Live: Five Palestinian journalists killed, Gaza media office says

Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Brics summit on Thursday that the Middle East was on the verge of full-scale war.

"The military action that started a year ago in Gaza has now spread to Lebanon. Other countries in the region are also affected," Putin told a meeting in Kazan attended by several world leaders.

"The level of confrontation between Israel and Iran has sharply risen. This is all reminiscent of a chain reaction and puts the whole Middle East on the verge of full-scale war," Putin said.

Violence in the Middle East will not end until the creation of an independent Palestinian state, Putin said at the summit, attended by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"The key demand for restoring peace and stability on Palestinian territories is carrying out the two-state formula approved by the UN Security Council and General Assembly," the Russian president said.

He added that this would be "correcting the historical injustice towards the Palestinian people".

"Until this question is resolved, it will not be possible to break the vicious circle of violence."

Reporting by AFP

An aid conference for Lebanon opens in Paris on Thursday in the hope of raising half a billion euros ($540bn), with hosts France also targeting diplomatic progress for the country.

But in the absence of key players, any political breakthrough appears remote in the Israeli war on Lebanon, during which Israel has killed over 2,500 people and displaced 800,000 people.

Around 70 countries and 15 international organisations are expected, although the list of invitees did not include either Iran or Israel.

French President Emmanuel Macron will open the conference following a one-on-one meeting Wednesday with Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati, while Germany and Canada have sent their foreign ministers Annalena Baerbock and Melanie Joly.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will speak remotely.

The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement the gathering was "an important occasion to mobilise the urgent political and economic support to the Lebanese people and country's sovereignty".

Reporting by AFP 

Palestinian movement Hamas wants Russia to push Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to begin negotiations on a national unity government for post-war Gaza, a senior Hamas official told the RIA state news agency after talks in Moscow.

Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas politburo member, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow.

"We discussed issues related to Palestinian national unity and the creation of a government that should govern the Gaza Strip after the war," Marzouk was quoted as saying by RIA.

Marzouk said that Hamas had asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the Brics summit in Kazan, to start negotiations about a unity government, RIA reported.

Abbas is head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the governing body of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Reporting by Reuters 

Israeli forces have been heavily shelling and firing at areas across the central Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, according to media reports. 

Artillery shelling and gunfire were documented in the Nuseirat, al-Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps.

At least one Palestinian has been killed and others wounded. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

It is now just after 8am in Palestine, Lebanon and Israel. Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, now in its 384th day:

• Israeli forces bombed the sole fire truck in north Gaza as they continue to set homes and schools on fire in their ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing, the Palestinian civil defence said late on Wednesday. Israeli forces also wounded three members of the civil defence and arrested five others.

• Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed three Lebanese soldiers, the army said early on Thursday. This comes after the "most violent" night of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began, according to state media. 

• Israeli bombing was also reported in Syria's Damascus and Homs on Thursday morning, killing at least one Syrian soldier, according to the military. 

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to land in Doha on Thursday after stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia. This is his 11th regional tour since the war began last year. 

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

Israel launched 17 strikes on southern Beirut on Wednesday with reports that it was launching fresh strikes on southern Lebanon as well. 

Lebanon’s state media said the attacks on Beirut were the most violent since the war began. Six buildings were totally destroyed, including one housing an office of Al-Mayadeen news. At least one person was killed and several injured. 

Meanwhile, in Gaza at least 42 people were killed by Israeli strikes. The humanitarian situation in northern Gaza continued to deteriorate with the Palestinian Civil Defence saying it can no longer provide services in the area as a result of Israel's devastating siege. 

Here's what else you need to know about today's developments:

• Hezbollah on Wednesday said it struck a military manufacturing firm in the Tel Aviv suburbs 
• Saudi Arabia and Iran held joint military drills 
• Al Jazeera rejected Israeli accusations its reporters were Hamas members 
• A UN expert said Israel's strikes on financial institutions linked to Hezbollah are illegal under international law
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant Washington was deeply concerned about Israeli strikes against the Lebanese armed forces

One member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa) was killed along with his brother by an Israeli strike  in central Gaza on Wednesday, CNN has reported. 

Mohammad Abu Etewi and his brother Bilal were driving in a marked aid truck to collect food for displaced people when they were killed by an Israeli attack in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, family members told CNN. 

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Wednesday that Washington was deeply concerned about Israeli strikes against the Lebanese armed forces, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Austin also urged Gallant to make sure Israel takes steps to ensure the safety and security of the Lebanese armed forces and UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.  

At least 17 Israeli air strikes were reported on Beirut's southern suburbs, with six buildings levelled, Lebanese state media said. 

Footage showed a massive explosion followed by smaller blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs. 

Six buildings were destroyed around the suburb of Laylaki, Lebanese state media said, calling the raids "the most violent in the area since the beginning of the war".

Lebanon state media on Wednesday said Israeli strikes around the Beirut suburb of Laylaki destroyed six buildings. 

"The Israeli raids on an area surrounding al-Laylaki destroyed six buildings," Lebanon's official National News Agency said, adding that they were "the most violent in the area since the beginning of the war".

The Palestinian civil defence said it can no longer provide services in northern Gaza as a result of Israel's devastating siege of the area. 

"The civil defense in northern Gaza has confirmed that the entire North Governorate is no longer able to provide humanitarian services. All hospitals, including Indonesian, Al-Awda, and Kamal Adwan, are completely besieged," the Civil Defence said in a statement shared on X. 

At least on eperson was killed and five injured by an Israeli strike on the Jnah neighbourhood of, Beirut, near the Iranian embassy, according to Lebanon's health ministry. 

The strike was one of at least 10 that came after the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued a forced displacement order for Beirut on the social media platform, X.

The Jnah neighbourhood, however, was not included in the list. 

More details are emerging about an Israeli strike that hit an Al-Mayadeen news office in Beirut.

The office was located in an apartment in a residential building in Jnah, Beirut, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said. 

The office hit by two rockets was "completely destroyed" in the attack which sparked a blaze inside, NNA added.

Al-Mayadeen's office is located near the former premises of the Iranian embassy in Beirut and close to a Lebanese army checkpoint. 

Hezbollah on Wednesday said it struck a military manufacturing firm in the Tel Aviv suburbs with rockets, claiming the hit was accurate.

Hezbollah said it hit a "military industries company in the suburbs of Tel Aviv with qualitative rockets and hit the target accurately".

The announcement comes as Lebanese media reports at least 10 Israeli air strikes on southern Beirut. 

Lebanese media is reporting 1o Israeli strikes on southern Beirut. 

At least four strikes destroyed a residential complex near Beirut's southern suburb of Laylaki, Lebanese state media said on Wednesday.