Middle East latest: Dozens killed as Israeli troops pound central, northern Gaza

Jerusalem: Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials said on Wednesday, as the death toll in the yearlong war passed 42,000.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. The toll is likely higher as there are bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military spokesperson, said that Israeli forces were operating in Jabaliya to prevent Hamas from regrouping and had killed about 100 militants, without providing evidence. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.

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 October 8, 2023.

Here is the latest:

Top UN official in Lebanon says ceasefire is still on the table

UNITED NATIONS – The top UN official in Lebanon repeated her call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the 21-day cease-fire proposal launched by the US and France is still on the table “and very relevant”.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on Wednesday that a halt to fighting is the only way to ease “the colossal human suffering that is happening right now”, address Lebanon’s “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions” and provide a window “for diplomatic efforts to take hold and succeed”.

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon expressed hope during a video press conference from Beirut “that Israel will now, or soon, be ready to add its support to the many calls and appeals out there for a cease-fire or a pause”.

 “I’m not saying that it’s going to be an easy ride or walk in a park,” she said. “It will be difficult, but I am convinced that it’s doable, and it’s in the interest of Lebanon, in the interest of Israel to find sustainable solutions.”

Hennis-Plasschaert said there must also be a realistic roadmap to implement the 2006 UN Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Its key provisions include disarming all armed groups including Hezbollah and deploying the Lebanese army throughout the country’s south, which borders Israel and is mainly controlled by the militant group.

 “At the end of the day, it is the lack or non-implementation of resolution 1701 over the past 18 years that led to today’s harsh reality,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.

Israeli move to ban UN agency could derail aid to Palestinians, official warns

UNITED NATIONS — The head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees is warning that if pending Israeli legislation is adopted, all humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank may “disintegrate”, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in dire need as conflict rages.

An Israeli parliamentary committee approved a pair of bills Monday that would ban the agency, known as UNRWA, from operating in Israeli territory and end all contact between the government and UNRWA. The bill needs final approval from the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that senior Israeli officials are bent on destroying the agency.

He urged the UN’s most powerful body to shield UNRWA “from efforts to end its mandate arbitrarily and prematurely in the absence of a long-promised political solution”, saying the legislation violates Israel’s obligations under the UN Charter and international law.

Lazzarini stressed that operationally the entire humanitarian response in Gaza rests on UNRWA’s infrastructure — and it “may disintegrate” if the legislation is adopted.

He also warned that the halt to coordination with Israel would further disrupt the provision of shelter, food and health care to Palestinians as winter approaches, more than 650,000 children would lose any hope of resuming their education “and an entire generation would be sacrificed”.

Airstrike kills 5 Lebanese Civil Defence paramedics, officials say

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike hit a Lebanese Civil Defense centre in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, killing five paramedics stationed there Wednesday, civil defence spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press.

The Lebanese Health Ministry also confirmed the news in a statement, saying Israel has “renewed its targeting of rescue and ambulance crews tonight, disregarding international laws, norms and humanitarian conventions”.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.

Among the victims was Abdullah Al-Moussawi, head of the Tyre regional civil defence centre, Khairallah said. The health ministry said teams continued to search for survivors in the rubble.

Before Wednesday’s strike, six civil defence members had been killed since last October, Khairallah said.

As of last Thursday, the health ministry reported that more than 100 paramedics had been killed by Israeli airstrikes since last October and 225 wounded, with significant damage to emergency infrastructure, including 128 ambulances and fire trucks destroyed, as well as damage to nine hospitals and 45 medical centres.

Just last week, Al-Moussawi, spoke with the Associated Press, saying the Israeli airstrikes had made his team increasingly nervous, but that they were hopeful that the international protection guaranteed to medics would extend to them as well.

 “We put international protection (tag) on our vehicles along with the (national) Civil Defence flag and we wear the yellow vests,” he said.

Video shows what appears to be Israeli soldiers raising flag in Lebanon

TEL AVIV, Israel — Video verified by The Associated Press shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a village in southern Lebanon.

In the video, which appears to have been filmed in Maroun A-Ras, three soldiers are seen hoisting a flag atop a pile of debris. A soldier off camera speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby Israeli village of Avivim. It was not clear when the video was recorded.

Israeli troops have been operating in Maroun a-Ras, where they have taken up positions inside a public garden on the edge of the village.

The video follows other similar acts that took place throughout Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israeli strike on Iran would be lethal, defence minister says

JERUSALEM — Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that an Israeli strike on Iran in response to its recent missile attack would be “lethal” and “surprising”.

 “Our attack will be lethal, precise and above all surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said during a speech to Israeli troops.

Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel last week in an escalation of the conflict between the two countries.

Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack but has not outlined what this retaliation would entail.

The ballistic missile attack came weeks after Israel’s military intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon wiping out the majority of Hezbollah’s high ranking commanders including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In July, a strike in Tehran assassinated Hamas’ political leader, Ismael Haniyeh, and Iran blamed Israel. Israel has not confirmed or denied it was behind his killing.

Iran is the main sponsor of the Lebanese militant group and Hamas in Gaza.

Third Brazilian repatriation flight leaves Beirut

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s third repatriation plane left Beirut for Brazil on Wednesday, carrying 218 passengers including 11 infants, as well as five pets, according to a statement from Brazil’s foreign ministry. The flight is set to land in Sao Paulo on Thursday morning local time after a stop to refuel in Lisbon.

The Brazilian government has evacuated 674 people and 11 pets from Lebanon in five days, the foreign ministry said.

The aircraft also delivered Brazil’s second donation of health supplies to Lebanon.

About 21,000 Brazilians live in Lebanon, which is home to the largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East. Two Brazilian adolescents have been killed by Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.

Biden and Netanyahu have first phone conversation in weeks

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday held their first call in seven weeks, a conversation that comes as Israel expands its ground incursion into Lebanon and considers how to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the prime minister had recently spoken with former President Donald Trump.

The Republican, who is the midst of a close White House race against Harris, called Netanyahu last week and “congratulated him on the intense and determined operations that Israel carried out against Hezbollah”, according to Netanyahu’s office.

22 killed and 80 wounded in past 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry says

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s crisis response unit announced on Wednesday that 22 people were killed and 80 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,141 killed and 10,099 wounded, according to Lebanese Health Ministry.

The report also recorded 70 airstrikes and incidents of shelling in the past day, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon,