Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates: Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 7 as people flee south Lebanon

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Data from fire-tracking satellites used by the United States showed the wide range of Israeli airstrikes that target southern Lebanon, an Associated Press analysis on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) showed.

NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System typically is used by experts to track wildfires across rural areas of the U.S. However, they also can be used to track the flashes and burning that follow airstrikes. That’s particularly true when an airstrike ignites flammable material on the ground, like munitions or fuel.

On Monday (Sept. 23), Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people and wounding more than 1,600 others. Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Data from Monday show significant fires breaking out across southern Lebanon, stretching from the border with Israel as far north as Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley, some 20 kilometres (more than 10 miles) from the border. The area of the strikes is over 1,700 square kilometres (650 square miles).

There were several areas that showed multiple, intense fires. One was near the southern coastal town of Naqoura, which hosts a base for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL. Others were in rural areas or villages.

Since its creation at the start of Israel’s occupation of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, the Shiite militia Hezbollah is believed to have stockpiled weapons and missiles throughout southern Lebanon as a deterrent to Israel. — AP

JERUSALEM The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has restricted American government employees from travelling to Israel’s north after a heavy exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

The embassy said on Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) that employees require an armoured vehicle and prior approval to travel to a large region of the north that includes the bustling coastal city of Haifa.

The U.S. State Department meanwhile urged American citizens to leave the country, where Israeli strikes killed nearly 500 people on Monday (Sept. 23, 2024) . — AP

Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel on Tuesday (September 24, 2024), increasing fears of a full-blown conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in decades.

Israel’s military said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets overnight, a day after carrying out airstrikes against the armed group which Lebanese authorities said killed nearly 500 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.

Hezbollah said it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight including an explosives factory 60 km into Israel, which it attacked with Fadi rockets around 4 a.m. It said it also attacked the Megiddo airfield near the northern Israeli town of Afula three separate times overnight.

-Reuters

Many fear the escalating violence could lead to an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which would further destabilise a region already shaken by the fighting in Gaza. Both sides have said they don’t want that to happen, even as they have defiantly warned of heavier attacks.

Here are some things to know about the situation:

DEIR-Al-BALAH, Gaza Strip Palestinian officials say Israel’s strikes early on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) killed at least seven people in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis. At least 15 others, including women and children, were injured in the strikes, they said.

The civil defence said the dead include five people who were killed in a strike on the Abu Harb family house in the Qizan al-Najjar area. The strike also wounded at least 10 others, it said.

Another strike hit a house in the Tahlia area in Khan Younis, killing at least two people and wounding five others, according to the rescue service. The casualties from both strikes were confirmed in hospital records in Khan Younis.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians but rarely comments on individual strikes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 of the captives are still being held in Gaza, and a third of them are believed to be dead.

DUBAI, UAE Airlines in the United Arab Emirates, a key East-West travel hub, cancelled flight on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) to Lebanon over the ongoing cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad canceled flights, as did FlyDubai, the low-cost carrier.

The United Arab Emirates, which reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020, is home to a large Lebanese population. — AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah has been using Lebanese civilians as human shields, addressing residents of the neighbouring nation in a video statement shortly after the Israeli army announced it had struck 800 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

“It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage,” he said.

He also warned Lebanese people to move away from danger as the Israeli military pounded Hezbollah targets in the country’s south and east on Monday (September 23, 2024). — AFP

Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday (September 23, 2024), killing 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah militant group stores weapons.

Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. More than 1,645 people were wounded in the strikes, the Health Ministry said, a staggering one-day toll for the country.

The Israeli military said it hit more than 1,600 targets on Monday (September 23) linked to Hezbollah weapons sites. It said it was expanding the operation to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border.

Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns that were being struck.

The wave of airstrikes came after a day after Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa.

Hezbollah’s rockets were in response to an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday (September 20, 2024) that killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen members, along with civilians including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility. — AP