At least 11 dead in series of Israeli strikes in Lebanon

(Beirut) At least 11 people were killed Tuesday according to the Ministry of Health in Israeli strikes which targeted several regions across Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah.

The pro-Iranian formation, in open war against Israel, for its part announced that it had launched missiles at a military air base south of Tel Aviv, in the center of the country.

Israeli strikes on Tuesday targeted Hezbollah strongholds, but also rarely affected regions. Five people were killed and several others injured, according to the Ministry of Health, in a strike on the mountainous region of Aley, east of Beirut.

A security source told AFP that a villa where displaced people who had fled Israeli bombings had taken refuge had been targeted.

In southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army has been carrying out ground incursions since September 30, another strike in Tefahta, more than 20 km from the border, also left five dead, according to the ministry.

Strikes also targeted the large town of Nabatiyé, in the south of the country, whose historic market has already been destroyed and the mayor killed.

One person was also killed in Hermel in the eastern Bekaa plain, bordering Syria, where Hezbollah is based.

On September 23, the Israeli army launched a campaign of massive strikes targeting in particular the strongholds of the pro-Iranian movement, which launches daily rockets, missiles and drones into Israel.

Two men in their forties were killed Tuesday in rocket fire in northern Israel, according to Israeli emergency services, the Israeli army having reported “around ten projectiles” observed coming from Lebanon .

Mardi matin, Israël a lancé 13 frappes aériennes sur la banlieue sud de Beyrouth, selon l’Agence nationale d’information (ANI, officielle) après un appel israélien à évacuer plusieurs quartiers.

Dans les quartiers quasiment désertés par les habitants, des tirs nourris avaient été entendus auparavant, dans le but d’alerter les personnes qui ne seraient pas au courant de l’appel israélien à évacuer, ont indiqué des témoins à l’AFP.

Depuis fin septembre, l’aviation israélienne pilonne régulièrement la banlieue sud, où habitaient entre 600 000 et 800 000 personnes selon les estimations.

L’armée israélienne a déclaré avoir frappé « des cibles terroristes du Hezbollah » dans le sud de Beyrouth, notamment « des centres de commandement, des sites de production d’armes et d’autres infrastructures terroristes […] ».

More than 3,280 people have been killed according to Lebanese authorities since the start of clashes in October 2023, when Hezbollah opened the southern Lebanese front with Israel to support Hamas in the Gaza Strip where the Palestinian Islamist movement is at war against Israel.

Most of the victims have been killed since last September, when Israel launched its bombing campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon.

New crossing point for humanitarian aid in Gaza

The Israeli army announced Tuesday the opening of a new crossing point for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, ahead of a deadline set by the United States for Israeli authorities to allow the increase aid to the Palestinians.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight international NGOs estimated on the same day that the aid entering the Palestinian territory in the grip of a humanitarian crisis was insufficient.

“As part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to the Gaza Strip, the “Kissoufim” crossing point was opened today [mardi] for humanitarian aid trucks,” the army said in a joint statement with COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.

The American Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, had sent, in a letter dated October 13, a series of demands to Israel to allow the increase in humanitarian aid, giving it 30 days to respond. Failing this, the United States threatened to suspend part of its military assistance to Israel.

The letter discussed, for example, the need for Israel to let in up to 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day, to open a fifth crossing point into the Gaza Strip and to limit evacuation orders to what is strictly necessary. .

The spokesperson for the American State Department, Matthew Miller, announced last Thursday the opening by Israel “in the coming days” of the Kissoufim crossing point, in the center of the Palestinian territory in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.

On Tuesday, eight non-governmental organizations including Oxfam and Save the Children said that, according to their progress score, “Israel has[vait] failed to fulfill the demands of his ally [américain]at enormous human cost to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

“The facts are clear: the humanitarian situation in Gaza today is at its lowest point since the start of the war in October 2023,” they wrote. “We call on the US government to immediately conclude that Israel is in violation of its commitments.”

For its part, UNRWA, which Israel decided to ban, described humanitarian access to Gaza as “insufficient” in the face of a “simply catastrophic” situation.

On Saturday, a UN report warned of “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip”, particularly in the north.

The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. , including hostages killed or died in captivity.

The retaliatory offensive by Israel in Gaza has left more than 43,603 dead, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.