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14-10-2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 1,645 people have been killed since Israel escalated attacks on Lebanon in September, while a total of 2,255 have now died after a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
At least 200 people have been killed by Israeli forces as the military siege of northern Gaza enters a ninth day, the director of Gaza’s Health Ministry tells Al Jazeera.
Israel bombed the main commercial market street in Nabatieh, a major city in southern Lebanon, on Saturday evening with at least eight people wounded and rescue workers battling a huge blaze and searching for survivors.
Gunfire from unidentified assailants hit a United Nations peacekeeper in southern Lebanon on Friday night, the fifth UN “blue helmet” wounded near the Israeli border in just two days, the UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said.
In Gaza, at least 42,175 people have been killed and 98,336 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 2023. In Israel, at least 1,139 people were killed on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 people were taken captive.
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified video footage appearing to show an Israeli quadcopter drone dropping explosives on fleeing civilians, including children, in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The video shows people fleeing, including children, at the sound of the approaching quadcopter before a bomb explodes.
Israel’s military launched a ground offensive in the Jabalia area and has laid siege to northern Gaza since last week, trapping tens of thousands of people without access to food and water. Dr Mounir al-Bursh, head of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said Israel’s siege of the northern part of the Strip has killed at least 200 people over the past week.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been on the phone with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant. Austin expressed ‘deep concern’ to Gallant over Israel’s continued attacks on UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, as well as over the deaths of two Lebanese armed forces soldiers, according to the Pentagon’s summary of their conversation.
Austin reinforced the need, according to the Pentagon, for Israel to cease its military activities in southern Lebanon and to “pivot” as the statement put it towards a diplomatic effort in the region as soon as is feasible.
Austin strongly emphasized the need for Israel to ensure the safety and security of peacekeeping forces, which Israeli army forces have been targeting in recent days and over the past weeks.
Separately, in another effort to apply pressure on Israel in this regard, 40 countries signed a letter to Israel. The 40 countries, which include France, Turkey, Indonesia, Ireland, China and the UK, are all participants in the UNIFIL force and they strongly condemned, according to the letter, continued Israeli army attacks on the peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon and their bases. As far as we know at this hour, there has been no response from Israel to these joint efforts to pressure it into conforming to international law with respect to not harming peacekeeping forces.
The joint statement by 40 countries who contribute troops to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), urged for a halt to attacks on peacekeepers in the country.
“As the countries contributors to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon we reaffirm our full support for UNIFIL’s mission and activities,” said the statement, posted on X on Saturday.
Over the last three days, the Israeli army has fired on UNIFIL positions and wounded its personnel several times, drawing widespread international condemnation. (Al Jazeera)
