Live: Israeli air strikes hit southern Beirut after residents told to evacuate

Israeli strikes hit southern Beirut after evacuation orders

Israeli airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel ordered residents to evacuate, marking the first attacks in three days on Hezbollah’s main stronghold.

AFP footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the area, less than an hour after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported two Israeli strikes on the same building in the neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, and later added that “Israeli warplanes” had struck the Al-Umara neighbourhood in nearby Choueifat

Iran’s Khamenei says Hamas will survive after Sinwar death

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Hamas was alive and will survive despite the the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza. Iran continues to play a key role in the Middle East conflict, with the Iranian Foreign Minister travelling to Turkey. FRANCE 24’s Saeed Azimi has more from Tehran.

Al Qaeda adviser urges release of Israeli hostages in Gaza

An adviser to al Qaeda’s likely current leader is calling for Hamas to release its Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to an American jihadist monitoring organisation, SITE.

The online declaration was made Friday by Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri, who is father-in-law to Saif al-Adel, the man widely believed to now head al Qaeda, according to SITE.

In it, Hamid claimed the attention given to recovering the Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, was overshadowing the fate of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.

Israel drops leaflets over Gaza showing Sinwar’s body and message to Hamas

Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza on Saturday showing a picture of the dead Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar with the message that “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza”, echoing language used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The move came as Israeli military strikes killed at least 32 people across the Gaza Strip and tightened a siege around hospitals in Jabalia in the north of the enclave, Palestinian health officials said.

“Whoever drops the weapon and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace,” the leaflet, written in Arabic, read, according to residents of the southern city of Khan Younis and images circulating online.

The leaflet’s wording was from a statement by Netanyahu on Thursday after Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers operating in Rafah, in the south near the Egyptian border, on Wednesday.

Gaza rescuers say over 400 killed in two weeks of Israeli assault on territory’s north

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday more than 400 Palestinians were killed in the north of the territory over the past two weeks during an ongoing military assault Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping.

The Israeli military launched a sweeping air and ground assault targeting northern Gaza on October 6. Since then, it has tightened its siege, which has displaced tens of thousands of people.

Lebanon security source says Israel strikes south Beirut

At least two Israeli airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday, a Hezbollah stronghold, a security source told AFP.

AFP footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the area, less than an hour after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order.

Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel as Israeli strikes pound Gaza

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired dozens of rockets and several drones into northern Israel on Saturday killing one person, with one drone directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s holiday home, according to his spokesman.

The volley from the Iran-backed Lebanese group came as health officials in Gaza, where Israel has been battling Palestinian militant group Hamas for more than a year, said Israeli strikes had killed more than 30 people across the territory.

Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon have dashed hopes that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.

Lebanon media says mayor among 4 killed in Israeli strike in east

Lebanon state media said four people including a mayor were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a town in the eastern Bekaa Valley region.

The strike hit a residential building in the town of Baaloul, killing four, the official National News Agency said, adding that the dead include Haidar Shahla, the mayor of the nearby town of Sohmor.

Israel army issues new evacuation call for south Beirut residents

The Israeli military on Saturday called on residents to leave parts of southern Beirut, a warning usually followed by strikes on those areas of the Lebanese capital.

“Urgent warning to residents of the southern suburb (of Dahiyeh), specifically those in …Haret Hreik neighbourhood: You are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which the IDF (Israeli military) will be operating in the near future,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic on X.

Hezbollah says fires rockets at Israeli town of Safed

Hezbollah said it fired rockets the northern Israeli town of Safed on Saturday, after the Israeli army reported 115 projectiles launched from Lebanon targeting the country amid the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah said it “bombed the occupied city of Safed… with a rocket salvo,” shortly after announcing rocket attacks on Haifa in northern Israel.

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 42,519

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Saturday that at least 42,519 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, although the toll did not incorporate a strike that killed 33 people overnight.

The toll includes 19 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,637 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israeli rescuers say one killed by shrapnel after rocket fire from Lebanon

Israeli emergency services said a man was killed by shrapnel near the port city of Acre on Saturday after a barrage of rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

“Paramedics have pronounced the death of a man, around 50 years old, who was struck by shrapnel while sitting in his vehicle,” the Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement.

Israel army says at least 115 projectiles fired from Lebanon on Saturday

The Israeli army said at least 115 projectiles were fired on Saturday from Lebanon targeting the country amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The projectiles were fired mainly into northern Israel, with sirens blaring across the region at regular intervals. AFP compiled the figure of projectiles based on a series of statements released by the Israeli army on Saturday.

Hezbollah says launched rockets north of Israel’s Haifa

Hezbollah said it fired rockets on Saturday towards a region north of Israel’s Haifa in response to Israeli attacks on its strongholds in southern Lebanon.

“The large rocket salvo” came in retaliation for Israeli attacks on south Lebanon villages, Hezbollah announced after the Israeli army said a barrage of projectiles was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, with sirens blaring at regular intervals.

Drone launched toward Netanyahu residence in central Israel, PM’s office says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a drone was launched toward his residence in Caesarea, after the military reported a drone from Lebanon had “hit a structure” in the central town on Saturday.

“A UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was launched toward the prime minister’s residence in Caesarea. The prime minister and his wife were not at the location, and there were no injuries in the incident,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the structure hit as reported earlier by the military was his residence.

Lebanon says two killed in Israel strike on vehicle north of Beirut

Lebanese authorities said two people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday in Jounieh, north of Beirut, in the first strike on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year.

The health ministry said an “Israeli enemy raid” hit a car in Jounieh, with Lebanese state media saying the attack occurred on a key highway linking the capital to the country’s north.

Families of hostages in Gaza fear for loved ones after Hamas leader’s death

Families of Israeli hostages are increasingly fearing for the wellbeing of their relatives held captive in Gaza after Hamas vowed not to release them until the war in Gaza is over in response to the killing of the group’s leader Yahya Sinwar. 

Despite calling Sinwar’s killing an “important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death did not spell the end of the war with Hamas.