23:00 A wave of Israeli airstrikes on east and south Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 31 people, the health ministry said, as Israel intensified its deadly air campaign against civilian targets in Lebanon.
"Israeli enemy raids targeting the Baalbek-Hermel region killed 20 people, including 11 in the Knaissseh locality, and wounded 14 others," a statement from the Lebanese health ministry said of the attacks on the east of the country.
In the south of the country, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 11 people.
The health ministry said five people were killed in airstrikes in the southern village of Hanouiyeh. It added five rescuers with the Amal-linked Risala Scouts Association and another with the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee killed in a strike on the village of Deir Qanun.
Earlier, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said "enemy fighter jets" destroyed two houses in the southern city of Nabatieh.
Saturday's attacks came a day after the health ministry said seven people, including five siblings, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Tyre.
Officials said rescuers were still searching for missing people under the rubble.
On the other side, Hezbollah claimed more rocket and missile fire at Israel's north.
The group said its fighters targeted Israeli troops and military sites including a base and an area north of Haifa.
They also downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone over a south Lebanon village.
22:00 The spokesperson of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, stated on Saturday that media reports which claimed Qatar asked Hamas to close its offices in Doha or withdrew from mediation regarding the ceasefire in Gaza are not accurate.
"The main goal of the of the office in Qatar is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties," noted Al-Ansari.
"This channel has contributed to achieving a ceasefire in previous stages, and contributed to maintaining calm in the Strip in the lead to exchanging hostages and detainees of women and children in November of last year, stressing in this context the need to obtain information from its official sources," he added.
On Friday, citing "anonymous diplomatic sources," Israeli Channel 13 reported that Qatar was withdrawing from its role in mediating talks between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war and told the Palestinian group its office in Doha was "no longer" serving its purpose.
Reuters on Friday cited a Biden administration official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying that Washington had told Doha that Hamas' presence was no longer acceptable.
Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of fruitless negotiations for a ceasefire/captives and prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Israeli war on Gaza that killed and wounded more than 150,000 Palestinians in the strip.
However, the Israeli government, led by PM Menjamin Netanyahu, has refused on multiple occasions to sign on to various Gaza ceasefire proposals compiled by the mediators, opting to forge ahead with its 13-month-old genocidal campaign in the strip.
Earlier on Saturday, speaking in Doha, a senior Hamas officila told AFP: "We have nothing to confirm or deny regarding what was published by an unidentified diplomatic source, and we have not received any request to leave Qatar."
21:00 Two more international airlines suspended flights to and from Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Air France announced suspending its flights till end-November while the Italian ITA Airways announced suspending its flights to end-2024.
The announcements of these most recent canacellation of flights to Ben Gurion airport, the largest in Israel, come two days after Hezbollah targeted a parking lot in the airport with a direct missile hit.
19:30 Famine is looming in the northern Gaza Strip amid increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid, a UN-backed assessment said on Saturday.
Since early October, in a clear attempt to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza from its Palestinian population, Israeli forces have intensified their deadly assault on towns and refugee camps in the area, killing and wounding several thousands through airstrikes and bombardment, and starving the rest through an ironclad embargo on the entry all food, water, and medicine aid shipments.
Aid shipments allowed to enter the Gaza Strip were now lower than at any time since October 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report.
The Famine Review Committee (FRC) said on Friday in a rare alert that there was a strong likelihood of imminent famine in parts of north Gaza with immediate action required from the warring parties to ease a catastrophic situation.
The FRC alert warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."
On 17 October, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 per cent of the population.
The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."
Since that report, conditions have worsened in the north of Gaza, with a collapse of food systems, a drop in humanitarian aid and critical water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, the committee said.
"It can therefore be assumed that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease, are rapidly increasing in these areas," it read.
Access to food continues to deteriorate, with prices of essentials on the black market soaring. It said that cooking gas rose by 2,612 per cent, diesel by 1,315 per cent, and wood by 250 per cent.
"Concurrent with the extremely high and increasing prices of essential items has been the total collapse of livelihoods to be able to purchase or barter for food and other basic needs," said the alert.
