This concludes today's coverage of the war in Gaza. Be sure to return tomorrow for the latest updates.
Goodnight!
The situation in southern Lebanon:
- Israeli jets bombed Houla (Marjayoun) and Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), according to local residents. The strike on Houla targeted a house. Ambulances went to the scene and initial reports from the scene of the strike indicate casualties.
In a statement, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari warned Israelis that the defense systems are not "watertight" and that the public must therefore remain on alert, according to comments reported by Haaretz.
The Gaza government press office reported that since the start of the war, almost ten months ago, the Israeli army has bombed 172 shelters for displaced people, 152 of which were schools.
At least 30 bodies have been pulled from the rubble of al-Nasr and Hassan Salama schools in Gaza City after an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense in the Palestinian enclave reported. According to the rescue organization, cited by al-Jazeera, at least 16 displaced people are still missing and the toll could therefore be revised upwards.
Residents of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area reported severe disruptions in geolocation applications on Sunday, a jamming measure likely taken by Israel as it prepares for strikes by Hezbollah and Iran, Haaretz reports. Common in Lebanon, as well as in northern Israel since Oct. 7, such disruptions are still rare in Tel Aviv, the Israeli media outlet indicates. It added, "The Israeli army has already admitted that it is carrying out satellite disruptions, saying that it is a proactive measure to counter the threat of drones or missiles that use GPS."
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told al-Jazeera after the strikes on the al-Nasr and Hassan Salameh schools in Gaza City that it was "a massacre in every sense of the word." He described the situation as "difficult and tragic," saying that 80 percent of the victims, killed and wounded, were children.
At least 25 Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli strike targeting two schools sheltering displaced people near Gaza City, the state-run Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. The Israeli military said it targeted "Hamas militants operating nearby."
The United States is asking its citizens to leave Lebanon and is deploying increased military power in the Middle East as a preventive and defensive measure, Jonathan Finer, deputy adviser to the White House National Security Council, said in an interview with CBS.
"Our goal is de-escalation, our goal is deterrence, our goal is the defense of Israel," he said in an interview with "Face the Nation."
The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of southern Khan Younis and northern Rafah, in anticipation of a military operation in the area, according to a post on X by the army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee. People residing in the area are being asked to evacuate to the designated humanitarian zone of al-Mawassi, the post said.
Saudi Arabia has called on its citizens to leave Lebanon "immediately" amid fears of a military escalation in the Middle East between Israel on the one hand and Iran and its allies on the other.
The Saudi embassy in Beirut said in a statement on X that it was "closely monitoring developments in southern Lebanon" and called on Saudi nationals to "leave Lebanon immediately in accordance with the travel ban on that country."
Yemen's Houthi rebels said they shot down a U.S. MQ-9 drone in Yemen's northern Saada province, two Houthi sources told Reuters. The incident is believed to be the first claimed by the Houthis since Israel carried out a retaliatory airstrike on the group in the port of Hodeidah after a drone strike on Tel Aviv.
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced a new death toll of 39,583 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war almost ten months ago with Israel.
At least 33 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement, adding that 91,398 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
In the afternoon, Hezbollah claimed two attacks against Israeli positions:
- The party said it targeted at 1:35 p.m. the Israeli site of "Birket Risha," which faces the Lebanese town of Boustane (Sour), with artillery shells.
- It also said that he had struck the Israeli site of "Manara," opposite Houla (Marjayoun), with rocket fire at 1:55 p.m.
- According to Haaretz, a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona without triggering an alarm. Kiryat Shmona is located just a few kilometers from Menara. The Israeli army said the rocket caused a fire and damaged a factory, but no casualties were reported.
Update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
- Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of Ramieh and Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil), according to residents quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent.
- A drone struck Rab sl-Talatine (Marjayoun), according to a security source.
- Israeli drones targeted Taybeh (Marjayoun). Black smoke was seen at the site, and ambulances and fire trucks were quickly dispatched to the scene, residents reported. A fire broke out in the electrical transformer of the Taybeh power plant due to an electrical short circuit that occurred after the attack, local residents added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that Israel "will exact a heavy price" for any act of aggression against it, Haaretz reported. "Israel is engaged in a multi-front war against the Iranian axis of evil," he added.
