By Abu Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, The Muslim News):
LEBANON
At least 22 more people were killed and scores were injured Tuesday in intensified Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon ahead of an expected cease-fire deal with Hezbollah, according to official sources.
An initial report from Lebanon’s National News Agency said six were killed in an airstrike on a house in the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon.
Israeli forces carry out more air attacks on Lebanon’s capital after killing at least 31 people in 24 hours there. Hezbollah also resumes rocket fire on Israel.
In Lebanon, at least 3,768 people have been killed and 15,699 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.
The National News Agency reports at least six people have been killed in an Israeli air raid on a house in Baalbek in southern Lebanon.
Another strike on a different house, also in Baalbek, killed at least four other people, the agency said.
Israel has intensified its bombing of Lebanon before a possible ceasefire with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
As Israeli forces intensify air strikes on Beirut and other areas across Lebanon, here is a breakdown of the latest casualties, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry:
Three killed, 10 wounded in central Beirut’s Barbour area.
Six killed in Chaqra, a town in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district.
Two killed in Rashidieh in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre
An airstrike on the town of Chaqra in the Bent Jbeil district in southern Lebanon resulted in six deaths and four injuries, according to the Health Ministry.
It said at least seven people were killed and 37 injured in a strike on the Nowayri of Al-Basta area in central Beirut.
In another attack, the ministry reported three deaths and 10 injuries following an airstrike on the Barbour area in Beirut.
A heavy strike targeted the Hadath area in the southern suburbs, as reported by the news agency.
The agency later said that 13 people were injured in airstrikes on the Hadath and Borj El Brajneh areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Lebanese state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on the neighborhoods of Burj Al-Barajneh, Al-Raml Al-Aali, and Tahouitet El Ghadir in southern Beirut.
Billows of smoke were seen rising from the area following the attacks, according to an Anadolu reporter.
Heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling also targeted Housh Sour, Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon.
No information was yet available about casualties or damage.
The attacks came as the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of 20 buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb ahead of airstrikes.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted maps of the targeted buildings in Hadath, Burj al-Barajneh, and Haret Hreik in southern Beirut on X account, saying the army will “act forcefully” against Hezbollah facilities in the area.
The army also warned residents in Ras Beirut, Al-Mazraa, Msaytbeh, and Zuqaq al-Blat in downtown Beirut to evacuate immediately in preparation for new attacks.
It also ordered residents of Naqoura in southern Lebanon to evacuate and move north of the Awali River ahead of fresh airstrikes.
Local media, meanwhile, reported cautious calm in the southern towns of Al-Bayyada and Al-Naqoura after failed attempts by Israeli forces to advance into the area.
Lebanese group Hezbollah, for its part, said Israeli soldiers were killed and injured in a rocket attack on a Merkava tank in southern Lebanon.
Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday to “thwart” any attempt to smuggle weapons into Lebanon.
“Any attempt to smuggle weapons will be foiled, and any threat to our forces or Israeli citizens will be immediately eliminated,” he said during a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The escalation came as Israel’s Security Cabinet is set to convene on Tuesday to vote on a US-backed cease-fire proposal with Lebanon.
Israeli media reported early Monday that a cease-fire deal is expected to be announced between Israel and Hezbollah within two days.
Scores of casualties were reported in Israeli airstrikes on a Palestinian camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday evening, Lebanese media said.
Israeli fighter jets carried out three airstrikes on a library in the Rashidieh refugee camp in Tyre, the state news agency NNA said.
NNA said the attacks caused a “massacre” in the camp with ambulances and residents transferring several dead and injured people after the attack.
The broadcaster, however, did not give an exact figure of the victims.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers desecrated a church in Deir Mimas, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, a video showed on Tuesday.
The footage shared on social media showed the soldiers dancing disrespectfully to church traditions.
According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the incident took place as soldiers of the army’s 91st Division advanced towards the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
The video captured soldiers shouting and joking, staging a mock wedding between two of their peers who embraced afterward. Other soldiers wrestled on the church floor while their comrades laughed loudly.
The video has sparked outrage across Lebanon and among Christians in Israel, KAN said.
An Israeli military statement called the incident a “serious act,” saying an investigation was underway into the behavior and vowed a disciplinary action against perpetrators.
