Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: 20 dead in Israeli strike on school, ministry says

(LONDON) — Smoke and question marks still hang over the devastated Gaza Strip a year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack touched off a regional firestorm.

The fighting in Gaza continues, though the epicenter of the broader conflict has now shifted north to the Israel-Lebanon border where Hezbollah is maintaining the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” second front.

Cease-fire negotiations appear stalled. The majority of Gaza’s population remains displaced. Swaths of its homes and infrastructure are leveled. More than 46,000 are dead, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

In the ruins, sporadic battles continue between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas.

Around 100 of the 250 hostages — kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people — remain in captivity in Gaza. Only half are thought to still be alive.

Israel launched its military response to the massacre without publicly laying out a detailed post-war vision.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as early as November 2023 that Israel requires “overall security responsibility” for the strip “for an indefinite period.”

That would include an expanded “security perimeter” around Gaza’s frontiers and control of the Philadelphi Corridor area along the Egypt-Gaza frontier, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu has said his envisioned “total victory” is close. Current Israeli deployments in the strip hint at its eventual shape.

“Israel holds two narrow territorial strips — Philadelphi and Netzarim,” Michael Milshtein, a former head of Palestinian affairs for Israeli military intelligence, told ABC News.

The former is around 9 miles long and runs along the entire border with Egypt. The latter runs around 2.5 miles east to west from Israel to the Gaza coast, bisecting the strip.

“The IDF is really in these corridors and around the boundaries of Gaza,” said Orna Mizrahi, who served in the Israeli prime minister’s office as deputy national security adviser for foreign policy.

Units can launch operations deeper into Gaza from these staging points “according to the intelligence that they have,” Mizrahi said.

A year of fighting has already changed the physical and demographic map of Gaza, Milshtein said.

“Eight percent of the people who lived in Gaza before Oct. 7, they do not live in Gaza or exist in Gaza anymore,” he said, with tens of thousands having been killed or fled.

The majority of Gazans have been displaced, some repeatedly. Continued Israeli operations may force more mass movements.

Netanyahu is now considering the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” in which the IDF would evacuate all remaining civilians from the north of the strip and lay siege to the militants — and the civilians — who stay behind.

Retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland said the plan would turn the northern strip into “a military zone” in which “every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory.”

“I’m not sure that it will really defeat Hamas,” Milshtein said of the proposal. “And of course, it won’t bring the release of the hostages.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told ABC News in September that Hamas is “almost finished.”

Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in July. The same month, the IDF claimed to have killed infamous Hamas military leader Mohamed Deif, though the group said he survived the attempt.

Only Yahya Sinwar — Hamas’ leader in Gaza — is still thought to be alive, likely in the sprawling network of tunnels beneath the strip and possibly surrounding himself with hostages.

But Israel’s military planning does not appear to have yet given way to the political.

U.S.-sponsored efforts to build an international coalition to rebuild — and perhaps also oversee — Gaza has thus far proved fruitless.

So, too, have suggestions that the Palestinian Authority — which partially controls the West Bank in cooperation with Israel, is led by President Mahmoud Abbas and is dominated by the Fatah party — take control.

Meanwhile, far-right Israeli settler groups — among them influential members of Netanyahu’s government — are pushing to revive and expand settlements abandoned when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

“Can you take all the tactical and military achievements, and translate them to the strategic?” Milshtein asked. “This is much more complicated.”

Also complicated is the concept of total victory over Hamas, which remains active despite reportedly massive casualties.

“They have no battalions, but that’s okay, because they rely on cells, platoons and smaller units,” Milshtein said.

“I really don’t see when or if we will see any white flag or announcement about ‘total defeat’ and ‘giving up.’ I’m not sure that it’s going to happen very soon — or at all.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Yahya Sinwar, one of the key architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, emerged over the summer as the de facto leader of the terrorist organization.

Israeli officials confirmed Thursday that Sinwar’s reign, however, was short-lived. The 61-year-old leader of Hamas was one of three militants killed in an Israeli military strike in the Gaza Strip, Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a personal message to dozens of foreign ministers around the world.

“The master murderer Yahya Sinwar, who is responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,” Katz said.

