Israel escalates Lebanon bombing and kills dozens in latest Gaza massacre

Beirut, Lebanon - Israel struck dozens of south Lebanon villages and towns overnight and targeted Nabatiyeh city for a third time this week, Lebanese media said on Sunday.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, as pictured from Marjayoun, following Israeli strikes on October 20, 2024.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, as pictured from Marjayoun, following Israeli strikes on October 20, 2024.  © REUTERS

"Warplanes struck... the city of Nabatiyeh seven times" including on an inhabited building, with rescuers still looking for survivors under the rubble, the official National News Agency said.

The city had seen deadly Israeli strikes on Wednesday that killed its mayor, with bloody attacks last week razing its marketplace.

NNA added that Israeli jets "conducted strikes" on more than 50 towns and villages including the border villages of Kfarshuba, Bint Jbeil, and Khiam, reporting casualties.

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"Israeli troops blew up the Tarrash neighborhood in Mais al-Jabal," a border village, "after booby-trapping it with highly explosive materials," the NNA said.

The troops "bulldozed the cemetery in the village of Blida" nearby, the NNA added.

Israel launches air strikes on Lebanese capital of Beirut

Lebanese civil defense members put out a fire in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 20, 2024.
Lebanese civil defense members put out a fire in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on October 20, 2024.  © REUTERS

Also on Sunday, Israel air strikes targeted several south Beirut neighborhoods after the Israeli army warned civilians to evacuate, state media said.

The strikes on Beirut came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of attempting to assassinate him by targeting his residence.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said Israel's strikes on Beirut hit a residential building in Haret Hreik near a mosque and a hospital.

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The Israeli military later said about 70 projectiles fired from Lebanon crossed into Israel within a matter of minutes, and that it intercepted some of them.

Late last month, Israel launched an intense air campaign on Lebanon and sent in ground forces. Since then, it has killed at least 1,454 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

Israel carries out latest Gaza massacre

Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli airstrike the previous night in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 20, 2024.
Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli airstrike the previous night in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 20, 2024.  © ISLAM AHMED / AFP

Gaza's civil defense agency, meanwhile, said an Israeli air strike on a residential area killed at least 73 Palestinians in Beit Lahia in the territory's north.

"Our civil defence crews recovered 73 martyrs and a large number of wounded as a result of the Israeli air force targeting a residential area... in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza," said civil defense agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal.

Israel has slaughtered 42,603 people in Gaza, according to data from the health ministry in the territory. The British medical journal Lancet and other experts believe the true number to be far greater, potentially upwards of 186,000 as of July.

Israel launched a major air and ground assault in northern Gaza on October 6, tightening its siege and raising fears of mass starvation, death, and displacement.

Civil defense spokesperson Bassal said "we have recovered more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip," including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since Israel's operation began.

"More than a year has passed, and every day our blood is shed," displaced Gazan Nasser Shaqura said outside a hospital in Deir el-Balah, where victims of an Israeli air strike were taken.

"Every day, every hour, there is a massacre," he said. "This is what our lives have become."

Cover photo: REUTERS

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