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Live: Foreign nationals told to leave Lebanon as Hezbollah launches rockets towards Israel
Hezbollah said it launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israel overnight as France joined the US, UK and other nations on Sunday to call on its citizens to leave Lebanon “as soon as possible” amid escalating tensions and fears of a broader regional conflict. Also on Sunday, two people were killed and three others wounded in a stabbing attack in a Tel Aviv suburb, with police reporting that a Palestinian suspect was “neutralised”. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Issued on: 04/08/2024 – 07:59
Modified: 04/08/2024 – 13:14
2 min
Smoke billows from the site of a rocket fired from Lebanon towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024.
Smoke billows from the site of a rocket fired from Lebanon towards the Israeli village of Metullah on August 3, 2024. © AFP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
Summary:
Hezbollah said overnight it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israel, the latest in a series of attacks it says is in support of the Palestinian people.
Two people were killed and three other people seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in a Tel Aviv suburb, Israel’s emergency medical service said, with police reporting a Palestinian suspect was “neutralised”.
Israeli strikes killed 18 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced people.
France on Sunday called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country “as soon as possible” amid fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. US and UK authorities issued similar warnings on Saturday, with the US urging nationals to leave on “any ticket available”.
At least 39,583 Palestinians have been killed and 91,398 injured in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Hamas-led October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
44 minutes ago
Travellers rush to leave Lebanon amid spiking tensions, cancelled flights
Travellers waited in long lines at Beirut airport on Sunday, some after cutting summer holidays short, as airlines have cancelled flights and fears have grown of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
“I’m not happy to leave. I wanted to spend the whole summer in Lebanon then go back to work” in France, said Joelle Sfeir from the crowded departures hall at Beirut airport.
But “my flight was cancelled and I was forced to book another ticket today,” she told AFP, adding: “I cut my trip short so I could find a flight”.
Several airlines including Lufthansa and Air France have delayed or suspended flights to Lebanon, and countries have issued urgent calls for foreign nationals to leave in recent days.
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an hour ago
Jordan FM makes rare visit to Iran as regional tensions soar
Jordan’s foreign minister met Iran’s acting foreign minister in Tehran on Sunday as the United States and its Arab allies try to prevent a wider war after the back-to-back killings of top Iran-allied militants sparked vows of revenge against Israel.
Ayman Safadi is the first senior Jordanian official to pay an official visit to Iran in over 20 years. Jordan is a close Western ally and helped intercept scores of missiles and drones fired by Iran toward Israel in April. Iran said it was retaliating for the killing of its generals in an Israeli strike in Syria.
Many fear Iran and its regional allies could launch a similar attack following the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Tehran a day later. Both attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which has acknowledged killing the Hezbollah commander. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas have vowed to avenge the killings.
Safadi “will deliver a message from His Majesty King Abdullah II to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the situation in the region and bilateral relations”, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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3 hours ago
Strikes on Gaza schools targeted militants, Israeli military says
Israeli strikes on two schools in Gaza City on Sunday targeted Hamas militants who were operating in their vicinity, the Israeli military said.
“The schools were used by Hamas’ Al-Furqan Battalion as a hiding place for its terrorist operatives and as command centers used to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops and the State of Israel,” the military said.
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3 hours ago
Israeli strike kills 25 Palestinians sheltering in Gaza schools, Palestinian news agency says
At least 25 Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Sunday in an Israeli strike targeting two schools that were sheltering displaced people near Gaza City on Sunday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
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3 hours ago
US moves in Middle East are defensive, aimed at reducing tensions, White House says
The United States is telling its citizens to leave Lebanon and is deploying more military might in the Middle East as preventative and defensive measures, Jonathan Finer, White House National Security Council deputy adviser, said on Sunday.
“Our goal is de-escalation, our goal is deterrence, our goal is defense of Israel,” Finer said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation”.
Regional tensions have soared following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top leader, in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
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3 hours ago
Saudi urges its citizens to leave Lebanon ‘immediately’
Saudi Arabia on Sunday called on its citizens to leave Lebanon without delay, as regional tensions soar following high-profile killings in Tehran and Beirut blamed on Israel amid the Gaza war.
The Saudi embassy in Beirut said in a statement posted on social media platform X that it was “following closely the developments in south Lebanon”, near the border with Israel, and “reiterating its call for Saudi nationals to leave Lebanon’s territory immediately”.
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5 hours ago
Israeli strikes on Gaza kill more than 15
Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 18 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex.
In Gaza, an Israeli strike earlier on Sunday hit a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Palestinian militant in the strike, which it said caused secondary explosions, “indicating the presence of weaponry in the area.” A separate strike on a home near Deir al-Balah killed a girl and her parents, according to the hospital.
Another strike flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the ministry. Another three people were killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.
The death toll earlier Sunday had been at 12 people.