Sinwar had been among the top targets sought by Israel, which placed a $400,000 bounty on his head following the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and 240 taken hostage.

Israeli officials announced on Aug. 1 that they killed Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas’ military wing, in a “precise, targeted strike” on July 13 in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Deif and Sinwar were allegedly the masterminds of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Sinwar was elevated to political leader of Hamas in Gaza in August after Iranian officials confirmed that the previous Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a bombing at a guest house in Tehran, where he was staying while attending the inauguration of Iran’s president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Haniyeh’s death left Sinwar calling the shots for Hamas at a time when negotiations involving the White House have been underway for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

Sinwar had not been publicly heard from since late 2023, when Hamas and affiliated groups launched the surprise attack in Israel. It was believed that he was hiding in the vast network of Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip.

Sinwar helped establish Hamas in the late 1980s. In 1989, an Israeli court sentenced him to four life sentences for his role in killing suspected Palestinian informers and plotting to murder two Israeli soldiers. He spent 22 years in prison and was one of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees who were released in 2011 in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years.

At the time of his imprisonment, Sinwar was head of Hamas’ infamous internal security arm, Al-Majd. Israeli and Palestinian sources told ABC News that his job was to investigate members of Hamas who were potentially working with the Israelis.

In an interview with ABC News in December, Michael Koubi, a former officer in Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security organization, said he interrogated Sinwar, while he was a prisoner, for more than 150 hours.

Koubi described Sinwar as “tough” and devoid of emotions but “not a psychopath.”

Koubi told ABC News that Sinwar — dubbed “the butcher of Khan Younis,” for the town in Gaza that he was from — boasted during his interrogations about killing suspected Palestinian informants with “a razor blade” and “a machete.”

In 2017, six years after his release from an Israeli prison, Sinwar was elected the overall chief of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Sinwar’s ideology and long-term hatred toward Israel were what motivated him to attack the country on Oct. 7, according to Koubi.

Following the attack on Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Dec. 6 that it was “only a matter of time” before Sinwar was located. Israeli military leaders had described him as “a dead man walking.”

Koubi told ABC News in December that he expected Sinwar would eventually go down fighting, saying Sinwar wanted to “die a hero of the slum, as a hero of Hamas, as a hero of the Gaza people.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces conducted what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in Iran on Friday in response to the Iranian missile strikes earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes and ground fighting continued in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with renewed Israeli attacks on Beirut.

‘The situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic,’ WHO says

The World Health Organization and the leaders of 15 United Nations and humanitarian organizations “urge, yet again, all parties fighting in Gaza to protect civilians, and call on the State of Israel to cease its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help,” in a joint statement Friday.

The WHO called the situation in North Gaza, “apocalyptic,” warning, “The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence.”

“Hospitals have been almost entirely cut off from supplies and have come under attack, killing patients, destroying vital equipment, and disrupting life-saving services. Health workers and patients have been taken into custody. Fighting has also reportedly taken place inside hospitals,” the groups said.

“Dozens of schools serving as shelters have been bombed or forcibly evacuated. Tents sheltering displaced families have been shelled, and people have been burned alive. Rescue teams have been deliberately attacked and thwarted in their attempts to pull people buried under the rubble of their homes,” the groups said.

Hamas political leader says group does not support Egyptian cease-fire proposal

Hamas does not support the cease-fire agreement proposed by Egypt — a temporary cease-fire agreement that included a prisoner-hostage exchange and an increase in aid — a Hamas political official said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The Hamas official said the agreement doesn’t include a permanent stop in fighting, a withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from the Gaza Strip nor does it allow for the return of the displaced.

The proposals do not address civilians’ need for security, relief, reconstruction or opening the crossings, especially the Rafah crossing, the official said.

Any offer or agreement must stop the Zionist aggression permanently and not temporarily. The occupation is trying to exploit the assassination of resistance leaders to show that the resistance has been broken and the truth is that the resistance is increasing its strength, the official said.

Israel says it killed head of Hamas national relations in strike

The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Izz al-Din Kassab, a member of Hamas’ political bureau and head of national relations within the organization, in a strike in the area of Khan Yunis.

“Kassab was one of the last high-ranking members of Hamas’ political bureau alive in the Gaza Strip. Alongside him, his assistant, the militant Ayman Ayesh, was also eliminated,” the IDF said in a statement Friday.

