Israel Hezbollah War Live Updates: UN peackeeping force says new explosions have hit HQ in Lebanon

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes in Jabalia town and its refugee camp killed at least 30 people on Friday, including women and children. The strikes occurred throughout the day, with a major hit before 9:40 pm local time leaving 12 dead and 14 missing. Earlier, 18 were killed, including in strikes on schools sheltering displaced people. The day's attacks left 110 injured, according to officials. Israel has surrounded Jabalia and intensified its military operations as part of its ongoing assault on Gaza, aiming to eliminate Hamas following the group’s attack on Israel on October 7.

In response to Iran's October 1 missile attack on Israel, the United States announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector. The sanctions aim to cut off financial resources that Iran allegedly uses to support its missile programs and terrorist groups, according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The penalties focus on Iran’s "ghost fleet" of ships and firms in countries like the UAE, Hong Kong, and Liberia, accused of transporting Iranian oil for sale in Asia. Additional sanctions target companies in Suriname, India, and Malaysia involved in the sale of Iranian petroleum.

The sanctions come as tensions between Israel and Iran escalate, with Iran claiming its missile barrage was retaliation for recent Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon. Both nations have long engaged in a shadow conflict, but recent hostilities, including a failed Iranian attack in April, have brought the region closer to potential war. The US aims to use sanctions to block Iranian access to the U.S. financial system while discouraging American citizens from engaging with blacklisted entities. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said further action will be taken to hold Iran accountable if necessary.

US secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed support for Israel's intensified military campaign against Hezbollah, citing "clear and legitimate" reasons for Israel's actions. Speaking at a news conference in Laos, Blinken noted Hezbollah's involvement in escalating conflict following the events of October 7. He emphasised the importance of protecting civilians during the fighting and highlighted the need for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza. Blinken reaffirmed the US commitment to seeking a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, which he believes is essential for the safety of both Israeli and Lebanese citizens.

Leaders from nine EU Mediterranean nations, including France, Italy, and Spain, have called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah amid the intensifying conflict in Lebanon. In a joint statement issued during a MED9 summit in Cyprus, the leaders expressed grave concern over the escalating violence between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. They urged an immediate ceasefire along the Blue Line—the U.N.-monitored demarcation separating Lebanon from Israel—and called for the swift delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon, warning of the broader regional implications of the conflict.

The hostilities began a year ago when Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas during the Gaza war. This conflict has escalated significantly in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Beirut, targeting Hezbollah’s leadership. Israel has also sent ground forces into southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah has fired rockets deeper into Israeli territory. The ongoing violence has claimed numerous lives and further destabilised the already volatile region, raising fears of a broader conflict between Iran-backed forces and Israel.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned as unacceptable Friday Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, where Italy has more than 1,000 troops.

"UNIFIL mission headquarters and two Italian bases were hit by gunfire fired by Israeli forces... It is not acceptable, it violates what is established under UN resolution 1701" which governs the peacekeepers' presence, Meloni said at a summit of European and Mediterranean leaders in Cyprus. (AFP)

The Israeli military said its forces fired at a threat near a UN peacekeeping mission position on Friday in southern Lebanon, and acknowledged that a "hit" was responsible for wounding two people, after an inital examination of the incident.

Israeli "soldiers operating in southern Lebanon identified an immediate threat against them. The soldiers responded with fire toward the threat. An initial examination indicates that during the incident, a hit was identified on a UNIFIL post, located approximately 50 meters (yards) from the source of the threat, resulting in the injury of two UNIFIL personnel," the statement said.

It came after the UN mission said two of its peacekeepers were injured after explosions close to an observation tower at its Naqura headquarters.

It was the second incident of its kind reported by UNIFIL in two days, after two other Blue Helmets were injured on Thursday, sparking global condemnation.

Hours before Friday's incident, "the IDF instructed UNIFIL personnel to enter into protected spaces and remain there. This instruction was in place at the time of the incident," the military added.

The statement came shortly after the military said it was "conducting a thorough review" to determine details of attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, after the four mission members were injured.

"The IDF expresses deep concern over incidents of this kind and is currently conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command to determine the details," the military said.

UN peacekeepers patrolling the Lebanese side of the border with Israel have been thrust into the violence of the Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, and displaced a million others. (AFP)

The Israeli military is conducting a thorough review after being notified that two U.N. peacekeepers were "inadvertently" hurt in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said in a statement on Friday.

