Hamas fires rocket barrage at Tel Aviv on anniversary of October 7 attack

Hamas has fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv and central Israel as the country marks the anniversary of the deadly 7 October Hamas attack.

After air raid sirens were heard this morning, the Israeli military claimed Hamas had launched five rockets from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Hamas also claimed the attack.

“Falls were detected in the area, the details are under investigation,” the statement added, referring to areas in Israel.

Pictures published today from Khan Younis detailed rows of houses and apartment blocks levelled by Israeli airstrikes.

It comes as Israeli civilians mark the anniversary of Hamas’ deadly 7 October attack, during which they killed around 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage in Gaza, 101 of which remain in the enclave. Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel’s retaliatory air and ground attack in Gaza, according to the local, Hamas-run health ministry.

Families of the hostages marched to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem this morning to mark the terror attack.

“I couldn’t have imagined in my worst nightmares that a whole year would pass and my father would not be with us,” said Shir Siegel, 28, whose father Keith, 65, remains in Gaza.

Key Points

• Hamas fires five rockets at Tel Aviv and central Israel

• In pictures: Israel mourns a year after 7 October attack

• Gazans on their year of hell: ‘The pain is indescribable’

• Israel intensifies bombing of Gaza and Lebanon

At least 10 firefighters killed in Israeli strike in Lebanon, says health ministry

13:01 , Tom Watling

At least 10 firefighters have been killed in an Israeli strike on a municipal building in the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, the local health ministry has reported.

Israel defence minister issues statement marking anniversary of 7 October

12:42 , Tom Watling

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, a key ally of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a statement marking the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on 7 October.

You can read his full remarks below.

Israel on high alert for one-year anniversary of 7 October attacks

12:20 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel is on high alert for possible attacks on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas assault on southern Israel.

“We are ready with increased forces in anticipation for this day,” said military spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari, adding that there could be “attacks on the home front”.Israel will today hold memorials for the victims of the Hamas attack.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages remain held by Hamas.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run Strip.

October 7: The day horror came to the kibbutz

12:03 , Tom Watling

October 7: The day horror came to the kibbutz

Jordan’s foreign minister arrives in Beirut, ministry says

11:44 , Tom Watling

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Beirut on board a Jordanian aid plane, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Israeli military releases unseen footage of Hamas 7 October attack

11:19 , Tom Watling

Israeli military releases unseen footage of Hamas 7 October attack

365 days of horror since 7 October: The Gaza war in numbers

11:00 , Tom Watling

365 days of horror since 7 October: The Gaza war in numbers

Voices from Gaza on their year of hell: ‘The pain is indescribable’

10:38 , Tom Watling

Voices from Gaza on their year of hell: ‘The pain is indescribable’

UPD: More than 41,900 Palestinians killed in Gaza in past year

10:22 , Tom Watling

More than 41,909 Palestinians have been killed in the last year of Israel’s ground and air offensive in the Gaza Strip, the local, Hamas-run health ministry has said in an update.

They added that more than 97,303 people have been wounded.

Israel began its assault in the Gaza Strip, intended to destroy Hamas, this time last year after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking a further 251 hostage.

In pictures: Southern gaza destroyed by Israeli airstrikes

10:06 , Tom Watling

In pictures: Israel marks 7 October

09:46 , Tom Watling

Mother of British-Israeli hostage held in Gaza pleads with Starmer

09:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The mother of a 28-year-old British-Israeli woman being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for almost a year has urged the UK government to “fight for her release”.

In her first public speech since her daughter Emily Damari’s capture on 7 October last year, Mandy Damari, 63, told crowds gathered at Hyde Park on Sunday that it was “impossible to comprehend the pain” her daughter was going through while being held captive by Hamas.

“One year has passed and she is still in hell,” said the mother, who was born in Surrey and raised in south London.

Tom Watling reports.

Mother sends letter to British Hamas hostage as she urges Starmer to secure release

Five rockets launched at Israel from Gaza, says Israeli military

09:25 , Tom Watling

The Israeli military has claimed that five rockets were launched at Israel from the southern Gaza Strip this morning.

