Middle East crisis live: ‘apocalyptic’ north Gaza hit again by deadly Israeli strikes; Iran’s supreme leader threatens ‘crushing response’ | Israel

It has just gone 5.30pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• Israel on Saturday again carried out deadly airstrikes on north Gaza, where the UN calls conditions “apocalyptic”, as Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensified rocket fire near Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv. “The situation unfolding in north Gaza is apocalyptic,” said a joint statement by UN agency heads. Witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Israeli warplanes twice hit Beit Lahia, adjacent to Jabalia, overnight. Israel’s military on Saturday said dozens of militants were killed around Jabalia “in aerial and ground activity”.

• Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday threatened Israel and the US with “a crushing response” over attacks on Iran and its allies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its 26 October attack that targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people.

• Troops were also operating in central Gaza and Rafah in the territory’s far south, the Israeli military said, while witnesses told AFP that Israeli drones and boats opened fire on al-Mawasi in south Gaza.

• Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 52 people and injured scores more, the Lebanese health ministry said. In Lebanon’s north-eastern Bekaa valley, rescuers searched for survivors after airstrikes killed nine people and brought down a building that had housed 20 people in the town of Younine. Israeli strikes also killed 12 people in the town of Amhaz and 31 others across at least a dozen villages, bringing the total death toll to 52, the health ministry said. The bombardment left 72 people injured, the ministry added. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes.

• Israeli police said 19 people were injured before dawn on Saturday in the central town of Tira. Three projectiles crossed into Israel from Lebanon, Israel’s military said, and some were intercepted. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said two of those injured were in moderate condition from the attack, and the others had lesser injuries. A photo the service released showed damage to what appeared to be an apartment building.

• Medics and Gaza’s civil defence rescuers on Saturday reported three people killed in a strike on Nuseirat, in central Gaza, a day after AFP images showed the blood-stained shrouds of several people killed there in an Israeli strike.

• A strike in Israel’s Sharon area north of Tel Aviv injured 19 people, police said early on Saturday, after the army reported three projectiles fired from Lebanon into central Israel. Four of the injured were “in moderate condition”, the Israeli police said.

• Hezbollah said it had again launched rockets at Israel’s Glilot intelligence base near Tel Aviv. At 2.30am (12.30am GMT) militants “fired a salvo of rockets at the Glilot base of the 8200 military intelligence unit in the suburbs of Tel Aviv” the group said in a statement.

• Israel’s military said a strike around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Friday killed two fighters “responsible for firing over 400 projectiles at Israel over the last month alone”.

• Lebanon’s health ministry said 11 people were injured on Saturday in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold. The ministry announcement came as the official National News Agency said the “Israeli enemy launched a raid near Karout mall… in the southern suburbs of Beirut”. The strike was not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning, reported AFP.

• Hezbollah said on Saturday it carried out a rocket attack against Israeli “military industries” in Zvulun, near the northern city of Haifa, after a drone attack on a base south of Tel Aviv. Twice on Saturday, “salvoes of rockets” were fired at “the Zvulun base for military industries north of the city of Haifa”, the group said in a statement. Earlier, it said it had launched drones at the Palmachim airbase south of Tel Aviv.

• On Saturday the Israeli military said it had intercepted three drones over the Red Sea, after late Friday reporting seven drones had been launched from “several fronts”.

• A coalition of pro-Iran groups in Iraq said it carried out four drone attacks on the Israeli resort of Eilat on Saturday, after Israel said it intercepted three drones approaching from the east. In a statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it was behind the attacks on what it called “four vital targets” in the resort on Israel’s Red Sea coast, all conducted within one hour.

• A suspected Israeli naval force landed in the northern Lebanese coastal town of Batroun early on Saturday and captured one person, a security source said, while another source confirmed the incident but did not say who was responsible, reported Reuters. There was no immediate comment from Israeli and Lebanese authorities. Pro-Hezbollah journalist Hassan Illaik shared CCTV footage on X that appeared to show soldiers walking in a street, two of them holding a person. Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamiye, who represents Hezbollah in Lebanon’s government, said the video was accurate but did not provide further details.

• Axios has reported that Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah official, Imad Amhaz, in an operation in northern Lebanon. Barak Ravid wrote the news on X, citing an Israeli official.

• Unicef has warned that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon is “massively impacting children’s mental health”. In its post on X on Saturday, Unicef wrote: “True healing can only begin when this war on childhood ends. Ceasefire now.”

• At least 43,314 Palestinians have been killed and 102,019 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday. The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

• Israel’s military says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since it began ground operations on 30 September. According to Israeli figures, at least 63 people have been killed on the Israeli side since October last year.

• Two Microsoft employees who were fired last week after organising a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza say the company retaliated against them for their pro-Palestinian activism. The two, Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist, and Hossam Nasr, a software engineer, organised the event outside Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on 24 October. They were fired later that evening.

Unicef has warned that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon is “massively impacting children’s mental health”.

In a post on the UN agency’s X account on Saturday, Unicef shared a video and written message that read:

The ongoing war in Lebanon is shattering children’s lives, inflicting severe physical wounds and deep emotional scars.

With prolonged periods of traumatic stress, children face severe health and psychological risks, and the consequences can last a lifetime.

True healing can only begin when this war on childhood ends. Ceasefire now.”

Unicef said it had reached more than 10,000 children and caregivers with psychological and community support.

The video also included the story of nine-year-old Mira, who shared the following:

We were at home. Suddenly, there was the threat of bombing near our house. At that moment, we got scared and ran away.

We don’t know if our house was damaged, but the windows might be broken because they bombed near our house.

Here we’re doing social activities. I’m making new friends, studying and learning. They’re [Unicef] giving us blankets and supplies.

I feel a strong sense of longing to return home, to sleep in my own bed and play with my toys.

Once the war ends, the first thing I want to do is visit my relatives. I want to check on them, and I’ll hope we’ll all be safe and well.”

Two Microsoft employees who were fired last week after organising a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza say the company retaliated against them for their pro-Palestinian activism.

The two, Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist, and Hossam Nasr, a software engineer, organised the event outside Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on 24 October. They were fired later that evening.

“Microsoft really crumbled under pressure, internally and externally, to fire me and to shut down and retaliate against our event, not because of policy violations, simply because we were daring to humanize Palestinians, and simply because we were daring to say that Microsoft should not be complicit with an army that is plausibly accused of genocide,” said Nasr, who has been criticized on social media and in internal Microsoft employee communication groups over his support for Palestine.

Both employees were members of No Azure for Apartheid, a group of Microsoft workers protesting the company’s sale of its cloud computing technology to Israel.

The group demands Microsoft sever all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government, disclose all ties with Israel, call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza, and protect and uphold the free speech of employees.

Hezbollah said on Saturday it carried out a rocket attack against Israeli “military industries” in Zvulun, near the northern city of Haifa, after a drone attack on a base south of Tel Aviv, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Twice on Saturday, “salvoes of rockets” were fired at “the Zvulun base for military industries north of the city of Haifa”, the group said in a statement.

Earlier, it said it had launched drones at the Palmachim airbase south of Tel Aviv.

At least 43,314 Palestinians have been killed and 102,019 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday.

The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.