Why Brazilian officials want to pave a highway in the Amazon rainforest
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A government plan to pave a highway in the Amazon rainforest is prompting concerns from environmentalists who say the development will cause more wildfires in the region.
But for those who live in remote areas of northwest Brazil, the highway could serve as a lifeline to modern civilization, experts argue.
The current road is 560 miles long and mostly dirt. It connects the Amazon-adjacent states of Amazonas and Roraima to the rest of the country.
The road is difficult for most vehicles to navigate, Nauê Azevedo, a litigation specialist for the Climate Observatory in Brazil, a network of 119 environmental, civil society and academic groups, told ABC News. The unpaved road has led to a lack in modern development in many rural areas, he added.
Paving the road, however, would pose dire consequences for the already degrading rainforest, Azevedo said.
The construction of BR-319, the formal government nomenclature, would likely lead to a “fishbone pattern” of deforestation extending from the roadway, Rachael Garrett, a professor of conservation and development at the University of Cambridge, told ABC News.
Moreover, the exposure to outside communities could harm indigenous groups living in the Amazon, Garrett said.
Added Azevedo: “From an environmental standpoint, paving this road will be so detrimental for the Amazon rainforest, which we all know is crucial — both to Brazil and the world in general.”
Aside from the further deforestation, environmental crimes, such as illegal logging and mining, would likely increase without proper governance in the region, Azevedo pointed out. Criminals would have easier access to remote areas and authorities would not be able to stop illegal activities, he said.
Brazil is experiencing one of the worst drought emergencies in history, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Rapid deforestation in the Amazon is reducing the amount of rainfall, therefore exacerbating the drought and risk of extreme wildfires.
Paving the road, however, would have social benefits for the residents nearby, according to Garrett, who has heard concerns from residents about having access to hospitals, schools and goods.
“There are really good, moral reasons, from the perspective of people living in this region, to have roads being paved,” she said.
The controversy over the construction of BR-319 has been going on for years. In 2022, a permit to pave the highway was issued by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration favored development in the Amazon.
But in July, a federal court suspended the permit following a lawsuit by the Climate Observatory, citing the need for protective measures to be put in place to control deforestation before paving begins.
“We asked the judiciary branch to stop this licensing process,” Azevedo said. “The pathway is still there, but they will not be … allowed to build anymore. So, it will stay as it is right now.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised last week to pave the road while on a visit to an indigenous community in the state of Amazonas.
“We can’t leave two capitals,” Lula said, adding that the construction will be done “with the utmost responsibility.”
Lula’s administration has appealed to reinstate the permit suspended by a federal judge.
Ensuring governance surrounding the construction of the highway is of the utmost importance, Azevedo said, adding that the health of the rainforest depends on it.
“We can’t undo the damage that has already been done, but we could probably conserve and preserve what’s the left of it,” he said.
(PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea) — Pope Francis boarded an Australian Royal Air Force C-130 on Sunday and flew over the pristine jungles of Papua New Guinea, travelling to the faraway settlement of Vanimo as the 87-year-old continues reaching out to what he likes to call the “peripheries” of the Catholic Church.
He was warmly welcomed with a series of traditional performances. Speaking to a crowd of about 20,000, the Pope praised the missionaries doing God’s work in the remote region, where communities often depend on them for healthcare, education, access to running water, and electricity.
“You are doing something beautiful, and it is important that you are not left alone,” he said.
The pontiff brought close to a tonne of humanitarian aid, medicine and toys with him. He was gifted a traditional feathered headdress that he chose to wear for part of the event.
The Pope then met with a group of missionaries from Argentina, including one he personally knows, Father Miguel de la Calle, who told Vatican Media people had been “walking for days” to see the Pope.
“People are coming from all over — from the jungle, the mountains, from Indonesia across the border, from other provinces,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Pope held mass in Port Moresby, to a packed stadium of about 35,000.
“Brothers and sisters, you who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world,” he said. “Today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances.”
This comes as Pope Francis continues the most ambitious trip of his pontificate; a 12-day, four country, two continent odyssey. Religious harmony was a key part of the Pope’s message on this first leg of his 12-day trip.
Papua New Guinea marks the furthest from Rome he’s ever been.
The Pope’s next stop: Timor-Leste, where over 97% of the population identifies as Catholic.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The uptick in offensive operations came after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, and as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.
German warship downs drone off Lebanon
The German Ludwigshafen am Rhein corvette — which is operating as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — downed an unidentified drone off the Lebanese coast on Thursday, a spokesperson at the German Ministry of Defense told ABC News.