Earlier, sirens were heard over Tel Aviv and central Israel. Hamas also claimed to have fired at Tel Aviv.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, the Israeli military wrote: “Following the alerts that were activated a short time ago in the center of the country, five launches were detected that crossed from the Khan Yunis area, falls were detected in the area, the details are under investigation.”

In pictures: Smoke billows from southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes

09:14 , Tom Watling

Hamas armed wing says it attacked Tel Aviv with missile salvo

09:11 , Tom Watling

Hamas’ armed wing has attacked Israel‘s Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, the group has claimed in statement.

Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military said sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv and in central Israel.

Sirens sound in Tel Aviv and central Israel

09:04 , Tom Watling

More than one million people flee their homes in north Lebanon

09:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel has expanded its intense bombing campaign in Lebanon, pounding a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country and unleashing dozens of strikes on the suburbs of Beirut.

Israeli warplanes hit areas as far north as the Beddawi camp, outside the city of Tripoli. The strikes killed a member of Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon, along with his wife and two daughters, according to the Palestinian militant group.

Israel said he served Hamas’ executive authority in Lebanon and had been directing attacks in the occupied West Bank. This marks the first time Israel has struck northern Lebanon since the 2006 war with Hezbollah.

Bel Trew reports from Jerusalem.

Israel expands strikes to northern Lebanon as more than one million people flee

Families of hostages march to Israeli PM’s house in Jerusalem

08:44 , Bel Trew

Families of the hostages marched to the Israeli Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem this morning, playing at 6.29am an air raid siren to mark exact moment Hamas’s 7 October attack started in the south of the country. There family members issued a heart felt plea to Benjamin Netanyahu to bring their loved ones home.

Of the 250 hostages believed to have been taken into Gaza, around 101 are thought to still remain inside – it is unknown how many are still alive.

Shir, 28 daughter of Keith Siegel, an American Israeli hostage in Gaza said she couldn’t have imagined “in her worst nightmares” that he would still be in Gaza one year on. Keith, 65 was seized by Hamas militants from Kfar Azar near the Gaza Border with his wife, who was released in the November hostage exchange deal. Keith, who is from North Carolina, remains inside.

“I couldn’t have imagined in my worst nightmares that a whole year would pass and my father would not be with us, I’m begging everyone to do more to bring him home safe,” she told The Independent in tears after the rally.

“He has been sitting in the tunnels in Gaza and no body has come to save him. I can’t imagine what is going on inside his head and how hard it is for him and how much he misses us. ”

Gil Dickmann’s cousin Carmel Gat, 41 was set to be released in the latest hostage exchange deal which fell through in the eleventh hour. Her family say she was shot dead in a tunnel in Gaza in August, as Israeli soldiers closed in.

He broke down into tears as he addressed the crowds urging Mr Netanyahu to “be the prime minister that choses life”.

“I still cannot believe that we will not have her back. For us it’s too late but it’s not too late for the other 101 hostages,” he said in tears.

In pictures: Israel mourns a year after 7 October attack

08:37 , Tom Watling

US spent record £13.6bn on military aid to Israel – report

08:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US has spent a record amount of at least £13.6bn on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report by the Brown University’s Costs of War project.

An additional £3.7bn has gone into stepped-up US military operations in the region since the 7 October attacks, researchers said.

That includes the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis, who are carrying them out in solidarity with the fellow Iranian-backed group Hamas.

The report – completed before Israel opened a second front against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in late September – is one of the first tallies of estimated US costs as the Joe Biden administration backs Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and seeks to contain hostilities by Iran-allied armed groups in the region.

Israelis mourn victims of 7 October attacks

08:00 , Tom Watling

People in Israel are holding vigils and sombre ceremonies to mark a year since the October 7 Hamas attack which sparked the war in Gaza.

At 6.30am (local time) – the exact hour Hamas launched its attack – the families of those killed at the Nova music festival, joined by Israeli president Isaac Herzog, gathered at the site where almost 400 revelers were gunned down and several taken hostage.

