Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on September 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hezbollah announced early Wednesday (September 25, 2024) the death of a commander hours after the Israeli army said it had killed him in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Lebanese authorities said left six people dead.

In a statement, the Iran-backed group announced the death of “commander Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi”, who was “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”, the phrase Hezbollah uses to refer to fighters killed by Israeli forces.

The war has caused extensive destruction and has led to the displacement of approximately 90% of Gaza’s population, which totals 2.3 million.. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes on Monday (September 16, 2024) killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children.

A strike flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, including four women and two children. The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll and also said 13 people were wounded. Hospital records show that the dead included a mother, her child and her five siblings.

Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to the Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Here’s the latest:

JERUSALEM – The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the first round of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza ended successfully by reaching 90% of the children it targeted.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on the social media platform X, that Israel and Palestinian militants had largely observed humanitarian pauses to allow the campaign to proceed.

The vaccination drive showed that “when there is a political will, assistance can be provided without disruption,” Mr. Lazzarini wrote on Monday (September 16, 2024).

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian assistance in the coastal enclave. Health workers plan to administer a second dose of the vaccine at the end of this month.

The campaign was launched after the detection of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years and sought to reach some 640,000 children under the age of 10. Health workers faced a host of challenges, including damaged roads, gutted health facilities and ongoing fighting nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas war.

JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense minister has told his U.S. counterpart that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah to halt the fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that “the possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas.”

“The trajectory is clear,” Mr. Gallant added, according to a statement released from his office on Monday (September 16, 2024).

Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into northern Israel after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was ignited by Hamas’ October 7 attack. Both armed groups are allied with Iran, and Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel has responded to the attacks with airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders. It has threatened a wider operation, raising fears of another all-out war.

Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but months of talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled.

Hamas has demanded a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as part of any agreement to release the scores of hostages it still holds from the October 7 attack.

Mr. Gallant told Mr. Austin that “in any possible scenario, Israel’s defence establishment will continue to operate with the aim of dismantling Hamas and ensuring the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza – by any means.”

People inspect inside a church within the premises of Al-Ahli hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast that Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other, on October 18, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Hamas-controlled interior ministry said several displaced people who had taken shelter at a church compound in the Gaza Strip have been killed and injured after an Israeli strike late Thursday.

The strike left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound of a Greek Orthodox church, the ministry said.

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Witnesses told AFP the strike appeared to have been aimed at a target close to the place of worship where many Gaza residents had taken refuge as the war raged in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli army when contacted told AFP it was checking the reported strike.