Polio vaccination campaign to resume in northern Gaza, UN says

The third phase of the polio vaccination campaign is set to begin in part of the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday. It had been postponed from Oct. 23 due to lack of humanitarian pauses and intense bombardment of the strip.

“These conditions made it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination and for vaccination teams to perform their duties. The humanitarian pause necessary to conduct the campaign has been assured, however, the area of the pause has been substantially reduced compared to the first round of vaccination in northern Gaza, conducted in September 2024,” UNICEF and the World Health Organization said in a statement.

But, WHO and UNICEF warned that it will be difficult to interrupt poliovirus transmission because “at least 90% of all children in every community and neighborhood must be vaccinated, which will be challenging to achieve given the situation.”

“The campaign in northern Gaza follows the successful implementation of the first two phases of the second round in central and southern Gaza, which reached 451,216 children — 96% of the target in these areas. A total of 364,306 children aged between 2 and 10 years old have received vitamin A so far in this round,” the WHO and UNICEF said.

-ABC News’ Nadine Shubailat

IDF issues evacuation order for areas in southern Beirut

The Israel Defense Forces released an evacuation warning for areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, early Friday morning local time.

The areas under the evacuation order include Haret Hreik and the pond enclosure, according to the IDF.

Israeli Forces said the areas are suspected of being “near Hezbollah facilities and interests” and that the IDF plans to “operate against them” in the near future.

“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them immediately and stay away from them for a distance of no less than 500 meters,” the IDF said.

US defense secretary speaks to Israeli counterpart about regional de-escalation

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Thursday to discuss opportunities for regional de-escalation, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

In the call, Austin reaffirmed that the United States remains fully prepared to defend U.S. personnel, Israel and partners across the region against threats from Iran and Iran-backed proxy groups, the Pentagon confirmed.

Austin reiterated the commitment to a diplomatic arrangement in Lebanon that allows both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the border, according to the statement.

He also reviewed steps Israel is taking — and should continue to advance — to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, as well as prospects for a hostage release and cease-fire deal, the statement said.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Iranian general says Israel should expect an ‘unimaginable response’

Israel “made a mistake” in attacking Iran over the weekend and will now “taste the response, an unimaginable response,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander-in-Chief Gen. Hossein Salami said on Iranian state TV on Thursday.

“You think you can change the story of domination of a great power called Islam by firing a few missiles? In Operation True Promise 2, you saw how your sky was cracked open. You saw how your missile shield worked. Once again you made a mistake, you will taste the response, an unimaginable response,” Gen. Salami said.

By “Operation True Promise 2,” Gen. Salami is referring to Oct. 1, when Iran sent a barrage of about 200 missiles toward Israel.

“See the behavior of the Iranian nation in the war against its enemies,” he added.

-ABC News’ Hami Hamedi and Ellie Kaufman

Injured patients in Gaza hospital lack medicine, food and water: Officials

The director of nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip released a statement Thursday saying 120 patients and injured people are lacking medicine, food and water.

“We appeal to bring specialized medical delegations to restart the hospital and save people’s lives,” the nursing director said.

Doctors Without Borders received confirmation that one of their doctors has been detained by Israeli forces, along with “several other medical staff from Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza,” after an Israeli military operation at the hospital on Oct. 26, the organization said in a release Thursday.

“We are extremely alarmed by the detention of our colleague,” the release said.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

6 paramedics killed in Lebanon on Thursday

Six paramedics were killed in Lebanon on Thursday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said in separate statements.

One paramedic was killed, and two were wounded in a strike on an ambulance in Zefta in southern Lebanon.

Additionally, one paramedic was killed and two were wounded in Deir al-Zahrani, and four paramedics were killed in Dardghaya, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.

“The Ministry of Public Health reiterates its condemnation of the occupation forces’ continued targeting of ambulance crews and reiterates its appeal to the international community to put an end to this series of ongoing war crimes,” the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.

On Wednesday, 45 people were killed, and 110 people were wounded from various Israeli attacks across the country, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Overall, 2,867 people have been killed, and 13,047 people have been injured since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

Progress being made toward cease-fire in Lebanon, Israeli official says

Following several days of high-level meetings, there has been “significant progress” toward a cease-fire in Lebanon, a senior Israeli official with knowledge of the negotiations told ABC News.

Israeli “Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] made it clear that the main issue is not the paperwork of this or that agreement, but Israel’s ability and determination to enforce the agreement and thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon, in a way that will return our residents safely to their homes,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

19 killed, 3 injured in Israeli strikes in Baalbeck

At least 19 people were killed and three were injured in Israeli strikes on Salibi and Badnayel in Baalbek on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

The Israel Defense Forces issued another evacuation order on Thursday telling residents in Baalbek, Ain Bourday and Douris to “evacuate your homes immediately and move out of these areas.”

Bombing continues at Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza

Conditions are worsening for patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza as Israeli bombing continued to target the hospital’s surroundings through the night, the hospital director said Thursday.

“We had to let sick and wounded die due to the cessation of surgical operations,” the hospital director told ABC News.

Three members of the hospital’s staff sustained burns due to bombing that targeted the third floor of the hospital, the director said.

“The bombing of the hospital caused fires in departments containing wounded people and medical supplies. We demanded that ambulances be brought to the hospital to transport the wounded, to no avail. The situation is catastrophic in the hospital, we live in a disaster area, and we provide minimal treatment,” the hospital director said.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara

IDF issues further Baalbek airstrike warning in east Lebanon

For the second consecutive day, the Israel Defense Forces ordered residents of the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon to flee their homes ahead of imminent airstrikes.

“You are in a combat zone where the IDF intends to attack and target Hezbollah infrastructure, interests, installations and combat means and does not intend to harm you,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.

“Staying in the red zone puts you and your family at risk,” he added, alongside a map on which most of the city was marked red.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said at least eight people were killed by Israeli strikes in Baalbek on Thursday.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti

Israeli bombs besiege Gaza hospital again

Israeli aircraft bombed the third floor of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Thursday morning, destroying the hospital’s remaining medicines as well as medical supplies brought by the World Health Organization a few days ago, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital said that continuous bombing had targeted the hospital’s surroundings throughout the night.

The hospital, which was the last functioning medical center capable of performing surgeries in northern Gaza, has 120 patients and has been targeted several times by Israeli forces in the past 13 months.

Palestinian media, citing medical sources, reported that surgical operations have completely stopped at Kamal Adwan Hospital due to the ongoing Israeli aggression.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti

CIA chief in Egypt for cease-fire push

CIA Director William Burns and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed efforts to push for progress on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal during a meeting in Cairo, the Egyptian presidency said Thursday.

The talks focused on “joint efforts to calm the situation in the Gaza Strip, ways to advance negotiations to reach a cease-fire and the exchange of detainees, as well as immediate and full access to humanitarian aid” in the territory, El-Sisi’s office said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy and Joe Simonetti

Israeli troops launch new West Bank operation

The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a “counter-terrorism” operation in the West Bank alongside Israel Border Police and the Israel Security Agency.

The operation focused on the area of Nur Shams, east of the city of Tulkarm, which has been a focus of intense and deadly Israeli security forces raids in recent months.

During the operation, the Israeli air force “struck an armed terrorist cell that fired at the forces,” the IDF said.

The IDF said the operation was launched hours after counter-terror and intelligence personnel killed Hussam Mallah, who the force described as a “significant” member of Hamas’ network in the area, “who was involved in the planning of terrorist attacks within an immediate time frame.”

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Israel to deploy forces along eastern border with Jordan, IDF says

Israel will deploy forces along its eastern border with Jordan to “protect the eastern border” — a border that was quiet for decades — the Israel Defense Forces announced Wednesday.

Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approved the establishment of a regional division after they “examined the operational needs and defense capabilities in the region,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The division’s mission is to strengthen defense in the border area, Highway 90 and the settlements, and to respond to dealing with terrorist incidents and the smuggling of weapons, while maintaining a peaceful border and strengthening cooperation with the Jordanian army,” the IDF said in a statement.

UN reports over 30 ‘incidents’ from IDF against peacekeepers in Lebanon, some ‘deliberate’

The United Nations has documented over 30 incidents of attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, some of which were deliberate.

