The Health Ministry announced on Thursday evening that 40 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, after giving an initial death toll of 22.
“Israeli enemy strikes that targeted the Baalbek region killed 40 and wounded 52,” the Ministry said in a statement quoted by AFP, reporting casualties in 10 different locations.
In remarks reported by the Sawt Beirut International website, the former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Joumblatt, claims to have met the American envoy Amos Hochstein during his visit to Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, as part of the negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
He stressed the need for a cease-fire to enable negotiations with Hezbollah and prevent Lebanon from being used as leverage in the Iranian nuclear negotiations: “Enough destruction and chaos; we must no longer be a scene of conflict.” Joumblatt also reaffirmed his commitment to the Taif Agreement and proposed extending the 1949 armistice to include restrictions on drones on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border.
He also denounced the use of southern Lebanon as a support zone for wars in Gaza and the West Bank. Finally, he praised the efforts of outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to implement the armistice and maintain stability (in the country), while stressing the urgency of electing a new president.
Israeli strikes on Wednesday against pro-Iranian groups in the central Syrian city of Palmyra killed 82 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported on Thursday evening, in a new provisional death toll that has been revised upwards.
The death toll from the strike on Flaway, in the Baalbeck district, has risen to 18, according to our correspondent in the region.
All were members of the Siblani family.
The Baalbeck mayors have issued a statement denouncing the “lack of transparency” in the distribution of humanitarian aid by the Union of Municipalities of Baalbeck, chaired by Shafiq Shahadeh.
They demand explanations of past aid deliveries, guarantees for “the fair distribution of current and future aid” and “the publication of clear lists of distribution locations and numbers of beneficiaries."
This statement follows complaints from many citizens that they have not received any aid despite the worsening living conditions in this region, which has been severely shelled by the Israeli army.
Benny Gantz, former minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet and leader of the opposition National Union party (center), said during a recent tour of northern Israel that the Israeli government must adopt a firmer stance towards Lebanon, as part of talks on a possible cease-fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
During this visit, clearly part of a communications operation, where he met Israeli families affected by the recent rocket attacks, Gantz said that Lebanon must guarantee Israel “total operational freedom against Hezbollah.” He also suggested that the Israeli army “intensify its bombardments against Lebanese infrastructures until the message is understood,” according to a translation of his remarks broadcast in a video on social networks and relayed by certain Israeli sites.
This position is in line with that expressed in recent days by Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, and Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar.
Israeli aircraft carried out a strike on Khiam, in the Marjayoun district, while Israeli artillery targeted Kfar Shuba, in Hasbaya.
⚡ “The Israeli air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace,” the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now the target of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), has declared that no external decision will prevent him from “continuing to defend” his country “in any way whatsoever.”
“No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us, and especially not me, from continuing to defend our country in any way,” Netanyahu said in a video message addressed to his fellow citizens. “We will not yield to pressure,” he added.
Hezbollah claims that its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers in Wadi al-Asafir, south of Khiam in the Marjayoun district, at 4 p.m.
At 6 p.m., they targeted soldiers positioned in Manara, opposite Markaba (Marjayoun). At the same time, another attack targeted soldiers in Yir'on, opposite Yaroun (Bint Jbeil).
All the attacks were carried out using rockets.
⚡ According to Axios journalist Barak Ravid, quoting anonymous Israeli and U.S. officials, no announcement regarding a cease-fire is expected before next week. He points out that during the talks led by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, Israel is said to have made significant progress towards an agreement, although there are still differences to be overcome.
Amos Hochstein is expected to leave for Washington tonight. The Israeli security cabinet will be briefed on the progress of negotiations at its meeting this evening, although no decision has yet been made.
“A particularly violent day for Baalbeck-Hermel,” wrote the region's governor, Bachir Khodr, on X.
Reporting strikes on several localities, he said they had so far killed 47 people and wounded 22 others. “Clearing operations are continuing in search of missing persons,” he added.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has described the International Criminal Court's (ICC) issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as an “extremely important step.”
“This decision is an extremely important step towards bringing to justice those Israeli officials who have committed genocide against the Palestinians,” wrote Fidan on the social network X.
🔴 The new death toll in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, when clashes between Israel and Hezbollah began, is now 3,583, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
⚡ ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has called on “all states parties to respect their commitments under the Rome Statute” that established the jurisdiction, Reuters reports. He also expressed “confidence in their cooperation in the face of the current situation,” as the jurisdiction today issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Khan also welcomed “collaboration with non-party states in efforts to ensure accountability and uphold international law,” insisting that all member countries of the Court “must honor their commitments.” He also called for the cooperation of ICC members and non-members alike regarding the arrest warrants issued.
