Netanyahu vows to defeat Israel's 'enemies' ahead of October 7 anniversary

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to defeat Israel's “enemies” as his army bombarded Hezbollah targets near Beirut, on the eve of the anniversary of the Hamas attack that sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

After weakening Hamas in an offensive launched on October 7, 2023 in the Palestinian territory, Israel shifted the bulk of its operations in mid-September to the northern front, where Lebanese Hezbollah has been increasing its rocket fire toward Israel for the past year in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

But after a year of war that has left tens of thousands dead and the failure of all attempts at mediation, the Israeli offensive is also continuing in the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, where the army announced on Sunday that it was carrying out operations in the north.

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

The war on these two fronts is accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, an ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, which fired 200 missiles on Israeli territory on Tuesday, leading to new fears of a conflagration in the Middle East.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant threatened Iran with strikes similar to those targeting Gaza and Lebanon. Tehran said it was “ready” to retaliate, according to the Tasnim agency, citing a military source.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for an end to the “shocking violence” and “bloodshed” in Gaza and Lebanon.

“The time for a ceasefire has now come,” French President Emmanuel Macron told Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

– “The most violent night” –

On Sunday, Israel announced that it was “surrounding” the Jabaliya area in the northern Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas was “rebuilding its forces” there, and that it had carried out airstrikes against “dozens of targets,” including weapons storage sites.

According to the Gaza Civil Defense, 17 people, including nine children, were killed there. dead.

In the center of the territory, in Deir al-Balah, at least 26 people were killed in strikes on a mosque and a school hosting displaced people, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

Israeli bombings in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, October 6, 2024 © AFP – BASHAR TALEB

In Lebanon, intense Israeli air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, have once again terrorized residents of the capital.

“Together we will fight and together we will win,” Netanyahu said as he visited troops deployed in northern Israel along the Lebanese border.

“A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow,” he said. “In the 12 months since, we have transformed reality from one extreme to the other. The whole world is amazed by the blows you are dealing to our enemies,” added the prime minister, who is scheduled to address the nation on Monday.

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After a campaign of massive aerial bombardments against Hezbollah, which dealt it very heavy blows and caused hundreds of deaths throughout Lebanon, Israel launched ground operations on September 30 against the Islamist movement in the south of the country, while continuing its strikes in particular on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Israel has promised to fight the powerful Lebanese armed movement until “victory”, in order to allow the return to the border regions of the 60,000 inhabitants displaced by the incessant rocket fire.

The Lebanese news agency ANI reported more than “30 Israeli strikes” during the night on the southern suburbs and an AFP correspondent reported strikes in the east of the country.

Israeli tank near the Gaza Strip, October 6, 2024 © AFP – Menahem KAHANA

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the world to “put pressure on Israel” for a ceasefire.

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

The Israeli army said it had “carried out a series of targeted strikes on several weapons storage facilities and sites” of Hezbollah in the Beirut region.

Hezbollah, for its part, assured that it had targeted Israeli forces with shells during the night after an attempted infiltration in the Blida area, in southern Lebanon. It also claimed responsibility for rocket fire against military bases in northern Israel.

– School year postponed in Lebanon –

After a bombing raid on Beirut, a Hezbollah official told AFP on Friday that contact had been “lost” with Hachem Safieddine, a potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the movement killed on September 27 in an Israeli raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Israeli bombings on Beirut, October 6, 2024 © AFP – Fadel ITANI

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 the authorities. About 1.2 million people have been displaced.

The government announced Sunday that the start of the school year for 1.25 million students, from kindergarten to high school, would be postponed until November 4, “in view of the danger that threatens” students and teachers.

In Israel, the October 7 attack 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, 33 of whom are 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, according to the latest report from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, whose data is considered reliable by the UN.

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