Middle East: Netanyahu promises to defeat Israel’s “enemies” before October 7 anniversary

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THE ESSENTIAL

Heavy Israeli aerial bombardments of Beirut’s southern suburbs terrorized residents of Lebanon’s capital on Sunday, the eve of the first anniversary of the Palestinian Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. After weakening Hamas during a devastating offensive still underway in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israel shifted most of its operations in mid-September to the Lebanese front, opened by Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement for a year. year.

Information to remember:

  • Israeli military on alert Sunday and says it will deploy additional troops near Gaza ahead of October 7 anniversary
  • After Iran’s missile salvo against Israel on Tuesday, the army is “preparing a response”
  • In Lebanon, the start of the school year is postponed until November 4
  • Policewoman dies from injuries in attack in Beersheba, southern Israel
  • Israeli army chief says Hamas military wing is ‘defeated’
  • Hamas hails ‘glorious’ October 7 attack on Israel

Israeli army launches new call to evacuate south Beirut

The Israeli army launched a new call on Sunday evening to residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut to evacuate the area, a Hezbollah stronghold targeted several times by Israeli airstrikes in recent days. “Urgent alert to residents of the southern suburbs of Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath, Beirut. You are near Hezbollah facilities and interests, and the Israeli army will intervene against them in the near future,” the statement said. military spokesperson Avichay Adraee on X, urging residents in these areas to evacuate.

Hamas hails ‘glorious’ October 7 attack on Israel

Hamas praised on Sunday the “glorious” attack it carried out on October 7, 2023 against Israel, in a video message broadcast on the eve of the anniversary of this attack which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. The “glorious attack of October 7 shattered the illusions that the enemy had created, convincing the world and the region of its superiority and its supposed capabilities”, declared in this message a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Khalil al-Hayya, based in Qatar.

Hamas military wing ‘defeated,’ says Israeli army chief

The head of the Israeli army told his troops at war against Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah on Sunday that his country was waging a “long” war, promising to destroy those who attack Israel. “This is a long-term war” declared General Herzi Halevi, affirming that the armed wing of Hamas had been “defeated”, on the eve of the anniversary of the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on the Israeli territory which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

“Together we will win,” Netanyahu tells Israeli soldiers

Visiting the Lebanese border, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told soldiers on Sunday: “together we will win”, almost a week after the start of the Israeli army’s ground operations in southern Lebanon.

“A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow,” he said in reference to the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023. “In the twelve months that followed, we have transformed reality from one extreme to the other. The whole world is amazed by the blows you deal to our enemies,” he added. “Together we will fight and together we will win.”

In Lebanon, 40% of students were displaced by Israeli strikes

Around 500,000 students have been displaced by strikes by the Israeli army, which says it has been targeting Hezbollah targets across Lebanon since the end of September, a senior official from the Lebanese Ministry of Education told AFP on Sunday. “There are 1.25 million students in Lebanese schools,” said Director General of Education Imad Achkar, and “40% of them have been displaced” by Israeli bombings, which have thrown the roads in total more than a million people.

Israeli army announces rocket “fire” from Gaza Strip

The Israeli army announced on Sunday rocket “fire” from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel. “Following alerts that were recently triggered in areas west of Lakish and around Gaza, a number of shots were detected coming from the north of the Gaza Strip,” a spokesperson said. word of the army. “One projectile was intercepted, the others fell in open areas,” he added.

Policewoman dies from injuries in Beersheba attack

A police officer died from her injuries in a shooting and stabbing attack that left ten people injured on Sunday in the city of Beersheva (southern Israel), according to emergency services. “Rescuers pronounced the death of a 25-year-old woman and evacuated ten injured people to Soroka hospital,” announced Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross in a press release, some injured having been affected shot and stabbed.

Israeli police previously announced that “several people were injured in a shooting attack at the Beersheva central bus station.” “The terrorist has been neutralized and police forces are on site,” the statement added.

Israel announces surrounding Jabaliya area in Gaza Strip

On Sunday, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israel announced it was “surrounding” the Jabaliya area, where Hamas was “rebuilding its forces”. According to Gaza Civil Defense, 17 people including nine children died there. And in the center of the Palestinian territory in Deir al-Balah, at least 26 people were killed in strikes on a mosque and a school welcoming displaced people, according to the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health.

After Iranian missile attacks on Israel on Tuesday, the second attack of its kind in six months, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday threatened Iran, its sworn enemy supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, with similar strikes in Gaza and the Lebanon.

Tehran claimed to be “ready” to retaliate according to the Tasnim agency, citing a military source, and the Iranian Oil Minister visited a key oil site in the country, amid concerns about Israeli retaliation. On the Lebanese front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops along the border as the Israeli army shelled Lebanon.

More than 30 Israeli strikes on several areas of the southern suburbs of Beirut

The official Lebanese news agency ANI reported more than “30 Israeli strikes” overnight on several areas of the southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, and an AFP correspondent reported strikes in the east of the country. . Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the world to “put pressure on Israel” for a ceasefire, while according to Lebanese authorities, 23 people died on Saturday, a toll not including nighttime strikes.

“It was the most violent night we had experienced. There were so many bombings that it looked like an earthquake,” Mehdi Zaïter, 60, a grocery store owner in the southern suburbs of Beirut, told AFP. , where the destruction is enormous, reported an AFP photographer.

“Targeted strikes on several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and sites”

The Israeli army indicated that it had “carried out a series of targeted strikes in the Beirut region on several weapons storage facilities and sites” of Hezbollah, and said it “continued to operate to dismantle the capabilities” of the movement.

Hezbollah, for its part, assured that it had targeted Israeli forces with shells during the night after an infiltration attempt in the Blida area in southern Lebanon. He also claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on a group of Israeli soldiers during the “evacuation of wounded and dead soldiers” in the border region of Manara, as well as two drone attacks against Israeli military bases in northern Israel. Israel.

97 hostages in the hands of Hamas, including 33 considered dead

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to deliver a speech to the nation on Monday to commemorate the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil. Stunning the entire country, it led to the death of 1,205 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 97 are still hostages in Gaza, including 33 considered dead.

The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation on Gaza, where Hamas took power in 2007, caused the deaths of 41,870 people and ravaged the besieged territory, according to the latest report from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, including data are deemed reliable by the UN.

Israel says it wants to put an end to Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on northern Israel, to allow tens of thousands of displaced people to return to their homes in northern Israel and has killed its leader.

Back to school postponed in Lebanon

After a bombing on Beirut, a Hezbollah official told AFP on Friday that contact was “lost” with Hachem Safieddine, potential successor at the head of Hezbollah to Hassan Nasrallah, killed on September 27 in an Israeli raid. Since October 2023, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than a thousand since Israel launched massive strikes against Hezbollah on September 23, according to the authorities. Around 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Lebanese Education Minister Abbas al-Halabi announced on Sunday that the start of the school year for 1.25 million students from kindergarten to high school would be postponed from October to November 4, “in the face of the danger that threatens” students and teachers.

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