By Abdul Adil
(AA, Wafa, Al Jazeera, NNA, The Muslim News):
LEBANON
At least 54 people were killed in indiscriminate Israeli bombings across Lebanon on Sunday, raising the death toll to 3,243 since last year, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry’s statement on Monday. The ministry also reported that 99 people were injured on Sunday, bringing the total number of wounded to 14,134 since 8 October 2023. This figure includes 201 children killed and 1,272 injured.
“At least 23 people were killed and eight others injured in overnight Israeli airstrikes on eastern and southern Lebanon, Lebanese media reported on Monday. The state news agency, NNA, stated that nine people were killed in two airstrikes targeting the eastern towns of Zighrin and Qasr.
Lebanese state-run media also reported that Israel struck a house in the northern Akkar region—one of the furthest attacks from the border—killing and injuring 28 people. ‘An enemy strike targeted a house in Ain Yaacoub village, approximately 150 km (93 miles) from Israel,’ said the National News Agency.”
Local officials said the targeted building in northern Lebanon housed displaced people, Syrian nationals, and locals, making it the northernmost Israeli strike since the conflict began in September. An Israeli air raid on Saksakiyeh in southern Lebanon killed seven and injured seven others, the Health Ministry reported. Warplanes also bombed Bednayel, killing four and injuring three, with another strike in the town claiming the lives of a father, mother, and two daughters. One person was killed in an airstrike on Saraaine El-Tahta, and an Israeli strike in Baalbek city was reported, though no injuries were reported.”
In southern Lebanon, five people were killed in two airstrikes on Sunday night in the towns of Kharayeb and Chehabiyeh, near Tyre city. The Lebanese Civil Defence reported recovering 43 bodies and several injured individuals from the rubble after Israeli attacks in both southern and eastern Lebanon. In the Byblos district of Mount Lebanon, Civil Defence teams retrieved 24 bodies and pulled eight injured people from debris, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
In the village of Deir Qanun Ras Al-Ain, five victims’ bodies were recovered, and two injured people were rescued. Additionally, three bodies were recovered in Aadloun, and two others were retrieved from under the rubble in Haniyeh, the agency reported.
In the Beqaa governorate, Civil Defence teams recovered nine bodies and rescued five injured individuals from the towns of Bednayel, Rasm al-Hadath, and Saraain El Faouqa.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army reported that 11 soldiers were wounded in clashes in Gaza, though the locations of the other injuries were not specified. Previous statements had indicated that several soldiers were injured in confrontations with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.
According to military figures, around 782 Israeli soldiers have been killed, and 5,325 others injured since the conflict in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar claimed progress in ceasefire negotiations for Lebanon. “Progress has been made in the negotiations for a ceasefire in Lebanon, and the main challenge is to implement what has been agreed upon,” Sa’ar said during a press conference, as cited by Israeli Channel 12.
The Israeli minister suggested that Russia could help prevent Hezbollah from rearming through its military presence in Syria. He noted, “Hezbollah’s missile capabilities have been severely damaged and largely destroyed, but the organisation itself is not finished yet.”
However, early on Monday, Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif rejected Israeli claims about the destruction of the group’s missile stockpile. He emphasized that Hezbollah’s fighters are ready for a prolonged conflict with Israel.
The spokesman also reiterated that Hezbollah had not received any official ceasefire proposal from Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that three Israelis were injured by shrapnel from an interceptor missile following a rocket salvo from Lebanon. Approximately 50 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, triggering air-raid sirens in the Galilee region. The Israeli army stated that some rockets were intercepted, while others landed in open areas. Magen David Adom, Israel’s national ambulance service, confirmed the injuries in Karmiel, located in northern Israel.
Early Monday, Hezbollah also announced that it had launched a barrage of rockets towards Safed in northern Israel, along with targeting Israeli troop deployments on the outskirts of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.
GAZA
At least 46 Palestinians, including 16 children, were killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to medical sources. Since October 7, 2023, the death toll from Israeli Defence Forces’ actions has reached at least 43,603, with 102,929 wounded.
Israeli warplanes targeted an inhabited home in Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, killing at least 36 people, including 15 children. Dozens more were injured, and several remained missing, the sources reported. Witnesses said the multi-story building, which housed both residents and displaced families, was destroyed, trapping many under the rubble.
Israeli airstrikes also killed 20 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Later, Israeli forces bombed al-Awda Hospital, where victims had sought treatment. The Israeli military used artillery and quadcopter drones to target Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the last functioning health facility in the area, as it struggled to treat the growing number of casualties.
In addition, one Palestinian was killed by an Israeli drone in the al-Zeitoon neighbourhood south of Gaza City, and another individual was killed in an Israeli assault near al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City. Five more people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.
A child was also killed and his parents injured when an Israeli drone targeted them in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in northern Gaza City, a medical source said.
An elderly woman, Maha Ismail Abu Al-Nour, was killed, and five others were injured in an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the Jabalia Al-Nazla area in the northern Gaza Strip.
