Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: 110 dead, including 25 children, in strike on Gaza

(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.

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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