Middle East latest: Large airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs as Israel expands northern Gaza operations

Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport. The Israeli military had issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving more details.

Also Thursday, the Israeli military announced it expanded its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to include part of Beit Lahiya, a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war, where Israel says Hamas militants have regrouped.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese militant group is open for cease-fire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.” His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

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Here’s the latest:

Israeli military to allow 300 truckloads of aid from UAE into Gaza

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Gaza Strip.

That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States has said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory.

COGAT, the military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, said the aid was brought in by sea and unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza. It said the shipment, which includes food, water, medical equipment, shelter and hygiene supplies, would be inspected before being trucked into Gaza.

The amount of aid entering Gaza dropped off dramatically in October as Israel launched another offensive in the territory’s north. By the end of October, an average of just 71 trucks a day were entering Gaza, according to the latest U.N. figures.

The United States has warned Israel to ramp up the entry of aid by mid-November, saying failure to do so could lead to a reduction in military support.

Israel says it allows plenty of aid to enter Gaza and blames U.N. agencies and other aid groups for not distributing it. Humanitarian groups say their efforts are hobbled by Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order.

Dozens of Lebanese killed in struck apartment building are laid to rest

TYRE, Lebanon — Dozens of Lebanese were laid to rest Thursday following an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment building in the town of Barja, just north of the port city of Sidon.

The Lebanese Civil Defense said they pulled at least 30 bodies and remains following late Tuesday’s strike.

Among the killed were many members of the Basma family, who had fled depper into southern Lebanon for safety. Family members who survived found shelter elsewhere or weren’t in the building at the time.

“My sister was killed last week, and now my brother, my nephew, and my other nephew with members of his family,” said Hassan Basma.

Nearby, Khadija Daramsis, who washes the bodies of the dead before burial in accordance with Islamic tradition, found herself having to do the same for her nieces. She had just seen them last week.

“They told me they were scared of the strikes and then they were struck,” Daramsis said as she wept. “What did they have to do with anything? Are they resistance? Are they Hezbollah?”

Israel says its strikes target Hezbollah militants or the group’s assets. The strike in Barja came without warning.

Khalil Basma says the ongoing war and Israel’s military escalation is the worst he’s seen in Lebanon.

“Knowing the wars we have gone through, this is regretfully the first time we see such crimes,” he said. “May God protect everyone and end this crisis.”

Israeli drone strike kills 3 in southern Lebanon city of Sidon, Lebanese state media says

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says an Israeli drone strike has hit a car at an army checkpoint in the southern port city of Sidon, killing three people and wounding several others including U.N. peacekeepers.

The National News Agency said one of the wounded was taken to the hospital while the peacekeepers were treated for minor injuries at the scene of the attack at the northern entrance of Sidon, Lebanon’s third-largest city. There was no immediate information on the identities of those who died.

The convoy of peacekeepers happened to be driving nearby when the airstrike occurred, according to the report. A spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL did not respond to messages sent by The Associated Press.

A drone strike earlier Thursday hit a car on a main highway just outside Beirut, killing one woman, according to local media.

French diplomat urges diplomatic solution in coming weeks

PARIS — France’s top diplomat has urged action in the coming weeks toward a political solution to the wars in the Mideast.

Visiting Israel, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has ″never hid his wish to end the interminable wars in the Middle East.”

“So the conditions seem right to me to move in the coming weeks toward a diplomatic solution to the current conflict. Because force alone cannot suffice to guarantee Israel’s security,” he said.

Barrot called for a halt to Israel’s bombings of northern Gaza, calling them contrary to Israel’s long-term interests.

″The Palestinian question will not disappear, regardless of what American administration is in office,″ Barrot told reporters.

He also warned Iran against further escalation, and called for a diplomatic solution for Lebanon. He met his Israeli counterpart and heads next to the Palestinian territories for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Iran’s Supreme Leader says militant groups against Israel remain strong

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says its alliance of militant groups opposed to Israel remains strong despite the killing of many of their senior leaders.

“God willing, the world will see a day when the Zionist regime will be defeated by them,” Iranian state TV reported the leader as saying Thursday.

The report quoted Khamenei as saying that Hamas and other “leaders of the resistance” are “still fighting” even though some of their leaders have been killed by intensified Israel airstrikes.

Israeli strikes and military operations in recent months have killed the top leaders of both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as many of their senior commanders.

Both groups are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes other Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iran and its allies have repeatedly traded fire with Israel and the United States over the past year following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, raising fears of a regional war.

Israel announces $5.2 billion fighter jet deal with Boeing

JERUSALEM — Israel says it has reached an agreement to purchase 25 advanced F-15 fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing for $5.2 billion.

The Defense Ministry said the agreement, concluded Wednesday, was part of a broader aid package approved by the U.S. government earlier this year. Deliveries will begin in 2031, and there’s an option for the purchase of an additional 25 aircraft.

The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel as it has battled Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and traded fire with Iran.

The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it did not facilitate the delivery of more aid to Gaza, U.S. laws may force the administration to curb some of its military support.

The State Department said this week that Israel had yet to sufficiently improve aid deliveries ahead of a mid-November deadline.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how he plans to do it. He was a staunch supporter of Israel during his previous term but also cultivated close ties with Arab Gulf leaders.

Israeli military extends shutdown of Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Al Jazeera news network says the Israeli military has extended the order shutting down its bureau in the occupied West Bank.

Walid al-Omari, the network’s bureau chief, said Israeli troops raided the office in Ramallah again early Thursday and posted a notice extending the closure for an additional 45 days.

Israel had previously raided the office and shut it down on Sept. 22. Earlier this year, authorities took the rare step of barring the Qatar-based network from operating in Israel.

Israel accuses Al Jazeera of serving as a mouthpiece for Hamas, an allegation denied by the network. Last month, Israel accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of being Palestinian militants, which the network also denied.

Al-Jazeera has provided near 24-hour coverage from inside Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, with a heavy focus on the war’s toll among Palestinian civilians. Several of its correspondents have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces.

It also routinely airs unedited Hamas videos showing attacks on Israeli forces and hostages speaking under duress.

Israel passes law that would allow it to deport the families of Palestinian attackers, including citizens

Israel’s parliament passed a law early Thursday that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinian attackers, including the country’s own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations.

The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61-41 vote but is likely to be challenged in court.

It would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members’ attacks beforehand or who “express support or identification with the act of terrorism.”

Read the full story here.

Israel expands its ground operation in northern Gaza

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has expanded its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war.

The military said in a statement Thursday that “troops started to operate” in the area of Beit Lahiya after intelligence indicated the presence of militants there. Hamas has repeatedly regrouped in areas where the military already conducted major operations.

The town in the northwestern corner of Gaza was among the first targets of the ground invasion launched over a year ago, after Hamas’ attack into southern Israel. The northern third of the territory has been encircled by Israeli forces since then.

Israel launched another major offensive in nearby Jabaliya, a decades-old urban refugee camp, in early October. It has sharply restricted the amount of aid entering northern Gaza and ordered a full evacuation. Tens of thousands have fled to nearby Gaza City in the latest mass displacement of the war.

Airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one on site adjacent to airport

BEIRUT — Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport.

The Israeli military had earlier issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying that there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving more details.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Beirut’s airport has not been directly targeted in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and national air carrier Middle East Airlines has continued to operate commercial flights.

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