23:00 Lebanon has suspended in-person classes in the Beirut area until the end of December, the education ministry announced Sunday, citing safety concerns after a series of Israeli air strikes this week.
Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced in a statement "the suspension of in-person teaching" in schools, technical institutes and private higher education institutions in Beirut and parts of the neighbouring Metn, Baabda and Shouf districts starting Monday "for the safety of students, educational institutions and parents, in light of the current dangerous conditions".
22:45 Axios: U.S. President Joe Biden's envoy, Amos Hochstein, informed Israel's ambassador to Washington that if Israel does not respond positively to the ceasefire proposal with Lebanon in the coming days, he will withdraw from mediation efforts.
22:20 The Biden administration warned Israel that their decision to stop issuing administrative detention orders against Israeli settlers suspected of attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank could increase violence in the Palestinian territory, two US officials told Axios.
22:00 Lebanon's state media reported a slew of Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing above the area on Sunday evening, following earlier raids in the afternoon.
AFP journalists in the city and its outskirts heard loud explosions, with car alarms going off throughout one Beirut street.
"A series of violent strikes are targeting Haret Hreik, Bir al-Abed and Ghobeiri in the southern suburbs of Beirut," the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Earlier in the day, it had reported two Israeli strikes on south Beirut, about an hour after the Israeli military issued warnings online.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Sunday's strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, which have been largely emptied of their residents during the fighting.
The afternoon raids on Sunday "caused massive destruction over a large geographical area" of the Kafaat district, the NNA said.
21:40 Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that at least 3,754 people have been killed and 15,626 injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 8, 2023. In the past 24 hours alone, 84 people were killed and 213 wounded, the ministry said on X.
21:00 Hezbollah said its fighters destroyed six Israeli army tanks in Lebanon's southern border area on Sunday, most of them near a coastal village where the group and state media reported fierce battles.
The official National News Agency (NNA) said intense ground fighting was underway in several parts of south Lebanon.
In the area of Bayada, a village on the Mediterranean coast less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, the NNA reported that "a convoy of 30 Israeli military vehicles" was retreating inland after Hezbollah had destroyed their tanks.
A Hezbollah statement said fighters from the group "destroyed" five Israeli tanks on the eastern outskirts of Bayada, including one that had "attempted to advance to withdraw one of the destroyed tanks".
20:40 Hezbollah announced that its fighters launched a salvo of advanced missiles at the Haifa Naval Base, a facility of the Israeli Navy located 35 km from the Lebanese-Palestinian border, north of the occupied city of Haifa. The group vows that a blow in the heart of Beirut equals a blow in Tel Aviv.
20:30 The Israeli army issued new warnings, urging residents to evacuate buildings in Southern Beirut's Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Burj al-Barajneh, and Hadath areas ahead of planned strikes.
19:35 Israeli Army Radio reported that 340 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Sunday, forcing nearly 4 million people in Israel to take shelter in bunkers as sirens sounded more than 500 times.
19:20 Hezbollah announced that its fighters launched a salvo of advanced missiles at the Haifa Naval Base, a facility of the Israeli Navy located 35 km from the Lebanese-Palestinian border, north of the occupied city of Haifa. The group said the base houses a fleet of missile boats and submarines.
19:00 Multiple explosions were reported in Tel Aviv following the recent barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon.
18:50 Hezbollah said its fighters targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a guided missile at 4:45 p.m. on Lobia Hill, near the western outskirts of the town of Deir Mimas, in support of Palestinians in Gaza and to defend Lebanon. The attack destroyed the tank, killing and wounding its crew.
The group added that at 5:15 p.m., its fighters targeted another Merkava tank attempting to recover the destroyed vehicle on the eastern outskirts of the town of al-Bayada, also destroying it and causing further casualties among its crew.
18:00 EU top diplomat Josep Borrell says he met PM Najib Mikati in Beirut to “discuss urgent key steps” to stop the fighting in Lebanon.
“The Israeli army has erased 37 entire villages” in south Lebanon and continues to drop one-tonne bombs on central Beirut, he said, adding, “This must stop as do Hezbollah’s attacks on Israeli communities.”
18:10 Sources familiar with the negotiations told LBCI that Israel informed U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein during his visit to Washington of its objection to France's inclusion in the committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.
The sources said the objection stems from France's support for a decision issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor.
"Lebanon remains committed to France's participation, and there are no other obstacles to finalizing the agreement," one source added.
17:45 Lebanon's health ministry said on Sunday that the Israeli strike on central Beirut's working-class Basta district a day earlier killed at least 29 people, updating an earlier toll.
"The Israeli enemy strike on Basta al-Fawqa in Beirut killed, in an updated but still not final toll, 29 people and wounded 67 others," the ministry said in a statement. "Rubble is still being removed" from the strike site, it added.
17:00 People in Gaza are at continuous risk of dehydration and disease as fuel shortages stop water wells from working, according to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In besieged northern Gaza alone, around 70,000 people struggle to access clean water. This fundamental human right remains out of reach for too many. ”The situation here in the Gaza Strip is as worse as it's ever been. We are seeing people fighting over pieces of bread," @UNWateridge tells @BBCWorld. With a bag of flour costing over US$ 200 and relentless bombing continuing, the people have no shelter, food, or clean water.