“Since the 1st of October, UNIFIL has recorded over 30 incidents resulting in damage to U.N. property or premises or injury to peacekeepers. About 20 of those we could attribute to IDF fire or actions, with seven being clearly deliberate,” a spokesperson for UNIFIL said.

“In an incident yesterday, a rocket, likely fired by Hezbollah or affiliated group hit UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura and setting a vehicle workshop on fire with some peacekeepers suffering a minor injuries,” a spokesperson for UNIFIL said.

UNIFIL also said there are thousands of people stuck in villages without having access to the most basic needs.

Israel gave residents 4 hours to get out of Baalbek before beginning strikes

Baalbek’s 80,000 residents were given just under four hours to leave the city before Israeli strikes on the region began.

Residents received a message in Arabic telling them to evacuate their homes and move outside the city and villages “immediately.”

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck a fuel depot in Baalbek “located inside military compounds” belonging to Hezbollah.

“These fuel depots supplied fuel for Hezbollah’s military vehicles and were critical to the operation of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. The fuel at these sites was supplied by Iran as part of its military support for Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.

WHO evacuates more patients from Kamal Adwan

The World Health Organization has continued to evacuate patients from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, as the hospital continues to receive “a constant stream of trauma patients due to ongoing hostilities in the area,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, Wednesday.

There are now only two surgeons left at the hospital. The WHO has transferred 23 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital and 16 patients from Al-Shifa to Nasser Medical Complex in a multiday mission to north Gaza in the past two days.

The Kamal Adwan Hospital building and equipment sustained damage during the most recent siege and its four ambulances were destroyed.

“We have provided medical supplies, food and water for patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital — but much more is needed. Additionally, this week we have also provided 40,000 liters of fuel and medical supplies for six hospitals in Gaza City,” the director-general said.

Israel issues evacuation warning for entire city of Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation warning for residents in the entire eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck and the surrounding areas and key routes into the Bekaa Valley. This includes the ancient Roman temple complex, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The deliberate targeting of a World Heritage Site is a war crime under international law.

Residents have been told to evacuate their homes “immediately” and move outside the city and villages, according to the evacuation warning.

There are nearly 80,000 residents in the city, adding to the hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon who are already displaced.

Israeli official explains deadly strike in north Gaza

An airstrike on a residential building that killed at least 110 people in Beit Lahia in north Gaza on Tuesday — per figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health — was targeting a person acting suspiciously on its roof, an Israeli military official told ABC News.

The official said they did not know there were so many people in the building, as everyone in the area had already been told to leave.

The official added they were skeptical of the death toll provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, a sentiment expressed by the Israel Defense Forces in a public statement regarding the incident.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday described the strike as a “horrifying incident with a horrifying result.”

Emergency responders said the airstrike hit a five-story building housing displaced people, with at least 25 children among the dead. Many more people are still missing, officials said.

-ABC News’ Britt Clennett

UNRWA not ‘darlings of Hamas,’ official says after Israel ban

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s chief spokesperson, told ABC News the agency is “impossible to replace, especially in a place like Gaza,” following the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the organization from operating in Israel.

UNRWA has warned that the move could severely curtail the aid agency’s ability to get desperately needed aid into Gaza. Israeli allies abroad — including in the U.S. — have also warned that the Israeli parliament’s move could exacerbate humanitarian concerns across Palestinian areas in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“We have the logisticians, the humanitarian experts who know how to deliver humanitarian assistance and how to drive around and reach people in need. These are humanitarian experts who have been doing this for aid for many, many years,” Touma said.

Israel has alleged that UNRWA — which since 1950 has been responsible for supporting Palestinian refugees displaced during Israel’s independence war — is compromised by Palestinian militant groups.

A source from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office told ABC News, “UNRWA is tainted with terror and perpetuates the Palestinian problem. That is why the ban is due.”

Touma disputed the assertion. “It is not as if we are the darlings of Hamas,” she said. “We have continued to have a very, very bad relationship with Hamas. On a number of occasions throughout the war we have called out publicly against Hamas.”

Touma said Israel is under legal obligation “to provide for the services and welfare for the community it’s occupying.”

Israeli authorities say they will do so without UNRWA help. But Touma said she was skeptical.

“I’m not entirely sure that they know what they’re doing, practically speaking, in terms of the ability to cater and to provide humanitarian assistance to 2 million people in Gaza,” she said.

The ban on UNRWA, Touma added, will not address the need for an agency serving its role.

“UNRWA exists because of the failure of the international community to reach a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said.

-ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Guy Davies

UN condemns deadly Israeli strike in Gaza’s Beit Lahia

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland called the Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza “another appalling incident” in a “deadly series of recent mass casualty incidents,” in a statement released by the U.N. Secretary-General spokesperson’s office Tuesday.

“I unequivocally condemn the widespread killing and injury of civilians in Gaza, and the endless displacement of the population in Gaza,” Wennesland said in the statement. “I call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.”

US says Israel’s implementation of UNRWA ban could have ‘consequences’

The Biden administration is “deeply troubled” by the Israeli parliament’s vote to sharply restrict the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday.

“It could shutter UNRWA operations in the West Bank, in Gaza, in East Jerusalem. It poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services, including health care and primary and secondary education,” Miller said.

“Particularly in Gaza, they play a role right now that, at least today, cannot be filled by anyone else. They are a key partner in delivering food, water and other humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza that wouldn’t have anyone else to get it from if UNRWA were to go away,” Miller said.

Miller said that the U.S. had “made clear our opposition to this bill” to Israeli authorities and said there could be “consequences under U.S. law and U.S. policy for the implementation of this legislation.”

“We are going to engage with the government of Israel in the days ahead about how they plan to implement it. We’re going to watch and see if there are legal challenges to the law, and if there’s any impact by those legal challenges, and then we’ll make our decisions after looking to all those facts,” Miller said.

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

5 killed, 33 injured in Israeli strike on Lebanon

At least five people were killed and 33 others were wounded after an Israeli strike in the Saida neighborhood of Sidon, Lebanon, on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

At least 82 people were killed and 180 were wounded in Israeli attacks across Lebanon Monday, bringing the total number of people killed since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon to 2,792, and 12,772 people wounded, the ministry said.

At least 138 airstrikes were recorded in various areas of Lebanon on Tuesday, “mostly concentrated in the south, Nabatiyeh and Baalbek-Hermel,” a situation report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office said Tuesday.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz

Second phase of polio vaccine campaign still unable to continue in North Gaza

The second phase of the polio vaccination campaign has been unable to take place in northern Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, Director General of Field Hospitals in Gaza Marwan Al-Hams said Tuesday.

“About 110,000 children in northern Gaza need the second dose of the polio vaccine,” Al-Hams said.

-ABC News’ Sami Zyara

Israel will hit Iran harder if it launches more missiles, IDF chief says

Israel will hit Iran harder if it launches more missiles, Israel Defense Forces chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned Tuesday.

“If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran, with capabilities that we did not even use this time,” Halevi said, speaking at the Ramon Airbase.

110 killed, dozens missing in Israeli strike in north Gaza, officials say

At least 110 people were killed with more still missing following Israeli strikes on a five-story building housing displaced families in north Gaza on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

At least 25 children were among the dead and missing, health officials said.

Local journalists reported that the strike hit a residential building in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning.

The only hospital still functioning in the area is Kamal Adwan Hospital, which in recent days has been the focus of Israeli strikes and raids.

Health officials said there are now no doctors capable of performing surgery left at the facility, dozens of medical staff having been detained by the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF is yet to comment on Tuesday morning’s strike.

-ABC News’ Guy Davies and Joe Simonetti

90% of Gaza residents face food insecurity, WFP warns

The United Nations World Food Program issued a warning that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza could soon become a famine unless action is taken.

“Restrictions on humanitarian aid coming into Gaza are severe. During the month of October, only 5,000 metric tons of food have been delivered into Gaza, amounting to just 20 percent of basic food assistance for the 1.1 million people who depend on WFP’s lifesaving support,” the WFP said in a statement.

“Meanwhile, Gaza’s food systems have largely collapsed due to the destruction of factories, croplands and shops. Markets are nearly empty as most commercial channels are no longer functioning,” WFP said.

The WFP warned that a large group of Gazans could soon be in an “emergency phase” of need, while others would face “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.

