Israeli strikes on northern Gaza kill at least 16
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 16 people on Wednesday as Israeli forces stepped up pressure on northern areas of the Palestinian enclave, besieged hospital and refugee shelters, and ordered residents to head south, medics and residents said.
Medics said two Palestinians were killed in Beit Lahiya, while an airstrike killed 12 others in Gaza City, including four municipality workers, in two separate strikes on Wednesday.
Two other Palestinians were killed in an airstrike in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, they said.
A man drives a donkey-drawn cart past a garbage dump in Deir el-Balah in the centre of the Gaza Strip on October 22, 2024. Eyad Baba © AFP
Health and civil emergency officials said dozens of bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel fire in and around Jabalia were scattered on roadsides and under the rubble where medical teams could not reach them.
In northern Gaza, residents said Israeli forces had besieged hospitals, schools, and other shelters housing displaced families and ordered them to leave and head south.
Health officials said hospitals there have either stopped providing medical services or were hardly operating because of the ongoing offensive and the depletion of medical resources.
They added that hospitals, where medics have refused Israeli army orders to evacuate, were running out of blood units, as well as coffins and shrouds to prepare the bodies of the dead.
Lebanon state media say Israel drone strikes southern city of Tyre
Lebanese state media reported an Israeli drone strike on a street in Tyre on Wednesday, after the Israeli army warned residents of swathes of the southern city to evacuate.
“An enemy drone targeted” a “street in Tyre”, the National News Agency said. AFPTV footage showed a plume of thick black smoke rising from the city.
German FM in Beirut urges ‘viable’ solution for Israel and Lebanon
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beirut for talks on Wednesday and said the task was to find a viable diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon after Israel succeeded in weakening Hezbollah.
“The task now is to work with our partners in the US, Europe and the Arab world to find a viable diplomatic solution that safeguards the legitimate security interests of both Israel and Lebanon,” Baerbock said in a statement.
Northern Gaza polio campaign postponed due to escalating violence, says WHO
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that intense bombardments, mass displacements and lack of access in northern Gaza have forced the postponement of a polio vaccination campaign.
This final phase of an ongoing polio vaccination campaign, due to begin on Wednesday, aimed to vaccinate over 119,000 children in northern Gaza, according to the agency.
German minister in Beirut urges ‘viable’ solution for Israel and Lebanon
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beirut for talks on Wednesday and said the task was to find a viable diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon after Israel succeeded in weakening Hezbollah.
“The task now is to work with our partners in the U.S., Europe and the Arab world to find a viable diplomatic solution that safeguards the legitimate security interests of both Israel and Lebanon,” Baerbock said in a statement.
Lufthansa suspends flights to Beirut, Tehran until early 2025
Lufthansa extended the suspension of its flights to Tehran and Beirut until early next year, the German flagship airline group said on Wednesday, over concerns of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
For Lufthansa Airlines, this means flights to Tehran will be suspended up to and including January 31, 2025, while those to Beirut are suspended up to and including February 28, 2025, it said.
Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings are all part of the Lufthansa Group.
SWISS said in a separate statement that flights to Beirut would be cancelled up to and including January 18, 2025, to provide greater planning certainty for both its passenger and crew.
Antony Blinken says ‘now is the time’ to end war in Gza
Visiting US top diplomat Antony Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv Wednesday that the war in Gaza should end now, adding that Israel needed to do more to allow in humanitarian aid despite “progress”.
“Since October 7 a year ago, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza … Now is the time to turn those successes into enduring, strategic success,” Blinken said, adding that on aid he saw “progress being made, which is good, but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained”.
He also said that Israel should avoid “greater escalation” in its reponse to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
“It’s also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation,” the secretary of state told reporters in Israel before leaving for Saudi Arabia, the next stop on his Middle East tour.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with press in Tel Aviv before departing for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 21, 2024. © Nathan Howard, Reuters
Rocket attacks set off sirens as Blinken visits Tel Aviv
Israel’s air force shot down two rockets from Lebanon that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the military said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a visit to the city.
Some senior US State Department officials and travelling press at Blinken’s hotel left the breakfast hall and rushed to the shelter downstairs along with other hotel guests and staff when the sirens went off.
The downing of the rockets came shortly after Israeli forces intercepted two drones launched from the east targeting the Red Sea port city of Eilat, the military said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries in either the drone or rocket attacks.
Israeli army strikes southern Beirut suburbs overnight
At least three Israeli strikes targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight on Tuesday following calls to evacuate, hours after a strike flattened a building in the Hezbollah stronghold.
“The smoke is still smouldering behind me,” said FRANCE 24 senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent bringing us the latest live from Beirut.
Watch her full report below:
Hezbollah says struck army intelligence base near Tel Aviv
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it fired rockets at an Israeli military intelligence base in the Tel Aviv suburbs Wednesday, following a night of strikes on the group’s south Beirut bastion.
Hezbollah fighters launched “a rocket salvo” at “the Glilot base of the military intelligence unit … in the Tel Aviv suburbs”, the group said in a statement, referring to a base targeted several times in recent days. It said the rocket fire was “in response to attacks and massacres committed by the Zionist enemy”.
Hezbollah yet to confirm death of Hashen Safieddine, presumed successor of Hassan Nazrallah
Israel’s army said it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the cleric tipped to succeed slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike on Beirut three weeks ago that targeted commanders of the Iran-backed militant group.
Hezbollah has not issued a statement about the Israeli claims.
“He was a member of Hezbollah’s executive council for years and a cousin of Nazrallah,” explained FRANCE 24 senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent.
“If the death is confirmed by sources other than the Israeli military, Hezbollah will seem even more rudderless at this stage,” she added.
Watch her full report from Beirut below:
Israel army issues new evacuation call for south Lebanon city of Tyre
The Israeli army called on residents of parts of the south Lebanon city of Tyre to evacuate on Wednesday ahead of military operations targeting Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a map of the affected streets in Tyre on social media platform X, saying: “You must immediately move out of the area marked in red and head north of the Awali River. Anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, facilities and combat equipment is putting his life in danger.”
Israeli military intercepts two drones in Eilat
The Israeli military intercepted two drones that were launched from the east and crossed into Israel’s waters in the area of Eilat, the army said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in two statements that it attacked Israel’s port city of Eilat with drones twice on Wednesday.
The pro-Iranian militant group added that it struck “vital” targets there.
Welcome to our live blog, where we post the latest news on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. To read about yesterday’s key developments, click here.
- Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 16 people as Israeli forces stepped up pressure on northern areas of the Palestinian enclave.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv that “now is the time” to end the war in Gaza. He also urged Israel to avoid “greater escalation” in its response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
- Israel issued evacuation warnings for suburbs in Lebanon’s port city Tyre.
- Israel confirmed it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed last month in an Israeli attack. Hezbollah has yet to confirm Safieddine’s death.
- At least 42,718 Palestinians have been killed and 100,282 wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Leave a Comment