Hundreds killed and wounded in Gaza's Jabalia massacre with attacks on school and hospital

British Airways on Friday said it was extending its suspension of flights from London to Tel Aviv until the end of March next year.

The airline, which had a daily return service from London Heathrow to Ben Gurion Airport, announced earlier this month that it had stopped flights until this Saturday.

BA was one of a number of international carriers to ground flights due to growing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

With continued tensions in the Middle East, the company said in a statement on Friday: "We've suspended our flights to Tel Aviv out to the end of March next year.

"This will give greater certainty to our customers who we're contacting to advise them of their options, including a full refund."

The World Health Organization said on Friday it hoped to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine to children in northern Gaza from next week, after Israeli bombing had halted the drive.

The vaccination campaign began on September 1 after the Palestinian territory confirmed its first case of polio in 25 years.

A first round of inoculation was completed and the second round - essential to build up immunity - began as scheduled on October 14, first in central Gaza, then the south, aided by so-called humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

"We still have good hopes that we can do this campaign," Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said on Friday.

"We have this window between October 28 and November 5 and I'm confident that it will happen. We need access to children, wherever they are," he told a Geneva press briefing, via video-link from the Gaza Strip.

"It is critically important to finish. Everyone realises that - and all the parties of this conflict as well.

"We owe it to the children to finish this," he said, voicing fears that the virus might spread beyond the war-destroyed territory's borders.

United Nations peacekeepers said Friday that Israeli soldiers fired at one of their observation posts in south Lebanon this week, adding the security situation was "extremely challenging" amid other unidentified attacks.

On Tuesday, "(Israeli army) soldiers fired at" an observation post near the border village of Dhayra, a statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said, adding "the duty guards withdrew to avoid being shot."

The Israeli military confirmed on Friday that it had struck a border crossing between Syria and Lebanon that it said was being used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons.

"Overnight ... the IAF (air force) struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites at the Jousieh border crossing in the northern Bekaa area (of Lebanon), the military said in a statement, adding that Hezbollah "exploits the Jousieh civilian crossing, which is under the control of the Syrian regime and is operated by Syrian military security, to transfer weapons."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said the international community must speed up efforts for a political solution in Lebanon to prevent fighting betwen Israel and Hezbollah spiralling into a "conflagration".

"We are currently engaged in a race against time between the possible start of a political process in Lebanon and a generalised conflagration with incalculable consequences," Borrell said in a statement.

Lebanon's health minister said on Friday that more than 160 rescuers and health workers had been killed in Israeli strikes, during more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

"The total number of rescuers and health sector workers killed has so far has reached 163, with 272 others wounded," Firass Abiad told reporters during a press conference detailing "damage caused by Israeli attacks on the health sector in Lebanon".

Lebanon's prime minister accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, in what he called a "war crime".

"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Najib Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorise the media to cover up crimes and destruction".

Jordan's foreign minister on Friday called for pressure on Israel to end "ethnic cleansing", in strong remarks as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.

Deploring the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, Ayman Safadi told Blinken: "We do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday there was a real sense of urgency to reach a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon following Israel's military operations in the country.

"We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along border between Israel and Lebanon," Blinken said in London.

He said it was important so "people at both sides of the border can have the confidence to be able to return to their homes"

(Reuters)

Israel's military on Friday said its air force intercepted a drone that entered the country's north from the direction of Syria.

"Following the sirens that sounded between 11:08 and 11:17 in the Upper Galilee area and southern Golan Heights," the air force intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle "that crossed into Israel from the direction of Syria", the military said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Lebanon's prime minister to discuss Israel's strikes on the country as Washington presses the Beirut government to take charge against Hezbollah.

Blinken, on his way back from a Middle East tour, met in London with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who came in from a conference on Lebanon in Paris the day before.

The two smiled before the cameras but made no remarks.

Reports are emerging that Israeli soldiers stormed north Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday morning.

According to Al Jazeera, the Israeli army surrounded the hospital on Thursday night, firing shells into the building and damaging the ICU and emergency department.

Al Jazeera also added that the Israeli army is conducting mass arrests of men inside the hospital, taking them to unknown locations for interrogations.

Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makary accused Israel on Friday of intentionally targeting journalists in a strike on the country's south that killed three journalists, which he described as a "war crime".

"The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists' nighttime break to betray them in their sleep... This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions. This is a war crime," Makary said in a post on X.

Lebanon's Transport minister said Friday that Israeli bombing put a second border crossing between the country and Syria out of service - leaving one official passage between the two nations operational.

"The Qaa crossing has been put out of service after an Israeli strike on Syrian territory, hundreds of metres from Syrian border guards," Ali Hamieh told AFP, adding that the strike blocked the passage of vehicles.

The Israeli army said on Friday that five soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded in fighting in southern Lebanon.

The soldiers "fell during combat in southern Lebanon" the previous day, the army said in a statement, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to 32 since the start of the ground operation on 30 September.