1 killed in Israel as 200 rockets fired from Lebanon

One person was killed by a rocket in the northern Israeli town of Maalot on Tuesday, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services said.

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that at least 200 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel since Monday night.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

60 people killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon

Israeli warplanes killed at least 60 people and wounded 58 others in successive airstrikes on the Baalbek-Hermel governorate and the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon on Monday night, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti

110 killed, dozens missing in Israeli strike in north Gaza, officials say

At least 110 people were killed with more still missing following Israeli strikes on a five-story building housing displaced families in north Gaza on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

At least 25 children were among the dead and missing, health officials said.

Local journalists reported that the strike hit a residential building in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning.

The only hospital still functioning in the area is Kamal Adwan Hospital, which in recent days has been the focus of Israeli strikes and raids.

Health officials said there are now no doctors capable of performing surgery left at the facility, dozens of medical staff having been detained by the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF is yet to comment on Tuesday morning’s strike.

-ABC News’ Guy Davies and Joe Simonetti

Hezbollah confirms new leader

Hezbollah said in a Tuesday morning statement posted to social media that Naim Qassem was elected as the group’s new secretary general in a vote by its decision-making Shura Council.

Qassem, 71, was born in the Lebanese capital Beirut. He was previously Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, serving in the role since 1991. Qassem has long been a prominent spokesperson for the Iran-backed militant organization.

His election followed Israel’s assassination of former Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in September and his presumed successor Hashem Safieddine in October.

Following Nasrallah’s killing in Beirut, Qassem gave a video address in which he vowed that Hezbollah would continue its fight against Israel despite its significant military setbacks.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz

IDF claims strikes on 150 targets in Lebanon, Gaza in 24 hours

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it attacked more than 110 targets in Lebanon and 40 targets in the Gaza Strip in the previous 24 hours.

Hezbollah targets in Lebanon included “launchers aimed at the rear of the state of Israel and weapons depots,” the force wrote in a post to X.

In Gaza, the IDF said it attacked “terrorist cells, military buildings and other terrorist infrastructures.”

UN Secretary-General ‘deeply concerned’ by Israel’s laws banning UN organization

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is “deeply concerned” by the two laws passed by the Israeli parliament Monday concerning the U.N. organization, UNRWA, he said in a statement Monday.

“UNRWA is the principal means by which essential assistance is supplied to Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. There is no alternative to UNRWA,” the UN Secretary-General said in the statement.

“The implementation of the laws could have devastating consequences for Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is unacceptable,” he added.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

Netanyahu addresses humanitarian aid in Gaza after UNRWA ban

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on X Monday after legislation banning the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), a main provider of aid to Gaza, passed the Israeli parliament.

Israel is “ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security,” Netanyahu said.

“UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future,” the Prime Minister added.

The Israeli government has accused multiple UNRWA members of participating in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and having ties to Hamas. The UN conducted an investigation into the matter after the Israeli government’s initial allegations, and fired multiple UNRWA staffers after the probe, according to the Associated Press.

UNRWA initially fired 12 staffers and put seven on administrative leave without pay over the claims. The UN then fired an additional nine staffers, according to AP.

The laws passed by the Israeli parliament Monday will take effect in 90 days and will likely be challenged by Israel’s High Court.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

Netanyahu says Israel would accept 48-hour cease-fire, hostage exchange proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would accept a 48-hour cease-fire agreement proposed by the president of Egypt for the release of four hostages, but said he has not received the offer yet.

“If such a proposal were made, the Prime Minister would accept it on the spot,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement Monday.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Israeli parliament passes bills banning UN relief agency in Gaza

Israel’s legislative body, the Knesset, passed two bills ending the Israeli government’s ties to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East on Monday, effectively banning the organization from working inside of Israel or with any Israeli authorities.

The first bill bans UNRWA from operating in Israel, including in east Jerusalem. The bill passed with 92 members of the Knesset voting in favor and 10 voting against. This will also force UNRWA to close its bureau in Jerusalem.

The second bill prohibits any Israeli state or government agency from working with or “liaising” with UNRWA or anyone on its behalf. This applies to any Israeli agency working with UNRWA in Gaza and the West Bank. The bill passed with 87 members of the Knesset voting in favor, and nine voting against.

