Intense Israeli bombardment on Beirut, deadly strikes on Gaza

Photo: Agence France-Presse A man stands in front of a building set on fire by an Israeli strike that targeted the Sfeir neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on October 6, 2024.

Laure Al Khoury – Agence France-Presse and Chloé Rouveyrolles-Bazire – Agence France-Presse in Jerusalem

Published at 8:23 a.m. Updated at 10:02 a.m.

• Middle East

Heavy Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut terrorized residents of the Lebanese capital on Sunday, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

After weakening Hamas in a devastating offensive that is still ongoing in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israel shifted most of its operations in mid-September to the Lebanese front, which Hezbollah opened in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement a year ago.

But on Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel announced that it was “surrounding” the Jabaliya area, where Hamas is “rebuilding its forces.” According to the Gaza Civil Defense, 17 people, including nine children, have died there.

And in the central Palestinian territory of Deir al-Balah, at least 26 people were killed in strikes on a mosque and a school hosting displaced people, according to the Islamist movement’s health ministry.

After Iranian missile attacks on Israel on Tuesday, the second such attack in six months, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday threatened Iran, its arch-enemy that supports Hamas and Hezbollah, with similar strikes in Gaza and Lebanon.

Tehran said it was “ready” to retaliate, according to the Tasnim news agency, citing a military source, and Iran’s oil minister visited a key oil site in the country, amid concerns about retaliation Israelis.

On the Lebanese front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops along the border as the Israeli army pounded Lebanon.

Israel 'surrounds' northern Gaza

Lebanese state news agency ANI reported more than “30 Israeli strikes” overnight on several areas of the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, and an AFP correspondent reported strikes in the east of the country.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the world to “put pressure on Israel” for a ceasefire, as Lebanese authorities said 23 people died on Saturday, a toll not including overnight strikes.

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“It was the most violent night we have ever experienced. “There was so much bombing that it looked like an earthquake,” Mehdi Zaïter, 60, a greengrocer in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the destruction is enormous, told AFP, an AFP photographer reported.

The Israeli army said it had “carried out a series of targeted strikes on several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and sites in the Beirut region,” and said it was “continuing to operate to dismantle the capabilities” of the movement.

Hezbollah, for its part, said it had targeted Israeli forces with shells during an attempted infiltration into the Blida area in southern Lebanon.

It also claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on a group of Israeli soldiers during the “evacuation of wounded and dead soldiers” in the border region of Manara, as well as two drone attacks on Israeli military bases in northern Israel.

In Gaza, the Israeli army announced that it was “surrounding” the Jabaliya area (north), where it believes Hamas is rebuilding its capabilities, and that it had carried out airstrikes against “dozens of targets,” including weapons storage sites.

It also said it was deploying additional troops near the Palestinian territory, before the anniversary on October 7.

And in Syria, an Israeli air raid on an Iranian automobile factory in Homs (center) left three people injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), and three trucks carrying humanitarian aid for refugees from Lebanon were destroyed.

School return postponed in Lebanon

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to deliver a speech to the nation on Monday to commemorate the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil.

Stunning the entire country, it resulted in the death of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 97 are still being held hostage in Gaza, including 33 believed to be dead.

The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation on Gaza, where Hamas took power in 2007, has caused the death of 41,870 people and ravaged the besieged territory, according to the latest report from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, whose data is considered reliable by the UN.

Israel claims to want to end Hezbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel, to allow the return of tens of thousands of displaced people to their homes in northern Israel, and has killed its leader.

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After a bombing of Beirut, a Hezbollah official said Friday in AFP that contact was “lost” with Hachem Safieddine, potential successor to the head of Hezbollah to Hassan Nasrallah, killed on September 27 in an Israeli raid.

Since October 2023, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than a thousand since Israel launched massive strikes against Hezbollah on September 23, according to authorities. About 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Lebanese Education Minister Abbas al-Halabi announced on Sunday that the start of the school year for 1.25 million students from kindergarten to high school would be postponed from October to November 4, “in the face of the danger that threatens” students and teachers.