(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA): At least 19 people were killed and 108 others injured due to Israeli indiscriminate attacks across Lebanon on Friday, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
The death toll from Israel’s onslaught on Lebanon since Oct. 8 of last year has surged to 2,653, with 12,360 injuries, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Gaza, Israeli forces killed 77 Palestinians, injured 289 in the last 48 hours, according to Ministry of Healh in the enclave.
LEBANON
Israeli forces on Saturday deployed phosphorus bombs on villages in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, accompanied by airstrikes on villages in Tyre, triggering multiple fires, according to local media.
In the Jezzine district, located in the South Governorate, Israeli airstrikes targeted areas around the villages of Al-Ayshiyeh, Sajd, and Jermak, as reported by the Lebanese National News Agency.
One powerful strike in the Qatrani area led to power outages across several towns and sparked a fire in the forested region of Joura Khadr, the agency added.
In Marjayoun, Nabatiyeh Governorate, an Israeli airstrike struck near Adaisseh and the outskirts of Taybeh.
In Hasbaya, artillery shelling with phosphorus munitions targeted areas around the towns of Halta and Wadi Khansa, while an airstrike also hit Eastern Zoutr in Nabatiyeh.
The agency reported heavy artillery shelling in Tyre between the villages of Majdal Zoun and Shamaa, igniting additional fires.
Israeli forces also targeted a bulldozer working to clear a road in Rashknaniya, though no injuries were reported.
The Israeli army claimed on Saturday that it had attacked more than 70 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
In a statement, the army reported: “During the last 24 hours, the Air Force struck over 70 Hezbollah targets, some of which were directed by the Northern Command.”
The army claimed that the targets included “anti-tank missile launch sites, military buildings, ammunition depots, and military headquarters.”
On clashes in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army stated that its soldiers had “eliminated” several Hezbollah members who were allegedly launching rockets at Israeli forces.
A fighter jet also reportedly attacked a building containing Hezbollah fighters armed with a significant cache of weapons.
Hezbollah has not responded to the Israeli army’s claims. However, the group has been engaged in fierce battles against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, with reports indicating that 10 Hezbollah fighters, including several officers, were killed on Friday.
The Israeli army reported on Saturday that it had intercepted 15 rockets and four drones launched from Lebanon targeting northern Israel.
In separate statements on X, the Israeli army reported: “Following sirens activated in the Western Galilee area, we identified approximately 15 rockets launched from Lebanese territory.”
“Some of these rockets were intercepted, while the remainder fell in open areas,” it added.
It also said it intercepted four drones that had entered from Lebanese territory towards Upper Galilee, starting with three drones launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel.
Later on X, the army said: “Following the alerts that were activated in the Western Galilee, the Air Force intercepted a fourth drone since this morning.”
Separately, Hezbollah announced Saturday that its fighters launched coordinated missile and drone attacks on Israel’s Mishar intelligence base and Tel Nof airbase, as well as a group of Israeli forces near Ras al-Naqoura on the southern Lebanese border.
Hezbollah fighters also reportedly struck the Krayot area north of Haifa and an Israeli army assembly near the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab with a volley of rockets.
Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon since last month against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza.
An Israeli airstrike on a health center in Bazouriye, southern Lebanon, killed a civil defense medic and injured five others, including three medics, on Saturday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, bringing the total number of health workers killed since October 2023 to 164, with 275 others injured.
In a statement, the Health Ministry condemned Israel’s continued targeting of medical facilities and health personnel, urging the international community “to put an end to this long series of inhumane attacks.”
According to Lebanese Health Minister Firas Alabiad, Friday alone saw 55 Israeli attacks on hospitals, with 36 of those being direct strikes.
Hezbollah announced Saturday that it had launched attacks on military bases and settlements in northern and central Israel.
In central Israel, Hezbollah claimed it targeted the Tel Nof airbase, located south of Tel Aviv, using a “swarm of suicide drones,” according to a statement on the group’s Telegram channel.
In northern Israel, Hezbollah reported rocket salvos aimed at military bases, including Mishar, Elite, and Sharaga, as well as the barracks of Snir and Ma’ale Gilboa, and military sites at Haboushit and Jal al-‘Alam.
The group also stated that six Israeli settlements—Yasud HaMa’ala, Ga’aton, Matzuva, She’ar Yashuv, Kiryat Shmona, and Karyot—came under rocket fire. Additionally, Hezbollah said it shelled a group of Israeli soldiers in the settlement of Shlomi.
Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah reported it had launched two rocket salvos at Israeli troops near the towns of Aita al-Shaab, Ras al-Naqoura, and Markaba.
Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon since last month against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.
