Israel steps up bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon on eve of October 7 anniversary
Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza nearly a year after its October 7 attack, and has opened a new front against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon on Sunday in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region,
It came as Palestinian officials said one strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.
Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza nearly a year after its October 7 attack, and has opened a new front against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began.
New strikes began in the Beirut suburbs late Sunday.
The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel.
Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.
Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events over the October 7 attack, while rallies continued around the world marking the anniversary.
Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new air strikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on September 23.
Israel has said it targets Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, which has called its firing of rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday. Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with some intercepted.
“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror”.
“This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbour, Ali Al Hajj. The health ministry said 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.
At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes.
Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.
Unifil, which was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military’s request to vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.
An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah.
Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.
Israel’s military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.
“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.”
A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.
Frantic residents fled again.
“Since October 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the October 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Netanyahu had described such calls by Mr Macron as a “disgrace”.
Mr Macron’s office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Mr Netanyahu’s remarks “excessive”.
Later on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Mr Macron’s office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views”.