After briefly playing the same trance music that was blared during the festival, hundreds of family members and friends of the victims stood for a moment of silence.

“When we are here, we are near our loved ones, this is the time they danced and fled,” said Sigal Bar-On, whose niece Yuval Bar-On, 25, and her fiancee Moshe Shuva, 34, were supposed to get married in December 2023.

“We are here to remind [the hostages] that we haven’t forgotten them,” said Shiri Albag, whose daughter Liri is among the captives, according to the Associated Press.

“We won’t let you (Netanyahu) rest until all of them are back, every last one of them,” she told the crowd, which hoisted the faces of the hostages.

Last year’s Hamas attacks killed 1,200 people and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.

Hamas boasts about 7 October attacks on anniversary of 1,200 deaths

07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Palestinian militant group Hamas yesterday praised its 7 October attack on Israel as “glorious”.

The comments by Qatar-based Hamas member Khalil Al-Hayya came on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the massacre in southern Israel that sparked a bloody war in Gaza.

Israel intensified bombardments in Lebanon and Gaza on the eve of the 7 October attacks anniversary.

Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.

Watch live: Memorial at Nova Music Festival site for victims of 7 October attack

07:04 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Watch live as a memorial ceremony takes place at the Nova Music Festival site for victims of 7 October attack one year on.

Thousands of Israelis are expected to visit the location of a rave party where Hamas killed 364 and kidnapped 44 partygoers and staff on October 7, to pay tribute and mourn the victims as Israel marks the first anniversary of Hamas attacks.

Watch live: Memorial at Nova Music Festival site for victims of 7 October attack

Hezbollah rockets strike Israel’s Haifa in direct attack

07:03 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Hezbollah rockets hit Israel’s third-largest city of Haifa early today, in the first direct attack on the northern city that evaded the military’s usually reliable air defence systems.

Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a salvo of “Fadi 1” missiles. Two rockets hit Haifa and five hit Tiberias, according to Israeli media.

At least 10 people were wounded in Haifa and Tiberias.“This was the first real hit in the city,” said Haifa mayor Yona Yahav.

Israel’s military said five rockets were launched at Haifa from Lebanon, adding, “interceptors were fired”. “Fallen projectiles were identified in the area. The incident is under review.”

Gazans on their year of hell: ‘The pain is indescribable’

07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel unleashed its heaviest-ever bombardment of Gaza and a siege last October after Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages, according to Israeli estimates.

Since then, Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed almost 42,000 people, the majority women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry. A further 10,000 are thought to be under the rubble and an unknown number have been taken into Israeli detention. Swathes of Gaza has been razed to the ground.

The Independent spoke to those inside Gaza about what they have been through over the last year.

Ziad Abdul-Dayem, 55, is a paramedic and ambulance driver. In November he spent 12 hours digging through rubble, trying to rescue nearly a dozen members of his family killed in an Israeli airstrike. He risks his life working day and night to pull survivors from collapsed buildings.

Bel Trew and Nedal Hamdouna report.

Voices from Gaza on their year of hell: ‘The pain is indescribable’

Israeli soldier ‘killed in combat’ in northern Israel

06:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

One soldier was killed in combat in northern Israel and two others were severely injured, Israel’s military said this morning. The 25-year-old reserve soldier died while fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border, it added.

Meanwhile, Israel said it intercepted two aerial targets launched from the east after sirens went off in the central areas of Rishon Letsiyon and Palmachim on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks.

Qatar, Oman and the UAE travel advice

06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Thousands of people have died in the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Middle East. The conflict involving Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran threatens to engulf the region. The missile attack by Iran on Israel has already caused widespread disruption to flights – and has raised concerns for tourists planning to visit destinations in the Gulf.

These are the key warnings made by the UK Foreign Office for the Gulf region, and individual advice for Qatar, Oman and the UAE (including Dubai) from the US State Department and the Government of Canada.

The Independent has also assessed current flight plans in and out of major airports, sampling typical routings for overnight flights from the UK arriving in the Gulf area.

Key flights are tracking south of the conflict zones, typically adding 30 minutes to journey times in either direction – or an hour for round-trips – and jeopardising connections at hub airports.

