Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah continue to engage in fierce fighting. Both sides called on the population to avoid military facilities.
Despite Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, fighting continues in the Middle East. Hezbollah in Lebanon said it used rockets and drones to attack Israeli bases near the coastal city of Haifa, the militia said on Saturday. Israel continued its attacks in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The Israeli army warned residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes.
Hezbollah fighters had “targeted the explosives factory there south of Haifa,” the Iran-backed militia said on Saturday.
A later statement from the militia said its fighters had launched “a squadron of attack drones on the Kiryat Eliezer air base in western Haifa” on Friday evening.
The highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, also known as the Feast of Atonement, has been celebrated in Israel since Friday evening. Shops across the country remained closed, public transport was suspended, while observant Jews fasted and prayed.
Mutual warnings to the population
Hezbollah had previously called on residents of northern Israel to stay away from army facilities in residential areas. Sirens sounded in several places in northern Israel early Saturday morning.
The Israeli army warned residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes amid ongoing fighting with Hezbollah militia. Israeli troops continued to target “Hezbollah positions in or near” their villages, army spokesman Avichay Adraee told online service X.
“For your own safety, do not return to your homes until new instructions are issued,” it said. Anyone who goes south risks their lives, warned Adraee.
Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon are engaged in fierce fighting on the border, which has intensified significantly in recent weeks. Immediately after the major Hamas attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah, which is allied with the Islamist Hamas, opened a second front on the Israeli-Lebanese border. At the end of September, Israel launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah there.
Israel intensifies operations around the city of Jabaliya
The Israeli army continues to take action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In recent days, it has launched another extensive ground and air operation in the north of the Palestinian territory – particularly around the city of Jabaliya.
Army spokesman Adraee had previously called on residents of the Sheikh Radwan area, south of the Jabaliya refugee camp, to evacuate.
The area, including the shelters within it, is considered a “dangerous combat zone,” the army spokesman told X and called on residents to go to the humanitarian zone in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Criticism after firing at UN soldiers
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, at least 30 people were killed in northern Gaza on Friday. In addition, at least 110 other people were injured in the attacks on the city of Jabaliya and the refugee camp of the same name.
On Friday, another incident with injured peacekeepers in Lebanon sparked sharp international criticism of Israel’s actions in the fight against Hezbollah.
Israel’s ‘attack will be deadly, precise and surprising’
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According to the UN peacekeeping force Unifil, two of its soldiers were injured in two explosions near a watchtower. The Israeli army said it responded to an “imminent threat” near a Unifil base in southern Lebanon. Two Unifil soldiers were accidentally injured.
The day before, two Unifil soldiers had been injured as a result of a shelling, for which the UN force blamed the Israeli army. The Israeli army said it was “deeply concerned about incidents of this nature” and announced “a thorough investigation at the highest command levels.”
US special envoy: “unacceptable” developments
The US special envoy for Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, spoke of “unacceptable” developments in view of the incidents. He also said the US was working “continuously” on a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militia. “We want the entire conflict to end. We are working on that non-stop,” Hochstein told the Lebanese television station LBC.
The parliamentary speaker of Iran – the protector of Hamas and Hezbollah – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visited a part of Beirut devastated by Israeli air strikes on Saturday. “The wild Zionist regime and at its head its Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) (…) are committing these crimes,” Ghalibaf told journalists. According to Hezbollah, at least 22 people were killed in the attack on Thursday.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