The spokesperson did not describe how the aircraft was shot down, but said the ship acted in self defense.
There are approximately 60 crew members on board the vessel.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that “electronic countermeasures were used and the UAV fell and exploded on its own.”
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Guy Davies
Hezbollah fires projectiles towards Israel
Hezbollah said it launched a missile salvo towards Israel on Thursday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces said sirens sounded in northern Israel and “two projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.” One was intercepted and the other fell in an open area, the IDF said.
Fighting continues in southern Lebanon. There, Hezbollah claimed to have attacked two Israeli tanks near the border village of Labbouneh.
The IDF, meanwhile, said it killed a commander of Hezbollah’s Kana sector.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
WHO warns of cholera risk in Lebanon
The World Health Organization has warned of a “very high” risk of cholera in Lebanon following the wave of mass displacement caused by Israel’s nationwide airstrike campaign and southern ground offensive.
The WHO warning came after Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed the first cholera case in the north of the country on Wednesday.
WHO “has activated a preparedness and response plan to strengthen surveillance and contact tracing,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
–ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Guy Davies
IDF claims destruction of 150 Hezbollah targets in 24 hours
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that its troops and warplanes “eliminated more than 45 terrorists and destroyed more than 150 targets” in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours
Among the Hezbollah targets were “weapons warehouses, launchers and military buildings of the organization,” the IDF said in a post on X.
US bombs Houthi weapons storage sites
U.S. Central Command said it conducted “precision airstrikes on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities” on Wednesday.
The sites “contained various advanced conventional weapons used to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM said the strike was intended to degrade the Houthis’ ability to launch “reckless and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping and on U.S., coalition, and merchant personnel and vessels” in the region.
B-2 stealth bomber aircraft were among the assets involved in the mission, CENTCOM said. “The employment of the B-2 bomber demonstrates U.S. global strike capabilities to reach these targets, when necessary, anytime, anywhere,” it added.
CENTCOM said its analyses of the strikes “are underway and do not indicate civilian casualties.”
-ABC News’ Matthew Seyler
Defense Secretary Austin speaks with Israeli counterpart about Lebanon The Pentagon released a readout Wednesday evening following a phone call between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
The two discussed “Israel’s operations in Lebanon and broader regional security matters,” according to the readout.
“Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant discussed the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as an operational example of the United States’ ironclad support to the defense of Israel. The Secretary encouraged the Government of Israel to continue taking steps to address the dire humanitarian situation, noting the recent action by Israel to increase the amount of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Austin also “raised the need to pursue a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border as soon as feasible,” the Pentagon said.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Israeli forces targeting UNIFIL position ‘under examination,’ IDF says The Israel Defense Forces said an incident of an Israeli tank firing at a UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon is “under examination” when asked by ABC News.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization has been devising and taking forward attacks against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers from terror infrastructure sites that have been built within and adjacent to UNIFIL posts for many years,” the IDF said in a statement when asked about the incident.
This is the first time the IDF has said Hezbollah infrastructure has been built “within and adjacent” to UNIFIL posts. In the same statement, the IDF said UNIFIL “infrastructure sites and forces are not a target.”
Israel’s attacks on UNIFIL sites in southern Lebanon have been widely condemned by the international community.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long
Netanyahu approves set of targets for Israel’s reprisal strike on Iran, Israeli source says
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a set of targets for the planned Israeli reprisal strike on Iran, an Israeli source told ABC News.
Israel is planning to respond after Iran attacked Israel with more than 200 missiles on Oct. 1.
The source would not give more details on specific targets and would not comment on whether they are strictly Iranian military targets.
No timeline has been given for the strikes to be carried out.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Risk of cholera outbreak ‘very high’ in Lebanon after confirmed case: WHO
The risk of spread of cholera in Lebanon is “very high” after a case of the acute and potentially deadly diarrheal infection was detected in the country, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
“If the cholera outbreak … spreads to the new displaced people, it might spread very fast,” Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO representative in Lebanon, said in a press conference.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Netanyahu says Israel won’t accept ‘unilateral cease-fire’ in Lebanon
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is opposed to a “unilateral cease-fire” in Lebanon during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“The Prime Minister said in the conversation that he is opposed to a unilateral cease-fire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was,” the statement said.
Netanyahu “made it clear” that Israel won’t accept a cease-fire deal in Lebanon “that would not prevent Hezbollah from reorganizing and rearming,” the statement said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel says it killed Hezbollah commander in strike on southern Lebanon
Israel said it killed Hezbollah commander Jalal Mustafa Hariri in a strike on southern Lebanon Wednesday. Hezbollah has not confirmed the death of the commander.
Three people were killed and 54 others were injured in a strike in the Qana and Nabatieh areas, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long and Josiane Hajj Moussa
US announces more sanctions against Hezbollah, Syrian regime
The U.S. has announced another round of sanctions targeting several individuals and companies it accuses of generating funds for Hezbollah’s operations by helping the terror group evade existing financial restrictions.
The Biden administration also announced sanctions against three individuals allegedly involved in the production and trafficking of captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant that it says “harms communities and countries across the region and beyond and is a source of funding for the Syrian regime and its backers,” which include Hezbollah.
“The United States is steadfast in our commitment to disrupt Hizballah’s access to the international financial system and its various methods of generating revenue, which the Iran-backed group uses to fund its violence. We will also continue to target the illicit captagon trade in the region, which has become an illicit billion-dollar enterprise operated in part by senior members of the Syrian regime,” the administration said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
At least 6 killed in strike on Lebanese town headquarters
At least six people were killed and 43 injured in an Israeli strike on Nabatieh, Lebanon, which hit the town’s municipal headquarters during a meeting, according to Lebanese Minister of the Interior Bassam Mawlawi. The city’s mayor was among those killed.
“The targeting of the municipality building in Nabatieh occurred during the coordination of relief work and the preparation of aid for distribution to the residents in the cities and villages of the region who are steadfast in the face of the war they are being subjected to and against Lebanon,” Mawlawi said in a statement.
Local mayor killed in Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon
At least six people were killed and 43 injured in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Wednesday — including the city’s mayor — according to Lebanese health officials.
The strike hit the town’s municipal headquarters and came as officials met to coordinate relief efforts, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said.
“The targeting of the municipality building in Nabatieh occurred during the coordination of relief work and the preparation of aid for distribution to the residents in the cities and villages of the region who are steadfast in the face of the war they are being subjected to and against Lebanon,” Mawlawi said in a statement.
Search and rescue teams are continuing to search for survivors under the rubble of the two buildings targeted in the strike.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Aid trucks enter Gaza, Israeli authorities say
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories organization said more than 145 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday and 50 on Wednesday, amid allegations that Israel has failed to facilitate humanitarian relief in the northern part of the strip.
COGAT said that four bakeries are operational in northern Gaza, though it is unclear whether humanitarian organizations have been able to distribute any aid into the north.
Dozens of aid organizations published a joint statement Wednesday saying no aid has been allowed into northern Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Aid organizations condemn ‘horrifying level of atrocity’ in Gaza
Thirty-eight NGOs signed a new appeal to the international community to stop Israel’s latest military operation in northern Gaza, which they said has “escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity.”
“Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map,” the organizations said, describing the Israel Defense Forces’ order for civilians to leave the northern part of the territory as “forced displacement under gunfire.”
Around 400,000 people are estimated to be subject to the north Gaza evacuation order. Hospitals — already “overwhelmed” according to the NGOs — and their staff are also being ordered to evacuate, with the IDF declaring the area a dangerous combat zone.
Israeli officials have denied they are implementing the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” a proposal by retired Israeli military leaders to put north Gaza under siege and declare anyone who does not evacuate to be a valid military target.
“The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities,” the NGOs wrote. “We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hamas drone commander in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it killed a Hamas drone commander in an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF said Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was Hamas’ UAV commander in the northern part of the territory.
The IDF said on social media that Mabhouh was responsible for launching unmanned aircraft towards Israel and against Israeli forces.
Israel resumes Beirut airstrikes
Israel launched its first airstrike on Beirut in nearly a week early on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed a strike “on strategic weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in the capital’s southern Dahiya suburb. It was the first such attack in the capital since a strike killed 22 people on Oct. 10.
“These weapons were stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility in the area of Dahiya, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF wrote on X.
The strike came shortly after a new evacuation order issued online by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee for residents of the Haret Hreik area of southern Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah has the right to ‘target any point’ within Israel, acting leader says
Hezbollah’s acting leader Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah has the “right to target any point within the enemy’s entity” in a prerecorded video address released Tuesday.
“The occupation seeks to destroy and eliminate everything that stands in its way, but the resistance is prepared to confront it and establish a new equation based on inflicting pain on the enemy,” Qassem said. “We have the right to target any point within the enemy’s entity, and we will choose the appropriate time and place to do so.”