Simon Calder has more.

Qatar, Oman and the UAE: What are the current travel warnings for tourists?

726 Israeli soldiers died in one year of Gaza combat, says military

05:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel today claimed 726 of its soldiers had died in the year-long war in Gaza.

Of these, 380 were killed during the 7 October Hamas attacks last year, and the other 346 died in the subsequent Gaza ground offensive starting 27 October 2023.

At least 56 soldiers died as a result of “operational accidents”, which the military did not define.

Since the start of the war, 13,200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, the military said. Another 12,400 were fired from Lebanon, while 60 came from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran, it added.

Israel will decide independently about Iran retaliation, says minister

05:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant Israel would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely coordinating with longtime ally the US.

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its operations in Lebanon and Gaza, where Hezbollah and Hamas militants are Tehran’s allies in the “Axis of Resistance”.

“Everything is on the table,” Mr Gallant, who is due to meet US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday.

“Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far areas, we have proved it,” the minister told CNN.

While the US has said it would not support strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, president Joe Biden said last week that Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities were being discussed.

Israel snubbed a US-backed push for a ceasefire in launching ground operations in Lebanon.

Israel on high alert for one-year anniversary of 7 October attacks

04:48 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel is on high alert for possible attacks on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas assault on southern Israel.

“We are ready with increased forces in anticipation for this day,” said military spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari, adding that there could be “attacks on the home front”.

Israel will today hold memorials for the victims of the Hamas attack.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages remain held by Hamas.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run Strip.

One year on from the horrors of 7 October, Israel must work to secure a peaceful future

04:00 , Barney Davis

One year after the atrocities committed by Hamas, 7 October 2023 remains a date that will live in infamy. It is a moment to remember and commemorate all those innocents who lost their lives and suffered terrible injuries, who were taken hostage and orphaned, and who suffered other bereavements then and in the wars that have followed and continue still.

There are more than 40,000 dead in Gaza, and thousands more elsewhere as there seems no end to the slaughter. Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and everywhere there is disease and starvation. These are the facts of this war.

One year on from 7 October, Israel must work to secure a peaceful future

Israel intensifies bombing of Gaza and Lebanon

03:58 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and Gaza on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked its war on the Strip.

Hezbollah rockets launched last night got past Israeli air defence systems and landed in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, causing damage to buildings, police said. Israeli media reported 10 people wounded in rocket strikes in Haifa and the city of Tiberias.

Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.

Large fireballs lit the darkened skyline and booms reverberated across Beirut.

PM says ‘we must stand with Jewish community’ as he marks October 7 anniversary

03:00 , Barney Davis

Sir Keir Starmer has said that “we must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community” and reiterated his calls for a ceasefire as he marked the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Monday is one year since the Hamas attacks in Israel, which triggered Israel’s subsequent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Sir Keir described October 7 2023 as “the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust” and said that “collective grief has not diminished” in the year since.

“Over a thousand people were brutally murdered. Men, women, children and babies killed, mutilated, and tortured by the terrorists of Hamas. Jewish people murdered whilst protecting their families, young people massacred at a music festival, people abducted from their homes,” the Prime Minister said.

“Agonising reports of rape, torture and brutality beyond comprehension which continued to emerge days and weeks later.

“As a father, a husband, a son, a brother – meeting the families of those who lost their loved ones last week was unimaginable. Their grief and pain are ours, and it is shared in homes across the land.

“A year on, that collective grief has not diminished or waned.”

More than 30 strikes on Beirut overnight – casualties unclear

01:54 , Barney Davis

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said.

Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbour, Ali Al Hajj.

19 killed at mosque strike in Gaza

01:00 , Barney Davis

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday.

The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.

Ten injured in strikes on Haifa

Sunday 6 October 2024 23:36 , Barney Davis

Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, Israeli police said early on Monday, and Israeli media reported 10 people were injured in the country’s north.

Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a salvo of “Fadi 1” missiles. Media reports said two rockets hit Haifa.

Police said that some buildings and properties were damaged, and that there were several reports of minor injuries.

