Neighborhood in Tayr Debba, south Lebanon, evacuated after suspicious warning; ICJ hearings open on blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza | Live

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Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Monday described the Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut the day before as "unjustified," saying it was a "political aggression aimed at changing the rules in force."

Find the full details of his speech here.

Looting has resumed and is increasing in the Gaza Strip, which is facing a "desperate" humanitarian situation due in particular to the blockage of humanitarian aid since the beginning of March, a U.N. spokesperson said.

"There is an increase in reports of looting, in a context of a desperate humanitarian situation and a shortage of goods," said Stéphane Dujarric, referring in particular to the looting this weekend of a truck in Deir al-Balah and a warehouse in Gaza City. He said that he had no information on the perpetrators of the looting. "When faced with looters, we don't ask questions," he noted.

But "what I can say is that during the transitional period of the ceasefire, when aid was coming in, we received no reports of looting," he insisted. "Whether it was people stealing out of desperation or criminal gangs stealing to sell, I don't know, but what we do know is that there are fewer and fewer goods in Gaza."

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said the Gaza war would end "in 12 months," in comments reported by Israeli public radio.

The latter is due to travel to Cairo this Monday evening at the head of a delegation to hold new talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on a possible new truce in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom quoted a senior Israeli security official as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to end the Gaza war "by the following October."

Egyptian intelligence chief General Hassan Mahmoud Rashady is scheduled to meet with an Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Cairo on Monday, Egyptian state broadcaster Al Qahera News TV reported, according to Reuters.

The meeting is part of efforts by Qatari and Egyptian mediators to restore a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the channel said.

The head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, Ronen Bar, announced that he will step down on June 15, according to several Israeli media reports. Bar was fired last month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but was able to keep his position thanks to a  Supreme Court ruling.

Iran offered to hold a joint meeting with France, Britain and Germany in Rome, possibly on Friday, May 2, to discuss its nuclear program, alongside ongoing negotiations with the United States, diplomats told Reuters.

The three European countries, parties to the previous Iranian nuclear deal concluded in Vienna in 2015, have not yet responded to this proposal, the agency said.

Arabic-language Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X content showing what he said were scenes the Israeli army targeted Sunday "of the infrastructure used by Hezbollah to store precision missiles in the southern suburbs of Beirut."

"Yesterday, the Israeli army attacked and destroyed a facility used to store precision missiles belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist group in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Last month, it attacked more than 50 terrorist targets across Lebanon, following violations of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon that posed a threat to Israel and its citizens," he added.

He stated that the Israeli army "will continue to act to eliminate any threat against the State of Israel and its citizens and to prevent the reconstruction of the Hezbollah terrorist organization."

The explosion that occurred Saturday in Iran's largest commercial port killed at least 65 people, according to a new report released Monday by state media, after a previous report put the death toll at 46.

"The death toll in the tragic fire [at the Shahid Rajai port] has reached 65," with more than 1,000 injured, said Mohammad Ashouri, the head of Hormozgan province, a thousand kilometers south of Tehran, quoted by state media.

Houthi rebels vowed to continue their attacks in the Red and Arabian Seas after the U.S. airstrikes, Yahya Saree, the group's military spokesperson, said in a televised statement Monday.

The statements come after a U.S. airstrike that killed at least 68 people at a detention center for African migrants in northern Yemen, one of the deadliest in six weeks.

Meanwhile, eight people were killed in the capital, Sanaa, following another airstrike, which also injured several others, the rebel movement said.

An Israeli helicopter dropped a stun grenade near a shepherd near a Lebanese army post in the vicinity of Birket Naqqar, south of Shebaa (Hasbaya), without injuring him, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.

The Islamic State said on Monday it launched an attack against members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces, known as "Asayish," in Deir ez-Zor, according to a statement from the jihadist organization's press office, Reuters reported.

Farhad Shami, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed to Reuters that five members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces, known as "Asayish," were killed in the attack, which he described as "one of the deadliest" against them in some time.

Recently, the Syrian Democratic Forces, under Kurdish command, launched a security campaign against Islamic State "sleeper cells" in the al-Houl camp, near the Iraqi border. The city of Deir el-Zor was captured by the Islamic State group in 2014, but the Syrian army recaptured it in 2017.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into Gaza. Germany, France and Britain all called for the same.

U.N. and Palestinian representatives at the International Court of Justice accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza, on the first day of hearings about Israel's obligations to facilitate aid deliveries.

Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a cease-fire at the start of the year has all but run out.

At the opening of the hearings at the U.N.'s top court, the U.N.'s legal counsel said Israel had a clear obligation as an occupying force to allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza.

Read more here.

The death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza continues to rise

The death toll from Israeli bombardments in Gaza over the last 24 hours has been revised upwards by the Gaza Health Ministry, which now reports that at least 71 Palestinians have been killed during this period, with a further 153 injured.

One attack in particular targeted a house in Beit Lahya, in the north of the enclave, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the cease-fire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also among the victims, according to the management of the Indonesian hospital that received the bodies, reports Al Jazeera.

On Sunday evening, a raid targeted another house in Khan Younis, to the south, also killing 10 people, including five siblings, the youngest of whom was barely four years old, according to Nasser Hospital.

A total of 52,314 Palestinians have been officially killed since the start of the Israeli offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, which has also left 117,792 wounded.

Iran: Explosion at country's largest commercial port was due to 'negligence,' says Iranian Interior Minister

Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni has said that Saturday's explosion at the country's largest commercial port was due to “negligence” and failure to comply with security measures.

“Some of the culprits have been identified and summoned ... There were shortcomings, including failure to comply with safety measures and negligence in terms of passive defense,” Momeni told state television, adding that the materials that were stored should have been dispersed.

The International Court of Justice will hold public hearings this week on the U.N. General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations toward international organizations, many of whom have lost members to Israeli aggression, in occupied Palestine.

According to a statement from the U.N., the hearings will be "on the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States in and in relation to the occupied Palestinian territory."

Forty states and four international organizations have expressed their intention to participate in court proceedings, the statement says, which starts Monday and runs until Friday, May 2, at the Peace Palace in the Hague.

Read more here.

Gaza: At least 57 Palestinians killed by Israel in the last 24 hours

Gaza's health ministry has announced that 57 people have been killed by Israeli strikes across the Palestinian enclave in the last 24 hours.

The statement added that 14 bodies of victims killed in previous bombardments had been recovered from the rubble, and that 145 people had been injured.

Since the resumption of the Israeli offensive on March 18, breaking the cease-fire, at least 2,222 Palestinians have been killed and 5,751 wounded, according to the Gaza authorities.

France calls on Israel to 'stop the massacre that is taking place today in Gaza'

France is asking Israel to “stop the massacre that is taking place today in Gaza,” declared government spokeswoman Sophie Primas.

She told reporters that Paris was also calling for the release of hostages still held by Hamas in the territory, and for the “demilitarization” of the Palestinian movement that controls it, as well as a “renewal of the Palestinian Authority.” These are, in her view, “the conditions for moving towards recognition” of a Palestinian state, which French President Emmanuel Macron has envisaged for June.

The situation in southern Lebanon

An Israeli drone strike targeted land near a gas station in Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), without causing any casualties, reports our correspondent.

The village of Tayr Debba (Sour) was evacuated as a precaution, after a resident received a phone call urging her to evacuate the building in which she lives, ahead of an “imminent bombardment.” As a precautionary measure, the village residents left their homes and withdrew their children from the local school.

ICJ proceedings on Gaza: An example of Israel's 'systematic persecution,' says Saar

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denounced Israel's “systematic persecution” after the opening of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing in the Netherlands concerning Israel's humanitarian obligations towards the Palestinians.

Saar said the ICJ proceedings were “part of a systematic persecution and delegitimization of Israel,” more than 50 days after the imposition of a total blockade on aid entering the Gaza Strip. He also castigated the United Nations, on which the ICJ depends, saying that it was “the U.N. and UNRWA that should be in the dock today, not Israel,” alluding to the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.

Opening of hearings before the ICJ: the Palestinian representative claims that Israel is using the blocking of aid as a 'weapon of war'

The representative of the State of Palestine has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel is using the blocking of humanitarian aid as a “weapon of war” in Gaza. “Hunger is here. Humanitarian aid is being used as a weapon of war,” Ammar Hijazi, the State of Palestine's representative to international organizations, told the ICJ judges. “All the bakeries in Gaza supported by the United Nations have been forced to close. Nine out of 10 Palestinians have no access to drinking water,” said Hijazi. “The premises of the U.N. and other international agencies are empty,” he added.

Israel is not taking part in the hearings, but its American ally will give a statement on Wednesday.