16:20 Lebanese state media reported two Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, about an hour after the Israeli army posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
"Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs in the Kafaat area," the official National News Agency said. AFPTV footage showed grey smoke billowing over south Beirut.
15:15 Israel’s army committed four massacres in Gaza in the past 24 hours, killing 35 people and injuring 94 others, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, raising the death toll in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza to at least 44,211 people.
A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a house that was destroyed in an Israeli strike at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
14:45 As the rocket fire from Lebanon shows no sign of relenting, Israeli media reported that 10 Israelis were injured in Nahariya, Haifa in northern Israel, and Petah Tikva (near Tel Aviv) following rocket fire from Lebanon.
Channel 13 also reported fires breaking out at sites in Nahariya and Haifa as a result of direct hits by rockets launched from Lebanon.
160 rockets have been fired at Israel by Hezbollah since this morning, with a number of people injured amid rocket strikes and interceptions.
An Israeli soldier and a resident walk past a charred vehicle after rockets were fired from Lebanon, in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv. AFP
Residents check the damage after rockets were fired from Lebanon, in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv. AFP
13:45 Hezbollah said it launched drone attacks targeting the Ashdod Naval Base in southern Israel.
13:35 Israeli media reported several injuries and heavy damage in a Hezbollah rocket attack on central Israel.
The Israeli army said eight rockets were launched from Lebanon at central Israel in the attack, claiming most of which were intercepted.
Several Israelis were treated for acute anxiety and minor injuries after falling while running to shelter, media said citing Israeli medics.
Hezbollah has fired nearly 150 rockets at Israel today, according to the Israeli army.
13:30 The EU's Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borell called for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon during a visit to the Lebanese capital for talks.
"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borell said after meeting Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of Hezbollah.
A Handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament press office shows Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell in Beirut. AFP
13:00 The air traffic is halted at Ben Gurion Airport east of Tel Aviv after rockets were fired from Lebanon, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority announced.
12:45 The UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Otto Pedersen said it was "extremely critical" to end the wars in Lebanon and Gaza to avoid the country being pulled into a regional war.
"We need now to make sure that we have immediately a ceasefire in Gaza, that we have a ceasefire in Lebanon, and that we avoid Syria being dragged even further into the conflict," Pedersen said ahead of a meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus.
12:10 A new round of Israeli strikes hit towns and villages of southern Lebanon, including the Tyre district, according to media reports.
12:30 Hezbollah announced that it launched a barrage of precision rockets and a series of drones targeting a military site in Tel Aviv, claiming that the operation achieved its objectives.
Meanwhile, Israeli media said that Hezbollah launched approximately 100 rockets towards Israel since midnight.
At least 80 rockets have been fired towards the Galilee region since the morning, it reported.
11:45 The Lebanese Army announced that one soldier was killed, and 18 others were injured in an Israeli attack targeting an army post in Al-Aamriya, in the Tyre district, southern Lebanon.
Soldiers and rescuers gather at the scene of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a Lebanese Army post in Amriyeh in southern Lebanon on November 24, 2024.
11:30 US President-elect Donald Trump will serve as "America's Negotiator in Chief" for the war in Gaza, incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.
Trump will restore stricter sanctions against Iran, fight terrorism, and support Israel, Leavitt said. She added that Trump will work to get what she called “innocent Israeli captives home."
When Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Trump to congratulate him on his election win, he told the president-elect that securing the release of the 101 captives is "an urgent issue," according to three people briefed on the call.
"Trump was surprised and said he wasn't aware of that," one source told Axios.
Two other sources briefed on the call confirmed that Trump said he thought most of the captives were dead.
10:10 The Israeli army said that some 55 rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward the Upper and Western Galilee areas since Sunday dawn.
The Israeli Army Radio reported that hundreds of thousands of Israelis headed to shelters after sirens were activated in central Israel following rocket launches from Lebanon.
9:45 Israel said that an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi was murdered in the United Arab Emirates in what it described as an act of anti-Semitic "terrorism" and vowed to ensure the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
"The intelligence and security authorities in the United Arab Emirates have located the body of Tzvi Kogan, who had been missing since Thursday, November 21," the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry said in a joint statement.
Kogan was an emissary for the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Hasidic movement in the UAE.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Saturday said Israel was investigating Kogan's disappearance in the UAE as a "terrorist incident."
It renewed a warning for Israelis to avoid any non-essential travel to the UAE and advised citizens already in the Gulf country to take extra precautions.
On Saturday, an Emirati official said the foreign ministry was in touch with Kogan's family and the Moldovan embassy in Abu Dhabi.
9:30 A man was killed after opening fire on and wounding three members of the security forces near the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman, state media said.
Government spokesman Mohamed Momani described the incident as a "terrorist attack" and said the assailant was a criminal with a history of drug-related offences.
Investigations were underway to uncover the circumstances and motives behind the attack, which occurred at dawn, he told the official Petra news agency.
9:00 Seven Palestinians, including four children, were killed, and others were injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting a residential building and a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, WAFA news agency reported.
People surround the body of a Palestinian youth killed in an Israeli strike, at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
Late Saturday, Israeli forces renewed their attacks on Martyr Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, striking the main oxygen station and injuring a number of the medical staff.
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