Hezbollah claimed responsibility for its second strike of the day, targeting the position of "Hadab Yaroun," located across from Yaroun in the Bint Jbeil district.
Haaretz, meanwhile, reported that air raid sirens were heard in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border.
After a calm morning in South Lebanon, Israeli warplanes have just carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Kounin (Bint Jbeil district), residents told our correspondent in the South.
In response to the Israeli attack on the village of Kounine in the Bint Jbeil district, Hezbollah announced that it fired rockets at a deployment of Israeli soldiers near the village of Manot. Manot is located about 5 kilometers across the Blue Line, facing the Lebanese village of Alma Shaab in the Sour district.
Hezbollah announced two new attacks against Israel:
- The party reported firing artillery shells at the Israeli site of Raheb, facing the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, Bint Jbeil district, at 2:20 p.m.
- Hezbollah claimed to have destroyed "spy equipment" at the Israeli site of Misgav Am, facing the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila in the Marjayoun district, at 2:45 p.m.
Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli front:
- Israeli warplanes targeted the outskirts of the villages of Kounine and Ainata in the Bint Jbeil district, residents told our correspondent.
- Three Israeli artillery shells fell on the village of Rabb Thalathin, Marjayoun district.
Hezbollah announced a new retaliatory strike following a series of bombings that hit the outskirts of Froun last night. The party's attack involved firing Katyusha rockets, similar to the morning strike, targeting "the main intelligence headquarters at the Mishar base."
According to a map provided by Hezbollah, the base is located just north of Safed, 11 kilometers from the border, across from Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil district, roughly equidistant between the Blue Line and the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee.
Hezbollah claimed two new strikes:
- Artillery fire on the "Marj" site, facing Markaba, Marjayoun district.
- An attack on the "Sammaka" site, in the disputed heights of Kfar Shuba.
Thank you for following our live coverage of the Gaza war.
We will resume our live reporting tomorrow morning.
Hezbollah claimed its tenth strike of the day "in response to Israeli attacks on southern villages," stating that it targeted "the headquarters of the 91st Division in Ayelet with a squadron of explosive drones."
Meanwhile, the Israeli army, as quoted by Haaretz, reported that drones had been launched from Lebanon and that "some crashed in Israel" without causing any casualties.
The Israeli army stated that it carried out a "precise strike" on the school. According to the statement, the strike targeted "terrorists operating inside a Hamas command and control center [... ] located in a complex that previously served as a school."
The Gaza Civil Defense reported that at least three people were killed in a new Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced individuals.
"Three martyrs and over 20 injured were recovered after an Israeli warplane fired two missiles at a prayer hall and a classroom of the Amr Ibn al-Aas school, where displaced persons had taken refuge in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City," said Mahmoud Bassal, a Civil Defense spokesperson, speaking to AFP. A crowd gathered Saturday in front of the building hit by the strike, navigating through the rubble as rescuers worked to assist the injured, according to AFPTV footage. Abd Arooq, a displaced Gaza resident, said the school had been sheltering more than 2,000 people. "We don't know where to go. We are on the streets," he said. "Mosques, schools, and even the houses we live in are not safe," he added.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also condemned the deadly strike on Froun, calling it "a blatant violation of international law and an attack on human values." He noted that such actions are "not surprising coming from the Israeli enemy, whose ongoing crimes we witness against Lebanon and the Palestinian territories." Mikati announced an "emergency meeting" on Monday with "Western ambassadors and representatives of international organizations to hold everyone accountable in terms of stopping Israel's aggression against Lebanon and to demand pressure on the Israeli enemy."
Lebanon's caretaker interior minister, Bassam Maoulaoui, condemned the strike that killed three Civil Defense volunteers. He stated that these Israeli "crimes" are "rejected by international law and human conscience."
The three Civil Defense volunteers killed in an Israeli strike on their ambulance in Froun have been identified as Kassem Bazzi, Mohammad Hachem and Abbas Hammoud.
The Ministry of Health has also confirmed the casualty toll from the strike, noting that one of the two injured individuals is in critical condition.
The Resistance Brigades, a militia aligned with Hezbollah, announced an attack on the Israeli site "Roueissat el-Alam" in the disputed heights of Kfarchouba.
The Brigades have carried out several attacks against Israeli positions in recent months.
Three members of the Lebanese Civil Defense have been killed and two others have been injured in the Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of Froun, Bint Jbeil district, a source in the Civil Defense told our correspondent in the South. The strike targeted the Civil Defense's car while firefighters were cooling the remnants of fires sparked by last night's airstrikes in the same area.
Earlier today, two members of the Civil Defense had already been injured in an Israeli artillery strike on Qabrikha, in the Marjayon district.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called "the growing threat of expansionism" from Israel, which threatens Lebanon and Syria, according to Reuters.
The Turkish president said that after American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank yesterday during an anti-settlement march.
"The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries," Erdogan said at an Islamic schools' association event near Istanbul.
He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at "forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism."
