Israel moves deeper into Gaza City as UN force says drones landed near peacekeepers in Lebanon

TOP HEADLINES

• The Israeli military has moved deeper into Gaza City, pushing into one of the urban center's largest and most crowded neighborhoods. READ MORE BELOW

• The UN Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli drones dropped four grenades near peacekeepers. READ MORE BELOW

• The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, as sirens were activated in Tel Aviv and several other areas across the country.

• The recognition of a Palestinian state by leading Western nations will trigger a sprint towards a two-state solution, the head of the Palestinian mission in London, Husam Zomlot, said. Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month.

• Israel has launched a new spy satellite into orbit in what defense Minister Israel Katz described on Wednesday as a "message" to its enemies that they are under continuous surveillance.

• The grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Nkosi Zwelivelile 'Mandla' Mandela, will be onboard the Sumud Flotilla, an international, civil society-led maritime initiative launched in mid-2025, aiming to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Mandla said he was responding to the threat posed by "apartheid Israel and Netanyahu and his regime."

IN DETAIL

Israeli's Gaza push intensifies

The Israeli military moved deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, with soldiers and tanks pushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban center's largest and most crowded neighborhoods.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces have advanced through Gaza City's outer suburbs and are now just a few kilometers from the city center despite international calls to halt the offensive.

Gaza City residents said the military had destroyed homes and tent encampments that had housed Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. At least 24 Palestinians, some of them children, were killed by the military across Gaza on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City, according to local health officials.

The military dropped grenades on three schools in the Sheikh Radwan area that had been used to shelter displaced Palestinians, setting tents ablaze, according to residents, who said the Palestinians fled before the bombing.

The military also detonated armoured vehicles laden with explosives to destroy homes in Sheikh Radwan's east and bombed a medical clinic, destroying two ambulances, according to witnesses.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday it would continue to operate against "terrorist organizations" in Gaza and to "remove any threat" posed to the State of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take the city, which he describes as the last stronghold of Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel ignited the war.

In Israel, public sentiment is largely in favor of ending the war in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages. In Jerusalem on Wednesday, protesters climbed the roof of Israel's national library, displaying a banner that read 'You have abandoned and also killed'.

Tens of thousands of reservists reported for duty on Tuesday to support the offensive, forces that a military official told reporters last month were mostly expected to take on non-combat roles, such as in intelligence, or take over from combat soldiers in places like the West Bank who could then be deployed to Gaza.

The attack on Gaza City threatens to displace one million Palestinians, almost half the population of Gaza. The Israeli military in recent weeks has ordered the civilian population to leave their homes, although there are reports that many families who have already been displaced are refusing.

UN interim force in Lebanon accuses Israel of drone attack

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli drones dropped four grenades near peacekeepers in "one of the most serious attacks" on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

The truce ended more than a year of hostilities and two months of open war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but the United Nations has reported several attacks on its positions in south Lebanon since.

"Yesterday morning, Israel Defense Forces drones dropped four grenades close to UNIFIL peacekeepers working to clear roadblocks hindering access to a UN position," the force said, referring to the Israeli military.

"One grenade impacted within 20 meters and three within approximately 100 meters of UN personnel and vehicles," it added.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

The UN force said the strike was "one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets since the cessation of hostilities agreement of last November".

Under the term of the agreement, UNIFIL has been assisting the Lebanese army to dismantle Hezbollah military infrastructure in the south as its deploys across the region.

UNIFIL said the Israeli military had been informed in advance of its plans to carry out road clearance work near the de facto border southeast of the village of Marwahin.

It said endangering the lives of peacekeepers constituted a violation of the 2006 UN Security Council resolution that formed the basis of last year's ceasefire.

The UN Security Council voted last week for UN peacekeepers to leave Lebanon in 2027, allowing only one final extension of its mandate after pressure from Israel and its US ally to wind up the nearly 50-year-old force.