The body expressed concern over Israel's cutting ties last month with the UN aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), warning of "extremely serious consequences for humanitarian operations" in Gaza.
With some critics decrying a starvation tactic in north Gaza, Israel’s main ally the U.S. -- Israel's biggest supporter -- has given Israel until 13 November to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some American military assistance.
On Saturday, Tel Aviv said the army allowed the entry of 11 humanitarian aid trucks into parts of northern Gaza.
18:00 An Israeli airstrike on the southern port city of Tyre left at least seven dead, among them five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute, officials and a resident said Saturday.
The rise in Tyre’s death toll came as Israel’s air force carried out airstrikes on different parts of southern and eastern Lebanon Saturday hours after Beirut’s southern suburbs were pounded by jets, destroying several buildings, state media reported.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of rockets on northern Israel and shot down a drone over south Lebanon.
The group said that Israel’s air force struck the area where the drone crashed. There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli military.
The Health Ministry said the strikes on Tyre late Friday night also wounded 46 people. It added that remains also were found in rubble and DNA tests will be used to identify the victims.
Youssef Jundi, a Tyre resident, told The Associated Press that the airstrikes destroyed several buildings in the coastal city.
He said that his long-time neighbour and friend, Ghazwa Dabouk, was among those killed. Dabouk’s sisters Elissar, Rabab and Fidaa, who were deaf and mute, were also killed in the airstrike, together with Dabouk's brother Ali, who had autism, according to AP.
More than 3,000 people were killed in Lebanon during the 13 months of the Israeli war on the country.
For nearly a year after the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in early October 2023, the conflict was mostly contained in the areas along the border between Israel and Lebanon.
The conflict dramatically escalated on 23 September with intense Israeli airstrikes on south and east Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving hundreds dead and leading to the displacement of nearly 1.2 million people.
Israel began a ground invasion of south Lebanon on 1 October, causing wide destruction in border villages but making little advances on the ground inside Lebanon due to fierce resistance from Hezbollah fighters.
17:00 Israeli warplanes struck residential areas in Tyre in south Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley and the historic city of Baalbek in the east of the country, and towns and villages in the southernmost parts of Lebanon.
Several casualties were also reported after an Israeli airstrike targeted a church sheltering displaced people in the Beqaa Valley region.
Lebanese officials said Israeli airstrikes have completely destroyed 37 villages along the Blue Line since the start of an intensive bombardment campaign in mid-September.
Health Minister Firass Abiad told AFP on Wednesday more than 2,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Israel launched intense air strikes on Lebanon more than a month ago.
"More than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since 23 September 2024," Abiad told AFP, adding that most of those who died were civilians.
16:02 Hezbollah said the group has targeted with rockets the illegal Metula settlement in Israel. The group also said it targeted a group of Israeli forces in Ebad.
15:50 An Israeli air attack has struck a tent housing forcibly displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza's Deir Al-Balah, killing at least one person and injuring three others, Al Jazeera reported.
Displaced Palestinians check the damage following an Israeli strike that hit tents set up in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
15:19 The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said that at least seven people, including two children, were killed and 46 others wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre (Sur) on Friday evening.
According to a statement from the Ministry's Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, the Israeli bombardment that targeted Tyre overnight resulted in the murder of seven individuals, including two children.
The strikes also left 46 people injured, with several in critical condition.
The Ministry added that efforts are ongoing to identify the victims through DNA testing, as some body parts were found at the scene.
Rescue teams continue to work at the site, searching through the rubble for any additional survivors or missing persons.
Rescuers evacuate the body of a person killed during overnight Israeli airstrikes that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. AFP
14:02 Syrian state media reported an Israeli strike on the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib that injured soldiers and caused damage.
"At around 00:45 after midnight, the Israeli army launched an air aggression from the direction of southeast Aleppo, targeting a number of sites in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib," the official SANA news agency said.
The report added that the attack had "resulted in the injury of a number of soldiers and some material losses," without providing further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, claimed the strikes had targeted military installations.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria.
The Israeli army has intensified its strikes on Syria since it launched its war on neighbouring Lebanon.
13:47 Israel has killed at least 43,552 people, primarily women and children, in more than 13 months of war against the Gaza strip, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The toll includes 44 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 102,765 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli genocidal war erupted.
