Jerusalem, 8 Oct

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut, a day after the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack was marked by mourning and demonstrations around the globe.

The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the militant group.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, underscoring militants' resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed about 42,000 Palestinians, according to local medical officials, destroyed large areas and displaced around 90 per cent of its population.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel's security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on 8 October, 2023. On Monday, Lebanon's Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the country's south, part of a wider bombardment, killed at least 10 firefighters. Hezbollah fired new barrages despite its recent losses.

Israeli reserve division begins limited operations' in southwest Lebanon

The Israeli military said a reserve division has begun limited operations against Hezbollah in southwestern Lebanon, in an apparent widening of its ground incursion.

The military said Tuesday that the 146th Division is the first reserve division to enter Lebanon since it launched ground operations just inside the border last week. The announcement came a day after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate from over a dozen towns and villages in southwestern Lebanon, including the coastal town of Naqoura, where UN peacekeepers are headquartered.

Israel has called on people to evacuate several dozen communities across southern Lebanon, many of them north of a UN-declared buffer zone established after the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. Israel says its operations are aimed at halting a year of Hezbollah rocket attacks so that tens of thousands of its citizens can return to their homes in the north. Hezbollah has vowed to keep up the attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

The fighting, which escalated in mid-September, has displaced over 1 million Lebanese.

UN officials in Lebanon call for talks on anniversary of Israel-Hezbollah fighting

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the peacekeeping force deployed along the border with Israel said that a negotiated solution is the only way to restore stability and the time to act is now.

The statement by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro of the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL came on the first anniversary of Lebanon's Hezbollah group starting attacks on Israeli military posts along the border in support of its Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip.

Over the past weeks, the exchanges along the border have expanded into Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah missile attacks that are hitting deeper inside both countries. In Lebanon, more than 1 million people have been displaced and over 1,300 killed since mid-September.

Plasschaert and Lazaro said Hezbollah's attacks starting on 8 October, 2023 were in violation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. “Too many lives have been lost, uprooted, and devastated, while civilians on both sides of the Blue Line are left wanting for security and stability,” the statement said referring to the border line along the Lebanon-Israel border.

“Today, one year later, the near-daily exchanges of fire have escalated into a relentless military campaign whose humanitarian impact is nothing short of catastrophic,” the statement said.

It warned that further that further violence and destruction will neither solve the underlying issues nor make anyone safer in the long run. “A negotiated solution is the only pathway to restore the security and stability that civilians on both sides so desperately want and deserve,” the statement said. “The time to act accordingly is now.”

Turkiye sends navy to evacuate citizens from Lebanon

Turkiye is deploying two navy ships to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon amid the rising tensions in the region.

According to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the ships, which together can accommodate up to 2,000 passengers, will depart for Lebanon on Tuesday. The evacuations are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The ministry said additional evacuations would be organised if necessary. Besides evacuating citizens, the ships will be carrying humanitarian aid for Lebanon, the ministry said.

Death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to 30

At least 30 people, including six children and two women, were killed in Israeli strikes in central Gaza late Monday. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken, provided an updated toll Tuesday as more bodies were recovered from the rubble.

The strikes took place on the anniversary of Hamas' October 7 attack into southern Israel that triggered the war.

Two strikes hit houses in the built-up Bureij refugee camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. An Associated Press journalist counted 21 bodies on Monday, along with about a dozen wounded, including several children.

The Palestinian death toll in the war in Gaza is nearing 42,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and militants.