A man stands at a site damaged by Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, in Lebanon, October 27, 2024. © Mohammed Yassin, Reuters

Live: Lebanon accuses Israel of rejecting truce after Beirut strikes

· France 24

01/11/2024 - 13:38

FRANCE 24 report: NGOs lead relief efforts in Lebanon as humanitarian crisis worsens

As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, Lebanon faces a mounting humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. In the absence of sufficient state resources, local NGOs and volunteers have stepped in to provide crucial support.

One such organisation, Offre Joie, has been at the forefront of these efforts, establishing community shelters and coordinating aid. FRANCE 24’s Rawad Taha takes an inside look at their work on the ground.

01/11/2024 - 13:15

At least 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on school in Gaza, medics say

At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Friday in an Israeli strike targeting the entrance of a school sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics told Reuters.

01/11/2024 - 13:15

UN envoy says war puts Lebanon heritage sites 'in deep peril'

The UN's special coordinator for Lebanon on Friday said the country's cultural heritage was being endangered by Israeli strikes on the ancient Lebanese cities of Tyre and Baalbek, home to UNESCO-designated Roman ruins. 

"Ancient Phoenician cities steeped in history are in deep peril of being left in ruins," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a social media post, adding that "Lebanon's cultural heritage must not become yet another casualty in this devastating conflict".

01/11/2024 - 13:15

Gaza polio vaccinations to resume Saturday, says WHO

The World Health Organization said on Friday that a second round of child polio vaccinations in northern Gaza would begin on Saturday, after Israeli bombing in the area halted the drive.

"Polio vaccination in northern Gaza is ready to resume tomorrow," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, adding: "We are assured of the necessary humanitarian pause in Gaza City to conduct the campaign."

01/11/2024 - 11:33

43,259 Palestinians killed in Gaza, health ministry says

At least 43,259 Palestinians have been killed and 101,827 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The death toll from Israeli strikes on central Gaza on Thursday rose to 25, Palestinian hospital officials said in a separate statement.

01/11/2024 - 11:24

WHO 'deeply concerned' about 'rising attacks' on Lebanon healthcare

The World Health Organization is deeply concerned about rising attacks on health care workers and facilities in Lebanon, a WHO official said on Friday.

While 55 attacks have been verified, the actual number of incidents is likely to be significantly higher, Margaret Harris said at a UN briefing.

01/11/2024 - 11:20

Lebanon state media says Israel strikes eastern city of Baalbek

The official National News Agency on Friday reported an Israeli strike on the eastern city of Baalbek, following heavy air raids on the area in recent days.

Israeli "enemy aircraft launched a raid on the Zahraa neighbourhood in the city of Baalbek," home to ancient Roman ruins designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, NNA said.

Thousands fled the historic Lebanese city and neighboring towns on Thursday after Israel's latest evacuation orders. 

01/11/2024 - 10:58

US asked Lebanon to declare unilateral ceasefire with Israel, two sources say

A US envoy this week asked Lebanon to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel as part of an effort to help negotiations to reach a resolution for the more than year-long conflict, a senior Lebanese political source and a senior diplomat told Reuters.

The sources said the effort was communicated by US Lebanon Envoy Amos Hochstein to Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

But such an announcement was seen as a non-starter in Lebanon, the sources said, where it would likely be equated with a surrender.

In a statement to Reuters later on Friday, Mikati's office denied that the US had asked the government to declare a unilateral ceasefire.

01/11/2024 - 09:45

Lebanon PM says expanded strikes suggest Israel's 'rejection' of ceasefire

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday criticised Israel's "expansion" of its attacks on his country, saying they indicated a rejection of efforts to broker a truce after more than a month of war.

"The Israeli enemy's renewed expansion of the scope of its aggression on Lebanese regions, its repeated threats to the population to evacuate entire cities and villages, and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids, are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy's rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire," Mikati said in a statement after overnight raids hit Beirut's southern suburbs, in the first such attack this week.

01/11/2024 - 09:37
01/11/2024 - 08:05

47 Palestinians killed overnight in Israeli strikes in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency says

Forty seven Palestinians were killed and dozens injured, most of them children and women, in overnight Israeli bombardment of the the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Friday.

The attacks occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat camp and the town of Al-Zawayda, it said.

The Israeli military said its troops had identified and eliminated "several armed terrorists" in central Gaza and had eliminated "dozens of terrorists" in targeted raids in northern Gaza's Jabalia area.

01/11/2024 - 06:42

Israeli military says it intercepted a UAV in Syrian territory that was launched towards Israel

The Israeli military said on Friday it intercepted overnight an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Syrian territory that was launched towards Israel.

The UAV was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, the IDF said.

01/11/2024 - 06:27

01/11/2024 - 04:50

Israel strikes southern Beirut neighborhood after Israeli evacuation orders, says Lebanon news agency

At least 10 strikes hit Beirut's suburban areas of Ghobeiry and Al-Kafaat, the Sayyed Hadi Highway, the vicinity of the Al-Mujtaba Complex at dawn on Friday, Lebanon's official news agency said, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for buildings in the area.

AFPTV footage showed explosions followed by clouds of smoke that rang out in the city's suburbs after the Israeli army ordered several buildings in Hezbollah's stronghold to evacuate. "The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were levelled to the ground, in addition to the outbreak of fires," the National News Agency (NNA) said.

Friday's strikes come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met visiting US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon, with the death toll mounting on both sides of the border.

01/11/2024 - 04:50

Cross-border Hezbollah rockets kill 7 in Israel

Rocket barrages from Lebanon into northern Israel killed four foreign workers and three Israelis on Thursday, Israeli medics said, the deadliest cross-border strikes in Israel since it invaded Lebanon. Israel kept up airstrikes it says targeted Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, where health authorities on Thursday reported 24 people killed.

Projectiles from Lebanon crashed into an agricultural area in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, killing four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer, officials said.

Hours later, the Israeli military reported another volley of some 25 rockets from Lebanon, striking an olive grove in a suburb of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. That strike killed a 30-year-old man and 60-year-old woman while wounding two others, said Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization.

01/11/2024 - 04:49

Welcome to our live blog, where we post the latest news on the war in the Middle East. To read all about yesterday's key developments, click here.

Yesterday's key developments:

  • US diplomats are en route to Israel for ceasefire negotiations.
  • Israel army issued evacuation orders for several southern Lebanon villages.
  • The UN said at least one child has been killed every day since the war between Israel and Lebanon started in early October.
  • At least 46 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, hospital hit, says Gaza ministry

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)