GAZA
At least 77 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the last two days, pushing up the overall death toll since last year to 42,924, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Saturday.
Some 100,833 others have also been injured in the year-long, ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, according to a ministry statement.
“The Israeli occupation has committed seven massacres of families in the last 48 hours, resulting in 77 deaths and 289 injuries,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads, as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
At least 35 Palestinians are killed, including women and children, as multiple Israeli air strikes destroy residential buildings in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya with the punishing ground assault continuing.
Two Palestinians were killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike near a school that houses displaced people in the Jabalia refugee camp of the northern Gaza enclave.
The Israeli airstrike targeted the vicinity near Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
Local Al-Aqsa Radio also confirmed that two Palestinians from the “Sheikh” family were killed in the Israeli strike on the school identified by eyewitnesses.
During more than a year of extensive bombardment on Gaza, the Israeli army frequently targeted hospitals, houses of worship, and schools housing displaced people – all civilian facilities that are prohibited under wartime rules.
The Gaza Government Media Office has said more than 820 Palestinians have so far been killed in Israel’s 22-day military offensives in northern Gaza, which Gaza officials describe as a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The airstrike targeted a block of at least five homes near the western roundabout in Beit Lahiya, which belonged to the Abu Shdaq, Al-Masri, and Salman families.
Media and local sources reported that urgent pleas for help are flooding in from Beit Lahiya to recover numerous victims, with many of the deceased and injured being children, women, and the elderly. Rescue efforts are hampered by a lack of ambulances and civil defense services, as Israeli occupation forces have blocked access to the affected areas.
In a separate attack, two additional civilians were killed, and several others injured in an airstrike on a home belonging to the Zaqqut family on Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City.
Earlier today, health authorities in the war-torn region announced that the Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital in the North Gaza Governorate are no longer operational due to the collapse of the healthcare system.
This crisis has been exacerbated by the Israeli blockade preventing access to hospitals, blocking medical supplies, and targeting ambulances and medical personnel.
A Palestinian Saturday evening was killed by Israeli army gunfire to the south of the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, according to the Health Ministry.
It announced that a young man was gunned down by Israeli occupation forces near the village of Azzun Atma, south of the city.
Local sources elaborated that the young man, in his 20s, identified as a villager from Azzun Atma, sustained a gunshot injury after being shot by the occupation forces purportedly for being in the vicinity of the section of Israel’s Apartheid and Segregation Wall near the village.
The man was rushed to Qalqilya Hospital in a critical condition before succumbing to his injury.
Four civilians, including a woman, were killed and several others injured today in airstrikes carried out by Israeli occupation forces in southern Khan Younis and northern Gaza.
Medical sources reported that three individuals were killed when Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Muqat family in Jabalia, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
In a separate incident, a woman was killed, and additional injuries were reported from Israeli airstrikes in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area, south of Khan Younis.
WEST BANK
At least one Palestinian was killed and another injured Saturday by Israeli army fire in Tulkarm in northern West Bank, according to local sources.
“Israeli occupation forces killed a young man, Isalm Odah, after besieging and shelling a residential building in Tulkarm, West Bank,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli forces sent military reinforcements, including bulldozers, to Tulkarm and besieged a building in the eastern al-Salam neighborhood.
Witnesses reported that the army fired at least one Energashell at an apartment in the building. One of the residents was injured, but the fate of the others remains unclear.
Armed clashes broke out inside the apartment before the army left with the deceased’s body, they said.
A military bulldozer reportedly began demolishing parts of the building during the operation.
In the ongoing clashes, a Palestinian was earlier injured by live ammunition in the legs, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which confirmed that its teams in Tulkarm “treated a gunshot wound to the legs sustained during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces in Harat Al-Salam.”
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli soldiers allegedly summoned the parents of one of the young men inside the besieged apartment, reportedly using them as human shields to pressure their son to surrender.
In a related development, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, issued a statement claiming that their fighters had “targeted occupation forces in the al-Salam neighborhood and at the entrance to Tulkarm refugee camp with heavy gunfire.”
The Israeli army has carried out frequent raids in the West Bank over recent years, with operations intensifying since the escalation of conflict in Gaza last October. Palestinians in the West Bank have also faced violent attacks from Israeli settlers.
Since the start of the Gaza conflict, at least 760 Palestinians have been killed and around 6,300 injured by Israeli army fire in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
[Photo Relatives mourn during funeral for 3 journalists Vasim Qasim, Ghassan Najjar, and Mohammad Reza who were killed by Israeli airstrike on a hotel in Dahieh district of Beirut, Lebanon on 26 10, 2024.Photojournalist Murat Şengül /AA]
