Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Updated – September 24, 2024 05:09 pm IST
(Clockwise from top left): People, who fled their villages in southern Lebanon, take refuge at a school turned temporary shelter in the capital Beirut; Smoke billows over southern Lebanon as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel; Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a local municipality storage in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel; and Lebanese citizens who fled from the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes Monday, sit in a pickup in Beirut. Photo: AFP, Reuters and AP
Palestinian officials say Israel’s strikes early on Tuesday (September 23, 2024) killed at least seven people in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis. At least 15 others, including women and children, were injured in the strikes, they said.
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon: Highlights of September 23, 2024 coverage
Israel’s military says it will do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah away from Lebanon’s border with Israel. The two countries have been trading fire since the Israel-Hamas war began. On Monday (September 23, 2024), Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people and wounding more than 1,600 others.
Also read | Netanyahu accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields
Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
It’s a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices the week before. Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility.
Also read | Israeli strikes kill 492 in Lebanon’s deadliest day of conflict since 2006
Hezbollah launched more than 100 projectiles toward Israel on Monday (September 23), the military said, reaching deep into Israel including around the northern city of Haifa and parts of the occupied West Bank. Most of the missiles were intercepted but two people were lightly injured from falling shrapnel in northern Israel.
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September 24, 2024 17:03
Journalist working for a pan-Arab television network killed
BEIRUT A journalist working for the pan-Arab network Al-Mayadeen was killed in Israeli airstrikes while he was at his home in southern Lebanon, the network said Tuesday (Sept. 24).
Hadi Al-Sayyed, 22, is the third journalist from the network killed in the ongoing conflict between the Israeli military and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The network said he was wounded on Monday (Sept. 23) and died of his wounds on Tuesday.
According to the TV station, Al-Sayyed worked for the Al-Mayadeen’s online section and was at his house in the town of Burj Rahhal near the southern city of Tyre when it was hit in the airstrike.
Last November, Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Al-Maamari were killed in an Israeli strike while covering southern Lebanon.
Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in Israeli shelling last October while covering the clashes alongside colleagues from the news agency as well as reporters from Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV and France’s international news agency, Agence France-Presse. His colleagues were all wounded but survived the attack. — AP
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September 24, 2024 16:48
Bombardment from Lebanon hits supermarket in Arab town in northern Israel
JERUSALEM Bombardment from Lebanon damaged a supermarket in Israel’s Arab city of Tamra, where the majority of residents are Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The attack spread fear through the community, which has no shelters. It was not immediately clear whether the supermarket was hit by a rocket that permeated Israel’s missile defence system or by shrapnel falling from an interception.
“I came here immediately to see what exactly happened,” said Jamal Diab, a friend of the market’s owner. “I saw here lots of damage.”
Mr. Tamra has no shelters, according to its Mayor, Mousa Abu Rumi. An Israeli state comptroller’s report found in 2018 that only 11 out of 71 Arab local communities have public shelters.
He told The Associated press that Tamra’s residents have been instructed to find “the most protected place” nearby to seek shelter when they hear rocket sirens go off. — AP
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September 24, 2024 16:34
Death toll from 2 days of Israeli strikes reaches 558: Lebanon’s Health Ministry
BEIRUT Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon over the past two days of escalation has reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women.
Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters that 1,835 people have also been wounded since early Monday (Sept. 23). They were taken to 54 hospitals around Lebanon, he said.
Mr. Abiad added that four paramedics were among those killed, and 16 paramedics and firefighters were among the wounded.
Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes again on Sept. 24, 2024 sent thousands fleeing from southern Lebanon and put the two sides on the brink of all-out war.
Displaced families slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. With hotels quickly booked to capacity or rooms priced beyond the means of many families, those who did not find shelter slept in their cars, in parks or along the seaside.
Well-wishers offered up empty apartments or rooms in their houses in social media posts, while volunteers set up a kitchen at an empty gas station in Beirut to cook meals for the displaced.
In the eastern city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported that lines formed at bakeries and gas stations as residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies in anticipation of another round of strikes on Tuesday (Sept. 24).
