Middle East: Israel strikes northern Gaza and Lebanon – DW – 11/10/2024

Lebanon‘s Health Ministry said on Sunday that 23 people were killed, seven of them children, and six others injured in an Israeli strike on the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon province, to the north of the capital Beirut. 

After revising these figures several times, authorities said the toll could climb further, as rescue workers cleared rubble and wreckage at the site. 

Israel did not immediately comment on the incident, which took place far to the north of Hezbollah‘s traditional strongholds in the south and east of the country. 

Lebanese officials also reported attacks on Sunday in Baalbek in the country’s east, not far from the border to Syria, and in southern areas nearer the border to Israel.

A hospital director in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the enclave. 

Dr. Fadel Naim, director of the Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said nine women were among the dead and that the toll was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued. 

The Israeli military said it had targeted a site where militants were operating, without providing evidence, and that the details of the strike were under review.

A separate strike on Sunday in Gaza City killed Wael al-Khour, a minister in the Hamas-run government, and several members of his family, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, a first-responders organization that operates under the government. 

Israeli forces have encircled and largely isolated Jabaliya and nearby towns such as Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun for roughly the past month. 

The Biden administration in the US recently called on Israel to ensure more humanitarian aid enter Gaza or risk possible restrictions on US military funding. The 30-day deadline issued by the outgoing US administration expires on Wednesday.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Sunday that a high police presence was being prepared for the upcoming Nations League match between France and Israel at the Stade de France on Thursday. 

Nunez described the event as high risk and said that roughly 4,000 gendarmes would be around the stadium, on public transport and in Paris. 

“An elite unit of national police will also protect the Israel team,” Nunez said. “The geopolitcal context is extremely delicate.” 

The police chief also warned that officers would adopt an attitude of zero tolerance before and after the event. 

The match follows soon after the Ajax vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv club game midweek, which descended into violence on the streets of Amesterdam with fans being tracked, chased and beaten. 

Paris’ Stade de France is on the northern outskirts of the city in the Saint-Denis suburb, known for a high crime rate, low living standards and a large Muslim population.

msh/nm (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)