Lebanese first responders raced through the devastated streets of southern Beirut, doing all they could for the wounded, including injured children. One small boy hurt in Israel’s latest airstrikes raised three fingers as he was carried away on a stretcher, after being asked his age.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and that it has destroyed dozens of the Iran-backed group’s rocket launchers and other weapons. Many of the airstrikes have hit residential areas where Israel says Hezbollah has hidden its weapons. And though Israel says it has warned people to evacuate those areas, the strikes have killed civilians — including children.
Hezbollah says Israel has killed about 30 of its militants in strikes over the last week, but Lebanon’s ministry of health says more than 700 people have been killed, including at least 50 children. The Reuters news agency reported Friday that another strike, overnight in southern Lebanon, killed nine members of the same family, including four children.
Louisa Gouliamaki/REUTERS
More than 100,000 people have also been internally displaced in Lebanon since Israel started launching successive waves of airstrikes more than a week ago, according to a registry maintained by the Lebanese government. Lebanese officials say the real number is likely over half a million.
The United Nations said Friday that around 30,000 people, mainly Syrian nationals, had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the past 72 hours.
The Israeli military said Friday that it had carried out dozens more strikes in southern Lebanon, hitting a Hezbollah launcher. Hezbollah said it fired rockets at the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, which the Israel Defense Forces said were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
Houthi rebels in Yemen, meanwhile, said they had also fired a missile at Israel overnight, which Israel said was intercepted. The Houthis, like Hezbollah, are backed by Iran and say they’re launching attacks on Israel and its interests in support of Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip with Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office seeks to “clarify” stance on cease-fire
The latest crossfire over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon came against the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak later Friday. His remarks are highly anticipated given contradictory messaging from his office about a Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire proposal being pushed by the U.S. and France.
Ahead of his address, Netanahu’s office sought to “clarify a few points” in a social media post about Israel’s position on the proposal, which the U.S. and France say has wide international backing.
“Israel shares the aims of the U.S.-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.
It said teams had met “to discuss the U.S. initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days.”
The prime minister’s remarks to “clarify” his stance came hours after his office issued a statement on Thursday saying: “This is an American-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to.”
That statement added a dismissal of a separate report suggesting Netanyahu had told his military to “moderate” its assault on Hezbollah to give space for discussion about a cease-fire — a report his office called “the opposite of the truth.”
“The Prime Minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force,” it said.
and
contributed to this report.