Middle East crisis live: heavy Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut as up to 18 reported killed in attack on Gaza mosque
Key events
Gaza’s civil defence agency says an Israeli strike on a mosque-turned-shelter in central Deir al-Balah killed 21 people.
“The number of deaths rose to 21 and a large number of wounded as a result of the occupation (Israel) bombing of a mosque sheltering displaced people in front of the gate of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip,” said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Israel’s military has said it targeted the mosque because Hamas was using it as a command and control centre.
Australian supporters of Palestine have taken to the streets in Sydney and Melbourne, a day before the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel.
Rallies were scheduled to take place in cities across Australia, with demonstrators warned not to display symbols linked to designated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
Police in New South Wales had sought to block the Sunday rally from taking place, but an agreement reached with organisers allowed the event to go ahead with an altered route.
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António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, released a video message this morning on the eve of the anniversary of the 7 October attack that sparked this latest round of extraordinary violence.
He said the attacks “scarred souls”.
“On this day we remember all those who were brutally killed and suffered unspeakable violence, including sexual violence as they were simply living their lives. This is a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas including the taking of hostages.”
Guterres said he had met many families of hostages and “shared their pain and anguish”, demanding again the immediate and unconditional release.
He said 7 October was “naturally a day to focus on events of the awful day”.
“Since October 7th a wave of shocking violence and bloodshed has erupted. The war that has followed the terrible attacks of a year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza and now the people of Lebanon.
I have spoken out about this often and clearly. It is time for the release of the hostages, time to silence the guns, time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law and justice.”
He said the UN was committed to achieving the goals, and that it was important to “hold on to hope” amidst the bloodshed.
“Let us never stop working for a lasting solution to the conflict, where Israel, Palestine and all other countries of the region can finally live in peace and dignity and with respect for one another.”
Last week Guterres spoke to the UN Security Council, demanding an end to what he called a “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence”. It came after a statement by Israel’s foreign minister declaring Guterres persona non grata and barring him from entering Israel, accusing him of failing to “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack.
The US state department has said it evacuated 145 US citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families from Lebanon on Saturday.
The cohort left on two flights from Beirut to Istanbul. Each flight could take 300 passengers.
A spokesperson for the state department said more than 600 people had been assisted to leave Lebanon via the government-organised flights, and more than 2,600 seats have been made available on those and commercial flights. The department has advised Americans since late September to depart Lebanon “while commercial options still remain available,” and warned those who stay to “be prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate further.”
The death toll at the Gaza mosque strike has risen to 18, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Israeli air strike on the Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, also reportedly injured dozens of people. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.
The Israeli Air Force earlier confirmed that the mosque in Deir al-Balah was a target, saying it was being used by Hamas. It also said it struck another site “that was previously used as the Ibn Rushd school”.
“The command and control complexes were used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist operations against the IDF forces and the State of Israel,” it said in a statement published on the Air Force’s X account.
The IAF did not detail casualties. It said that prior to the attack “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information.”
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. Here’s a recap of the latest news.
In the last few hours Beirut has been under intense air strikes by Israeli forces. Local media have described the strikes as the most severe of the conflict so far, with some landing near the airport where flights are taking off with hundreds of foreign evacuees. Explosions have been reported and photographed across the city.
Israel has also continued to target Gaza and the West Bank, with air strikes on a mosque in Gaza killing at least five people, according to Reuters. Al Jazeera reports up to 18 fatalities at the mosque, which eyewitnesses told Reuters was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli air force said the mosque was being used by Hamas as a command centre, and that it took steps to reduce harm to civilians.
In other developments:
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Israel strikes hit south Beirut and its outskirts on Saturday night, official Lebanese media reported. “Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat” area, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. Correspondents in Beirut reported hearing explosions, and Agence France-Presse footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas.
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An Israel military spokesman said the country would retaliate against Iran for the Iranian missile attack at “the timing which we decide”. “The way in which we respond to this disgraceful attack will be in the manner, at the location and the timing which we decide, according to the political leadership’s instructions,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement on Saturday, according to a Reuters report.
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Iran said any attack by Israel would be met with an “even stronger” retaliation, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. “Our reaction to any attack by the Zionist regime is completely clear,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, told reporters in Damascus, Syria. “For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and even stronger.”
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Benjamin Netanyahu said Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was a “disgrace” for calling for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel. “The axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this [axis] call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace,” the Israeli prime minister said. “Well let me tell you this Israel will win with or without their support but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
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Macron’s office responded with a statement of its own later Saturday, describing Netanyahu’s reaction as “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel”. It said France was still “a steadfast friend of Israel”.
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The president of Ireland sharply criticised Israel’s demand that UN peacekeepers leave their positions in southern Lebanon. “It is outrageous that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending,” Michael Higgins said. The IDF had requested that peacekeepers operating on the “blue line” between Israel and the Golan Heights “relocate”.