France summoned Israel's ambassador on Friday to seek an explanation after Israeli troops fired at positions held by U.N. peacekeepers, including at the Naqoura base in southern Lebanon, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"These attacks constitute serious violations of international law and must stop immediately," the ministry said.

France has about 700 troops as part of the UNIFIL mission. None of its troops has been wounded so far.

The ministry said that all sides in the conflict had an obligation to protect peacekeepers. (Reuters)

UN interim forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Friday that an Israeli military (IDF) bulldozer knocked over barriers at UN position 1-31 near the Blue Line in Labbouneh, and IDF tanks moved into the proximity of the UN position. (ANI)

The United Nations has said that the south Lebanon incidents pose 'very serious risks' for peacekeepers. India is closely monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon where almost 900 Indian soldiers are deployed as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has reported some rockets and artillery guns being fired in wake of the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The UN peacekeeping force says new explosions have hit their headquarters in southern Lebanon, injuring two personnel, reports AP

A Thai agricultural worker was killed by an anti-tank missile fired into northern Israel, Israeli emergency services said on Friday, while the army confirmed that two civilians were injured in a strike from Lebanon.

Israel has been battling Hezbollah since the Iran-backed militant group started launching cross-border attacks from Lebanon in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack.

"Following an anti-tank missile strike on farmland in Upper Galilee, (rescue workers) declared the death of a 27-year-old Thai foreign worker," according to a statement from emergency service provider Magen David Adom (MDA). (AFP)

The United Nations on Friday said it was "appalled" by inflammatory language surrounding the war between Israel and Hezbollah and asked leaders to end their "bellicose posturing".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week urged the Lebanese people to rise up against Hezbollah, or risk a similar fate to Hamas-run Gaza.

"We are appalled by sweeping inflammatory language on multiple sides," UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

"Recent language threatening Lebanese people as a whole and calling on them to either rise up against Hezbollah or face destruction like Gaza, risks being understood as encouraging or accepting violence directed against civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international law."

She also decried as "unacceptable" the "ongoing denigration of the UN, in particular UNRWA", the UN agency supporting nearly six million Palestinian refugees spread across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

"This kind of toxic rhetoric, from any source, must stop," she said. (AFP)

The UK government on Friday condemned alleged firing by Israeli forces on a United Nations peacekeeper base in Lebanon, urging all parties in the conflict to "comply with international law".

"We were appalled to hear those reports and it is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected," a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters. (AFP)

Israel's military chief and the head of its Shin Ben security agency held a security assessment inside southern Lebanon on Thursday, the military said on Friday.

"We continue to operate against the enemy and will not stop until we ensure that we can safely return the residents (evacuated from the north), not just now, but with a future outlook," said Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Chief of the General Staff, in a video of the gathering released by the military.

"If anyone considers rebuilding these villages again, they will know that it's not worth constructing terrorist infrastructure because the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will neutralize them again." (Reuters)

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday urged the United Nations to pass a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

In a televised address, Mikati emphasised his government's commitment to deploy the army on the border with Israel as part of a cessation of hostilities, and said Hezbollah agreed on the matter.

Mikati said Lebanon's foreign ministry would ask the UN Security Council to issue a resolution calling for a "full and immediate ceasefire". (AFP)

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, expressed apprehension regarding the insufficient humanitarian assistance reaching the northern region of Gaza, which has been devastated by conflict. Blinken conveyed these concerns during a press briefing following his participation in the East Asia Summit held in Laos.

"I have real concern about the inadequacy of the assistance that's getting to them," Blinken stated, emphasizing the gravity of the situation. He further disclosed that the United States has been actively engaging with Israel to address this pressing issue.

Turkey has denounced Israel's recent assaults on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), according to a statement released by its foreign ministry late Thursday. The ministry emphasized that Turkey will persist in backing comparable peacekeeping efforts and organizations.

The Israeli attacks on Unifil personnel in recent days, which occurred amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza and cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, have resulted in injuries to UN staff and raised international concerns.

Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon stated, "Israel recommends Unifil relocate north in Lebanon 'to avoid danger as fighting intensifies'."

The Turkish foreign ministry's statement asserted that "Israel's attacks on UN forces, following its massacres against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Friday that they had successfully targeted and killed the top commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in the Nur Shams refugee camp, located in the occupied West Bank. The commander, identified as Mohammad Abdullah, was "eliminated" during an Israeli airstrike on the camp in Tulkarem on Thursday.