Finally, the ICC Prosecutor expressed his “concern” at reports of growing violence, increasingly restricted humanitarian access, and the continuing spread of allegations of international crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
In its 19th statement of the day, Hezbollah claims to have carried out a seventh attack against Israeli soldiers east of Khiam. Earlier, our correspondent in southern Lebanon reported that the Israeli army was dynamiting houses and buildings in this locality in the Marjayoun district. This seventh attack was launched at 4:25 p.m., “using artillery fire.”
Latest news from our correspondent in southern Lebanon
- An Israeli strike targeted Khiam, in the Marjayoun district, with several heavy missiles.
- Another strike targeted Hanine, in Bint Jbeil.
- Israeli artillery bombarded Srira, in Jezzine.
- A strike hit residential buildings in Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, in Sour, injuring two people. Also in Sour, a drone strike hit Tayr Debba, killing one person and injuring two.
- In the Nabatieh district, one strike targeted Zawtar Gharbieh, while three others hit houses in Arab Salim. The latter strike killed four people and wounded seven.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “officially now a wanted man,” said the Secretary General of the NGO Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard.
After the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against the Israeli Prime Minister, his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, “ICC member states and the entire international community must do everything possible to ensure that these individuals appear before the independent and impartial judges of the ICC,” she commented in a press release.
The International Criminal Court's decision sets “a dangerous precedent” that “encourages terrorism,” said former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the target of one of the international arrest warrants issued by the ICC.
This decision “puts the State of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas on the same level and thus legitimizes the murder of babies, the rape of women and the kidnapping of the elderly in their very beds,” reacted Gallant in a message on X. It “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare, and encourages murderous terrorism,” he added.
The Israeli strikes that killed dozens of people in Palmyra on Wednesday are “probably the deadliest” to have targeted Syria to date, a U.N. official said on Thursday, expressing wider concern at the escalating violence in the country.
“Once again, Israeli strikes in Syria have increased significantly, both in frequency and in scope,” Najat Roshdi, deputy to the U.N. special envoy to Syria, told the Security Council.
⚡ Israeli strikes in Baalbeck today have so far killed 39 people, according to information from our correspondent in the Bekaa
- The strike on Flaway killed four people.
- The strike on Nabha targeted a house housing three families and killed 10 people.
- Five of the victims of the strike on Makne belong to the Mokdad family, while the sixth victim is from the Haidar family.
- So far, two people have been killed in Hawsh al-Rafqa, and clearing operations are still underway.
- The strike in Younin killed three people, while those in Sawanieh, Beit Shamaa and Brital each killed two.
- The strike in Amashki killed eight people, mainly children and women.
“The United States categorically rejects the [International Criminal] Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” reacted a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor's eagerness to seek arrest warrants and by the troubling errors in the process that led to this decision,” he added in a reaction sent to AFP, reiterating Washington's view that "the ICC had no legal jurisdiction in this matter."
The death toll from yesterday's Israeli strikes against pro-Iranian groups in the central Syrian city of Palmyra has risen to 79, an NGO reported Thursday in a revised death toll.
One of the strikes targeted a meeting of pro-Iranian group commanders with officials from the Iraqi Al-Noujaba and Lebanese Hezbollah movements, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The OSDH reported that 53 Syrians, members of pro-Iranian groups, and 22 foreigners, mostly Iraqis from Al-Noujaba, but also four members of Hezbollah, were killed.
At 3:15 p.m., Hezbollah claims to have targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Metula, opposite Khiam (Marjayoun). It also struck Israeli soldiers on the southern outskirts of Khiam.
At 4:15 p.m. and 4:25 p.m., those to the east of the town, “for the sixth time today.” Hezbollah also announced that it had attacked Israeli soldiers at the Ain Zeitim base.
All these strikes were carried out with “salvos of rockets.”
(Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)
A portrait of assassinated former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stands on a Baghdad street, as Iraq introduced a two-day curfew as part of a general population census, on Nov. 21, 2024. The first national count in nearly four decades is eagerly awaited in a nation that has been ravaged by sectarian and ethnic divisions.
Israeli strikes have targeted several localities in the Bekaa region, including Aamashki, Nabha, Hawsh al-Rafqa, Brital (Baalbeck) and Beit Msheik (Baalbeck-Hermel), reports our correspondent.
