A 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Türkiye

Beirut: The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that five people were killed in Israeli raids Wednesday on the municipality of the southern city of Nabatieh, after an official said that the mayor was among the dead.

The ministry said in a statement, “The Israeli enemy’s raid… on two buildings belonging to the Nabatieh municipality and the Union of Municipalities led to the death of five people in an initial toll,” adding that rescue teams were searching for survivors under the rubble.

The authorities said that the mayor of Nabatieh was among those killed.

“The mayor of Nabatieh and others were martyred… Nabatieh Governor Howaida Turk said: “It is a massacre,” adding that he was in the municipality building.

Hezbollah rescuers also said that several people were killed in the raid on the municipal building, including Mayor Ahmed Kahil.

The Israeli military launched strikes in southern Beirut on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, saying that would leave Hezbollah forces close to his country's border.

An Agence France-Presse journalist saw black smoke rising from the Haret Hreik area in Beirut after two raids, which followed an Israeli military warning to residents to evacuate.

The army said one of the strikes targeted weapons “stored by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility.”

Netanyahu's refusal to stop the attack came at a time when the United States intensified its pressure on Israel, criticized the bombing of Beirut and urged increased aid access to the residents of Gaza.

In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu said that he “opposes a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and will only return it to what it was,” according to his office.

Israel insists that it needs a buffer zone along its northern border, free of Hezbollah fighters.

The statement stated that Netanyahu made clear that Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this (buffer zone) and does not prevent Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping its ranks.

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naeem Qassem, said the only solution was a ceasefire while threatening to expand his missile strikes across Israel.

He said: “Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right, from a defensive position, to target any place” in Israel.

Early Wednesday, the Israeli army said that about 50 shells were fired from Lebanon into the north of the country, without any reports of casualties.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said it fired several missiles at northern Israel and army positions.

The Israeli army said that it “eliminated dozens of terrorists during exchanges of fire and air strikes” in Lebanon.

The official National News Agency reported that Israel bombed several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the Bekaa Valley, where a hospital was put out of service.

The Israeli army announced that it captured three Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that nine people were killed as a result of raids in the south of the country, and five others in the east of the country, including three children.

The US State Department criticized the Israeli strikes.

Spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We have made clear that we oppose the campaign the way we have seen it over the past weeks” in Beirut.

In a letter to the Israeli government on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that US arms shipments to Israel could be withheld unless more aid reaches Gazans.

Miller said the letter made it clear that “there are changes they need to make again to see the level of aid reaching Gaza return from the very low levels it is today.”

The United Nations warned that the restrictions imposed on aid to Gaza are the worst since the start of the Israeli attack on Hamas in October last year.

“We are now seeing what may be the worst restrictions on humanitarian aid we have ever seen,” said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), noting that there had been several days when trucks were not allowed into Gaza.

Israeli forces are launching air and ground attacks on northern Gaza and Jabalia, amid allegations that Hamas activists are regrouping in the region.

Rana Abdel Majeed, 38 years old, from the Al-Faluja area in the northern Gaza Strip, said that “the entire area turned into ashes,” describing the “merciless, indiscriminate bombing” that destroyed entire buildings.

The Israeli army said that it “eliminated more than 50 terrorists in close confrontations and air strikes” in Jabalia over the past day.

In a shelter that was subjected to Israeli bombing in the central Nuseirat camp, Fatima Al-Azab said: “There is no safety anywhere.”

She said: “They are all children, sleeping in blankets, and they are all burned and cut up.”

Israel launched a military campaign against Gaza after an attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which led to the killing of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages killed in captivity.

The Israeli campaign led to the deaths of 42,344 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled territories that the United Nations considers reliable.

Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon starting September 23 and launched a ground attack a week later to expel the group from its northern border.

Hezbollah fired thousands of shells into Israel over the past year in support of Hamas, leading to the displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis.

At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel intensified its bombing last month, according to a count conducted by Agence France-Presse based on figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, but the real number is likely to be higher.

The war in Lebanon, which has suffered from years of economic crisis, led to the displacement of at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.

Israel is also considering how to respond to Iran's firing of about 200 missiles into the country on October 1.

Netanyahu's office said that Israel – not its major ally, the United States – would decide how to respond.

She added: “We are listening to the views of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest.”

His office said that Iran's top diplomat told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that his country was ready for a “decisive and unfortunate” response if it attacked Israel.

The Iranian barrage came in response to an Israeli raid in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and another that killed Iranian General Abbas Nilforoushan on September 27.

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