In addition to Abdullah, the IDF reported that another "terrorist" was killed during the operation. The military also stated that they recovered M-16 rifles and vests from the scene.

Mohammad Abdullah had taken over the leadership role in the Nur Shams refugee camp after the previous commander, Muhammad Jabber, also known as Abu Shujaa, was killed in a similar Israeli strike in late August.

Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, is known to be an ally of Hamas. Both organizations are actively engaged in armed conflict with Israeli forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli strikes on a heavily populated region in central Beirut late on Thursday resulted in the deaths of at least 22 people, Lebanese health ministry said.

"The Israeli enemy's attacks on the capital Beirut this evening resulted in a new toll of 22 people killed and 117 injured," the ministry said in an updated toll statement.

The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) reported that one of its aircraft attacked a terrorist cell in the Tulkarm region of Samaria.

The IDF said it will provide details of the attack later.

Lebanon’s UN ambassador is calling for an immediate cease-fire, but Israel’s envoy says its military operation will continue until Hezbollah’s control of the south is dismantled and it can’t attack Israelis across the border.

Lebanon’s UN Ambassador Hadi Hachem told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by France that Israel’s bombings and invasion won’t provide security, safety and stability for its people.

“Israel cannot return the displaced to their homes without an agreement,” he said.

Hachem said Lebanon is fully committed to the French-American initiative for a 21-day cease-fire “during which we can settle outstanding border issues.” He accused Israel of agreeing to the initiative “before reneging on it and escalating its aggression.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the council Israeli soldiers in the field “will degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities, remove their ability to launch attacks against our people, diminish the terror network that stretches across the south of Lebanon.”

Danon stressed there is only one path to peace in Israel and Lebanon: It must be without Hezbollah, and the 2006 council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war must be fully implemented. Its key provision call for disarming all armed groups including Hezbollah and the Lebanese army’s deployment and control of the entire south.

The White House is "deeply concerned" by reports Israel fired on UN peacekeeper headquarters in south Lebanon, a National Security Council spokesperson said Thursday.
"We understand Israel is conducting targeted operations near the Blue Line to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure that could be used to threaten Israeli citizens," the spokesperson said, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. "While they undertake these operations, it is critical that they not threaten UN peacekeepers' safety and security."

A Lebanese security source told AFP that Israel targeted a Hezbollah official with its central Beirut strikes on Thursday, but it was unclear if he was among the 18 killed.
"The target of the attacks is a Hezbollah figure," the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The Israeli military said that its troops operated on Thursday morning in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon, near a UNIFIL base, adding that it instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the Israeli forces opened fire.

A thick plume of smoke could be seen rising from central Beirut after missiles were heard flying over the city on Thursday, Reuters witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear what was struck.

Israeli forces have acted illegally by shooting at positions used by U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday, denouncing it as a possible war crime.

The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel -- an area that has seen serious clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

UNIFIL said two of its peacekeepers were injured when Israeli soldiers fired on its positions on both Wednesday and Thursday.

France said it was waiting for explanations from Israel after U.N. peacekeeping troops were targeted in Lebanon on Thursday and that it was an obligation to ensure their safety.
"France expresses its deep concern following the Israeli shots that hit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and condemns any attack on the security of UNIFIL," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that none of its 700 troops in the mission had been wounded.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon UNIFIL said Israeli tank fire on its headquarters in the country's south on Thursday wounded two of its members, as Israeli troops battle Hezbollah militants on the border.

"This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall," the force said, using an acronym for the Israeli military.

"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital," it said, adding that "UNIFIL's Naqura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit".

According to UNIFIL, the Israeli military also hit another position in Ras Naqura on Thursday.

A Belgian military plane has evacuated 111 people from Lebanon, Hadja Lahbib, the Belgian minister of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
The flight from Beirut to Brussels was carrying 58 Belgian nationals and those with residence rights and 53 Europeans, Lahbib said on social media platform X.

Germany will supply more weapons to Israel soon, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, after a significant drop in deliveries this year prompted opposition accusations that Berlin deliberately delayed the exports.

"We have not decided not to supply weapons. We have supplied weapons and we will supply weapons," Scholz told parliament at an event to commemorate the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, countering an accusation from opposition leader Friedrich Merz.

