Live: Israeli military says hitting Hezbollah targets in Beirut on large scale
· France 2426/11/2024 - 05:17
- Waves of Israeli strikes pounded Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold on Tuesday in the most intense raids on the Lebanese capital in two months of full-scale war with Israel.
- Israel's security cabinet was set to vote on whether to approve a US-backed ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the fighting with the Iran-backed militant group.
- The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 44,249 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
- Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,768 and wounded 15,699 since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said.
26/11/2024 - 14:36
Israel launches at least 10 simultaneous strikes on Beirut suburbs
At least ten simultaneous Israeli strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, as a spokesman for the Israeli military said the air force was carrying out "a widespread attack" on Hezbollah targets there.
The strikes were the largest simultaneous attack across Beirut's southern suburbs so far, and came after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, its largest such warning yet.
26/11/2024 - 14:33
Israeli military says it is hitting Hezbollah targets in Beirut
The Israeli army says it is attacking Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital on a large scale.
Plumes of smoke rose over Beirut as Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike on a building in the centre of the capital, after the Israeli army warned people to evacuate the area.
AFP described the raids as the most intense on Beirut in two months of full-scale war with Israel.
26/11/2024 - 14:02
Gaza rescuers say vehicles not working in north for lack of fuel
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday its vehicles had stopped working in the Palestinian territory’s north due to a lack of fuel, warning it could not respond to emergencies.
“All our fire, rescue, and ambulance vehicles have stopped working in Gaza governorate due to the Israeli occupation’s continued refusal to provide the necessary diesel to operate them,” the rescue agency said in a statement.
“Our crews will not be able to respond to citizens’ calls until the Israeli occupation allows humanitarian organisations to bring in the necessary quantities of diesel,” it added.
Gaza City and the areas north of it have been particularly hard hit by shortages caused by the war that began over a year ago, leaving the population short on food and forcing health facilities to stop or limit work for lack of fuel for generators.
26/11/2024 - 14:00
Israel army says conducted raids in Lebanon's Litani River region
The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out raids in the Litani River region, north of which Israel wants to push the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to protect its own population.
“The soldiers raided several terrorist targets, engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists, located and destroyed dozens of launchers, thousands of rockets and missiles, and weapons storage facilities hidden in the mountainside,” the army said in a statement.
26/11/2024 - 13:58
Lebanon security official says Israeli strike hits Beirut
A Lebanese official told AFP that an Israeli air strike hit central Beirut on Monday, as Israel prepared to decide whether to accept a proposed ceasefire in its war with Hezbollah.
“An Israeli strike hit the capital Beirut,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The strikes come amid a flurry of Israeli evacuation calls for Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion, already pounded by strikes in the morning.
26/11/2024 - 13:30
Ceasefire 'only way' for stability in Lebanon, northern Israel: UK govt
Britain on Tuesday called for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, insisting that a ceasefire was “the only way to restore security” for civilians in Lebanon and northern Israel.
“We urge all parties to engage in efforts to reach a ceasefire and indeed a long-term sustainable peace in the Middle East,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters.
26/11/2024 - 13:17
UN rights chief 'gravely concerned' by Lebanon escalation
The UN rights chief on Tuesday voiced concern about the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, where his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.
Israel has been locked in fighting with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since Oct. 2023, and fighting has escalated dramatically since late September of this year.
“UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk is gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon with at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes between the 22nd and 24th of November,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, told a Geneva press briefing.
26/11/2024 - 12:35
Jordan airdrops aid to northern Gaza for first time in five months
Jordanian military planes on Tuesday dropped aid to northern Gaza for first time in five months to help relieve a dire humanitarian situation in the enclave, an official source said.
Two C-130 planes belonging to the Jordanian air force dropped the cargo that contained nearly seven tonnes of food and essential relief to areas the U.N. agencies identified as most in need and facing hunger, the source told Reuters.
26/11/2024 - 12:22
Israel security cabinet to discuss Lebanon truce deal this afternoon, says deputy FM
Israel's security cabinet will meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a proposed ceasefire deal in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said.
"It is extremely sensitive and I do not want to go into details about it because of the sensitivity of the issue," Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem.
She did not give an exact time for the meeting.
"There needs to be a decision, a discussion," she said. "There might be a vote as well."