So far, one woman has been killed in the strike on Nabha and three other people have been wounded.
However, according to our correspondent's information, the strikes on Nabha and Aamashki caused “many deaths.” Meanwhile, the death toll from the earlier strike in Makne has been revised upwards to six.
Israeli strikes have targeted several localities in the Bekaa region, including Aamashki, Nabha, Hawsh al-Rafqa, Brital (Baalbeck) and Beit Msheik (Baalbeck-Hermel), reports our correspondent.
So far, one woman has been killed in the strike on Nabha and three other people have been wounded.
However, according to our correspondent's information, the strikes on Nabha and Aamashki caused “many deaths.” Meanwhile, the death toll from the earlier strike in Makne has been revised upwards to six.
Israeli strikes have targeted several localities in the Bekaa region, including Aamashki, Nabha, Hawsh al-Rafqa, Brital (Baalbeck) and Beit Msheik (Baalbeck-Hermel), reports our correspondent.
So far, one woman has been killed in the strike on Nabha and three other people have been wounded.
However, according to our correspondent's information, the strikes on Nabha and Aamashki caused “many deaths.” Meanwhile, the death toll from the earlier strike in Makne has been revised upwards to six.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to advance a bill passed by the House of Representatives to sanction the International Criminal Court following the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The ICC has acted in the most absurd and irresponsible manner by issuing arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister and former Defense Minister, while a serious cloud of allegations hangs over the prosecutor who requested these warrants,” he said.
“The Court is a dangerous joke... Calling for an independent investigation into the prosecutor's misconduct one day and issuing an arrest warrant based on his work product the next is an affront to any sense of fairness and the rule of law,” he added.
According to NNA, a “powerful” Israeli strike targeted Chiyah, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Another strike, carried out by a drone, had targeted the area shortly before.
An Israeli strike targeted the mosque in the village of Shabriha (Sour), reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the site.
British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said the ICC arrest warrants were long overdue in a message posted on X.
“The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary must approve this decision immediately,” Corbyn said of Keir Starmer and David Lammy. “This is the bare minimum.” “Will the British government finally honor its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?” he asked.
⚡ Two Israeli strikes were heard in Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli call to evacuate three buildings in the Ghobeiri neighborhood.
The next U.S. National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, reacted to the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying “The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government," Haaretz reports.
“Israel has legally defended its people and its borders against genocidal terrorists,” he added, ”you can expect a strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC and the U.N. in January.”
Lebanon is seeking changes to a U.S. cease-fire proposal to ensure a speedier withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and to give both parties the right to self-defense, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters earlier today.
Lebanese officials requested the changes during meetings in Beirut this week with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who is working to strike a deal in the waning months of the Biden administration to end the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The amendments sought by Lebanon, details of which have not previously been reported, indicate Hochstein still has work to do to seal a cease-fire agreement which he said was "within our grasp" during a visit to Beirut on Tuesday.
⚡ A third wave of evacuation warnings was issued half and hour ago by the Israeli army for residents of three buildings in the Ghobeiri neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs. The evacuation warnings do not indicate safe routes.
Head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell says the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant are "not political," and that the decision should be "respected and implemented," Reuters reports.
Netanyahu's office released a statement in response to the ICC arrest warrants, saying "the antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is akin to a modern-day Dreyfus trial – and it will end in the same way," Haaretz reports. The Dreyfus trial involved a French soldiers of Jewish descent being wrongfully convicted of treason, under the accusation of spying for the Germans.
"Israel utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against it by the International Criminal Court, which is a biased and discriminatory political body," the statement read. "There is no war more justified than the one Israel is conducting in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023."
"The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor attempting to save himself from serious allegations of sexual harassment, and by biased judges driven by antisemitic hatred toward Israel."
The French Foreign Ministry says the country's response to the ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu will be "in line with ICC principles," Reuters reports.
Hezbollah announced having carried out the following attacks earlier this afternoon:
• A salvo of missiles, for the third and fourth times today, fired at Israeli soldiers deployed in the eastern suburb of Khiam, in Marjayoun district, first at 1 p.m. and then again at 1:45 p.m.
• A salvo of missiles at 1:15 p.m. against an Israeli reconnaissance site on the summit of Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Hezbollah describes the site as an "important intelligence-gathering center belonging to the 210th Golan Division."
