Israel continues assault on north Gaza as Lebanon's Baalbek faces evacuation orders

The head of the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that newly passed Israeli laws effectively banning its activities in Israel will leave a vacuum that will cost more lives and create further instability in Gaza and the West Bank.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency , or UNRWA, told The Associated Press in his first interview since the laws were passed — that the legislation is "ultimately against the Palestinians themselves,” effectively denying them a functioning provider of lifesaving services, education and health care.

"This would create a vacuum. It would also feed more instability in the West Bank and Gaza," he said. "Having UNRWA ending its activities within the three months would also mean more people will die in Gaza."

He said the agency is looking for "creative ways to keep our operation going."

He appealed for support from the UN General Assembly and donors to keep providing services and called on Israel to rescind the decision or extend the three-month grace period.

He said Israel has not officially communicated with the agency following the adoption of the laws.

France on Wednesday "firmly condemned" an Israeli strike in Gaza the previous day that rescuers said collapsed a building, killing at least 93 people including a large number of children.

"France firmly condemns the Israeli strike against a building in Beit Lahia in north Gaza on October 29 that killed almost 100 people, including women and children," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"France also condemns recent Israeli strikes on hospitals in the north" of the Palestinian territory, it added. "The siege imposed on north Gaza must be ended immediately."

Saudi Arabia is on Wednesday expected to open the first meeting of a new "international alliance" to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state, state media said.

The "International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution" was unveiled last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Saudi state media reported at the time, bringing together Arab and Islamic countries and European countries.

This week's meeting in Riyadh is expected to last for two days and feature sessions on humanitarian access, the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and incentives to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, diplomats said.

The European Union will be represented by Sven Koopmans, the special representative for the Middle East peace process, diplomats said.

Iran said Wednesday that there had been "no interruption" in its production of missiles after Israel said its strikes on Iran last week hit missile production facilities.

"There has been no interruption in the process of producing offensive systems such as missiles," Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told reporters.

Hezbollah's new leader is to give a speech on Wednesday, a source close to the group said, his first since he was appointed earlier this week.

"A speech by the new secretary general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, is scheduled for Wednesday," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Senior Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah said on Wednesday a remark by Israel's defence minister suggesting the Lebanese armed group's new chief, Naim Qassem, would not hold the post for long would not deter the group's resistance.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted a photo of Qassem on X on Tuesday with the caption: "Temporary appointment. Not for long." 

Lebanon's ministry of health has said that the death toll from Israeli attacks on the country has now reached 2,787 people killed, with a further 12,772 wounded. 

Mediators seeking a Gaza ceasefire are set to propose a truce of under a month to Palestinian militants Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks told news agency AFP on Wednesday.

The discussions in Doha, which concluded Monday, included Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.

They focussed on a "short-term" truce of "less than a month", the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the talks' sensitivity.

The proposal involves exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to Gaza, the source added.

"US officials believe that if a short-term deal can be reached, it could lead to a more permanent agreement," the source said.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been engaged in months of fruitless negotiations for a truce with hostage and prisoner releases.

To break the deadlock near the end of US President Joe Biden's administration, Washington and Doha last week announced fresh in-person talks to explore new options.

The Doha talks aimed to secure a swift outcome that could boost Biden's legacy despite his administration's waning influence with the November 5 US election looming.

The comments follow an Egyptian proposal for a two-day truce and limited hostage-prisoner exchange that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said could lead to a permanent ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said he had not received the Egyptian proposal but he would "have accepted it immediately" if it was raised.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the total death toll from Israel's war on the region has risen to 43,163, with 101,510 injuries recorded since October 7 of last year.

The ministry also noted that Israeli forces carried out five attacks on Gazan families, resulting in 102 fatalities and 287 injuries reported in hospitals over the past 24 hours.

 A series of Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 20 people on Wednesday, medics said.

Eight people were killed in a strike in the Salateen area of Beit Lahiya in the north, close to where the Gaza health ministry said at least 109 were killed or missing in an Israeli airstrike that struck a multi-floor house on Tuesday.

The United States called that attack "horrifying".

There was no immediate Israeli comment on either strike.

Gaza's emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the more than three-week Israeli assault into northern Gaza. 

The Israeli army sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic camps and the focus of the new military offensive.

Raed al-Nems, spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza, described the situation in northern Gaza as "catastrophic," stating that ambulances are being denied access to the injured. 

