Heavy fire targets northern Israel; Gaza becomes 'uninhabitable,' says UN

Heavy fire targets northern Israel

Heavy fire from Lebanon has targeted northern Israel, according to the Israeli military, who said it had responded by striking a "terrorist cell" that took part in the attack. The Israeli military said that "approximately 40 launches from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were identified," a short time after rocket sirens rang around northern Israel.

Tensions have been running high in recent days following the death of Hamas deputy leader Salih al-Arouri in a drone strike on Beirut on Tuesday. Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said it had hit a key Israeli observation post with 62 rockets in direct response to the killing of al-Arouri.

The move came a day after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech that all of Lebanon would be exposed if the group did not react to the assassination. Nasrallah added that Hezbollah's current operations on the southern borders opened a "historic opportunity" for Lebanon to liberate its land occupied by Israel and that the Islamic resistance in Iraq also has a "historic opportunity" to get rid of the U.S. presence in that country.

Gaza has become 'uninhabitable': UN

Gaza has become "uninhabitable" after relentless bombing by Israeli forces in retaliation for the Hamas militant group's attack in October, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said. In a statement, Griffiths said: "Three months since the horrific October 7 attacks, Gaza has become a place of death and despair.

"Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence while the world watches on. The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than two million people.

"We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbors, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity."

At least 122 Palestinians have been killed and 256 others injured over the past 24 hours in Gaza, its health ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The latest deaths brings the total death toll in Gaza since October 7 to 22,722 Palestinians, with 58,166 others injured.

Blinken set to meet Turkish leader Erdogan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet the leaders of Türkiye and Greece on Saturday as he kicks off a trip to the Middle East. Blinken began by meeting Türkiye's foreign minister Hakan Fidan in Istanbul on Saturday, and is also scheduled to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a strong critic of Israel's actions in Gaza.

Among the topics due to be covered in Türkiye include the process of ratifying Sweden's membership of NATO, according to a senior State Department official traveling with Blinken. The Top U.S. diplomat will then travel to the island of Crete to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Blinken's visit will include stops "in a number of capitals, including Israel," an official told reporters.

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