Israel bombards southern Beirut

Sunday 6 October 2024 23:26 , Barney Davis

Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on September 23.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah.

UK advises against all travel to Israel and Gaza

Sunday 6 October 2024 22:50 , Barney Davis

Britain advised citizens on Sunday against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) due to a heightened state of tension and violent clashes in the region.

“FCDO advises against all travel to the area close to the border with Gaza and all but essential travel to the rest of Israel and the OPTs,” it said.

It came as the fourth and final charter flight for Britons wanting to leave Lebanon has left Beirut.

Who is Esmail Qaani?

Sunday 6 October 2024 21:50 , Barney Davis

Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani has not been heard from since Israeli strikes on Beirut late last week. Qaani travelled to Lebanon after the killing last month of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike.

Here are some facts about Qaani:

– Tehran named Qaani the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps’ overseas military-intelligence service after the United States assassinated his predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

– Part of Qaani’s task in that post has been to manage Tehran’s paramilitary allies across the Middle East, as well as in other regions around the world.

– According to people familiar with both Qaani and Soleimani, as well as Western military and political analysts, Qaani has never commanded the same respect as his predecessor Soleimani or maintained the same close relationships among Iran’s allies in the Arab world.

– While Soleimani held the reins of the Quds Force during a time when Iran’s proxies – from Lebanese Hezbollah to Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim militias to the Houthis of Yemen – grew their power in the Middle East, Qaani has presided over their battering at the hands of Israeli spies and warplanes.

– Qaani became deputy commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in 1997 when Soleimani became the Force’s chief commander.

– Qaani, 67, was born in Mashhad, a conservative Shi’ite Muslim religious city in northeastern Iran. He fought for the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

– Qaani has also had experience of overseas operations beyond Iran’s eastern borders, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. He does not speak Arabic, unlike Soleimani who spoke fluently with Iraqi militias and Hezbollah commanders.

Hezbollah official says Israel obstructing search for missing senior leader

Sunday 6 October 2024 21:02 , Barney Davis

Israel is not allowing a search for senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine to progress after it bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, a Hezbollah official said on Sunday.

Safieddine’s fate remains unclear.

The group’s political official Mahmoud Qmati told Iraqi state television that picking a new Hezbollah head would take some time.

Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, who travelled to Lebanon after the killing last month of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike, has not been heard from since strikes on Beirut late last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.

One of the officials said Qaani was in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike that was reported to

Fourth flight leaves Beirut

Sunday 6 October 2024 20:40 , Barney Davis

The fourth charter flight for Britons wanting to leave Lebanon has left Beirut, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has said.

In a post on X on Sunday evening, the FCDO said that in the last week the UK has “helped over 430 people to leave Lebanon”.

“Our fourth UK charter flight has now left Beirut. Due to reduced demand, no further flights are scheduled, but we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the post said.

Hamas claims Israel still blocking ceasefire agreement nearly year on from October 7

Sunday 6 October 2024 20:00 , Barney Davis

A year since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel is still blocking a ceasefire agreement despite Hamas’s flexibility, Hamas chief negotiator and deputy Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said in a televised speech shown on Hamas Aqsa television on Sunday.

He urged countries to stop what he called their “double-standards” over Gaza and Lebanon.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon ‘deeply concerned’ by Israeli military activities

Sunday 6 October 2024 18:59 , Barney Davis

The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement on Sunday it was deeply concerned by what it called Israel’s “recent activities” adjacent to the mission’s position inside Lebanon.

It came after Israeli air attacks battered Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

During the night, the blasts sent booms across Beirut and sparked flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.

It was the single biggest attack of Israel’s assault on Beirut so far, witnesses and military analysts on local TV channels said.

“Last night was the most violence of all the previous nights. Buildings were shaking around us and at first I thought it was an earthquake. There were dozens of strikes – we couldn’t count them all – and the sounds were deafening,” said Hanan Abdullah, a resident of the Burj al-Barajneh area.

