(AA, Al Jazeera): In northern Lebanon, at least 21 people killed and eight wounded in an Israeli indiscriminate air attack on the village of Aitou, the predominantly Christian city of Zgharta, Health Ministry says. Meanwhile in Gaza, at least 62 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli indisriminate attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 42,289, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Monday.
The Red Cross said efforts were underway to search for survivors under the rubble.
It was the first attack to have been launched by Israeli warplanes in northern Lebanon since the outbreak of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah last year.
Israel has launched a huge air campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,542 people, injuring over 4,555 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon since last October rose to 2,309, with 10,782 others injured, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, the Health Ministry said three people were killed and 84 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon submitted a formal complaint Monday to the UN Security Council against Israel’s repeated targeting of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The Lebanese diplomatic mission said the Israeli attack on UNIFIL is “a dangerous precedent and a blatant violation of the international law,” that comes to jeopardize UNIFIL’s mission.
It urged for “a decisive and firm stance” against those attacks that “mount to war crimes,” and hold Israel accountable for its violations to prevent their repetition.
GAZA
At least 62 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli indisriminate attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 42,289, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Monday.
A ministry statement added that some 98,684 others were also injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 62 people and injured 220 others in four massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” 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 21 Palestinians, including three children, were killed on Monday as Israel intensified its deadly offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.
A new Israeli attack has targeted a house in the Jabalia camp, killing at least four people as siege of northern Gaza continues.
Ten people lost their lives and over 40 others were injured when Israeli forces fired artillery shells at civilians who gathered to receive flour near a food distribution center in the Jabalia refugee camp, a medical source said.
Five more people were killed and several others injured in a drone strike near Birket Abu Rashid in Jabalia, while another person was killed in an airstrike on a house in al-Houja in Jabalia, another source said.
Three children were also killed, and several others injured in Israeli shelling targeting a group of civilians in Safi area west of Jabalia, the source added.
Two Palestinians were also killed and seven others wounded when Israeli forces shelled a group of civilians in Jabalia Nazla in northern Gaza, a medical source said.
The Palestinian Civil Defense Agency said its medics transferred 13 injured people following a drone strike on a school in Jabalia.
Casualties were also reported following an airstrike near Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in central Jabalia.
Residents reported the blowing up of dozens of homes by Israeli forces in Jabalia and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
Israel on Monday evening targeted a group of people and two shelters for displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 11 people and injuring others, medical sources told Anadolu.
A source in Al-Awda Hospital said the Israeli army killed three Palestinians and injured 15 others in shelling the Hafsa school that shelters displaced people in the Jabalia refugee camp.
As many as 13 others were also injured in an airstrike on the entrance of the Al-Yemen Al-Saeed shelter in Jabalia.
In Gaza City, a medical source said eight Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a group of people in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northern Gaza City.
For the 10th consecutive day, the Israeli army has been continuing its deadly ground incursion into northern Gaza Strip, killing over 340 people, according to Gaza local authorities.
The British government has again rejected calls for imposing additional restrictions on arms sales to Israel, specifically suspending the supply of parts for F-35 fighter jets, which are heavily used by the Israeli army against Palestinians.
In a parliamentary session on Monday, independent lawmaker Shockat Adam asked Secretary of State for Defence John Healey if the UK is considering suspending the F-35 program.
“2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) bombs are being dropped on innocent civilians, both in Gaza and in Lebanon, leading to the heinous and unimaginable scenes we saw over the weekend of newborn babies being killed and young children being burnt alive. These bombs are being dropped by F-35 fighter jets. We supply parts to F-35 fighter jets. When will we stop doing that and adhere to international conventions?” Adam asked.
In response, Healey said his Labour government has already decided to suspend sales to Israel, referring to a partial suspension of arms export to Israel in early September.
“We set the details of those out to the house, and we are working as well as calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza so that all hostages can get out, so that all aid that’s needed by the Palestinians could be flooded in, and that we can take the first steps to a political solution that ultimately is the best guarantor of two states and a permanent peace in the area.”
On Sept. 2, the British government announced that it was suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel after a review, warning there is a clear risk that certain UK arms exports to Israel might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
The UN on Monday renewed its call for a cease-fire in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing four Palestinians and injuring 40 others.
“An airstrike in Gaza hit a hospital courtyard on Monday, burning tents where people were sleeping,” the UN said in a post on X, without mentioning that it was an Israeli airstrike.
It added that strikes also hit an UNRWA school where families were sheltering.
“The location was meant to be used as a polio vaccination site. A ceasefire is urgently needed to stop the devastation,” said the UN.
Four people were killed and 40 other injured when Israeli warplanes hit a hospital courtyard in the central city of Deir al-Balah, burning 30 tents where people were sleeping.
It followed the death of 22 people, including 15 children, in another airstrike on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli warplanes bombed the tents of displaced civilians in the hospital compound before on Jan. 10, March 13, July 22, Aug. 4, and Sept. 27.
Images of people trapped in the flames have flooded social media.
The UN on Monday condemned the high number of civilian casualties in northern Gaza, including an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian civilians.
“UN Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) condemns large number of civilian casualties in the intensifying Israeli campaign in northern Gaza, including schools displacing shelter Palestinian civilians,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The spokesperson also said, “We are aware of very disturbing reports by an Israeli attack on the grounds of a hospital complex in central Gaza”.
The UN chief “strongly urges” all parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and emphasizes that civilians must be respected and protected at all times, he said.
EU foreign policy chief on Monday stated that Israeli attacks on UN forces must be “absolutely avoided,” saying attacks cannot be “justified by any kind of incident or accident.”
Speaking at a press conference following EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, Josep Borrell said that EU foreign ministers reiterated their full support to United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.
Borrell said that EU “unanimously” condemned Israeli shelling of UN peacekeepers position in Lebanon, adding that “In Lebanon, another red line has been dangerously crossed by the Israeli army”.
The Israeli army said Monday that 125 more soldiers were injured in clashes in Gaza and Lebanon in the last 24 hours, marking the highest tally in a single day since last year.
Military figures released by the army showed that at least 739 soldiers have been killed and 4,858 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023.
At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 people taken captive.
YEMEN
The Yemeni Houthi group on Monday reported that two more US-UK airstrikes targeted the Al-Hudaydah province in western Yemen.
In a brief statement, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said “a US-UK aggression targeted with two raids the Al-Salif district in the Al-Hudaydah province.”
The statement did not report any casualties or material damage from the raids.
Al-Hudaydah is the most targeted province in Yemen by the American and British airstrikes, which houses an international airport and three vital ports, in addition to a long coastal strip.
There was also no comment from the US or the UK on the incident as of yet.
[Photo: Hundreds of people attend funeral ceremony held for Lebanese who were killed including children & women, by Israeli army bombings on al-Ma’asara region, northern Lebanon, on 14 10, 2024. Photojournalist: Murat Şengül /AA]