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched missiles overnight at eight sites in Israel, including an explosives factory in Zichron, 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the border.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday (Sept. 24) morning that 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting fires and damaging buildings. Military officials said they carried out dozens of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, including on a cell that fired rockets overnight, and that tanks and artillery struck targets near the border. — AP
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September 24, 2024 16:26
Watch: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to people of Lebanon
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September 24, 2024 16:11
Central Gaza hospital receives bodies of two Palestinian children killed in Israeli airstrikes
Teddy bears, symbolizing Gazan children who lost their lives since October 7, are displayed for sale at an exhibition organized by Qatar Charity, with proceeds donated to the people of Gaza in an act of solidarity, in Doha, Qatar, September 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip A hospital in central Gaza said the bodies of two children killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday (Sept. 24) were brought there.
The Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp said the strike hit a group of people in the nearby Bureij camp, and also wounded six other Palestinians.
The Health Ministry in the coastal territory, meanwhile, said Gaza’s hospitals received 12 dead and 43 wounded Palestinians over the last 24 hours.
The latest fatalities brought the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7 to 41,467, and 95,921 wounded, said the ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count. — AP
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September 24, 2024 16:06
Israel’s military says 100 rockets fired from Lebanon since early morning in second day of intense escalation
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, September 24, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
JERUSALEM Israel’s military said that 100 rockets had been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel since the early hours of Tuesday (Sept. 24) morning, setting several fires and damaging buildings in the country’s north in the second day of much-intensified hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The rockets came in five volleys throughout the morning, the largest of them containing 50 rockets toward the Upper Galilee area. The military said it had struck the launchers where the rockets were fired. Another heavily-targeted area was southeast of the Israeli city of Haifa.
Rocket sirens blared throughout the morning in the country’s north. A video circulating on Israeli media showed explosions on a highway, with drivers pulling over and lying on the ground next to their vehicles.
Galilee Medical Center, a northern Israel hospital, said that two patients arrived to the hospital with minor head injuries from a rocket falling near their car. Several others were being treated for light wounds from running to shelters and traffic accidents when alarms sounded.
Hezbollah has been sending heavy volleys of rockets into Israel as Israel intensifies its operation in Lebanon. In Monday, Israeli strikes killed nearly 500 people, Lebanese health officials say, and Israel’s military ordered the south of the country evacuated. — AP
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September 24, 2024 15:53
Southern Lebanese families find shelters farther north as they flee violence near the border
People, who fled their villages in southern Lebanon, take refuge at a school turned temporary shelter in the capital Beirut on September 24, 2024.
BEIRUT Lebanese families displaced from villages farther south slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. Some who did not find shelter elsewhere slept in cars and parks and on the seaside corniche.
Monday’s (Sept. 23) heavy bombardment sent thousands fleeing from south Lebanon. Hotels in Beirut were quickly booked to capacity and apartments in the mountains surrounding the capital were snapped up by families seeking safe accommodations.
Some offered up empty apartments or rooms in their houses in social media posts, while volunteers set up a kitchen at an empty gas station in Beirut to cook meals for the displaced.
In the eastern city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported that lines formed at bakeries and gas stations as residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies in anticipation of another round of strikes on Tuesday (Sept. 23). — AP
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September 24, 2024 15:09
Satellite data shows a wide range of Israeli airstrikes targeted southern Lebanon
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Data from fire-tracking satellites used by the United States showed the wide range of Israeli airstrikes that target southern Lebanon, an Associated Press analysis on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) showed.
NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System typically is used by experts to track wildfires across rural areas of the U.S. However, they also can be used to track the flashes and burning that follow airstrikes. That’s particularly true when an airstrike ignites flammable material on the ground, like munitions or fuel.
On Monday (Sept. 23), Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people and wounding more than 1,600 others. Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Data from Monday show significant fires breaking out across southern Lebanon, stretching from the border with Israel as far north as Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley, some 20 kilometres (more than 10 miles) from the border. The area of the strikes is over 1,700 square kilometres (650 square miles).
There were several areas that showed multiple, intense fires. One was near the southern coastal town of Naqoura, which hosts a base for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL. Others were in rural areas or villages.