Delta pauses JFK-Tel Aviv flights through March 31
Delta will pause flights between New York’s JFK International Airport and Tel Aviv through March 31 due to “ongoing conflict in the region,” the airline said Tuesday.
Travel waivers will be issued to customers impacted by the change, the airline said.
“As always, the safety of customers and crew remains paramount,” Delta said. “Customers should be prepared for possible adjustments to Delta’s TLV flight schedule, including additional cancellations on a rolling basis.”
UK issues sanctions in response to continued violence in the West Bank
The United Kingdom announced sanctions against Israeli settler outposts and four organizations in response to “continued violence by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” Tuesday, according to a release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The sanctions target outposts and organizations “that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” the U.K. said in a statement.
“When I went to the West Bank earlier this year, on one of my first trips as Foreign Secretary, I met with Palestinians whose communities have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers. The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.
“Today’s measures will help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights. The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the UK and the international community will continue to act,” Lammy said.
Gazan soccer player killed alongside 9 family members
Emad Abu Tai’ma, a 20-year-old Gazan soccer player, was killed alongside nine members of his family, after a strike hit a house in Bani Sahalia where the family was sheltering early Tuesday morning, according to local health officials.
It took rescuers over two hours to free Abu Tai’ma’s body from the rubble, a Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson told ABC News.
Abu Tai’ma was a soccer player for the Khan Yunis-Tokyo Union for about a year before he was killed, his friend, 19-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Muzain, told ABC News.
“We studied together in one of the Bani Suhaila schools east of Khan Younis. Imad was a smart student, and he was a famous player even in school. I have not seen him for eight months due to the repeated and continuous displacement. I feel very sad for his loss. He was displaced in a house belonging to the Baraka family, and he is a civilian,” Al-Muzain said.
The Palestinian Football Association confirmed Emad’s death and reflected on his soccer career playing for Ittihad Khan Yunis Club and the Palestinian national soccer team.
“With the passing of Abu Taima, the number of martyrs of the Palestinian sports and scouting movement, as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, has risen to 455 martyrs, including 314 in football (87 children, 227 young men), in addition to 90 martyrs from the Olympic sports federations, and 50 martyrs from the scouting movement. The occupation forces also destroyed 57 sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” the association said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz
At least 29 killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah
At least 29 civilians were killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers were also killed in the north, according to the prime minister’s office.
Attacks on hospitals, health workers jeopardize health care in Lebanon, WHO warns
Nearly half of the health care centers and dispensaries in conflict-affected areas in Lebanon are now closed, jeopardizing access to health care, according to the World Health Organization
“Increasing conflict, intense bombardment and insecurity are forcing a growing number of health facilities to shut down, particularly in the south,” the WHO said in a statement Tuesday. “Hospitals have had to close or evacuate due to structural damage or their proximity to areas of intense bombardment.”
The World Health Organization said it has verified 23 attacks on health care in Lebanon, killing 72 and injuring 43 health workers and patients since the escalation of hostilities on Sept. 17.
Fifteen incidents impacted health facilities and 14 impacted health transport, according to WHO.
Northern Gaza cut off from food aid, health systems have ‘all but collapsed,’ aid groups warn
Escalating violence in northern Gaza is having “a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families,” the United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday as aid groups issue sharp warnings.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, said in the release. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”
Over 90,000 children in Gaza vaccinated in second round of polio vaccine campaign
Over 92,800 children in Gaza were vaccinated on Monday, the first day of the second phase of the polio vaccine campaign, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Tuesday.
“Despite the incredibly complex situation in Gaza, the second phase of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign began smoothly yesterday, reaching over 92,800 children with polio vaccines and administering Vitamin A to more than 76,000 children between the ages of 2 and 10,” UNICEF said in a statement Tuesday.
“This campaign is crucial not only for preventing the resurgence of polio but also for safeguarding the long-term health of Gaza’s children, who are already facing huge vulnerability due to ongoing conflict, restricted access to healthcare, and malnutrition. Each dose of the vaccine is a lifeline, in an environment where every safeguard counts,” UNICEF said.
The health systems in northern Gaza have “all but collapsed,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.
Lazzarini said they are “unable to reach” UNRWA teams in northern Gaza “due to telecommunications cuts.”
The Israel Defense Forces said they are assisting patients, personnel and hospital staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza “to other functioning hospitals in Gaza,” in a statement Tuesday. An Israeli agency that manages logistics inside of Gaza, including the flow of aid into Gaza, is leading the transfer of patients and staff, the IDF said.
