Israel kills 55 people in Gaza, bombs child vaccination clinic

This live blog has now wrapped up. The New Arab will be back tomorrow at 9am with live updates from Gaza and Lebanon.

Israeli forces arrested 10 Palestinians during a raid on al-Fawwar camp in the Hebron Governorate in the southern occupied West Bank.

Troops entered the camp using sound bombs and tear gas, detaining 10 residents after forcing entry into their homes.

Sources reported that Israeli forces surrounded the camp, blocked its entrances, and restricted all movement in and out of the area.

Cairo is hosting meetings between Fatah and Hamas to discuss forming a committee to run Gaza as part of post-war plans, a senior Egyptian security source has told Egypt's state affiliated Al Qahera News TV.

The move is part of Egypt's mediation efforts involving Palestinian and Israeli parties to reach a ceasefire and expand humanitarian aid access.

The source also said that Hamas insists that talks should lead to a comprehensive agreement that secures an end to the war, and also achieves a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has said war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said an Israeli air strike hit "humanitarian structures" Saturday at a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria that was previously hit last month.

The crossing, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, became a key escape route for those fleeing the Israel-Hezbollah war after the main border crossing between the two countries was hit.

But it was put out of service late last month when an Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic.

"A new Israeli air strike hit the border post of Jousieh, where many Lebanese and Syrians cross from Lebanon to Syria," Grandi said on social media platform X.

"Humanitarian structures were also struck," he said, adding that "even fleeing and taking care of those who flee are becoming difficult and dangerous as the war continues to spread."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said two Israeli strikes hit the Jousieh crossing on Saturday.

The raid came after the main crossing between Beirut and Damascus, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side, was forced to close by an Israel strike on 4 October.

Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and 15 others were wounded Saturday in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, which has been hard hit by Israel's assault on Lebanon.

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.

According to an AFP photographer, the strike targeted an abandoned building, which includes a car dealership on the ground floor.

The area was cordoned of by the army and security forces.

Lebanon's Health Ministry reports that 11 people were injured in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut.

According to Lebanon's National News Agency, the strike took place near Karout Mall.

No Israeli evacuation warning was issued before the raid.

Three children were injured this afternoon when an Israeli drone dropped a bomb on a medical clinic conducting a polio vaccination campaign in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

A correspondent for WAFA, citing local medics, reported that the injured children were taken to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City following the attack. The drone strike occurred at the Sheikh Radwan clinic, where a vaccination campaign against polio was underway for children under the age of ten.

A Lebanese military source said Saturday that unidentified naval commandos abducted a mariner in the coastal city of Batroun, more than a month into Israel's war with Hezbollah.

"A naval commando force kidnapped a civilian," the military source told AFP. Speaking under cover of anonymity, the source added that an investigation is underway to determine whether the operation was carried out by Israel.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said they were checking reports of the incident.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said an "unidentified military force" carried out a "sea landing" on the shore of Batroun, south of Tripoli, at dawn on Friday.

The force "went with all its weapons and equipment to a chalet near the beach, kidnapping a Lebanese man... and sailing away into the open sea on a speedboat," the NNA said.

An acquaintance of the abductee identified him as a student at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 43,314 people have been killed by Israel during its war on Gaza.

The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 102,019 people have been wounded by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

A coalition of groups in Iraq claims its fighters conducted four drone attacks on the southern Israeli resort of Eilat, following Israel’s announcement that it intercepted three drones approaching from the east.

In a statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attacks on what it described as “four vital targets” in the resort on Israel’s Red Sea coast, stating they were carried out within one hour.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it is deeply concerned about rising attacks on health workers and facilities in Lebanon, warning that the healthcare system was already under enormous pressure before the Israeli war against Hezbollah.

Since an escalation of hostilities on 17 September 2024, the UN health agency has verified 55 attacks on healthcare in Lebanon, causing 102 deaths with 83 injured.

“But the (Lebanese) Ministry of Health is reporting that there are much higher numbers,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson.

Many health workers have been killed or injured while off duty, she said, and this matters because “the health systems are already overstretched, health workers are already overworked and displaced. We are continuing to lose health workers at the very time when they are needed most”.

Asked whether Israel was attacking health facilities without any precaution as has been reported in Gaza, Dr. Harris replied that the WHO was “again and again and again emphasizing that health care is not a target, health workers are not a target. And we are certainly concerned about seeing the same pattern.”

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Saturday to retaliate against attacks by Israel and its ally the United States targeting Tehran and groups it supports in the region.

"The enemies, both the USA and the Zionist regime, should know that they will definitely receive a tooth-breaking response to what they are doing against Iran, the Iranian nation, and the resistance front," Khamenei said in a speech to students in Tehran.

He was referring to the alliance of Tehran-backed armed groups that include Yemen's Houthi rebels, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and various groups in Iraq and Syria.

Hezbollah states that its fighters launched rockets at the Sha’al settlement in the northern occupied Golan Heights and the Dalton settlement in northern Israel’s Upper Galilee region.

Additionally, the group reported that the Yesod HaMa’ala settlement in Israel’s Hula Valley, the Bar Yohai settlement near Mount Meron, and the village of Birya north of Safad town were also targeted with rocket salvoes.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had intercepted three drones launched from the east over the Red Sea, without specifying where they came from.

"A short while ago, three UAVs that were launched from the east were intercepted over the Red Sea.... the UAVs were intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory," the military said in a statement.

According to the Wafa news agency, armed Israeli settlers from an illegal outpost attacked Palestinian olive pickers west of the central city of Salfit, shouting, cursing, and threatening them in an effort to drive them off their land, as reported by farmer Yousef al-Deek.

The incident occurred in the Khalat al-Haramiya area. Al-Deek added that, over the past week, settlers also stole 30 bags of olives along with agricultural equipment

Hezbollah reports that it launched rockets at an Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv.

At 2:30 am (00:30 GMT), Hezbollah fighters “fired a salvo of rockets at the Glilot base of the 8200 military intelligence unit in the suburbs of Tel Aviv,” the group stated on Telegram

Al Jazeera are reporting that at least five Palestinians were killed and several others injured after Israeli forces bombed a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that Israeli artillery shelled a house belonging to the Samman family in the Jabalia refugee camp.

A missile strike in Israel's Sharon area wounded 19 people, police said early Saturday, after the army reported three projectiles were fired from Lebanon into central Israel.

All 19, four of whom were "in moderate condition", were taken to hospitals for treatment, the Israeli police added.

Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical service earlier said that several people had been wounded in a strike on the central city of Tira, including "a male around 20 with shrapnel injuries".

Videos posted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on social media showed fire and smoke spilling from a building into the street and emergency responders swarming the site.

"This is the result of a direct hit of a Hezbollah rocket on a building in the Israeli Arab town of Tira, injuring 19 civilians," the ministry said in the post.