Israeli strikes kill Iranian soldiers as Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital besieged

The New Arab's liveblog on tensions between Iran and Israel, and the wars in Gaza and Lebanon has now concluded, and will resume tomorrow at 09:00am.

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United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Saturday he’s "deeply alarmed" by the escalation of violence in the Middle East after Israel carried out deadly air strikes on Iran.

Guterres "urgently reiterates his appeal to all parties to cease all military actions, including in Gaza and Lebanon", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

He called for "maximum efforts to prevent an all-out regional war and return to the path of diplomacy".

Iran army says only radar systems damaged by Israel strikes.

Iran has no limits when it comes to defending its interests, its territorial integrity and its people, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

He was speaking after Israel bombed military sites in Iran in the early hours of Saturday, a retaliation for an Iranian attack on Israel earlier this month.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on their Telegram channel that two more Iranian soldiers were killed during Israel's attack early on Saturday.

The group named the soldiers as Mehdi Naqvi and Sajjad Mansouri.

Israeli attacks killed 19 people in Lebanon on Friday, bringing the total death toll to 2,653 since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

At least 22 people have been killed in Gaza on Saturday, Al Jazeera is reporting, with the majority of casualties being in northern Gaza amid Israel's ongoing siege there.

The Algerian foreign ministry "strongly condemns and denounces" Israel's military strikes on Iran, which it called "heinous aggression", and called on the international community to halt Israel from escalating conflict in the region.

Neighouring Tunisia similarly issued a statement warning of "severe consequences" of Israel's strikes on Iran and calling on "the international community to urgently assume its responsibilities to put an end to this reckless approach".

Meanwhile Bahrain, who normalised relations with Israel in 2020, condemned the "military operation" against Iran, expressing "deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions" in the region.

In a statement, the Bahraini Foreign Ministry urged the concerned parties to "exercise restraint and prioritize de-escalation to prevent the expansion of war and conflict."

The European Union on Saturday called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an "uncontrollable escalation" in the Middle East after Israel carried out deadly air strikes in Iran.

"The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliations risks causing a further expansion of the regional conflict," the 27-nation bloc said in a statement. "While acknowledging Israel's right to self-defence, the EU calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an uncontrollable escalation, which is in no one's interest."

The Israeli military carried out a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Saturday, shelling a neighbourhood adjacent to the Nur Shams camp.

Israeli forces claimed that they targeted and killed a Hamas member, Islam Odeh, in the raid.

Odeh was allegedly affiliated with Hamas' armed-wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

Lebanon says Israeli strike kills Hezbollah-affiliated rescuer.

Turkey on Saturday condemned Israel's strikes on Iran and called for an end to what it said was Israel's "terror" in the region.

"Putting an end to the terror created by Israel in the region has become an historic task for the establishment of international peace and security," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the Israeli attack on Iran. By committing genocide in Gaza, preparing to annex the West Bank and killing civilians every day in Lebanon, Israel has brought our region to the brink of a greater war," the ministry added.

Israel said its strikes on Iranian military installations was a retaliation to Iranian missile attacks on Israel earlier this month.

Turkey's statement said it called on the international community to take steps to restrain the Israeli government and ensure that international law is respected.

It asked that "actors in and outside the region adopt a rational and prudent attitude".

Iranian state media has named the two soldiers killed during Israel's strikes on the country early on Saturday.

The two soldiers were named as Hamze Jihandideh and Mohammad Mehdi Shahrokhifar.

Ten Iranian border guards were killed in an attack in restive southeast Iran on Saturday, state media reported the interior ministry as saying, in the latest clash with suspected Sunni Muslim militants

The health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 42,924 people have been killed in the year-long war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 77 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to the ministry, which said 100,833 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began began on October 7, 2023.

Saudi Arabia's airspace was not used during Israel's overnight airstrikes on Iran, a Saudi official told Reuters on Saturday

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned Israel's airstrikes on multiple sites in Iran, describing them as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and a serious threat to regional and international peace and security. 

Egyptian national carrier EgyptAir said it had cancelled flights to Iraq's capital Baghdad and northern city of Erbil on Saturday, citing regional developments, after Israeli airstrikes on military targets in neighbouring Iran.

A flight to Jordan's capital Amman on Saturday was also cancelled, EgyptAir said, adding that the suspension would last until the situation stabilises. 

Hezbollah on Saturday said it had launched drones against an Israeli air base south of Tel Aviv, its first claimed attack against the facility.