Israel responsible for record journalist death toll, says group

Sunday 6 October 2024 16:02 , Tom Watling

Israel is responsible for a record journalist death toll, the Committee Protect Journalists has said, adding that at least 128 journalists and media workers, all but five of them Palestinian, have been killed since 7 October 2023.

That is more journalists killed in the course of any year since they started documenting in 1992, the group added. All of the killings bar two were carried about the Israeli forces.

“By comparison, 56 journalists were killed in Iraq in 2006 – the next deadliest year. The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, if committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime,” the group said in a statement.

It added that it found that at least five journalists were specifically targeted by Israel for their work and is investigating at least 10 more cases of deliberate targeting. Two Israeli journalists were killed in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants.

Overnight Saturday another journalist – Hassan Hamad – was killed in north Gaza during a night of heavy Israeli strikes. Maha Hussaini – strategy director at Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor – said on X Hamad had received threats from Israeli numbers, via both text and calls, ordering him to stop filming prior to his death.

In pictures: Families of Israeli hostages hold event near Gaza

Sunday 6 October 2024 15:29 , Tom Watling

We’re stuck in the 7 October 2023, say family of Israeli hostages

Sunday 6 October 2024 15:01 , Bel Trew

The families of the hostages taken on 7 October last year into Gaza gathered on Saturday night just three kilometres from the enclave near the sites of the Hamas attack to demand the Israeli government sign a ceasefire deal immediately.

There they chanted “bring them home now” and held 365 seconds of silence to mark the number of days the remaining 100 or so hostages have been in Gaza.

Kobi Ben Ami, 54 the younger brother of Ohad, 55, who was speaking at the event, told The Independent the families were “stuck in the 7 October 2023″ until their loved ones are brought home.

Ohad Ben Ami and his wife Raz, 57, were seized by Hamas militants from their home in Kibbutz Beer’i. The family only realised Ohad was among the hostages when a photo of him being dragged into Gaza in his underwear appeared on social media networks. Raz was released in an earlier prisoner-hostage swap after 54 gruelling days inside Gaza and her family say she is still suffering from medical complications.

“I’m still there in 7 October because it’s been a year and he is still not here,” Kobi said, explaining his house was attacked by militants on 7 October and he survived by hiding in his bomb shelter.

“As long as they are there in Gaza then we are there as well. We don’t have a routine or breaks all we do is work to get him freed,” he added .

“Then facts speak for themselves. We don’t know all the information we are not sitting in the government but the bottom line is it has been a year and they are still not home. As long as the hostages are not here it is the responsibility of the government.”

“People are dying every day – every minute we stand here could be the next murder.”

Israeli strikes batter Beirut in heaviest bombardment so far, witnesses say

Sunday 6 October 2024 14:31 , Tom Watling

Israeli air attacks battered Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday, the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.

During the night, the blasts sent booms across Beirut and sparked flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.

It was the single biggest attack of Israel‘s assault on Beirut so far, witnesses and military analysts on local TV channels said.

On Sunday a grey haze hung over the city and rubble was strewn across streets in the southern suburbs, while smoke columns rose over the area.

“Last night was the most violence of all the previous nights. Buildings were shaking around us and at first I thought it was an earthquake. There were dozens of strikes – we couldn’t count them all – and the sounds were deafening,” said Hanan Abdullah, a resident of the Burj al-Barajneh area in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Blast heard in Syria’s Homs, cause being investigated, state news agency says

Sunday 6 October 2024 14:01 , Tom Watling

A blast was heard in a factory in the Syrian city of Homs, the state news agency reported on Sunday, adding that the cause is still being investigated.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced in Lebanon, says UN

Sunday 6 October 2024 13:43 , Tom Watling

Several injured in suspected shooting attack in southern Israel, police say

Sunday 6 October 2024 13:18 , Tom Watling

Israeli police have said that several people have been injured in a suspected shooting attack in the city of Beersheba in the country’s south, while the ambulance service says the attacker has been killed.

The ambulance service said a seriously injured woman was being treated at the scene while eight other people injured in the attack, including one in a moderate to serious condition, were receiving medical treatment in a nearby hospital.

