Israel isolates towns in Gaza as residents are forced to flee

TOP HEADLINES

• Israeli forces have widened their raid into northern Gaza, forcing residents to flee their homes. READ MORE BELOW

• United States officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran. READ MORE BELOW

• Israel ordered more evacuations and targeted a new location in northern Lebanon on Saturday. READ MORE BELOW

• U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed deep concern to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant over reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon. READ MORE BELOW

• Lebanon's Hezbollah group said in a statement on Saturday that it attacked the outskirts of Tel Aviv with a swarm of drones.

• The Lebanese Red Cross said its paramedics were hit by a strike on Sunday while attending the site of an earlier attack in the south, leaving them lightly injured.

• Lebanese official media said an Israeli air strike on Sunday had destroyed a mosque in the war-torn south.

• Forty nations that contribute to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Saturday they "strongly condemn recent attacks" on the peacekeepers.

• UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned on Saturday against a "catastrophic" regional conflict as Israeli forces battled Hezbollah and Hamas militants on two fronts, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

• Hezbollah says it is fighting with Israeli troops at 'point-blank range' in a Lebanese village.

• The Israeli army says it has captured a Hezbollah fighter in a south Lebanon tunnel.

•  More than 42,227 Palestinians have been killed and 98,464 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

'We will not leave'

Israeli tanks reached the north edge of Gaza City, pounding some districts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, residents said, leading to people attempting to leave the region - as Israel reached the one-year anniversary of the start of its retaliation to Hamas' attacks.

Residents said Israeli forces have effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the enclave from Gaza City.

Gaza's health ministry said the eight-day-old Israeli incursions in the north have so far killed dozens of Palestinians, with dozens of others feared dead on roads and under rubble, beyond the reach of medical teams.

Many Jabalia residents posted on social media platforms: "We will not leave, we die, and we don't leave."

After a year of Israeli assaults that killed 42,000 Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of residents have come back to ruined northern areas. A week ago, Israel sent troops back to root out fighters it said were regrouping for more attacks. Hamas denies fighters operate among civilians.

The escalation in northern Gaza has taken place alongside a huge Israeli air assault and ground campaign on a separate front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.

"As the world is focused on Lebanon and possible Israeli strike against Iran, Israel is wiping out Jabalia," said Nasser, a resident of Beit Lahiya.

"The occupation is blowing up roads and destroying residential districts. People also don't find anything to eat, they are trapped inside their homes, fearing bombs could fall onto their heads."

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday forces operating throughout the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours had attacked about 40 targets and killed dozens of militants.

"The forces of Division 162 continue to operate in the Jabalia region, in the last day the forces killed dozens of terrorists and found explosives, weapons, grenades and other means of warfare in the region," it said.

Some tank shells landed in some streets of the Gaza City suburb of Sheikh Radwan, where tanks arrived at the edges of the territory, residents said, spreading panic among the population further south.

Israel 'ready to strike' Iran

U.S. officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran's attack this month to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported on Saturday.

The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in a year of war as Israel battles Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on October 1, launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

There is no indication Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the report said, citing unnamed U.S. officials and adding Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.

U.S. and Israeli officials said a response could come during the current Yom Kippur holiday, according to the report.

The conflict has sharply escalated in recent weeks. Hezbollah said on Sunday it was fighting Israeli forces trying to infiltrate Ramya village in southern Lebanon.

Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle "terrorist infrastructure".

"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.

Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.

Lebanese ministry says at least 15 dead in Israeli strikes

At least 15 people were killed and 37 wounded in Israeli strikes across three different areas in Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said. One of the targeted locations was in the town of Deir Billa in northern Lebanon, which had not been struck before.

The Israeli military also said Hezbollah had fired nearly 320 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday, without giving further details. It declared areas around some towns in north Israel closed to the public.

Also on Saturday, Israel's military ordered residents of 23 southern Lebanese villages to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows from the western Bekaa Valley into the Mediterranean.

The order, communicated via a military statement, mentioned villages in southern Lebanon that have been recent targets of Israeli attacks, many of which are already almost empty.

The Israeli military said evacuations were necessary for the safety of residents due to increased Hezbollah activities, claiming the group is using sites to conceal weapons and launch attacks on Israel.

Hezbollah denies concealing weapons among civilians.

'Deep concern' over threat to UN peacekeepers

A third United Nations peacekeeper was wounded in Israel's escalating conflict with Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, expressed "deep concern" about reports Israeli forces had fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.

Austin also "reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible," according to the Pentagon statement.

The Lebanese health ministry said on X five hospitals sustained damage from the Israeli airstrikes in the eastern city of Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that Hezbollah was using ambulances to transport fighters and weapons and that it would take any necessary action.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) last week was forced to close its clinic in a southern suburb of Beirut and temporarily stop its activities in another one in the north, because of heavy airstrikes, the group said in a statement on Thursday.

Another member of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, was struck by gunfire on Friday, the organisation said on Saturday, adding that the man was stable after undergoing surgery to remove the bullet.

The statement also said UNIFIL's position in the southern Lebanese town of Ramyah sustained significant damage due to explosions following nearby shelling but did not specify who was responsible for either attack.

Two peacekeepers were wounded by an Israeli strike near their watchtower in south Lebanon on Friday, drawing condemnations from the global body and various countries.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Saturday more Lebanese have been displaced than during the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, when around one million fled their homes.

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