Dozens killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon

Photo: Sam Skaineh Agence France-Presse Lebanese Red Cross rescue workers search for victims and survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Rasm El-Hadath in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon on November 10, 2024.

Pierre-Henry Deshayes – Agence France-Presse and Aya Iskandarani – Agence France-Presse

Posted at 9:02 AM Updated at 11:28 AM

• Middle East

Israel, at war with Hamas and Hezbollah, carried out strikes on Sunday in Gaza and Lebanon that left dozens dead, including many children, according to Palestinian and Lebanese sources.

The Israeli army is seeking to neutralize the two Islamist movements, after the start of the war in Gaza triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale and violence led by Palestinian Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.

It launched a destructive offensive in retaliation that left tens of thousands dead and caused a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, located on Israel's southern border.

In support of Hamas, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, which degenerated into open war on September 23 with a campaign of intense Israeli strikes, mainly against the strongholds of the Lebanese movement.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Civil Defense reported “at least” 25 deaths, “including 13 children,” in a strike that targeted the Allouche family home in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

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“This morning, around six o’clock, there was a huge explosion. When we arrived here, we found bodies torn to pieces! We want security and peace,” said Abdallah Najjar, a relative of the Allouche family, amid the destruction.

“This is the bread they wanted to eat for breakfast,” he added, waving a loaf. “What’s the point of a piece of bread if there is no security and no peace?”

Another strike targeted a house in Gaza City, also in the north, killing five, according to the Civil Defense. “Civilians are still under the rubble. »

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was examining this information.

Israeli troops have been conducting an air and ground offensive against the north of the Gaza Strip since October 6, particularly in Jabalia, where Hamas is, according to them, seeking to regroup its forces.

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“Hell on Earth”

The Israeli army claimed to have targeted a site in Jabalia “where terrorists were operating”, in reference to Hamas, which is considered a terrorist movement by Israel, the United States and the European Union. “Prior to the strike, many measures were taken to limit the risk of harming civilians,” a military spokesman said.

By decimating its leadership in recent months, the army has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew from the territory it occupied for 38 years.

Since the start of the war, Israel has besieged Gaza's roughly 2.4 million people, most of whom have been displaced and are living in conditions the UN has described as dire.

The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas from Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures and including hostages killed or held captive in the Gaza Strip.

More than 43,603 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli reprisals in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from Hamas’s health ministry.

The Palestinian territory is a “hell on earth” for the one million children living there, UNICEF said in October.

On Saturday, the UN warned in a report that “starvation thresholds may have already been crossed or will be crossed in a near future” in Gaza.

Photo: Eyad Baba Agence France-Presse A displaced Palestinian woman feeds her children with bread dipped in lentil soup in front of a tent in the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 10, 2024.

A report deemed “biased” by Israel.

All attempts made since the beginning of the year by mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the United States to reach a ceasefire with the release of hostages have failed.

On Saturday, Qatar announced to have suspended its mediation. It “will resume it when Israel and Hamas show seriousness” in the negotiations, the Foreign Affairs said in Doha.

At least 26 dead in Lebanon

In Lebanon, on Israel's northern border, at least 23 people including seven children were killed in an Israeli strike on the Shiite town of Aalmat, located in a predominantly Christian region north of Beirut, the Health Ministry said.

AFP footage shows rescuers searching with their bare hands through the rubble of a completely flattened house, removing bodies wrapped in blankets. Nearby, an excavator removes blocks of stone.

An Israeli strike also targeted a house in Baalbeck, in eastern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, according to the national news agency Ani.

And in the South, where Hezbollah is also established, three medics affiliated with the movement were killed in a strike against their center in Adloun, according to the Lebanese ministry.

In addition to daily airstrikes, Israeli troops have been conducting a ground offensive in the south of the country, bordering northern Israel, since September 30.

Israel claims to want to neutralize Hezbollah in the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return home of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the pro-Iranian movement's gunfire.