Since its creation at the start of Israel’s occupation of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, the Shiite militia Hezbollah is believed to have stockpiled weapons and missiles throughout southern Lebanon as a deterrent to Israel. — AP
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September 24, 2024 14:57
United States Embassy in Jerusalem restricts employees from traveling to Israel’s north
JERUSALEM The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has restricted American government employees from travelling to Israel’s north after a heavy exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
The embassy said on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) that employees require an armoured vehicle and prior approval to travel to a large region of the north that includes the bustling coastal city of Haifa.
The U.S. State Department meanwhile urged American citizens to leave the country, where Israeli strikes killed nearly 500 people on Monday (Sept. 23, 2024) . — AP
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September 24, 2024 14:19
Israel and Hezbollah launch new attacks after deadly day in Lebanon
Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel on Tuesday (September 24, 2024), increasing fears of a full-blown conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in decades.
Israel’s military said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets overnight, a day after carrying out airstrikes against the armed group which Lebanese authorities said killed nearly 500 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.
Hezbollah said it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight including an explosives factory 60 km into Israel, which it attacked with Fadi rockets around 4 a.m. It said it also attacked the Megiddo airfield near the northern Israeli town of Afula three separate times overnight.
-Reuters
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September 24, 2024 14:17
Israel-Hezbollah conflict: All you need to know about the escalating cross-border tension
Many fear the escalating violence could lead to an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which would further destabilise a region already shaken by the fighting in Gaza. Both sides have said they don’t want that to happen, even as they have defiantly warned of heavier attacks.
Here are some things to know about the situation:
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September 24, 2024 13:04
Israeli strikes kill at least 7 in Khan Younis
In this September 4, 2024 picture, Palestinians take shelter from the Israeli bombardment at a school in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip.
DEIR-Al-BALAH, Gaza Strip Palestinian officials say Israel’s strikes early on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) killed at least seven people in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis. At least 15 others, including women and children, were injured in the strikes, they said.
The civil defence said the dead include five people who were killed in a strike on the Abu Harb family house in the Qizan al-Najjar area. The strike also wounded at least 10 others, it said.
Another strike hit a house in the Tahlia area in Khan Younis, killing at least two people and wounding five others, according to the rescue service. The casualties from both strikes were confirmed in hospital records in Khan Younis.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians but rarely comments on individual strikes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 of the captives are still being held in Gaza, and a third of them are believed to be dead.
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September 24, 2024 12:52
United Arab Emirates airlines cancel flights to Lebanon
DUBAI, UAE Airlines in the United Arab Emirates, a key East-West travel hub, cancelled flight on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) to Lebanon over the ongoing cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad canceled flights, as did FlyDubai, the low-cost carrier.
The United Arab Emirates, which reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020, is home to a large Lebanese population. — AP
A Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) plane is parked on the tarmac of Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon on September 24, 2024. Photo: Reuters
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September 24, 2024 12:45
Netanyahu accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields
People take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from Lebanon, in Haifa, northern Israel, on September 23, 2024. Photo: AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah has been using Lebanese civilians as human shields, addressing residents of the neighbouring nation in a video statement shortly after the Israeli army announced it had struck 800 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage,” he said.
He also warned Lebanese people to move away from danger as the Israeli military pounded Hezbollah targets in the country’s south and east on Monday (September 23, 2024). — AFP
Netanyahu accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields
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September 24, 2024 12:37
Israel launches intense airstrikes in Lebanon, killing over 492 people
Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday (September 23, 2024), killing 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah militant group stores weapons.
Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. More than 1,645 people were wounded in the strikes, the Health Ministry said, a staggering one-day toll for the country.
The Israeli military said it hit more than 1,600 targets on Monday (September 23) linked to Hezbollah weapons sites. It said it was expanding the operation to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border.
Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns that were being struck.
The wave of airstrikes came after a day after Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa.
Hezbollah’s rockets were in response to an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday (September 20, 2024) that killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen members, along with civilians including women and children.
Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility. — AP
Israeli strikes kill 492 in Lebanon’s deadliest day of conflict since 2006
Published – September 24, 2024 12:37 pm IST
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