Gaza under attack as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel trade blows

This live blog on Israel's war on Gaza has now ended. We will be back at 0800 BST with the latest.

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Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and U.S. President Joe Biden discussed joint mediation efforts to end the war in Gaza war as well as the latest developments in the strip, in a phone call on Tuesday, the Qatari Amiri Diwan said. 

(Reuters)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been speaking for nearly an hour in Beirut as the country is on edge awaiting an anticipated Iranian attack on Israel.

He claimed that Israel is "no longer as strong as it once was" and feats the Axis of Resistance's (Iranian proxy groups) response. The Shia leader also called on the Lebanese public to remain vigilante and not engage in "psychological warfare" he also said that the group is "not looking to exploit" any victory for "internal Lebanese purposes.

Some further quotes:

• "Hezbollah and Iran will respond, and while the enemy waits and watches, the capability to retaliate exists from Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen; the Israeli anticipation of a response is part of the punishment and the battle."
• "The killing of Haniyeh and Shukr is an Israeli achievement, but it is not a victory and does not change anything in the course of the war; Israel remains in a difficult position even after their assassinations."
• "If the resistance in Gaza is defeated, the risks will extend to Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and all the countries in the region."

The leader of Lebanese group Hezbollah described US policy in the region as "hypocritical" for supporting Israel while claiming to back a ceasefire in Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hassan Nasrallah is currently speaking in Beirut one week after the death of commander Fuad Shukr who was killed by an Israeli strike last week.

Tensions in the region have reached an all-time high as Hezbollah's backer, Iran, has vowed to respond to Israeli attacks on Beirut and Tehran.

He also said: "If Netanyahu emerged victorious in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel would control the region".

Israeli jets have been conducting low-flying "provocative" sorties over Beirut minutes before the speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, causing loud sonic bombs which shook houses across the city.

Yazan al-Saadi international editor of The New Arab based in Beirut said "Israeli warplanes have been conducting very provocative manoeuvres over the skies of the capital."

"They have done multiple sonic bombs in order to terrorise the population," al-Saadi said.

The explosion-like sounds come just two days after the fourth anniversary of the devastating Beirut port explosion which ripped up swathes of the capital and left thousands with mental and physical wounds.

Hassan Nasrallah is due to address his followers at around 5pm Beirut time to mark a week since the death of top commander Fuad Shukr.

Journalists in Beirut said buildings shook from a sonic boom induced by a low-flying Israeli fighter jet on Tuesday.

The New Arab's international editor in the city described them as "very, very loud" sonic booms, an explosion-like sound.

Israeli jets have regularly been breaching Lebanese airspace to drop bombs over what it says are Hezbollah military targets mainly in the south of the country. However, its fighter planes have been flying over Beirut and further north - regarded as a deliberate intimidatory move.

Breaking

Loudest sonic boom I have ever heard in the past few weeks over Beirut. Jets were right above us in downtown Beirut

This is what we saw pic.twitter.com/rkMU4umbG6

— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) August 6, 2024

The Israeli military announced that an explosion on a highway Route 4 was caused by the failure of an Iron Dome interceptor. The explosion seriously wounded one person, according to the Times of Israel. 

UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force's global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East.

Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.

But worry has grown of a wider regional conflict, especially after the killing, blamed on Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Iran and an Israeli air strike that killed a Hezbollah commander in the Beirut southern suburbs last week.

The role of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was today "more important than ever", Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP.

"It's the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah," he said.

"It's fundamental because it allows us to clarify certain things and avoid misunderstandings... miscalculations, uncontrolled and unwanted escalations," he said.

Iran has yet to make any arrests linked to the suspected Israeli killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the Iranian judiciary said Tuesday.

The leader of the Palestinian militant group was killed last Wednesday during a visit for the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The "necessary investigations" have begun and the results will be announced "as soon as the probe is completed," said judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir.

"Until today, no arrests have been made in connection with this case," he said, adding that the investigations involved Iranian military officials.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh was killed using a "short-range projectile" launched from outside his accommodation in Tehran.

Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel and vowed to retaliate. Israel has declined to comment.

Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah said its member Hassan Mansour had been killed in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday, as strikes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah ramp up.

The 26-year-old was from the southern town of Jebchit.

In addition, the Lebanese health ministry said one person had been killed and another injured in an Israeli attack on the outskirts of Adaisseh in southern Lebanon, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Israel said that five people were injured in a suspected Hezbollah drone attack on the Western Galilee region.

A United Nations expert on Tuesday condemned Israel's killing last week of Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul and cameraman Ramy El Rify in Gaza and urged that the deaths be prosecuted as a war crime.

The two men died in a July 31 airstrike by the Israeli military, which said Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative who took part in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel.

The Israel Defence Forces has released a document seized from Hamas computers that it said corroborates its claim.

"I strongly denounce the deliberate targeting by Israel of two journalists in Gaza, which adds to an already appalling toll of reporters and media workers killed in this war," Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, said in a statement.