He emphasised the urgent need to halt the aggression in the region and allow ambulance teams to enter, warning that the death toll is rising due to the lack of medical assistance.

For 25 consecutive days, the Israeli army has blocked aid from reaching northern Gaza, with reports of military forces deliberately setting fire to refugee shelters.

Since early October, the area has been under intense bombardment, worsening the already critical humanitarian crisis.

Oxfam reported its inability to assist those in the north due to ongoing Israeli strikes, accusing the military of using starvation as a weapon against Palestinians.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israeli attacks on Jabalia, Beit Hanoon, and Beit Lahia have resulted in approximately 800 fatalities during the siege.

Between October 24 and 29, the UN recorded seven "mass casualty incidents."

A Lebanese security official told news agency AFP that an Israeli strike on a van carrying munitions near Beirut killed the driver on Wednesday, the latest death in more than a month of Israel-Hezbollah war.

"A van was targeted in an Israeli strike on the Kahhale road and its driver killed," the official said, adding that the vehicle was carrying munitions. He requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Lebanese state media said the Kahhale road, which links Beirut to Damascus, had been "blocked in both directions due to a 'security incident'".

The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday to residents of the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, a military spokesperson said on X.

#عاجل إنذار عاجل إلى سكان بعلبك وعين بورضاي ودورس
🔸جيش الدفاع سيعمل بقوة ضد مصالح حزب الله داخل مدينتكم وقراكم ولا ينوي المساس بكم.
🔸من أجل سلامتكم عليكم اخلاء منازلكم فورًا والانتقال خارج المدينة والقرى عبر المحاور التالية: ⭕️أوتوستراد زحلة - بعلبك
⭕️طريق نحلة - بعلبك
⭕️طريق… pic.twitter.com/1FZoFWqdeO

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 30, 2024

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched drones at an Israeli base in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday, as clashes intensify more than a month into the war.

Hezbollah fighters "launched an air attack at 7:45 am (0545 GMT)... with a squadron of attack drones" on a "base in southern Haifa", the group said in a statement.

Lebanese media report that at least eight people were killed in Israeli attacks on the village of Sarafand last night.

State news agency NNA confirmed 21 more were injured, with rescue teams continuing to search the rubble for survivors.

The attack followed another Israeli strike on Sidon’s Haret Saida neighbourhood, where Al-Mayadeen TV reported six killed and 37 injured.

This assault targeted a densely populated area with many displaced residents.

These incidents occurred a day after Israel launched strikes on Baalbek and other areas, leaving 63 dead and numerous others injured, including women and children, according to NNA.

The municipality of Beit Lahiya, located in northern Gaza, has officially declared the town a "disaster area" amid the continuing Israeli offensive.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, officials reported that the town is now completely deprived of food, water, medical facilities, doctors, essential services, and telecommunications.

"We are sending a distress call to save what remains of the town being subjected to genocide," the statement read.

About 150 people were sheltering in the Beit Lahiya building Israel bombed today. About 100 of them were killed in the attack.
Whoever gave the order to bomb a building where sheltering civilians were gathered is a war criminal.
Whoever carried out this patently unlawful order… pic.twitter.com/6qz7Sf2Mcw

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) October 29, 2024

Human Rights Watch warned Wednesday that Syrians fleeing Israel's onslaught on Lebanon could face repression at home as more than 355,000 Syrians returned in more than a month of war.

"Syrians escaping Lebanon, particularly men, risk arbitrary detention and abuse by Syrian authorities," the group said in a statement.

"The deaths in custody of deportees under suspicious circumstances highlight the blatant risk of arbitrary detention, abuse and persecution for those fleeing back," said HRW's deputy Middle East director, Adam Coogle.

Since Israel launched its intensive air campaign on September 23, more than half a million people have fled from Lebanon to Syria, including more than 355,010 Syrians, according to Lebanese official figures.

HRW said it had documented five arrests in October.

It cited the case of a fleeing woman whose husband was "immediately" arrested by Syrian military intelligence, although they had hoped a recent amnesty, which included army deserters, would protect him.

"Syria is no safer for return than it was before, but the escalating dangers in Lebanon have left many Syrians with nowhere else to go," Coogle said.

"Their return is not a sign of improved conditions in Syria, but of the stark reality that they're being shut out of safer alternatives and forced back into a country where they still face the risks of detention, abuse and death."