Yemen reopens its embassy in Damascus

The Yemeni government, recognized by the international community, reopened its embassy in Damascus yesterday, Sunday, which had been in the hands of the Houthi rebels since 2016 and until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. The information was confirmed to the Asharq al-Awsat media by the Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister, Mustapha al-Nouman, who believes that this reopening marks a new chapter in relations between the two countries, with the future appointment of ambassadors.

Death toll from US strikes on migrant detention center in Yemen rises to 68

Media from the Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed that the death toll from U.S. strikes targeting a migrant detention center in northern Yemen has risen to 68.

“Civil defense announced that 68 African migrants had been killed and 47 wounded in the US aggression that targeted a center [housing] illegal migrants in the city of Saadah,” the rebel TV channel Al-Massirah reported.

Renewed war in Gaza has 'unleashed a new hell,' says ICRC

The resumption of the war in Gaza has “unleashed a new hell” in the Palestinian territory where Israel has been at war with Hamas since its attack on Oct. 7, 2023, warned the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“Gaza is suffering and enduring deaths, injuries, multiple displacements, amputations, separations, disappearances, starvation and a denial of aid and dignity on a massive scale, and just when the cease-fire ... was letting people believe they had survived the worst, a new hell has been unleashed,” Pierre Krähenbühl told a security conference in Doha.

Lebanese Army detonates munitions in Hadath in southern suburbs of Beirut

While the army had announced that it was going to detonate ammunition in Hadath, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after the strike carried out the previous day by the Israeli army, detonations were indeed heard in the area, according to local media.

ICJ to open hearings on Israel's humanitarian obligations

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will today open a week of hearings into Israel's humanitarian obligations towards the Palestinians, more than 50 days after it imposed a total blockade on aid entering the war-torn Gaza Strip.

The U.N. representatives will begin a five-day marathon at the ICJ, the U.N.'s highest court in The Hague (Netherlands), at 10 a.m. before a panel of 15 judges. The State of Palestine will be the first to give evidence for most of the day. This week, 38 other countries, including the U.S., China, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union, will present their statements.

Eight dead in US strikes in Sanaa, 30 in bombing of migrant detention center

Media from the Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed this morning that U.S. strikes had targeted a migrant detention center in Saadah, their stronghold in the north of the country, killing at least 30 people.

“Thirty bodies were pulled from the rubble at a detention center for African migrants, and civil defense and Red Crescent teams are continuing their efforts at the scene of the American crime,” claimed the rebel TV channel Al-Massirah, which also quoted a statement from the Houthi Interior Ministry reporting "dozens of dead and wounded."

In addition, during the night, new strikes on the outskirts of the capital Sanaa killed at least eight people and wounded others, the group announced.

Washington says it has hit 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March

The United States has struck more than 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of “fighters” among the Houthi rebels, including members of the group's leadership, the U.S. military said yesterday.

U.S. forces have been pounding the Houthis almost daily since March 15 as part of Operation Rough Rider, aimed at ending the threat the rebels pose to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, disrupting global trade. “Since the start of Operation Rough Rider, US Centcom has struck more than 800 targets. These strikes have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and many Houthi leaders,” said the U.S. Middle East Command Center in a statement.

Despite the bombings, the Houthis, who control large swathes of Yemen and have been at war since 2015 against a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government, continue to claim attacks on U.S. and Israeli ships in retaliation for the war in Gaza. However, “although the Houthis have continued to attack our ships, our operations have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks. Ballistic missile launches dropped by 69 percent,” while suicide drone attacks fell by 55 percent, Centcom stated.

Security cordon in Beirut's southern suburbs

In the southern suburbs of Beirut, a security cordon was established in the evening around the site of the Israeli strike carried out earlier in the afternoon, on a hangar in the Hadath district in which the Israeli army accused Hezbollah of having stored “precision missiles.”

The security measures, put in place by the party according to local media, followed a message from the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who had accused Hezbollah of “not only storing precision missiles among civilians,” but also putting its popular base at risk “by sending them to the site of the strike, which contains remnants of missiles and explosives.” The party did not comment on the Israeli army's accusations.

Israeli strike on Majidieh in south Lebanon

On Sunday evening, an Israeli drone fired a missile at an area opposite a Lebanese Army barracks in the plain of Majidieh, in the Hasbaya district of south Lebanon, according to information from our correspondent, Mountasser Abdallah. At around 11 p.m., machine-gun fire targeted the area around Kfar Shuba, in the same district.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon.

We'll also be covering the situation in Yemen, in Gaza, where Israel is continuing its air and ground offensive, as well as in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Syria.