Photo: Agence France-Presse A man inspects debris and damage at the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes that targeted Hadath, a southern suburb of Beirut, on October 27, 2024.
Posted at 8:21
Israel relentlessly bombed Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the day after its air force launched strikes against Iran, an explosive context that raises fears of a conflagration in the Middle East.
While the international community continues to call for restraint, Iran has asserted its right to defend itself after strikes on Saturday by Israel, its sworn enemy, against military sites in several Iranian regions. Iranian authorities reported “limited damage” and four soldiers killed.
In Israel, two official ceremonies are being held on Sunday for the first Hebrew anniversary of October 7, 2023, the day of the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, which triggered the war in Gaza with a devastating Israeli retaliatory offensive.
On Israel's southern front, witnesses reported several strikes on the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in Jabalia, where the Israeli army has been conducting a ground and air offensive since October 6 to prevent Hamas from regrouping its forces.
The army claimed to have “eliminated 40 terrorists in Jabalia” in the last 24 hours.
According to the local Civil Defense, hundreds of Palestinians have died in the Israeli offensive in the northern part of the besieged Palestinian territory, which is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.
At Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, Jihad Muqat mourns the deaths of his wife and two young daughters, whose bodies were pulled from the rubble in Jabalia. “Aline was the eldest, my dear Lulu, she was three and a half years old, and Sama was 12 days old. I also buried my daughter Lara before, she was two years old,” he said with a tearful face.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000New negotiations are expected Sunday in Doha between Israelis, Americans and Qataris to discuss the possibility of a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages kidnapped during the attack of October 7, 2023.
This attack resulted in the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.
In Gaza, at least 42,847 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to Health Ministry data.
On Israel's northern front in Lebanon, the Lebanese Press Agency reported Israeli raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut and near Tyre in the south of the country.
The Israeli army said it had carried out “targeted” strikes against weapons manufacturing facilities and a weapons storage site in the southern suburbs.
It added that it had “eliminated 70 Hezbollah terrorists and struck more than 120 targets” of the movement in the last 24 hours in southern Lebanon, bordering northern Israel.
In addition to the aerial bombardments, the Israeli army has been conducting a ground offensive since September 30 in southern Lebanon with the aim of neutralizing the fighters of the Lebanese movement and stopping the rocket fire.
The army announced the death of four soldiers “fallen in combat” in southern Lebanon.
In support of Hamas, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, by firing rockets into the north of its territory. After a year of cross-border fire and after weakening Hamas, the Israeli army has concentrated its operations in Lebanon and has been carrying out intense strikes there, mainly on Hezbollah strongholds, since September 23.
At least 1,615 people have since been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Israel has vowed to neutralize Hezbollah and Hamas, two movements supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has made support for the Palestinian cause one of the pillars of its foreign policy, following Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967.
In response to an Iranian missile attack on its territory on October 1, Israel for the first time publicly announced that it had attacked Iran, striking “missile manufacturing sites” and “surface-to-air missile batteries and other air systems.”
“Only some radar systems were damaged,” the Iranian general staff said.
Tehran said the October 1 attack was aimed at avenging the September 27 killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike near Beirut, and the July 31 killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel.
On Saturday, Israel threatened Iran with make him “pay a high price” if he retaliates, while Tehran has said it has “the right and the duty to defend itself.”
We must “neither exaggerate nor minimize” the Israeli strikes, said Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an initial reaction on Sunday.
“I hope this is the end,” US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s main arms supplier, said on Saturday.
For Joost Hiltermann, the director of the Middle East program at the International Crisis Group, the United States wanted the Israeli retaliation to be “proportionate, so that Iran would not have to respond.”
with Hachem Osseriran in Beirut
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