Three hospitals in northern Gaza are inside of the zone where Israeli forces have asked people to evacuate.
The IDF also acknowledged they have been operating “in the Jabalia area” in northern Gaza for “over a week,” in a statement Tuesday. The IDF claims they conducted “targeted raids on dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites in the area, eliminated dozens of terrorists, and confiscated numerous weapons,” in the Jabaliya area during operations there, the statement said.
-ABC News’ Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller
US sends letter to Israel demanding it improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
U.S. officials sent a letter to Israeli officials demanding that Israel take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, or Israel will face consequences with a potential change in U.S. policy, two Israeli sources confirmed to ABC News.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Monday focusing on increasing the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza by the beginning of winter, facilitating the aid delivery route through Jordan and ending the “isolation” of northern Gaza.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law,” the letter stated.
The National Security Memorandum, or NSM-20, states the secretaries of State and Defense are “responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services” by the departments under “any security cooperation or security assistance authorities are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” according to the law.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed Austin and Blinken sent a letter to their Israeli counterparts over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, but refused to give additional details.
“I can confirm that Secretary Austin with Secretary Blinken, they co-signed a letter that went to their Israeli counterparts. This was personal, private correspondence, so I’m not going to get into more specifics of it, other than it was expressing concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” Singh said on Tuesday.
The letter was first reported by Israeli media and Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dorit Long and Matt Seyler
25% of Lebanon under Israeli evacuation orders, UN says
Over 25% of Lebanon is now under Israeli evacuation orders as Israeli airstrikes continue to increase the number of areas impacted, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
“We have over 25% of the country under a direct Israeli military evacuation order. Just yesterday, we had another 20 villages issued with an evacuation order in the south of the country,” Rema Imseis, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East, said Tuesday.
“In a country of that size, which is relatively small, and a population that’s estimated around 5 million people, you can imagine how dramatic it is that over 1 million people are now without shelter and on the move … being forced to flee their homes in search of safety,” Imseis said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
‘Impossible’ to separate conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza, Hezbollah leader says
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said it is “impossible to separate Lebanon’s front from Palestine,” in a recorded video address released on Tuesday.
There had been speculation over whether Hezbollah would be open to a cease-fire agreement that didn’t include Gaza.
Israeli officials have asserted that the aim in Lebanon is to return Israelis home to the north and separate the war in the north from the war in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
US troops arrive in Israel to support THAAD deployment
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Tuesday that American troops are already in Israel to support the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to the country.
“An advance team of U.S. military personnel and initial components” required to operate the system arrived in Israel on Monday, Ryder said.
“Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” he added.
“The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines,” Ryder said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
10 members of 1 family killed in Khan Younis strike
Ten members of the same family were killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza early on Tuesday, a health ministry official told ABC News.
The strike hit a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, at 12:30 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, local health officials said.
Ten members of the Abu Tai’ma family were killed, including three children aged 7, 8 and 11, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry told ABC News.
The Israel Defense Forces is yet to comment on the strike.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz and Guy Davies
Israeli police officer killed in shooting attack
The Israel Police said in a statement Tuesday that an officer was killed in a shooting attack near the southern city of Ashdod.
The attacker shot the officer and then “continued on a shooting spree and wounded four more civilians,” police said. The attacker was then “neutralized by a civilian,” police said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Netanyahu listening to US ‘opinions’ in Iran attack planning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday “our national interests” will be the prime consideration in Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
Netanyahu was responding to a Washington Post report suggesting he had assured the U.S. that Israel would target Iranian military — and not nuclear or oil infrastructure — targets in its planned retaliation for Tehran’s recent missile barrage.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” the prime minister’s office said in a post on X.
Iran accuses Israel, US of ‘psychological operation’
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has denied “any role in the planning, decision-making, or execution” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, as Tehran braces for an expected Israeli response to its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
In a statement posted to social media, the mission said Iran’s assistance to the “Resistance Front” — which includes forces like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen — is “a matter of common knowledge and an obvious fact.”
“However, dragging Iran or Hezbollah into the Oct. 7 operation represents a fabricated conclusion and a cynical attempt to mislead public opinion — all aimed at covering up the Israeli regime’s major intelligence failure in relation to Hamas,” the mission said.
The mission accused “certain American media outlets” of having “morphed into tools for disseminating this psychological operation.”