Israeli ambassador invokes Mahsa Amini’s name in criticism of Iran regime

Sunday 6 October 2024 13:02 , Tom Watling

Israeli ambassador invokes Mahsa Amini’s name in criticism of Iran regime

Israeli military issues new evacuation alerts for areas in southern Lebanon

Sunday 6 October 2024 12:31 , Tom Watling

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued new evacuation alerts on Sunday for residents of around 25 areas in southern Lebanon, calling on them to head immediately to the north of the Awali River.

Mosque lies in ruins as Israel continues Gaza bombardment amid Lebanon strikes

Sunday 6 October 2024 12:01 , Tom Watling

Mosque lies in ruins as Israel continues Gaza bombardment amid Lebanon strikes

Tory shadow foreign sec says Israel should engage in Lebanon ceasefire

Sunday 6 October 2024 11:29 , Tom Watling

The “right approach” to ending conflict in Lebanon is “not a ceasefire”, the Conservative shadow foreign secretary has said.

Andrew Mitchell told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “It is a very dangerous crisis in a world that in recent years has become more dangerous than at any time in our lifetime.

“But I think if you focus on what is happening in Lebanon, you see that Israel absolutely has the right of self-defence.

“No government would allow an internationally proscribed terrorist organisation to sit there lobbing rockets over the border and moving its populations, killing its population – more than 60,000 Israelis have had to move south.

“And the right approach is not a ceasefire, actually. The right approach is for Hezbollah and its Iranian masters to abide by United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, and pull back behind the Litani River, and that would end the conflict that’s taking place in Lebanon.”

UPD: More than two dozen killed in Israeli srtike on Gaza school and mosque

Sunday 6 October 2024 11:01 , Tom Watling

At least 26 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on a school and mosque in the central Gaza Strip, the local, Hamas-run health ministry has said.

Previously, the authorities’ media office put the death toll from the strikes on Deir al-Balah at 24.

Dozens of people were reported to have been injured. The Israeli military claimed it had targeted Hamas militants in the strikes.

Gaza death toll rises to 41,870, ministry says

Sunday 6 October 2024 10:28 , Tom Watling

At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed and 97,166 others injured in Israel‘s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry has said.

Pro-Gaza protester attempts self-immolation outside White House

Sunday 6 October 2024 10:02 , Tom Watling

Pro-Gaza protester attempts self-immolation outside White House

In pictures: Israel airstrikes hit Gaza and Beirut, killing dozens

Sunday 6 October 2024 09:28 , Tom Watling

Live: Lebanon’s Beirut skyline as Israeli military issues evacuation order

Sunday 6 October 2024 08:59 , Tom Watling

– YouTube

Lebanon health system on ‘brink of collapsing’

Sunday 6 October 2024 08:30 , Vishwam Sankaran

The health system in Lebanon is starting to collapse, according to the UN.

“Throughout the past days we have been witnessing an alarming increase in attacks against healthcare,” Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, said in a post on X.

“Health workers are paying the heaviest price with their lives. The health system is on the brink of collapsing,” Mr Riza said.

The UN called on the international community to protect healthcare workers and civilians and establish an immediate ceasefire.

US pledges $157m in additional aid to Lebanon

Sunday 6 October 2024 08:00 , Vishwam Sankaran

Amid Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and strikes on Beirut, US vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced that the country would provide nearly $157m in additional assistance to the people of Lebanon.

Ms Harris said the aid would address “essential needs such as food, shelter, water, protection, and sanitation to help those who have been displaced by the recent conflict.”

“I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there,” she said.

“This additional support brings total US assistance to Lebanon over the last year to over $385 million,” the vice president added.

X users were quick to criticise the move by the US, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of Israel’s arms imports.

Since Israel invaded Gaza, the US has approved billions of dollars in weapons sales to Israel over the past months.

“I’m no military expert, but lying awake that night in Beirut, you wonder whether the value of the US-produced bombs and aircraft in use here, in the competition between destruction and aid, doesn’t far exceed that sum,” Beirut-based journalist Karim El-Gawhary posted on X.