Live: 15 killed in Israeli bombing of camp in central Gaza

A large blast has been reported in Beirut, shortly after Israel issued a forced evacuation notice, Reuters is reporting. 

One Beirut resident told Middle East Eye that they witnessed a mushroom cloud rising above Beirut’s southern suburbs. 

Some US defence officials have questioned whether the US's strong force posture in the region in support of Israel is giving it confidence to push the limits in its war with Hezbollah and increasingly, Iran. 

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  raised the issue in meetings at the Pentagon and at the White House, the New York Times said.

Brown, aslo questioned the effect of the expanded American presence in the region on overall combat “readiness,” and the ability to respond to China and Russia, according to the report. 

Israel's military has issued a new forced displacement order in southern Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood.

Hamas's leader Yahya Sinwar believes Israel is closer to becoming embroiled in a full-scale regional war which will help the group, US officials believe, according to the New York Times. 

US officials believe Sinwar now sees no benefit to reaching a ceasefire. There has been no serious effort at mediating a deal for weeks. 

However, US officials believe Israel has degraded Hamas's military capabilities, a point underscored by the fact that it has not launched a major counterattack on Israel or opened an offensive front since Israel invaded Lebanon, the NYT report says.  

In the days following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and Israel's subsequent launching of the war on Gaza, several senior US officials warned the Biden administration about possible Israeli war crimes, according to a report by Reuters revealing multiple exchanges between top Biden officials.

Dana Stroul, the then deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East, wrote an email on 13 October to senior Biden aides saying that Israel's call for the forced displacement of Palestinians in northern Gaza could violate international law.

The email from Stroul came out of a conversation she had with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which she said left her "chilled to the bone". 

Biden's top Middle East official, Brett McGurk, responded to the email saying the US "might be able to" convince Israel to extend its deadline for Palestinians to be displaced, but the ICRC and other aid agencies should prepare for it.

In another message in this email chain, Paula Tufro, a senior White House official in charge of humanitarian response, wrote that there is "simply no way to have this scale of a displacement without creating a humanitarian catastrophe".

READ MORE: Internal emails show officials warned Biden administration over possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza

The UK says it has chartered a flight to evacuate citizens who wish to leave Beirut on Sunday.

“Any remaining British nationals who want to leave Lebanon are urged to register their presence immediately to receive details on how to request a seat,” the UK government said in a statement.

Roughly 250 British nationals have already been evacuated, the statement added. 

Three more air strikes have been carried out by US and British warplanes,  Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated news channel, reported. 

The strikes have hit al-Jabana area in Hodeidah port. 

The US earlier claimed it struck 15 Houthi-linked targets in Yemen. The UK denied participating in strikes. 

The US State Department said it was “aware and alarmed” about reports of the death in Lebanon of Kamel Jawad, an American citizen.

Jawad's family in  Dearborn, Michigan, said in a statement this week that he was killed by an Israeli air strike. 

The State Department said it was “working to understand the circumstances of the incident.”

“It is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Any loss of civilian life is a tragedy.”

Germany said that Israel's strike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, which killed at least 18 people, was “shocking”.

“The high number of civilian casualties in an Israeli air strike in Tulkarem is shocking. In the fight against terror, the Israeli army is obliged to protect civilians in the West Bank,” the German Foreign Ministry said on X.

Hamas’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, has confirmed one of its commanders and seven other fighters were killed in an Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm on Thursday. 

The group said commander Zahi Yaser Oufi was killed along with seven other members. 

Israel's military said earlier it killed Oufi in a strike that killed at least 18 people, according to Palestinian health officials. 

Medical staff and nurses were injured by Israeli strikes on the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital in southern Lebanon, the country's state-run news agency said. 

According to the report, The Lebanese Red Cross is working to evacuate the wounded where hospital operations have already been suspended. 

According to media reports, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is trying to assist in the evacuation of injured hospital staff. 

At least 2,023 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the country's health ministry said. 

The dead toll includes 127 children and 261 women, along with 9,526 wounded, the ministry added. 

The US military said it carried out 15 strikes against targets linked to the Houthis in Yemen.

Yemeni media earlier reported large explosions in Hodeidah port and the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa. 

US Central Command said the targets were linked to Houthi offensive military capabilities, but did not provide further details. The US has previously attacked Houthi missile, drone and radar sites. 

US President Joe Biden told reporters that he still plans to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but is waiting for a plan on how Israel will attack Iran to be finalised first. 

"I'm assuming when they make their judgement about how they're going to respond, we will then have a discussion," he said. 

Biden said US officials are in regular contact with Israeli officials. 

He made a surprise appearance at the briefing room where he walked back comments yesterday in which he revealed Israel and the US had discussed striking Iranian oil facilities. 

Israel's military requested Ireland remove Irish peacekeepers from an outpost on the border with Lebanon, according to The Irish Times. 

The report said Israel requested an Irish platoon at a border outpost be removed. The request was made to Ireland and the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil). 

Ireland and the UN said the troops will remain in place.