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8 in support of Hamas. The group has vowed to continue its attacks until Israeli forces conclude a cease-fire in Gaza and withdraw from the devastated Palestinian territory.
Israel targeting civilian infrastructure in north Gaza, UNRWA chief says
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Tuesday that “two long weeks” of Israeli military operations have “all but collapsed” the health system in northern Gaza.
“Hundreds of Palestinians are reported killed, among them children,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “More than 400,000 people continue to be trapped in the area.”
“We are not able to reach our teams due to telecommunications cuts,” he added. “The U.N. has not been allowed to provide any assistance, including food” since Sept. 30, he said. “The two crossing points into northern Gaza have been closed since.”
The Israel Defense Forces is pressing its operation in north Gaza around the Jabalia refugee camp, which the Palestinian Civil Defense said has been put under “complete siege.” The IDF said Tuesday it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” there with the assistance of airstrikes.
Lazzarini said the camp is the worst affected part of northern Gaza. Around 50,000 people have fled, while basic UNRWA services have been interrupted or forced to halt, he added.
“Such attacks, the sabotage of civilian infrastructure and the deliberate denial of critical assistance continue to be used as a tactic by the Israeli authorities to force people to flee,” he said.
“Civilians are given no choice but to either leave or starve.”
“In Gaza, too many red lines have been crossed,” Lazzarini said. “What might constitute war crimes can still be prevented.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 230 strikes in Lebanon, Gaza in 24 hours
The Israel Defense Forces said in a Tuesday statement it struck “over 230 terrorist targets throughout the past day” as it continues its operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
The force claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat” and airstrikes in southern Lebanon, along with the dismantling of “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” and the discovery of “vast quantities of weaponry.”
In north Gaza, the IDF continued its intense operation around the Jabalia refugee camp. The Palestinian Civil Defense said the area has been put under “complete siege.”
The IDF said its forces “have eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” with the assistance of airstrikes.
Fighting is also ongoing in the south of the strip. There, “troops eliminated multiple terrorists and dismantled terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
100 US soldiers will go to Israel with THAAD deployment
On Monday, U.S. Army leaders said the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel will include approximately 100 soldiers to operate it.
“The THAAD deployment is going to have about 100 soldiers who will go over to Israel,” Christine Wormuth, the secretary of the U.S. Army said at the Army’s annual AUSA conference.
Wormuth did not provide operational or timing details about the deployment of the THAAD system or its deployment for security and force protection reasons.
“I think we should view this THAAD deployment as for what it is, which is another visible statement of our commitment to the security of Israel as it deals with everything that’s coming at it from Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” said Wormuth.
A U.S. official told ABC News that discussions about deploying the THADD system to Israel in order to shore up its defenses against ballistic missile barrages have been underway for months.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Shannon Kingston
Northern Gaza still waiting for food supplies, group says
Thirty trucks carrying flour and food entered Gaza on Monday, according to Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency that oversees logistical coordination within the Gaza Strip.
This aid was meant for northern Gaza, COGAT said. However, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme told ABC News it has not yet reached the people there.
“Israel is not denying the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said in response to an inquiry from ABC News.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
IDF claims it killed head of Hamas Aerial unit
Samer Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’ Aerial Unit, has been killed, the Israel Defense Forces claimed in a statement Monday.
Abu Daqqa was killed during an Israeli airstrike in September, the IDF said, but did not say where the attack took place.
— ABC News’ David Brenna and Julia Reinstein
54 killed, 258 wounded in Lebanon in past 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, 54 people have been killed and 258 have been wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The total number of casualties since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September is now 2,309 people killed and 10,782 people injured, the ministry said.
A situational report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said 200 airstrikes and shellings were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 48 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a release Monday that they found an underground compound in southern Lebanon stocked with “weapons, ammunition and motorcycles ready to be used in an invasion into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Netanyahu: ‘We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon” while visiting the Golani camp, which was hit by a Hezbollah drone Sunday evening, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring dozens.
“I want to make it clear: We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon — also in Beirut, all according to operational considerations. We have proven this in recent times, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and said he would visit the injured later on Monday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Doctors Without Borders staffer killed in northern Gaza
A Doctors Without Borders staffer has been killed in northern Gaza, the organization announced Monday.
Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, 31, was struck by shrapnel Tuesday and died of injuries to his legs and chest two days later, according to the organization.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israeli forces for having “systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people.”
“He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital’s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility,” the organization said of Al Shalfouh.