UNRWA is the main U.N. relief agency operating inside of Gaza. This second bill would ban COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages coordination with Gaza and the West Bank, from working with UNRWA to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Israel has accused many of the members of UNRWA on the ground as having ties to Hamas.

Both bills have a three-month waiting period before they take effect. It is expected that the bills will be challenged Israel’s high court.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called the two bills “unprecedented” and said they set a “dangerous precedent” in a post on X after they were both passed.

“These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell,” Lazzarini said. “These bills increase the suffering of the Palestinians & are nothing less than collective punishment.”

-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Jordana Miller

Iran promises ‘bitter and unimaginable consequences’ for Israel retaliation

Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Israel’s strike on Iran will lead to “bitter and unimaginable consequences,” in comments Monday, according to Tasnim News Agency, an Iranian news agency close to the IRGC.

The IRGC chief also said the “illegitimate and unlawful” attack by Israel revealed Israel’s “miscalculation and its frustration in the battlefield in the war against the combatants of the great front of Islamic resistance, especially in Gaza and Lebanon.”

He also offered his condolences to the four Iranian service members killed in the attack.

Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Minister’s Office, said Iran “reserves the right to respond to Israeli aggression in accordance with international law,” IRNA, Iranian state media, reported.

-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian

7 killed, 17 wounded in strikes on Tyre

At least seven people were killed and 17 wounded after Israeli strikes in Tyre, Lebanon, on Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

The Israeli air force struck “Hezbollah weapons and anti-tank missile storage facilities, terrorist infrastructure and observation posts in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a release.

The IDF’s spokesman to Arab media issued a warning on X for residents in the Tyre area, “specifically to those in the buildings between the streets: Dr. Ali Al-Khalil, Hiram, Muhammad Al-Zayat, Nabih Berri,” to evacuate.

There have been 179 airstrikes and shellings recorded in various areas of Lebanon over the past 48 hours, mostly in “the South and Nabatiyeh,” the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office said Monday.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Ghazi Balkiz

Israeli lawmakers look to stop UNRWA operations

Israeli lawmakers are set to discuss two bills intended to end all Israeli cooperation with UNRWA — the United Nations agency that provides assistance to Palestinian refugees.

If the bills pass, UNRWA could be evicted from premises it has held for over 70 years and have its immunities revoked, majorly restricting its ability to deliver health care, education and other resources to Palestinians.

An Oct. 13 letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Israeli ministers warned that the proposed UNRWA legislation could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and restrict aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Israel alleges that UNRWA is compromised by militants, with Israeli intelligence claiming that around 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza workforce — some 1,200 employees — are Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

Israeli operation in Kamal Adwan Hospital concludes, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it completed its raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip where IDF troops have been waging a major campaign.

The IDF claimed that “a number of terrorists — including Hamas terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre — had barricaded themselves inside the hospital.”

The IDF said its troops arrested around 100 fighters from within the hospital compound, “including terrorists who attempted to escape during the evacuation of civilians.”

The IDF said it found “weapons, terror funds and intelligence documents” in the hospital and in the surrounding area.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Iran will not back off in the face of Israeli aggression, Iranian president says

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday his country would stand firm following Israel’s attack on Iran.

“Definitely the free people will not back off in the face of this criminal, blood-thirsty regime. We have always defended the rights of our people and will continue to do so,” Pezeshkian told cabinet members, according to The Associated Press.

Earlier, Iranian state TV reported that Pezeshkian said Iran would respond to Israel “appropriately.”

Israel attacked military targets in Iran on Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles Iran fired on Israel earlier this month, marking the first time the IDF has openly attacked Iran.

Pezeshkian also warned tensions will escalate if Israel’s aggressions and crimes continue.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

Iran calls for UN Security Council meeting after Israel’s retaliatory attack

The U.N. Security Council will meet Monday at Iran’s request after Israel’s retaliatory attack against the country, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. confirmed to ABC News.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Israel’s retaliatory attack a “serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a flagrant breach of international law,” in a letter requesting the U.N. Security Council meeting.

The letter from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was sent to the UNSC’s current president and U.N. Secretary General António Guterres.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

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