Live: Five Palestinian journalists killed, Gaza media office says

CNN is facing backlash for an article on the mental health of Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza, who have, in their own words, run over Palestinians "dead and alive, in the hundreds”, with bulldozers.

In the article, "Israeli soldiers returning from war struggle with trauma and suicide", which was published on Monday, the American news network interviews the family and colleague of an Israeli soldier who died by suicide after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return from Gaza. It discusses the mental health issues, writ large, of soldiers returning from the besieged enclave.

Thousands of social media users have slammed the article, which they said aims to humanise Israeli soldiers and help justify and whitewash their actions while neglecting to mention the legal and humanitarian aspects of the actions of Israel in its war on Gaza. Israel is facing accusations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes before international courts.

Read More: CNN slammed for 'sympathy piece' on Israeli army

At least four people were killed after Israel bombed the Tawbah health clinic in southern Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa. 

Several others have been injured, according to Wafa. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a post-war "governing framework” for Gaza on Tuesday, the prime minister's office said. 

In the meeting, the two leaders also discussed tensions with Iran. Netanyahu told Blinken the US and Israel  need "to join forces against” Iran as the region girds for an Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic. 

Netanyahu's office also said that Blinken expressed "shock" that Hezbollah attacked Netanyahu's home with a drone. 

An 11 year-old Palestinian child died after being shot by Israeli soldiers in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. 

According to videos posted on social media, the boy was shot while throwing a stone at an Israeli armoured vehicle. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday, for his 11th trip to the region since Israel's war on Gaza erupted after the Hamas-led 7 October attacks. 

"[Blinken] underscored the need to capitalise on Israel’s successful action to bring Yahya Sinwar to justice by securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza in a way that provides lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. 

The two also discussed Israel's war on Lebanon and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. 

The UN rights chief said he was “appalled” by an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Beirut on Monday that killed at least 18 people. 

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, demanded a “prompt and thorough investigation" of Israel's bombing of the Rafik Hariri parking lot. 

“I am appalled by the Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut’s densely populated Jnah neighbourhood that reportedly killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded 60 others,” Turk said. 

“The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians must be respected". 

At least 63 people have been killed in the last day by Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government. 

The number brings the total death toll from Israel's offensive on Lebanon since October 2023, to 2,530. 

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Riyadh on Tuesday, according to Saudi news agency SPA.

The two leaders discussed efforts to reduce tensions in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the need for continued aid to Palestinians, according to Saudi state media. 

One Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack on northern Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said. 

The strike targeted soldiers from the 7338th “Adirim” Artillery Regiment’s 508th Battalion from Tel Aviv. 

Israel has arrested seven Jerusalem residents over allegations they were planning to assassinate Israeli officials and carry out other attacks on behalf of Iran, Israel's Shin Bet and police said on Tuesday.

According to the Israeli police, the suspects are residents of the mainly Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem. They said they planned to target a senior Israeli scientist and mayor of an Israeli city, neither of whom were named. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Tuesday asked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to join an arms boycott initiative against Israel at the United Nations initiated by Turkey, according to a statement from Erdogan's office.

Erdogan said that Israel was expanding its war in the Middle East. Erdogan said Italy's support for the arms boycott would strengthen its initiative at the UN. 

Italy is one of the top providers of peacekeepers to the UN force in Lebanon and Meloni has sharply criticised Israel's attacks on UN forces. 

In a segment on Israel's Channel 12, Amit Segal, the broadcaster's chief political analyst, was asked if the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza was possible. 

It followed a high-profile conference on the subject over the weekend which was attended by far-right government ministers. 

Segal suggested that the complete re-establishment of 25 settlements was unlikely. 

However, he said, "Is there an opportunity to change the borders of the Gaza Strip as a punishment for what happened on 7 October?"

"If Trump is elected, in my opinion, the answer will be positive."

Segal also discussed Israel's recent siege on northern Gaza. 

"We can keep denying that what's happening is an implementation of the Generals' Plan - emptying of the Strip, starving the terrorists, eliminating them, capturing them. That's in my opinion what's happening here," he said. 

Here's @AmitSegal, chief political spinner for PM Netanyahu on Israel's @N12News, admitting that IDF’s latest actions in northern Gaza align w/ plans for mass populaton transfer and adding, gleefully, that if #Trump wins, #Netanyahu might have backing to annex parts of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/CTrILvFgNq

— Yonatan Touval (@Yonatan_Touval) October 22, 2024

Israel's Shin Bet has confirmed that a drone fired from Lebanon on Saturday struck the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu in the seaside town of Caesarea.

Previously, it was reported that the drone was launched toward his home, but it has now been confirmed that it hit the structure. 

Netanyahu and his wife were not present at the time, and no casualties were reported. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Mohammad Afif, the head of Hezbollah's media office, said that the group took "full and sole responsibility for targeting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's house". 

Israel's parliament is expected to approve a bill which would deny the Palestinian Authority the right to petition Israeli courts. 

The ministerial committee on legislation is expected to approve the bill on Sunday, which was put forward by far-right lawmaker Simcha Rothman, chair of parliament's constitution committee.

It would mean the PA cannot submit petitions to Israel's High Court, or file lawsuits to Israeli courts. 

According to Israeli news outlet Ynet, the bill has the support of both right-wing and centrist factions. 

The amendment reads: "The purpose of the bill is to correct a distortion according to which elements hostile to the state of Israel, including those who work directly and in a declared way to harm its citizens through acts of terrorism, are considered to have the right to stand before the High Court when they come to petition against the policies of the Israeli government."

Rothman accused the PA of paying salaries to the families of "terrorists". 

The PA has long claimed that payments to the families of prisoners are a form of welfare to those who have lost their breadwinner, and denies the funds seek to encourage violence.

Israel's military forcibly entered a clearly marked UN peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon (Unifil), and are suspected of using white phosphorus close enough to wound 15 peacekeepers, according to a confidential report seen by the Financial Times.

The report was prepared by a country which contributes to Unifil. 

Israeli troops have damaged several UN facilities and wounded peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in recent weeks.

The report includes photographs documenting the extent of the damage inflicted by Israeli forces to bunkers, perimeter walls and observation towers at a number of UN bases.

On 13 October, two Israeli tanks broke through a Unifil base, before leaving after 45 minutes. 

An hour later, several rounds were fired around 100 metres from the base, which emitted “smoke of suspected white phosphorus”, the report said. It wounded 15 peacekeepers.