Al Shalfouh joined Doctors Without Borders as a driver in March 2023, but had not been able to work for them recently as operations have been impacted by the war, the group said.
He is the seventh Doctors Without Borders staffer to be killed in Gaza since the war began, the organization added.
“We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” the NGO said. “In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.”
Americans in Lebanon should ‘depart now,’ embassy says
American citizens in Lebanon “are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a new alert Monday.
The embassy has been urging Americans to depart Lebanon via commercial flights in recent weeks. Monday’s warning was the starkest yet.
The embassy noted it had helped add thousands of extra seats to commercial flights to help Americans leave amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Much of this capacity has gone unused,” Monday’s alert said. “Please understand that these additional flights will not continue indefinitely.”
“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the embassy said.
“These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation,” the notice read.
The embassy has been warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon since July.
Airstrike kills 18 in north Lebanon, Red Cross says
Eighteen people were killed and four wounded in an airstrike in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross wrote on X.Seven Red Cross teams were dispatched to the area in the Zgharta district, the organization said. “Our teams are working to provide first aid and evacuate the wounded,” it added.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
Hezbollah launches dozens of cross-border attacks, marking daily record
Hezbollah issued 38 statements claiming cross-border attacks into Israel on Sunday — the highest tally since renewed fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023, per ABC News’ count.
The attacks included the drone strike on an Israel Defense Forces training base in northern Israel, which killed four soldiers and injured 55.
Hezbollah has expanded its attacks into Israel despite the IDF’s monthslong campaign of targeted killings of top commanders and airstrikes on Hezbollah military facilities and weapons caches.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hezbollah anti-tank commander
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile forces.
The IDF said in a statement posted to social media that Muhammad Kamal Naim was killed in an airstrike in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.
Naim, it said, was responsible for the elite Radwan Force’s anti-tank weapons.
Naim “was responsible for planning and carrying out many terrorist plots, including firing anti-tank missiles at the Israeli rear,” the IDF wrote.
Israel kills 20 in strike on UNRWA school, health ministry says
At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
The school was being used to shelter displaced people in Nuseirat camp, health authorities said. It was bombed on Sunday.
The school was earmarked for use in the planned second round of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign, which was due to begin on Monday.
-ABC News Diaa Ostaz and Guy Davies
10 killed amid ‘total siege’ in northern Gaza
Ten people were killed in shelling at an aid distribution center in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip.
The area has been the focus of intense recent Israeli military activity, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting fierce fighting with Hamas militants there.
The IDF has ordered residents of northern Gaza — of whom there are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 — to leave the region, which it has classified as a military zone.
Hamas is urging residents to stay, suggesting Israel will not allow those who leave to return.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said there was a “complete siege” of Jabalia. Aid agencies have said that no food has been allowed to enter the north of Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Israel to probe deadly drone attack on troops, Gallant says
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the scene of a deadly Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel on Monday, telling soldiers there the incident “was a difficult event with painful results.”
Four troops were killed and 55 wounded in Sunday’s attack on the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
“We must investigate it, study the details and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” Gallant said, according to a Defense Ministry readout.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks,” he added
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 200 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its warplanes targeted around 200 “Hezbollah terror targets” in its continuing operation against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.
The targets included “launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, terrorist infrastructure and weapons storage facilities containing launchers, anti-tank missiles, RPG launchers and munitions,” the IDF wrote on X.
Ground forces, meanwhile, “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes” in their ongoing cross-border incursion, the force reported.
The IDF is still describing its ground operation as consisting of “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern areas close to the border.
Airstrikes, though, continue across southern Lebanon. Around a quarter of all Lebanese territory is under IDF evacuation orders and some 1.2 million civilians are displaced, according to the government in Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base ‘painful,’ commander says
The Israel Defense Forces identified the four soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base in the north of the country on Sunday.
Sgt. Omri Tamari, Sgt. Yosef Hieb, Sgt. Yoav Agmon and Sgt. Amitay Alon were killed, an IDF press release said. The strike occurred at the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
Around 55 more are reported to have been injured.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed Golani Brigade troops on Sunday night following the attack.
“We are at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful,” the commander said according to a post on the IDF’s official Telegram channel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel strike on Gaza hospital kills 4, wounds dozens
At least four people were killed and 40 others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the compound. Israel accuses Hamas of routine use of civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes — a charge Hamas denies.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Defense Secretary Austin discusses safety of UNIFIL forces with Israel’s Gallant
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by phone on Sunday to express his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and discuss the IDF’s military operations in Lebanon.