Hezbollah announced that its air defense unit fired a surface-to-air missile towards an Israeli "Heron" Drone in the airspace of the Bekaa region at 4:40 pm, "preventing it from achieving its objectives and forcing it to leave Lebanese airspace." It is the first time that Hezbollah fires a missile towards this type of drone, which is an Israeli drone from Israel Aerospace Industries, capable of operating at altitudes of up to 10 kilometers with a flight endurance of 52 continuous hours.
⚡ A drone strike targeted the Froun Valley in the Bint Jbeil district, which had already been heavily hit by Israeli missiles last night, according to residents. Ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that Israel was not "interested" in a ceasefire with Hezbollah at the Lebanon-Israel border, even after reaching a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza. "Israel sent us a message through intermediaries saying it was not interested in a cease-fire in Lebanon," the Lebanese foreign minister said.
As the Gaza war enters its twelfth month, various initiatives by foreign diplomats, based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, have so far been insufficient to end the conflict between Israel and the party in southern Lebanon, which has been ongoing since Oct. 8. During his last visit to the region in mid-August, U.S. envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein stated that an agreement on managing the situation in southern Lebanon was "ready" and was only waiting for "the end of the Gaza war to be implemented."
Richard Moore, the head of the UK’s foreign intelligence agency MI6, said he believes Iran is still preparing to retaliate for the assassination of former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by Israel on July 31 in Tehran. "I think they will try, and we cannot let our guard down regarding the kind of activity the Iranians might attempt in this direction," Moore said at an event hosted by the Financial Times on Saturday in London.
He also said he is "working tirelessly" to ensure a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. "This could end the suffering and horrific loss of Palestinian civilian lives and bring the hostages home after 11 months of hellish captivity," he added.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that two Civil Defense members have been wounded by Israeli artillery fire in the village of Qabrikha, Marjayoun district, while they were trying to extinguish a fire caused by an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village earlier today. The shelling caused severe fractures to one of the Civil Defense members, requiring urgent surgery. The Ministry reiterated its condemnation of the "enemy's insistence on attacking health teams."
CIA Director William Burns announced that a "more detailed" cease-fire proposal is expected to be presented in the coming days.
The chief U.S. negotiator in the truce talks between Hamas and Israel said at a London event that reaching an agreement quickly is "possible," but it requires "political will."
Burns' comments follow the first joint statement from the U.S. and British intelligence agencies, the CIA and MI6, which emphasized that both countries are "working tirelessly to establish a cease-fire." In an op-ed published in the Financial Times, Burns and Richard Moore, head of MI6, said their agencies had "used our intelligence channels to push for restraint and de-escalation."
Latest updates from Southern Lebanon, according to residents' reports relayed by our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah:
- An Israeli drone targeted the outskirts of Wazzani in the Hasbaya district.
- Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Tayr Harfa in the Sour district.
About 20 Israelis protested outside the Neve Tirza women’s prison in Ramla, central Israel, demanding the release of Noa Goldenberg, accused of throwing sand at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in Tel Aviv yesterday, according to Israeli media.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Noa Goldenberg, 27, was "filmed being led out of the Lev police station in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, handcuffed and shackled." Protesters denounced Ben Gvir as a "murderer" and held him responsible for the deaths of prisoners.
Sheikh Nabik Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah's central council, stated during a ceremony in Bir Hassan, southern Beirut, that the so-called "axis of resistance," which includes Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas movement, Yemen's Houthis and pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, is "growing increasingly powerful, in terms of strength, numbers, offense and defense, both militarily and politically." Faced with this, he stated that Israel is in a "phase of retreat" and has no choice but to "stop its aggression in Gaza" to allow the return of displaced residents from the North, Kaouk added. Since the opening of its support front in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah has linked any cease-fire along the Blue Line to a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.
“There is no link between the weapons found in Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor,” Nadav Argaman, the former head of the Shin Bet, Israel's security agency, between 2016 and 2021 told Israeli news channel, Channel 12. The latter accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of exaggerating the importance of maintaining control of the Philadelphia Corridor, the buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.
“When Netanyahu talks about staying on the Philadelphi Corridor, he knows very well that no smuggling takes place in this zone. We are now left to live with this imaginary invention,” he said, explaining that the majority of weapons entering the Gaza Strip pass through the Rafah border crossing. “This position is only aimed at keeping his government in power,” he added.
Hamas firmly rejected Israeli demands for a continued military presence in the buffer zone, while Mr. Netanyahu insisted there will be no Israeli withdrawal as part of a cease-fire agreement.
The Israeli army reported that eight rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, according to Haaretz. The army stated it intercepted at least two of them. Local officials in Shlomi, a town in northern Israel, said one of the rockets hit a building but caused no casualties.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has announced a new death toll of 40,939 in the Palestinian territory since the war between Hamas and Israel began, now entering its twelfth month.
At least 61 people have been killed in the last 48 hours, the ministry said in a statement, adding that 94,616 people have been wounded in Gaza since Oct. 7, the date of Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing conflict.
