Israeli forces kill 40 in Lebanon as deadly Gaza attacks continue

Israel says it has reached an agreement to purchase 25 advanced F-15 fighter jets from US aerospace giant Boeing for $5.2 billion.

The Defense Ministry said the agreement, concluded Wednesday, was part of a broader aid package approved by the US government earlier this year.

Deliveries will begin in 2031, and there’s an option for the purchase of an additional 25 aircraft.

The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel as it has attacked Gaza and Lebanon- as well as trading fire with Iran.

The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it did not facilitate the delivery of more aid to Gaza, US laws may force the administration to curb some of its military support.

The State Department said this week that Israel had yet to sufficiently improve aid deliveries ahead of a mid-November deadline.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how he plans to do it .

He was a staunch supporter of Israel during his previous term but also cultivated close ties with Arab Gulf leaders.

Lebanon's transport minister said Thursday the country's only international airport was operating normally, after Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, including one on an area near the hub.

Minister Ali Hamie told news agency AFP that planes were taking off and landing without any issue.

A heater factory next to the airport's perimeter wall had been badly damaged in a strike, according to AFP.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon's Hezbollah since late September when it broadened its focus from the Gaza Strip to its northern border.

The strike near the airport came after Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it had targeted a military base close Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international transport hub.

The overnight strike in Beirut caused "minor damage" to some buildings but "not inside the terminal building", an airport official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.

He said the strike had affected a maintenance building belonging to a subsidiary of Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier and practically the only airline still operating flights there.

The ongoing Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza, under siege for over a month, has led to escalating casualties.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, three people were killed in airstrikes in the Nuwairi area, located west of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

In southern Gaza, Wafa also reported, citing local sources, that an Israeli drone strike east of Rafah city claimed the lives of five people.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Thursday criticised the unveiling of a giant 'Free Palestine' banner at a Paris Saint Germain (PSG) soccer match, saying it was "unacceptable."

Asked if he would seek sanctions against PSG, Retailleau told Sud Radio: "I am not ruling out anything. I will demand explanations from PSG."

On Wednesday night, fans from Paris St Germain's Auteuil Kop unveiled a giant 'Free Palestine' banner before their Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, eight days before France take on Israel in Paris in a Nations League game.

Medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera Arabic report that Israeli raids in Gaza have killed at least 22 people since dawn, with 14 of those fatalities occurring in northern Gaza.

The attacks have primarily targeted the Jabalia and Beit Lahiya areas in northern Gaza, as well as the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the enclave.

More updates to come.

The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli strike killed one person in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after the Israeli military announced it had targeted the area.

The ministry said in a statement that "a martyr shot by (Israeli) forces" had arrived at Tulkarem Governmental Hospital from the Tulkarem camp.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its staff transferred "a 22-year-old martyr" from inside the Tulkarem camp to hospital.

It added separately that a 57-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel in the camp.

The health ministry announced the death of another Palestinian shortly after midnight in the nearby northern city of Jenin.

"A martyr shot by (Israeli) forces in Jenin," it said in a statement.

A Palestinian security source told news agency AFP the person was killed late Wednesday and identified him as retired Palestinian intelligence officer Abdallah Saadi.

Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the northern areas of the territory, has soared since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 761 Palestinians in the West Bank over that period, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the same period in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.

Lebanese state media said an Israeli drone strike on Thursday targeted a car on a key road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa plain and eastern neighbour Syria.

"An enemy drone targeted a car in Araya," the National News Agency said, adding the road had been cut off by the strike that comes after two cars were targets on the same route last week, including a van loaded with Hezbollah ammunition.

Israel’s parliament passed a law early Thursday that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinians accused as attackers, including the country’s own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations.

The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61-41 vote but is likely to be challenged in court.

It would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members' alleged 'attacks' beforehand or who "express support or identification with the act of terrorism."

They would be deported, either to the Gaza Strip or another location, for a period of 7 to 20 years.

The war is still raging in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and most of the population has been internally displaced, often multiple times .

It was unclear if it would apply in the occupied West Bank, where Israel already has a longstanding policy of demolishing the family homes of Palestinians who are accused of being attackers.

Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former international law expert for the Israeli military, told news agency the Associated Press that if the law comes before the Supreme Court, it is likely to be struck down based on previous Israeli cases regarding deportation.

"The bottom line is this is completely non-constitutional and a clear conflict to Israel’s core values," said Shamir-Borer.

Iran on Thursday called Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election an opportunity for the United States to reassess past "wrong policies".

Trump, who is set to return to the White House in January after defeating US Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's election, had pursued a "maximum pressure" strategy on Iran during his first term.

"We have very bitter experiences with the policies and approaches of different US governments in the past," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Trump's win, he added, was a chance "to review previous wrong policies".

Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions peaked during Trump's first term from 2017 to 2021.

Before Trump was declared the winner on Wednesday, Iran had dismissed the US election as irrelevant.

"The general policies of the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran are fixed," said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani.

"It doesn't matter who becomes president. Plans have already been set so that there is no change in people's livelihood," she added.

During his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed harsh sanctions on the Islamic republic.

In 2020, under Trump's presidency, the United States killed revered Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qasem Soleimani in an air strike on Baghdad airport.

Dubai's Emirates Group announced half-year profits of $2.5 billion on Thursday, citing robust demand despite conflicts in the Middle East.

The airline group, operating from the world's busiest airport for international traffic, has faced regional disruptions due to the conflicts, but has expanded its network elsewhere.

Pre-tax profits of 10.4 billion dirhams ($2.8 billion) in the six months to September were a record for the group, but were subject to the United Arab Emirates' new 9.0 percent corporate tax for the first time.

"We expect customer demand to remain strong for the rest of 2024-25, and we look forward to increasing our capacity to grow revenues," group chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said in a statement.

"The outlook is positive," he said, with more aircraft expected to join the fleet and expanded facilities for dnata, Emirates' ground services arm.

Emirates flights to Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Iran -- a close neighbour of the UAE -- have all been affected by conflicts stemming from the war in Gaza, which erupted in October last year.