• At 1:45 p.m., for the second time, a salvo of missiles was fired against the Shraga base, "administrative headquarters of the Golani Brigade command" north of Acre.
A man walks over the debris as a fire rages inside a building hit by an Israeli airstrike that targeted the neighbourhood of Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 21, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
The Netherlands is prepared to act upon the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if needed, Dutch news agency ANP reports, citing the country's foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp as its source.
🔴 For the first time since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah announced having attacked southern Israel. In its statement, the party claimed to have fired "quality" missiles at noon at the Hatsor air base, located east of Ashdod, 150 kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The base is described by Hezbollah as "an important air wing containing a qualified reconnaissance formation and squadrons of warplanes."
The party said the attack was part of "Khaybar operations" and in response to "the call of the assassinated former head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah."
There are no reports in Israeli media of the the attack.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Israel should annex the West Bank in response to the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, Haaretz reports. There has been a surge of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and encroaching Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, under Israeli occupation since 1967.
"The response to the arrest warrants: applying sovereignty over all areas of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], Jewish settlement throughout the entire land," Ben-Gvir said.
Describing the warrants as "an unprecedented disgrace," Ben-Gvir said that the ICC "once again demonstrates that it is antisemitic from beginning to end."
The second statement from the ICC, published in parallel with its announcement of the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, includes these details regarding the warrants against Mohammad Deif:
The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Deif, born in 1965, the highest commander of the military wing of Hamas (known as the al-Qassam Brigades) at the time of the alleged conduct, is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence.
⚡ The Israeli army has launched two airstrikes against Beirut's southern suburbs in the last 20 minutes, following evacuation warnings for three buildings in Haret Hreik and Hadath that were issued less than an hour earlier.
The first of the ICC's official statements regarding the arrest warrants includes the following details:
With regard to the crimes, the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu ... and Mr Gallant ... each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.
The ICC's arrest warrants place Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif at risk of arrest and transfer to The Hague. The ICC doesn't have its own police force and relies on member states for arrests — if those named on the arrest warrants enter any of the 124 ICC member countries, they are obliged to arrest the accused. Neither Israel nor the U.S. are ICC members.
In mid-July, the Israeli army claimed that it had assassinated Deif in an airstrike on Gaza, however his death was never confirmed by a third party and Hamas continues to deny that Deif was killed.
🔴 The International Criminal Court (ICC) has officially issued its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Ministry Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas official Mohammed Deif.
The ICC first announced its intentions to issue these arrest warrants back in May, when top prosecutor Karim Khan said his office had applied to the World Court’s pre-trial chamber for warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes including "starvation," "wilful killing" and "extermination and/or murder.
The request also included arrest warrants for Hamas’ leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, who was assassinated in Gaza on Oct.16, and the movement’s former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
🔴 For the second time today, the Israeli army has issued evacuation warnings for Beirut's southern suburbs, telling residents of Hadath, living near Hashem Gas Station, and Haret Hreik, living near IPT Gas Station and Alameh Station that the Israeli army will operate against three marked buildings "in the near future."
The evacuation warnings do not provide safe routes and are being issued for neighborhoods that have already been bombed three times since this morning.
Israeli airstrikes on Maarakeh, Sour district, yesterday killed 13 people and wounded 44 others, according to a provisional toll published by the Ministry of Health, which also announced that this morning's strike against Shaaitieh, also in Sour district, killed three people and wounded five.
In Burj al-Shemali, after the Israeli army called on residents to evacuate this morning, dozens of families fled their homes, our correspondent reports. No safe route was provided in the evacuation warning.
The Israeli army had threatened Burj al-Shemali, al-Hosh and Maachouq, on the outskirts of Sour, of incoming strikes. So far, one airstrike has targeted al-Hoch.
An update from our correspondent in southern Lebanon:
• At least one person was killed in the strike against Ansarieh.
• Israeli jets targeted the Sour district villages of Batoulieh, Majdel Zoun and Tayr Harfa.
• In Khiam, fighting continues between the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters, particularly on the northern and northeastern boundaries, using machine-gun and rocket fire. The Israeli army is also bombing and shelling several neighborhoods in tandem with this fighting. According to information from our correspondent, Israeli troops have not yet managed to enter the village.
The Israeli army bombed the house of Mohammed Hassan an area between Younin and Sawanieh, in the district of Baalbeck. Hassan himself had already been killed earlier in the war and according to our correspondent, there have been a number of casualties in the attack against his house.