Earlier today, medical sources reported the killing of Muhammad Zaher Muqdad, who was shot directly in the chest by a drone near Al-Awda Hospital.
In the Al-Nuseirat camp area, the house of citizen Shihab Abu Dalal was shelled, leading to the deaths of three people and the injury of others.
A man and his wife were killed, and their two children were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
“The bodies of two martyrs—a man and his wife—were received as a result of the Israeli bombing of a tent camp housing displaced people,” said a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Al-Awda Hospital reported receiving the two injured children.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli bombing targeted a tent in the Sawarha area of the camp, destroying it along with several nearby tents.
Several civilians were killed and others injured on Monday evening in an Israeli bombing of Gaza City.
Medical sources reported that paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society transferred the bodies of several slain Palestinians after Israeli warplanes bombed a commercial store on Omar Al-Mukhtar Street in Gaza City.
The ambulance crews of Al-Awda Hospital in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip were also able to retrieve the bodies of two slain Palestinians from the Al-Nuwairi Hill area west of the camp.
WEST BANK
Israeli authorities announced on Monday the seizure of 546 dunums of Palestinian land northeast of Salfit, according to a local official. Wael Abu Madi, head of Yasuf village council, confirmed that the Israeli occupation had issued an expropriation order to confiscate land in the villages of Yasuf, Marda, Kifl Haris, and Jamma’in. The land will be used to expand Israeli Bypass Road No. 505, with the extension planned to run from the Za’atra checkpoint to the roundabout in Kifl Haris.
In a separate development, Israeli forces demolished the Palestinian Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the southern Negev for the 232nd time in 14 years, according to a local activist. This marked the tenth demolition of the village’s structures since the beginning of the year, activist Aziz al-Touri told Anadolu.
“The Israeli authorities raided the village of al-Araqib today and demolished its housing structures for the 232nd time,” al-Touri said. He added that despite the repeated demolitions, the residents immediately began rebuilding their homes, determined to remain on their land.
Homes in al-Araqib, home to 22 Palestinian families, are constructed from wood and plastic. The village was first destroyed in 2010, and since then, it has been rebuilt after each demolition. Israeli authorities assert that the area where the village is located is “state land.”
Al-Araqib’s residents are Arab citizens of Israel, who were displaced in 1951 when the newly established state of Israel claimed the area as “state land.”
Zochrot, a Tel Aviv-based NGO, stated in a recent report that al-Araqib village was originally established during the Ottoman period, and its lands were purchased by the residents. The report highlights that Israeli authorities are attempting to seize control of these lands and forcibly remove its inhabitants. Zochrot also noted that dozens of villages and Bedouin communities in the Negev region are facing similar threats.
YEMEN
The Yemeni Houthi group on Monday reported nine US-UK raids on the provinces of Amran and Saada in northern Yemen.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said seven US-UK raids targeted the district of Harf Sufyan in Amran province, while two targeted the district of As Safra in the Saada province.
The group, however, didn’t report casualties or material damage from the raids.
On Sunday, the Houthi group reported seven strikes on the capital Sanaa and Amran province.
Since the beginning of 2024, a US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes targeting Houthi positions in Yemen, in response to the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These counterattacks have at times been met with retaliation from the Houthis.
In solidarity with Gaza, the Houthis have launched missile and drone strikes against Israeli cargo ships and those linked to Tel Aviv, vowing to continue their operations until the assault on Gaza ends. Following interventions by Washington and London, the Houthis declared all American and British ships to be military targets.
Fires erupted in areas near Jerusalem on Monday as a result of debris from an Israeli interceptor missile fired to intercept a missile launched from Yemen.
The Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that fires broke out near Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, due to debris from an interceptor missile.
The Israeli army stated that it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace. Rocket alarms were triggered in Beit Shemesh and nearby areas around Jerusalem.
The Yemeni Houthi group, which has previously launched several missile attacks on Israel in recent months, has yet to comment on this incident.
SYRIA
At least seven people were killed and 20 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in the Sayyidah Zaynab area, on the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus, authorities reported.
The attack targeted a residential building, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA. However, the Israeli military has not immediately confirmed the strike.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee previously stated on X that Israel had targeted weapons warehouses and facilities used by the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Syria.
Israel, which rarely comments on its military operations, has carried out airstrikes in Syria since 2011, primarily focusing on Iranian and Syrian forces, as well as Hezbollah targets.
IRAQ
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it intercepted two drones approaching from the east.
The Air Force intercepted two drones heading from the east, and they did not breach Israeli airspace,” the military said in a statement. Sirens were activated in the Dead Sea area, it added.
The military did not specify the drones’ origin. However, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group that has launched drones from this direction in recent months, has targeted several locations in Israel, including the southern city of Eilat.
Photo: Civil defence teams search for survivors under the rubble after Israeli airstrikes hit the eastern town of Aalamat in the Jbeil district of Lebanon on November 10, 2024. The attack left at least 23 people dead, including seven children. (Photojournalist: Houssam Shbaro/AA)