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6 hours ago
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 39,583
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 39,583 people have been killed in nearly 10 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 33 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 91,398 people as having been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7
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6 hours ago
France urges nationals living in Iran to ‘temporarily leave’
France on Sunday urged nationals living in Iran to “temporarily leave” if they could, warning Iranian airspace and airports could close as tensions mount with Israel.
“Due to the increased risk of military escalation and in view of the risk of Iranian airspace and airports being closed, it is recommended that those French residents with the means to do so temporarily leave the country,” the foreign ministry said, two days after telling French visitors to leave as soon as possible.
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7 hours ago
Israeli strikes on Gaza kill more than 10
Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 12 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced people inside a hospital complex.
An Israeli strike earlier on Sunday hit a tent camp in Gaza housing displaced people in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others, Gaza’s health ministry said.
An Associated Press journalist filmed men rushing to the scene to help the wounded and retrieve bodies, while trying to extinguish the fire.
The hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main medical facility operating in central Gaza, and thousands of people have taken shelter there after fleeing their homes in the war-ravaged territory.
A separate strike flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the ministry.
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8 hours ago
Two dead in Israel stabbing, assailant killed
Two people were killed Sunday and two others wounded in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, Israeli medics said, with police reporting a Palestinian suspect was “neutralised” and later died in hospital.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement that the “terrorist attack” took place in several locations in Holon, a southern suburb of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.
A 66-year-old woman and a man aged around 80 were badly wounded and died from their injuries shortly after the attack, the Wolfson hospital in the city said. Israeli news website Ynet said the pair, whose ages Magen David Adom earlier gave as 70, were married.
“This was a complex and difficult terrorist attack, with the victims located in three different places, around 500 metres (yards) from each other,” Magen David Adom said.
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8 hours ago
Jordan’s FM to hold talks in Iran amid increased tensions
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will embark on a rare visit to Tehran on Sunday, state media reported, as fears of escalation between Iran and Israel grow following the killing of Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh.
“Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi is travelling to Tehran today (Sunday) to meet and exchange views with Iranian officials on regional and international issues,” the official IRNA news agency said.
Safadi will be meeting with Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri, it added.
The Jordanian foreign ministry confirmed the trip and said Safadi would also deliver a message from King Abdullah II to the Iranian president on “the situation in the region and bilateral relations”.
Iran has held talks with multiple Arab countries including Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Qatar among others since Haniyeh’s killing.
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10 hours ago
France calls on citizens in Lebanon to leave ‘as soon as possible’
France on Sunday called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country “as soon as possible” amid fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and a broader regional conflict.
“In a highly volatile security context, we once again call the attention of French nationals, particularly those passing through, to the fact that direct commercial flights and ones with stopovers to France are still available, and we invite them to make their arrangements now to leave Lebanon as soon as possible,” the foreign ministry said in its travel advice notice for Lebanon.
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10 hours ago
One killed in stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, say Israeli medics
One woman was killed Sunday and three other people wounded in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, Israel’s emergency medical service said, with police reporting a Palestinian suspect was “neutralised”.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement that the “terrorist attack” took place in several locations in Holon, a southern suburb of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.
The stabbing suspect, from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was “neutralised” by a police officer who arrived at the scene, the force said in a statement without elaborating.
“This was a complex and difficult terrorist attack, with the victims located in three different places, around 500 metres (yards) from each other,” Magen David Adom said.
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10 hours ago
Suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hits container ship in first attack in 2 weeks
A suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck a container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden, authorities said Sunday, likely the first assault by the group since Israeli airstrikes targeted them.
The Houthis have offered no explanation for the two-week pause in their attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor, which have seen similar slowdowns since the assaults began in November over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack on Saturday happened some 225 kilometers (140 miles) southeast of Aden in a stretch of the Gulf of Aden that has seen numerous Houthi attacks previously.
A security official on the vessel said a missile struck the vessel, but “no fires, water ingress or oil leaks have been observed,” according to a statement from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a clearinghouse for information on attacks in the Mideast. The UKMTO did not immediately identify the vessel hit.
The private security firm Ambrey also reported the attack. Details reported by the two organisations suggested the vessel targeted was the Liberian-flagged container ship Groton, which had left Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates bound for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Groton’s Greek managers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack Saturday. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.
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10 hours ago
Hezbollah says it launched ‘dozens’ of rockets at Israel
Hezbollah said late Saturday it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israel, the latest in a series of attacks it says is in support of the Palestinian people.
The Iran-backed group said its latest attack, on Beit Hillel in northern Israel, was in response to Israel’s attacks on Kfar Kela and Deir Siriane in Lebanon which, it said, had injured civilians there.
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10 hours ago
Welcome to FRANCE 24’s liveblog on the Israel-Hamas war.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
The US Saturday urged citizens in Lebanon to leave on “any ticket available” amid growing fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East following the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh. The UK issued a similar warning to British nationals, telling them to “leave now”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Saturday said that Israel killed Haniyeh using a “short-range projectile” launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran, contradicting reports earlier in the week that Haniyeh had been killed by a bomb planted months before. Haniyeh was buried Friday at cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