The government had made decisions "that also ensure that there will be further deliveries soon," the chancellor said.

Israel is deliberately targeting health facilities and killing and torturing medical personnel in Gaza, UN investigators said Thursday, accusing the country of "crimes against humanity".
"Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza's healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza," the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a statement.

Lebanese authorities detained a US-Israeli national in Beirut last week and later deported him, Lebanese security and judicial sources said on Thursday.
"Joshua Samuel, a US-Israeli journalist, was detained on October 5 and deported the following day," a judicial official said, requesting to remain anonymous.

Israel intensified air strikes in Lebanon over two weeks ago, targeting the Hezbollah armed group.

Lebanese law prohibits any contact with Israel, punishable by imprisonment, and Lebanese citizens are barred from travelling to its southern neighbour.

Israeli troops opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday, a UN source told Reuters, without immediately being able to specify the type of fire. The source said one of the locations that was fired at was UNIFL's main base at Naqoura.

An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza killed at least 21 people on Thursday, with the toll likely to rise, Palestinian medical officials said.
Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran. It launched a large-scale air and ground operation against Hamas in northern Gaza earlier this week.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought, confirmed the toll from the strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah. It said several other people were wounded in the strike.

In a recent attack, Israeli forces targeted a school in Gaza that was providing shelter to displaced individuals, resulting in the deaths of at least 13 people, according to Palestinian medical sources. The death toll is anticipated to increase.

Despite the growing focus on Israel's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and escalating tensions with Iran, the country has persisted in striking what it claims to be militant targets throughout the Palestinian enclave. Israel has been engaged in a prolonged air and ground campaign against Hamas in northern Gaza.

"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought, confirmed the toll from the strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah." An Associated Press reporter witnessed ambulances arriving at the hospital, with many of the bodies arriving in pieces, suggesting that the death toll is likely to rise further.

The Israeli military has not provided an immediate response to the incident. According to witnesses, the strike targeted a temporary post of the Hamas-run police located within the shelter.

An office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg was the target of shooting Thursday, according to media, with Swedish police saying there were no injuries.

"We received a report in the morning about a shooting against an Israeli object in Kalleback" in Gothenburg, police spokesman Fredrik Svedemyr said in a statement, adding that a young suspect had been arrested.

Diplomatic communications have intensified in the past hours, before a UN Security Council meeting discussing the situation in the Middle East, Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement on X on Thursday.

"There are contacts taking place between the United States and France with the aim of reviving a ceasefire declaration for a specific period in order to resume the search for political solutions," he was quoted as saying.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a road connecting Syria and Lebanon in the Quseir area on the Syrian side of the border on Thursday. The attack is believed to be part of Israel's efforts to disrupt supply routes used by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"Israeli aircraft carried out a strike targeting the road linking Syria and Lebanon" in the Quseir region on the Syrian side of the border, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the group with a wide network of sources in Syria, said the strike came as part of Israeli attempts "to cut the supply line to Hezbollah".

The United States has advised its ally Israel to refrain from conducting military operations in Lebanon similar to those carried out in Gaza, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warning that Lebanon could face "destruction" akin to the Palestinian territory.

Israel's military chief, Herzi Halevi, pledged to continue targeting Hezbollah, a campaign that has claimed over 1,200 lives since September 23, "without allowing them any respite or recovery".

These statements followed a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, their first in nearly two months. The White House reported that Biden urged Netanyahu to "minimise harm" to civilians in Lebanon, especially in "densely populated areas of Beirut".

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller emphasized, "There should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza."

In a video message addressed to the Lebanese people on Tuesday, Netanyahu stated, "You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza." He further added, "Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."

Hamas has accused Israel of killing Muhammad al-Tanani, a cameraman for Al-Aqsa TV, a television station operated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Al-Tanani was laid to rest by his colleagues at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in northern Gaza City on Wednesday afternoon, as reported by AFP journalists present at the scene.

In a statement released by Hamas's press office, the organization labeled the killing a "despicable crime" and held the Israeli army "fully responsible" for the incident, although they did not provide any details regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.

Concurrently, Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera reported that one of its cameramen, Fadi al-Wahidi, was "injured by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza, becoming the second Al Jazeera cameraman to be injured in an Israeli attack this week". According to an AFP journalist who witnessed the incident, Wahidi sustained a neck injury while covering Israeli operations in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, in an area that the Israeli army had previously instructed civilians to evacuate.