After the strike on a school in Jabalia, witness Ahmad Abd Rabbo told AFP that “there are between 3,000 and 3,500 people in this school. We were sleeping when suddenly a missile fell on us. We woke up terrified. We found martyrs, including women and children.” AFP images show traces of blood on a mattress and the ground, belongings destroyed or scattered, and a tent set on fire. In a nearby hospital, an elderly woman anxiously waits for news about her relatives, while other Palestinians cover the body of a victim.
At Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five relatives killed in Nuseirat, wrapped in bloody blankets.
Israeli warplanes have carried out two airstrikes on the village of Qabrikha and its outskirts in the Marjayoun district, residents told our correspondent in the South.
Residents of some villages in northern Israel have been urged to stay close to air-raid shelters and avoid large gatherings, Haaretz reported. The Regional Council of Upper Galilee, Israel's northern region, issued this warning “due to heightened fears of rocket and drone fire from Lebanon”, according to the media outlet.
The family of Azgenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish activist who was shot dead in the occupied West Bank during an anti-settlement march, has accused the Israeli army of killing her and demanded an “independent investigation”.
“Her presence in our lives has been brutally, unjustly and illegally snatched away by the Israeli army,” the young woman's family lamented in a statement. “Aysenur was peacefully defending justice when she was killed by a bullet,” they added, citing a video that "shows the bullet came from an Israeli army shooter." The family called on President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unjust killing of an American citizen and to ensure that those responsible are held fully accountable. The family also stated that “given the circumstances [...] of Aysenur's death, an Israeli investigation is not sufficient”.
Avichay Adraee, a lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), also commented on Hezbollah's retaliation, stating that about 30 shells fired from Lebanon landed in desert areas without causing any casualties. He added that air raid sirens sounded shortly after 6 a.m. "in the Mattat area."
Mattat is located about 12 kilometers east of Mount Neria.
In response to the successive Israeli strikes on the Froun region, Hezbollah claimed this morning that it had launched a "salvo of Katyusha rockets" at "the Mount Neria base," which is currently hosting "the Golani Brigade forces."
The young woman was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization, and was in Beita to participate in a weekly march against the expansion of Israeli settlements, Neta Golan, co-founder of the NGO, told AFP. These settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Witnessing the scene, an ISM activist who requested anonymity described it as a “shot to kill,” telling AFP he had seen “blood running from the victim's head."
The Israeli army stated, according to AFP, that soldiers in the area had “responded with gunfire in the direction of the main instigator of violence who had thrown stones at the [soldiers] and posed a threat to them." It also added that it is "reviewing information suggesting that a foreign national has been killed as a result of shots fired in the area."
In southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah opened a "support" front for Gaza nearly eleven months ago, the night was quiet following a series of violent raids last night against a valley on the outskirts of Froun in the Bint Jbeil district. This was the first time this area had been targeted by Israeli fire. Around 15 missiles struck the valley between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the strikes through a message on X (formerly Twitter) from its Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, saying it targeted "more than 15 missile launchers and Hezbollah military buildings."
At least 13 Palestinians have been killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes in Gaza over the past few hours, according to the Palestinian News & Information Agency, Wafa, cited by Reuters. The Israeli bombings targeted displaced persons' tents inside the Halima al-Saadia school in Jabalia, northern Gaza, killing eight people. Another strike hit a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing five people.
The Israeli military, also quoted by Reuters, said it "carried out a precise strike on terrorists operating in a Hamas command and control center located inside a building that previously served as a school in northern Gaza."
In the Gaza Strip, separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory and home to some 2.4 million besieged inhabitants, the war, entering its twelfth month today, shows no signs of letting up.
The Israeli military continues its retaliatory air and ground operations there.
Since the start of the Israeli operation in Jenin on Aug. 28, 36 Palestinians have been killed, including children and the elderly, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the UN. The Israeli army reported “35 terrorists eliminated” and one soldier killed. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7.
More than 660 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since then, according to data from the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 23 Israelis, including soldiers, have died in Palestinian attacks or military operations, according to Israeli official data.
In a separate incident near Beita, a town close to Nablus in the West Bank, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by Israeli soldiers' gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as reported by AFP. She was in her bedroom when she was shot, her father said.
As Israel's main ally, the United States has expressed sorrow over the young woman's death and called for an investigation, according to the White House. “When we have more information, [...] we will act accordingly”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, condemned what he described as Israel's "barbaric intervention" against a protest against the occupation in the West Bank, which he said resulted in the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
An American-Turkish activist was killed yesterday during an anti-settlement march in Beita, in the north of the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army admitted opening fire.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was fatally wounded by a bullet to the head, according to Rafidia Hospital in the town near Nablus in the West Bank.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, “Israeli security forces killed a 26-year-old American activist in Beita, shooting her in the head as she took part in a peaceful demonstration” against Israeli colonization.
Good morning!
Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the Gaza war and its regional and global impacts.
This is day 337 of the war and day 336 since the start of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
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