied he was in negotiations with Saar, though he did not refer to his plans for Gallant. Rumours that Netanyahu would replace Gallant in a reshuffle have been circulating for months but seem to have recently picked up pace.
In March 2023, Netanyahu fired Gallant after he broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system. That triggered mass protests and Netanyahu backtracked on his decision.
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Over 11,000 students killed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, education ministry says
The Palestinian education ministry has said 11,001 students – from schools and universities – have been killed and 17,772 injured in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
Here is a breakdown of the number of students and educational staff the ministry say have been killed, injured or arrested by Israeli forces between 7 October 2023 and 17 September 2024:
🔴 Summary of the #IsraeliOccupation violations against #education in #Palestine 🇵🇸
— Ministry of Education and Higher Education (@PalestineMoE) September 17, 2024
October 2023 - 17 September 2024#RightToEducation #GazaUnderAttack #PalEduMin pic.twitter.com/FQf1L2YYhd
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Death toll in Gaza reaches 41,252, says health ministry
At least 41,252 Palestinian people have been killed and 95,497 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Israeli forces have arrested 30 Palestinians, including a child and former prisoners, over the last 24 hours in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission.
The total number of Palestinians detained in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023 is estimated to have risen to over 10,700.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that four Palestinian people, including a child, were killed by Israeli forces bombing several homes in the al-Bureij camp in central Gaza on Tuesday morning.
Sources also told the outlet that a person was killed after Israeli soldiers bombed a bicycle in the Qizan Rashwan area in the southern city of Khan Younis. These claims are yet to have been independently verified by the Guardian.
The US has announced fresh sanctions against five individuals and a company associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing and distributing spyware that allegedly presents “a significant threat” to US national security.
The move comes months after the US government sanctioned Intellexa’s founder and other parties for their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others.
The US Treasury said on Monday it had sanctioned another five individuals associated with Intellexa’s international web of companies allegedly involved in supplying the group’s Predator spyware to foreign governments.
They were targeted “for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Predator spyware can be used to turn a target’s cellphone into a surveillance device and gain access to data stored and transmitted by the device.
Acting Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Bradley Smith, said:
The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens.
We will continue to hold accountable those that seek to enable the proliferation of exploitative technologies, while also encouraging the responsible development of technologies that align with international standards.
Former US president Barack Obama hosted Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, in Washington on Monday.
Lapid, who is also a former prime minister, thanked Obama for his “public support and efforts for the return of the Israeli abductees held in Gaza”, adding in a post on X: “I told him that we should all work together to secure a deal that will bring the abductees home.”
נפגשתי עם הנשיא לשעבר ברק אובמה בלשכתו בוושינגטון. הודיתי לו על תמיכתו הפומבית ומאמציו להחזרת החטופים הישראלים המוחזקים בעזה. אמרתי לו שעל כולנו לעבוד יחד כדי להבטיח עסקה שתחזיר את החטופים הביתה🎗️ pic.twitter.com/qV5rMWkjV2
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) September 17, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu considering firing defence minister - reports
There are reports that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering replacing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Israel’s leading television channels and news websites reported that Netanyahu, under pressure from far-right coalition partners, was contemplating firing Gallant and replacing him with former ally turned rival, Gideon Saar, who is a member of the opposition.
Netanyahu has dismissed calls by Gallant and others to accept a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the southern border area of the Gaza Strip as the price of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Gallant, who Netanyahu tried to fire in 2023, has been openly scornful of the Israeli prime minister’s repeated aim of “total victory” in Gaza, which he has dismissed as “nonsense”.
“Instead of the prime minister being busy with victory over Hamas, returning the hostages, with the war against Hezbollah and allowing (evacuated) residents of the north to return to their homes, he is busy with despicable political dealings and replacing the defence minister,” Benny Gantz, the centre-right National Unity party leader and Netanyahu’s main political rival, wrote on social media.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel has expanded its stated goals of the war to include enabling residents to return to communities in northern Israel that have been evacuated due to attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The decision was approved during an overnight meeting of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, his office said. Tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from towns along the northern frontier that have been badly damaged by rocket fire and have yet to return.
Separately, on Monday, Israel’s defence minister said “the possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict. Therefore, the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action.”
It comes as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was due to travel to Cairo to discuss a proposal for a ceasefire deal and release of hostages. It will be his 10th trip to the region since the outbreak of the war almost a year ago.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, has warned of the devastating consequences of further regional escalation in the conflict.
In a statement from the US defence department, he “reaffirmed the necessity of a ceasefire and hostage deal, and that Israel should give diplomatic negotiations time to succeed, noting the devastating consequences that escalation would have on the people of Israel, Lebanon, and the broader region.”
Here is a summary of the day’s other main events:
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has said the Palestinian militant group had the resources to sustain its fight against Israel, with support from Iran-backed regional allies. In a letter to the group’s Yemeni allies, the Houthis, he said “we have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition … our combined efforts with you” and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq “will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it”.
Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including five women and four children. A strike flattened a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, according to officials at the Awda hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, according to the civil defence first responders.
UN secretary general António Guterres has said that “nothing justifies” the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. “We all condemn the terror attacks made by Hamas, as well as the taking of the hostages, that is an absolute violation of international humanitarian law,” he said, before adding “the truth is that nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza”.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told Agence France-Presse that new generations of fighters have been recruited since the 7 October attacks.
Polio vaccination coverage in Gaza has reached 90%, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday, adding that the next step was to ensure hundreds of thousands of children got a second dose at the end of the month. The campaign, which began on 1 September, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza under 10 years of age against polio.
Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to New York on 24 September, the first day of the high-level general debate by world leaders at the annual UN general assembly, his office has said. It said the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to stay until 28 September in the US, which he had visited in July for official talks and a congressional address.