At war with Israel since last month, after a year of tit-for-tat cross border exchanges, Hezbollah regularly announces the targeting of Israeli military facilities but its statement that it launched "an aerial attack with drones" against Tel Nof base was the first claim of its kind in one year.

Egypt is gravely concerned over the escalation in the Middle East including the Israeli air attack on Iran, and condemns all measures that threaten regional security and stability, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday. 

No military planes were allowed to cross Jordanian airspace by any conflicting regional parties, Jordanian state media said, citing an armed force source as saying on Saturday following Israel's airstrikes on Iranian military targets. 

Iraq denounced global inaction against Israel which it accused of expanding conflict in the Middle East, after strikes against Iran on Saturday.

"The occupying Zionist entity continues its aggressive policies and widening the conflict in the region through blatant attacks that it carries out with impunity," including against Iranian targets, government spokesman Basim Alawadi said in a statement denouncing "the international community's silence" on Israeli actions.

Iran announced on Saturday the resumption of flights after a brief suspension following an Israeli attack that targeted several military sites in the country.

"Flights will return to normal from 9:00 am (0530 GMT) on Saturday," the spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Organisation said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Lebanese state media said the Israeli army dynamited houses in a Lebanese border village on Saturday, more than a month into its dramatic escalation in the country.

The official National News Agency said "the army of the Israeli enemy has since dawn blown up and destroyed houses" in the border village of Adaisseh.

The Israeli military had earlier reported "the explosion of a large quantity of explosives in Lebanon" that was strong enough to trigger earthquake warnings in large parts of Israel.

Qatar's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned Israel's airstrikes on Iran and urged restraint and dialogue to avoid regional instability.

Fellow Gulf country the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attacks, stressing the importance of exercising "maximum restraint" to avoid escalation.

Hamas, at war with Israel in Gaza, also released a statement:

"We... condemn in the strongest terms the Zionist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the targeting of military sites in several provinces", the movement said in a statement, calling the move "a blatant violation of Iranian sovereignty and an escalation that threatens the security of the region".

Syria, which also has been targeted by Israel during the escalations in Gaza and Lebanon, echoed similar sentiments.

Expressing its "solidarity" with Iran, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that it supported "Iran's legitimate right to defend itself and protect its territory and the lives of its citizens".

Pakistan also criticised the attacks, saying Israel bore "full responsibility" for escalating the conflict in the Middle East.

"These strikes undermine the path to regional peace and stability and also constitute a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region," it said.

Two Iranian soldiers have been killed during Israel's attacks on the country, early on Saturday, the Iranian army confirmed.

"The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran sacrificed two of its soldiers last night while confronting the projectiles of the criminal Zionist regime in order to defend the security of Iran and prevent harm to the nation and the interests of Iran," it said.

The Israeli military said it intercepted two drones crossing into Israel from Lebanon on Saturday, hours after Israel struck several military targets inside Iran.

"Following the sirens that sounded between 08:39 (05:39 GMT) and 08:41 in the Upper Galilee area, the IAF (air force) intercepted a UAV that crossed into Israel from Lebanon," the military said in a statement, later adding that another drone had also crossed and been intercepted.

Saudi Arabia condemned Israeli strikes on military targets in Iran on Saturday, warning against any further expansion of the conflict in the Middle East.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses its condemnation and denunciation" of the Israeli strikes and emphasised its "firm position rejecting escalation of the conflict in the region", which "threatens the security and the stability of countries and peoples" in the Middle East, the foreign ministry said on X.

Saudi Arabia previously had tense relations with Iran, before a Chinese-brokered rapprochement saw the two Middle Eastern countries re-establish diplomatic relations in 2023.

#Statement | The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses its condemnation and denunciation of the military targeting of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is a violation of its sovereignty and a violation of international laws and norms. The Kingdom also affirms its unwavering… pic.twitter.com/3iLuGlmiwM

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) October 26, 2024

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday Iran should not respond to a wave of Israeli strikes, urging restraint on all sides.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel struck military sites in Iran, saying it was retaliating against Tehran's strikes on Israel this month, the latest attack in the escalating conflict between the heavily armed rivals.

"I am clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. I'm equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint. Iran should not respond," he said, speaking at a press conference in Samoa, where he has been attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. 

Emirati airline flydubai cancelled flights to Jordan, Iran, Iraq and Israel and diverted others on Saturday, a company spokesperson said, shortly after Israel struck military targets in Iran.