She added: "The members of the cabinet know some of the details and are going to go into more details this afternoon."
US news outlet Axios reported that the draft agreement includes a 60-day transition period.
26/11/2024 - 11:49
Israel will act 'forcefully' if Lebanon truce deal is breached: minister
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz told the UN’s Lebanon envoy on Tuesday that any breach of a ceasefire deal that the security cabinet is set to vote on would result in Israel acting “forcefully”.
“If you do not act, we will do it, forcefully,” Katz told envoy Janine Hennis-Plasschaert when meeting her in Tel Aviv, adding Israel would have “zero tolerance” when defending its security interests in the future, according to a statement from his office.
26/11/2024 - 11:46
Israeli soldier dies of wounds suffered in October 7 attack
An Israeli soldier wounded in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks died from his injuries on Tuesday, the military said.
Yona-Bezalel Brief, 23, belonged to an Israeli army commando unit and was wounded in Kfar Aza kibbutz, a southern Israel community near Gaza that was hit hard by the unprecedented attack.
His death brings to 1,207 the total number of casualties from the attacks, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The Israeli army says 805 of its soldiers have been killed since the start of the Gaza war, including during the October 7 attack.
26/11/2024 - 11:30
Lebanese FM hopes for ceasefire with Israel by Tuesday night
Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said he hoped a ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah would be agreed later on Tuesday.
He said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.
26/11/2024 - 11:29
Palestinian death toll at 44,249 in Israel-Hamas war, Gaza health ministry says
More than 44,249 Palestinians have been killed and 104,746 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
26/11/2024 - 11:15
Israel will show zero tolerance to any infraction of Lebanon ceasefire, defence minister says
Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire deal with Lebanon and will show “zero tolerance” toward any infraction, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.
“Any house in southern Lebanon that is rebuilt and established as a terrorist base will be destroyed, every armament and terrorist regrouping will be struck, every attempt to smuggle weapons will be thwarted and any threat to our forces or to Israeli citizens will be destroyed immediately,” Katz told the UN’s special co-ordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
26/11/2024 - 10:54
UN demands 'permanent ceasefire' in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel
The UN rights chief is gravely concerned over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and wants a “permanent ceasefire” there and in war-ravaged Gaza, his spokesman said Tuesday.
“The only way to end the suffering of people on all sides is a permanent and immediate ceasefire on all fronts: in Lebanon, in Israel and in Gaza,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva.
26/11/2024 - 10:48
Strikes hit south Beirut after Israel evacuation call: AFPTV
Strikes hit south Beirut following calls by the Israeli military to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion on Tuesday, as Israel prepares to decide whether to accept a proposed ceasefire in its war with the Lebanese group.
AFPTV footage showed multiple plumes of smoke rising above Beirut’s southern suburbs.
26/11/2024 - 10:38
Gaza's civil defence says 11 killed in Israeli strikes and shelling
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday morning that 11 people were killed in nighttime Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling across the Palestinian territory.
In the northern city of Jabalia, seven people were killed and several others wounded in an air strike on a residential building, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Another person was killed in a strike on a house in nearby Beit Lahia, which along with Jabalia has been the site of an intensive Israeli military operation since October 6.
Two people were killed by artillery shelling on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Bassal said. In the southern city of Rafah, an air strike killed one and wounded several, he added.
26/11/2024 - 10:00
Benny Gantz says proposed ceasefire deal with Hezbollah is 'fundamentally flawed'
Benny Gantz, a leading Israeli politician and former defence minister, spoke out against the emerging ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon in a post on social media.
26/11/2024 - 09:53
Israel's security cabinet to debate merits of Hezbollah ceasefire
Israel’s security cabinet will meet Tuesday to consider a proposed ceasefire in Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, FRANCE 24’s Noga Tarnopolsky reports from Jerusalem. She says that a truce would not be seen as a "win" for the 80,000 Israelis displaced by the conflict in the north of the country.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Renewed Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, state media reported and AFPTV images showed, after an Israeli army evacuation warning and following heavy raids on the Hezbollah bastion the previous night.
- The United States believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah is "close" but negotiations are still ongoing, the White House said on Monday.
- The Israeli military said it had struck around 25 targets belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah across Lebanon over a one-hour period.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reteurs)
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.