Israel pushes deeper into Gaza’s Jabalia, strikes Lebanon and Syria

Israeli tanks went deeper into Gaza’s Jabalia in northern Gaza on Tuesday, ordering residents to leave as it pummellled the historic Palestinian refugee camp from above.

Palestinian medics said casualties had been reported in Jabalia but that they were unable to reach areas under fire.

Israeli forces have placed Jabalia under siege over the last several days, while ramping up attacks on the north of the enclave at unprecedented levels.

A former spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Chris Gunness, condemned Israel’s "slaughter" in Gaza.

"In the last year, we have seen Gaza transform from the world’s largest open-air prison to the world’s largest concentration camp," he said.

He also slammed countries around the world for failing to stop the assaults.

“Shame on the UN Security Council, shame on the Israeli leaders who’ve done this, and shame on all of us because what we’ve seen in the last year is a stain on the conscience of humanity,” he told Al Jazeera.

Israel also escalated attacks on Lebanon, deploying more troops and urging civilians near the Mediterranean to evacuate.

Lebanese state-run media said a series of Israeli strikes on south Beirut on Tuesday had caused "massive destruction" and razed four buildings.

"Beirut's southern suburbs are still being subjected to a series of strikes, the latest of which hit the main road at Al-Kafaat, and caused massive destruction" in several south Beirut neighbourhoods, the National News Agency said.

The NNA said "four adjacent residential buildings collapsed in the Burj al-Barajneh area after the recent Israeli strike," and had earlier reported several "enemy" strikes in the area.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa after the Israeli military reported 85 projectiles crossing from Lebanon.

The group warned that it would intensify attacks on Israel, including the northern port city of Haifa, if it continues to strike Lebanon.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said that Israeli attacks on Lebanon are "threatening the entire region", with the death toll already surpassing that of the Israeli war in 2006.

"Large-scale Israeli strikes deep into Lebanon, including Beirut, have killed more than 2,000 people over the last year and 1,500 in the past two weeks alone,” he said. 

"Lebanese authorities report that over one million people have been displaced and 300,000 people have fled into Syria," he added.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on Syria's capital also killed seven people and left at least 11 others wounded. The strike targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood.

Earlier media reports stated that Syria’s air defences had intercepted "hostile" targets in the vicinity of Damascus.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 41,965 Palestinians since October 2023 and wounded more than 97,590 others in the same time frame.

Since October 2023, Israel has also killed 2,119 people in Lebanon, and wounded 10,019 others, the Lebanese health ministry announced on Tuesday.

The ministry added that during the past 24 hours 36 people were killed and 150 others injured.