⚡ The Israeli army has bombed Beirut's southern suburbs for the third time in less than 45 minutes following evacuation orders that left residents less than an hour to evacuate.
The moment after the airstrike as seen from Hazmieh. (Credit: L'Orient Today)
⚡ A second airstrike has hit Beirut's southern suburbs since the evacuation warning issued by the Israeli army around an hour and a half ago for residents living in the Haret Hreik and Hadath neighborhoods. The explosion was heard throughout the capital. The strike hit the area of Kafa'at, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
⚡ Just under an hour after telling residents to evacuate, the Israeli army struck Haret Hreik, in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee has posted a new evacuation warning telling residents of two buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs to evacuate. The first, in Haret Hreik, near the Imam al-Rida mosque and the Haret Hreik Sports club, and the second in Hadath, next to Kafaat Village.
These warnings, which do not provide safe routes and are only posted on X, have been condemned by international rights organizations as inadequate and ineffective.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, tasked with establishing a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, AFP reports.
Omer Dostri, Netanyahu's spokesperson, confirmed the meeting is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT). According to Israeli media reports, Hochstein landed in Israel yesterday evening from Lebanon and met with Ron Dermer, Netanyahu's trusted Minister of Strategic Affairs, in the evening.
The death toll from Israeli strikes yesterday against pro-Iranian groups in the central Syrian city of Palmyra has risen to 68, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The NGO said that 42 were Syrian pro-Iranian fighters and 26 foreigners, mostly Iraqis from the al-Noujaba group but also four members of Hezbollah. The NGO's previous death toll was 61.
The Israeli army has bombed al-Hosh, on the outskirts of Sour, almost one and a half hours after the Israeli army told residents of entire villages, two others including al-Hosh to evacuate, our correspondent reports.
Artillery strikes also targeted Qlayleh, in the Sour district and an area between Adloun and Ansarieh was bombed by Israeli jets.
The Israeli army announced the deaths in southern Lebanon of one of its soldiers and a civilian who "entered South Lebanon without authorization." In a statement cited by Haaretz, the army announced that Sergeant Gur Kehati, a 20-year-old member of the Golani Brigade, had been killed "in a clash with Hezbollah." Kehati was with Ze'ev Erlich, a 71-year-old civilian.
Shortly after 8 a.m., the Israeli army warned the inhabitants of three villages in Sour district to evacuate their homes "without delay." The villages threatened by the warning, issued only on the army's Arabic-language spokesperson's X account, are Burj al-Shemali, al-Hosh and Maashouk. All three are on the outskirts of the city of Sour, just a few kilometers from the city's center, and are also close to al-Bass.
This evacuation notice is unusual in that it is accompanied by the maps that usually pertain to the evacuation warnings issued for one or two buildings, more commonly used in Beirut's southern suburbs. This warning concerns hundreds of buildings.
At midnight, an Israeli air raid targeted a house in the al-Buss Palestinian refugee camp east of Sour. One person was killed in the bombardment, Omran Hamed, a Hamas official, and five others were wounded.
This is the second time that the camp has been hit by Israeli jets, following the assassination, on the night of Sept. 29-30, of a member of the Hamas leadership in Lebanon, Fateh Sharif Amine, whose wife and two children were also killed.
However, the night was violent elsewhere, with bombings reported throughout southern Lebanon, notably in Kfar Dounin, where a paramedic from the Islamic Health Committee (affiliated to Hezbollah) was killed, according to the Ministry of Health, and three other people wounded.
Also according to the ministry, nine people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Sour district yesterday, in a death toll that remains provisional. Eight were killed in two separate strikes on Maarakeh and one in Qlayleh.
Overnight, residents of several areas of the South, but also in the Chouf and parts of Beirut, received phone calls telling them to evacuate their homes, notably in Barja, Sour, Ain al-Helweh, Serop (in Saida), Maghdousheh and Anqoun.
In some of cases, following these calls, people fired shots into the air, trying to wake up their neighbors and warn them to leave. In Maghdousheh, the church rang its bells in warning. It was later revealed that the calls to evacuate had not come from the Israeli army, though it was not immediately clear who was behind them. No strikes took place in the areas mentioned.
Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of the wars in Lebanon and Gaza.
Today marks the 412th day since Israel's war against Gaza began and the 411th day since Hezbollah launched it 'support front' along the south of Lebanon. It has been nearly two months since Israel drastically escalated its aerial onslaught in Lebanon and subsequently launched a ground operation.
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