"We are ready to face any scenario, both defensively and offensively. I repeat to our enemies: We will retaliate and exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us," he added, while the so-called resistance axis has vowed to retaliate to the elimination, one after the other, of Hezbollah military leader Fouad Shukur, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
France recommends that its nationals residing in Iran "temporarily leave the country" if they can, considering that there is a risk of closure of Iranian airspace and airports.
"We are once again calling on our nationals to exercise the greatest caution in their travels, to avoid any gatherings and to keep themselves informed of current events and possible messages or instructions from the French embassy in Iran in the coming days," according to an updated travel advice published on Sunday.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for his record as national security minister, a position he has held since 2022.
"Since he took office, our streets have been flooded with crimes and attacks," Lapid said on X. "Security is in a state of collapse, the police are at their lowest point ever, the only thing he does is interviews with the press, deceptions and provocations from morning to night," he added.
Lapid's comments came after two people were killed in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi is due to travel to Iran for talks with his Iranian counterpart amid heightened regional tensions following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, Iran's Student News Agency (ISNA) reported.
In Gaza, nearly ten months after the start of the war in Gaza, the Israeli army continues its offensive. According to the Red Crescent and the Civil Defense, 16 Palestinians died in Israeli bombings in Jabalia and Deir al-Balah. Among them, five were killed after a drone targeted tents of displaced people in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, according to a hospital source quoted by AFP.
Land, air and sea attacks also targeted Gaza City, and bombings targeted Al-Bureij and Nousseirat as well as Rafah, according to witnesses.
Here is what happened in southern Lebanon last night and this morning:
- Around 8 p.m. yesterday, Israeli artillery struck the north of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun).
- Around 9:00 p.m., residential areas of Kfar Kila were bombed four times by the Israeli air force. Several houses were completely destroyed.
- At 11:00 p.m., the outskirts of Rab al-Talatine, Markaba and Odaïsseh (Marjayoun) were targeted by artillery fire. Residents reported white phosphorus shelling.
- At 2 a.m., two airstrikes targeted the outskirts of Mahmoudieh (Jezzine) about ten kilometers from the border.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which had been reported around midnight by security sources. "The Islamic Resistance added the new settlement of Beit Hillel to its list of targets and bombarded it for the first time with dozens of Katyusha rockets," the party said in a statement. This is the first time that this town in the Israeli North, deserted by civilians, has been targeted, but the party had already struck a nearby barracks several times. This strike is intended, according to the Hezbollah statement, as a response to the bombings on Kfar Kila and Deir Serian.
At 8 a.m. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a strike against "the surveillance equipment of the Ramia site," located opposite Ramieh (Marjayoun).
In southern Lebanon, yesterday's strike on Deir Serian (Marjayoun) claimed a second victim. After a teenager, a man in his sixties died of his injuries, according to a medical source quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent and a statement from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
In the morning, France called on its nationals to "leave Lebanon as soon as possible," citing a "very volatile security context." The Foreign Ministry invited French people in Lebanon, and "in particular those passing through," to "make arrangements to leave Lebanon as soon as possible," as long as "commercial flights with stopovers to France are still available." Paris also recalls that "in view of the risks of military escalation in the Middle East, French nationals are urged not to travel to Lebanon," and calls on those of them who are there "to be extremely vigilant."
Near Tel Aviv, one person was killed and three others were injured, two seriously, in a knife attack, Israeli emergency services and police said, amid high tensions in the region.
The attack took place in the middle of the street and in several locations in Holon, a city in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, the Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, said in a statement. The suspect in this "alleged terrorist attack," a resident of "Judea and Samaria", a term used in Israel to refer to the occupied West Bank, was quickly "neutralized" by a police officer who arrived at the scene, the police said in a statement, without giving further details.
The French and American foreign secretaries agreed yesterday to call on all parties in the Near and Middle East to "exercise the greatest restraint" to prevent a regional conflagration, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
Stephane Sejourne spoke by phone with Antony Blinken and they shared "their concerns about the rise in tensions" in the region, said Christophe Lemoine, a spokesman for the ministry. "They agreed to continue to call on all parties to exercise the greatest restraint in order to prevent any regional conflagration that would have devastating consequences for the countries of the region," he added. They will also continue their "joint" efforts for a "lasting" ceasefire in Gaza.
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Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and global impacts.
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