A Palestinian man carries away an injured child from a home that was hit in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
12:30 Hezbollah says its fighters have launched missiles at the Zvulon military industries base north of Haifa city.
The group also targeted Kiryat Shmona on Israel's border with Lebanon and Safed city of Upper Galilee.
12:23 Israeli forces have arrested at least 18 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since last night, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society.
11:45 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon could spill over beyond the Middle East.
"The world should know that in case of the expansion of war, its harmful effects will not be limited only to the West Asia region; insecurity and instability can spread to other regions, even far away," Araghchi said in a speech aired on state TV.
11:07 At least 1.3 million people have been displaced both within Lebanon and across borders, the UN said.
This picture shows the damage at the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. AFP
As attacks increase, the humanitarian situation is becoming even more dire, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA said.
The ongoing war in Lebanon has reached a critical point, where 3,002 people have been killed and 13,492 injured since 8 October 2023. One hundred eighty-five children were killed and 1,206 wounded among the total casualties reported, it added.
10:36 Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed hopes during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump that he would keep his "promises to work towards ending wars" in the Middle East.
In the phone call, the Iraqi premier pointed to Trump's "campaign statements and promises to work towards ending wars in the region", a statement from Sudani's office said late Friday.
"The two sides agreed to coordinate efforts in achieving this goal," it added.
About 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition that was formed to help battle the Islamic State group.
Bases hosting the American troops have been the target of dozens of rocket and drone attacks launched by Iran-backed groups in Iraq, which have also claimed attacks against Israel.
Baghdad has for years called on Washington to provide a clear timeline for the withdrawal of its remaining coalition troops.
10:23 Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight, including women and children.
An air strike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern area of Khan Yunis, killing at least nine people, including children and women, Gaza's civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also confirmed the toll, saying 11 others were wounded in the strike and were taken to Nasser Hospital.
A second air strike killed five people, including children, and injured about 22 when "Israeli warplanes hit Fahad Al-Sabah school", which had been turned into a shelter for "thousands of displaced people" in the Al-Tuffah district of Gaza City, Bassal said.
The dead and injured were taken to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, he added.
In recent months, the Israeli occupation army has struck several schools-turned-shelters, killing hundreds of displaced, and carried out an assault in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza described by health workers as a "genocide within a genocide."
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army acknowledged that its troops killed "dozens" in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where they have been conducting a sweeping air and ground invasion for over a month, entirely besieging the north.
The Israeli forces also killed several Palestinians in Rafah in the territory's south.
09:10 The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the leader of the Palestinian Authority spoke with United States President-elect Donald Trump for the first time since his victory in the 2024 campaign.
In a statement Friday, Abbas' office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah said the president congratulated Trump on his victory and told him he was ready to work with him in pursuit of peace. Trump, in turn, "emphasized his commitment to stop the war."
The phone call follows months of resistance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Biden administration's push for a cease-fire that would end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Netanyahu has yet to continue to receive staunch support from the United States.
Trump's election victory — which many Israelis praised as a win for their country — has cast uncertainty on the future of diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Trump and Abbas had a particularly rocky relationship during Trump's first term when his administration reduced outreach to the Palestinians and reversed decades of US policy in the Mideast in Israel's favour.
09:00 Three people were killed and over 30 injured in several Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon's southern port city of Tyre, the health ministry said.
The ministry said this toll is preliminary, as rescue workers are searching for people trapped under rubble.
The Israeli army did not issue an evacuation warning before the strikes. They hit several locations in Tyre and caused extensive damage.
Since late October, Israeli airstrikes have repeatedly attacked the city, which is known for its UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites.
Lebanese state media said Israeli air strikes also hit Beirut's southern suburbs.
One air raid struck near the Lebanese University, with another hitting the Burj al-Barajneh suburb, the official National News Agency reported.
Later reports from the news agency confirmed that the strikes also targeted the Al Jamous neighbourhood, an area not included in Israel's evacuation warnings.
Echoes of explosions reverberated through Beirut as thick black smoke blanketed the region, spreading alarm across the capital.
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