According to a readout of the call from the Pentagon, Austin, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon established by the U.N. Security Council.
The conversation comes after the IDF has repeatedly fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in southern Lebanon.
Additionally, Secretary Austin “reaffirmed the deep U.S. commitment to Israel’s security,” which he says is demonstrated by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
According to the Department of Defense, THAAD employs interceptor missiles, using “hit-to-kill” technology, to destroy threat missiles.
During the call, Austin “again raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it,” the Pentagon said.
At least 3 killed in IDF strike on Gaza hospital
At least three people were killed and dozens more were injured after Israel Defense Forces struck Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Mahmoudiye on September 24, 2024. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Israel preparing a ground operation into Lebanon
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
“We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north,” Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
“To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians,” Halevi said.
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ‘wouldn’t solve the problem,’ Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “needs to be contained.”
“We’re working to make sure this doesn’t get into a full-scale war,” Blinken said.
Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: “I do.”
“Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve,” Blinken said, noting Hezbollah’s near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The “best way” to address Israel’s problems in the north, Blinken continued, “is through diplomacy.”
There were “a number of times” where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said.
“Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening,” he said.
“But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn’t solve the problem,” Blinken said.
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah’s “unprovoked” attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced,” the president said.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
“That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve,” Biden said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel’s ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Khamenei touted the “organizational and human strength and the authority and ability” of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks “martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah,” Khamenei wrote.
“This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah,” he added.
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday — citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
“Now probably they’re approaching half a million” Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes.”
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority,” Grandi said.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR’s count.
IDF in third day of ‘extensive strikes’ in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was again “conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area” to the east of Beirut.
Almost 600 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Hezbollah targets Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah claimed the launch of a Qadir-1 ballistic missile targeting the Mossad intelligence agency’s headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
“It is the headquarters responsible for the assassination of leaders and the bombing of pagers and hand-held radios,” the militant group said in a statement, referring to last week’s communication device explosions in Lebanon and Syria.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv amid the attack.
“One surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF later said in a social media post that it destroyed the launcher from which the missile was fired in southern Lebanon.
The launch at Tel Aviv is the first time Hezbollah has attacked the city in central Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah confirms death of division commander
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of rocket and missile division commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in a post on their Telegram channel.
Hezbollah said he was killed in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli air attack in Da’ahia in Beirut killed Qubaisi.
52 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, officials say
Israeli forces targeted eight residential homes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, killing at least 52 people, spokesperson Major Mahmoud Basal of the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said Tuesday.
At least five of those people were killed after a house in the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah, was targeted, the civil defense spokesperson added.
The IDF said they were conducting “precise, intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area” in a statement Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, foreign minister says
The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that “the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so.”
Habib spoke at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He expressed his “disappointment” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the U.N., saying it was “neither strong nor promising and will not solve this problem,” but said he “hopes that Washington can intervene to help.”
“Lebanon cannot end the fighting alone and needs America’s help, despite past disappointments,” Habib said, adding that the U.S. is “the only country that can truly make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.”
Mediators as far from a cease-fire deal as ever, US officials say
Mediators between Israel and Hamas are as far away from a cease-fire deal as they have ever been, with both sides impeding negotiations, multiple senior U.S. officials told ABC News.
Many officials have long been skeptical that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would ever sign off on an agreement that involves ceding rule of Gaza, and in recent weeks Hamas has deeply frustrated the Israeli government by adding demands related to Palestinian prisoners that would be released in an exchange.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also become increasingly intractable, according to U.S. officials. While high-level engagements between the U.S. and Israel often moved the needle at the beginning of the conflict, those meetings are now unproductive, officials said — a major reason Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t stop in Israel during his last visit to Middle East.
When it comes to these negotiations, the ball is actually in the Biden administration’s court. Blinken promised during the first week of September that the U.S. would present a new, final proposal to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days,” but almost three weeks later, there’s no indication that has happened yet.
The reason for the delay is the struggle to devise an arrangement both sides might agree to — but that’s just one more factor contributing to the gridlock, according to U.S. officials.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Shannon K. Kingston and Martha Raddatz
Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says
Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.
“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.
G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.
The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander
Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.
“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.
At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut
At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.
US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high
The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.
“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.
Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.
“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”
“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”
Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says
At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon
Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.
The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.
A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.
Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.
IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.
At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.
The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.
“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.
The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.
At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.
New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East
A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.
Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.
Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.
“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.
“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.
Afula is a city in northern Israel.
“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.