Israeli soldiers have repeatedly shared video clips of destroyed buildings, including mosques, during Tel Aviv’s ground offensive in southern Lebanon, including
Israel has escalated its airstrikes in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets as part of year-long warfare against the Lebanese group since the start of the Gaza war last year.
The Lebanese state news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on the neighborhoods of Burj Al-Barajneh, Al-Raml Al-Aali, and Tahouitet El Ghadir in southern Beirut.
Heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling also targeted Housh Sour, Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon.
No information was yet available about casualties or damage.
Local media, meanwhile, reported cautious calm in the southern towns of Al-Bayyada and Al-Naqoura after failed attempts by Israeli forces to advance into the area.
At least 20 simultaneous Israeli strikes have pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs as a spokesman for the Israeli military says the air force has been carrying out “a large scale” attack on Hezbollah targets there.
Lebanese group Hezbollah, for its part, said Israeli soldiers were killed and injured in a rocket attack on a Merkava tank in southern Lebanon.
Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday to “thwart” any attempt to smuggle weapons into Lebanon.
“Any attempt to smuggle weapons will be foiled, and any threat to our forces or Israeli citizens will be immediately eliminated,” he said during a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
“The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people,” Lebanon’s official agency said.
The Health Ministry said seven people were killed and 37 wounded in the bombing of a densely populated area where people displaced by Israeli bombardments have sought refuge.
GAZA
Israeli forces killed at least 22 Palestinians and the injury of 108 others, according to medical reports.
Local health authorities confirmed that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught since October 7, 2023 has risen to 44,249 reported fatalities, with an additional 104,746 individuals sustaining injuries. The majority of the victims are women and children.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed and more than 40 injured in an Israeli attack that targeted al-Hurriya School, which houses thousands of displaced people.
In the northern city of Jabalia, seven people were killed and several wounded in an air strike on a residential building.
Another person was killed in the bombing of a house in nearby Beit Lahiya.
Two people were killed in the shelling of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
In the southern city of Rafah, an air strike killed one person and wounded several others.
At least 11 civilians were killed and dozens were injured today in an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering displaced people in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Local sources reported that Israel’s warplanes bombed the al-Hurriya School, which shelters displaced people in the Zeitoun neighborhood, killing 11 and wounding dozens.
A young man was also killed in an Israeli drone strike on Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip.
At least nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza City on Tuesday, a medical source said.
The bodies of nine victims were transferred to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city after the attack, the medical source said, adding that many people were also injured in the strike.
A number of Palestinian were killed and injured on Tuesday when the Israeli warplanes bombed a house in Jabalia al-Nazla, north of the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources reported that dozens were killed and injured when the occupation bombed a house belonging to Shahada family near al-Nazla School.
The occupation forces continue artillery shelling in the north, center and south of the Strip.
WEST BANK
Israeli forces demolished several structures in the village of Bartaa, located to the west of Jenin, today, this evening.
Ghassan Kabaha, the head of Bartaa Municipality, reported that the Israeli forces destroyed a metal workshop, a wood shop, and a room belonging to local residents. Additionally, a scrap metal shop owned by a man from the village of Tell was also demolished.
The demolitions come amid ongoing Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank, with such actions often seen as part of broader efforts to expand Israeli settlements and limit Palestinian presence in the area.
Several female students suffered from suffocation this morning after Israeli occupation forces raided the town of al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem, and targeted a local school with tear gas.
Local sources said that Israeli soldiers fired toxic gas canisters directly at the students as they were leaving the school grounds, causing several of them to suffocate.
It is noteworthy that the occupation forces have been deliberately attacking school students for some time and terrorizing them by firing tear gas and sound bombs, and chasing them between neighborhoods.
Israeli occupation forces stormed Birzeit University in the town of Birzeit, north of Ramallah, at dawn on Tuesday and detained four students from inside its campus.
Local sources told WAFA that the occupation soldiers stormed the university campus and detained four students, and vandalized the contents of the rooms belonging to the student movement.
[Photo: Displaced Palestinians rush to get warm meal distributed by charity organizations amid the worsening humanitarian crisis and starvation due to Israeli embargo and continuous attacks by Israeli army during winter in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza Strip on November 26, 2024. Photojournalist: Moiz Salhi/AA]