Israel's military said Al-Ghoul belonged to the elite Nukhba unit and was involved in recording and publicizing attacks on Israeli troops.

(Reuters)

Air France on Tuesday said it had cancelled flights between Paris and Beirut until Aug. 8 because of the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

"The resumption of operations will be subject to a new assessment of the local situation," the French airline said in a statement.

(Reuters)

Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah said it launched a swarm of attack drones against military targets in northern Israel on Tuesday.

A source within the group told Reuters it was not the group’s retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last week. Hezbollah has vowed to avenge him, prompting worries of a major escalation that could tip into a full-blown war.

(Reuters)

The health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that at least 39,653 people have been killed in nearly 10 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 30 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 91,535 people as having been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it killed a Mohammed Mahasneh a Hamas commander ‘responsible for smuggling operations’ in Gaza.

In a statement shared on Telegram, the military said Mahasneh was responsible for channelling military equipment into Gaza “through tunnels and border crossings”.

“His elimination significantly degrades the capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization to smuggle equipment into the Gaza Strip.”

It said it had killed 20 fighters in battles in central Gaza and a further 25 fighters in the Rafah area.

South Korea said on Tuesday it will issue a ban on its citizens travelling to the border areas of Israel and Lebanon after advising them to leave the countries amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The foreign ministry said the ban will start from Wednesday in areas near the Blue Line, referring to a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel where parts of the international border are disputed.

The ministry also "strongly advised" its nationals in Lebanon and Israel to leave the countries as soon as possible.

A temporary advisory urging against travel to Iran was also set to be issued, the ministry said in a statement.

The travel advisory was issued after a commander of the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah and the head of the political wing of Hamas, the group that runs the Gaza Strip, were killed, Lee Jae-woong, a ministry spokesperson said.

The assassinations came after a deadly rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights late last month.

"South Korea's government...hopes that diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions such as negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release will not stop," Lee told a briefing.

More than 500 South Korean nationals are currently residing in Israel and around 120 in Lebanon as of Tuesday, according to the ministry.

(Reuters)

Palestinian officials said Israeli forces killed eight people in two separate raids in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, as violence in the occupied territory showed no sign of abating.

Four people were killed in the Jenin area and four in Tubas district when Israeli forces carried out early morning raids, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the health ministry in Ramallah said.

The Israeli army reported its aircraft struck "armed terrorist cells" in the Jenin area, but did not give details on casualties.

"Four martyrs and three wounded, one of whom is very critical, due to the occupation's shelling of two vehicles in the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin," the Red Crescent said in a statement.

The health ministry said: "There are four martyrs and seven wounded from occupation gunfire in the town of Aqaba in Tubas district."

An Israeli strike on a home in the southern Lebanese town of Mayfadoun on Tuesday killed four people, medical and security sources said.

A security source told AFP the dead were all Hezbollah fighters.

"Following the Israeli enemy raid on a house in the town of Mayfadun... four people were killed," the ministry said in a statement. Requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, the security source said "they were all Hezbollah fighters".

While most exchanges of fire between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been limited to the border area, Mayfadoun lies nearly 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Lebanon's border with Israel. 

The Gaza Strip must be transferred to the control of legitimate Palestinian authorities, and Israeli plans for temporary control of the enclave are unacceptable, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Russia's RIA news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.

"Gaza must be governed under the auspices of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and the legitimate Palestinian government," Abbas told the state RIA agency in an interview that was published in Russian.

"We strongly oppose Israeli plans that provide for some temporary solutions." 

(Reuters)

More than 10,000 Palestinian students have been killed and 16,400 injured in Gaza and the West Bank since 7 October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

The ministry said in a statement that more than 119 state schools in Gaza were severely damaged and 62 completely destroyed. All of Gaza's universities have been damaged by Israeli attacks, including 31 completely destroyed.

More than 620,000 students in Gaza have been out of education since the start of the war, with many suffering from mental and physical health problems, the ministry said.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is due to speak on Tuesday afternoon to mark the one-week anniversary of the death of Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut last week.

Nasrallah's speech will be closely watched for an indication of the type and timing of a response to Israel.

Hezbollah leaders as well as its backers in Iran have said that Israel will face a "painful" attack in the wake of the killing of Shukr and the assassination of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

Tensions have soared across the region with diplomats urgently calling for calm amid fears of a major regional war.

Palestinian officials say four Palestinians were killed, including three teenagers, and another seven were wounded by Israeli fire during a military raid in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday that the raid was carried out overnight in the village of Aqaaba in the northern West Bank. Those killed included two 19-year-olds and a 14-year-old. Separately, the Islamic Jihad militant group reported heavy fighting with the army in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, a frequent flashpoint.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has carried out near-daily military raids across the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the ongoing war there. Palestinians from the West Bank have also carried out a number of attacks on Israelis.

The Health Ministry says over 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war. Most were killed during military arrest raids and violent protests.