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

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

It is now just after 8.00 am in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon. Here's a recap of how events played out in case you missed it:

• The Israeli military has continued air raids across Lebanon, with at least 37 people killed and 151 wounded in the last 24 hours
• Hezbollah claims it killed 17 Israeli soldiers in border clashes after detonating a bomb against troops entering the Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras
• An Iranian source told Al Jazeera that Iran sent a message to the US via Qatar, stating it does not seek a regional war but "the phase of unilateral self-restraint has ended"
• US President Joe Biden has advised Israel to avoid targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure, including oil facilities, according to a US official speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic
• Israel has intensified its attacks on Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians in the past 48 hours
• Israeli fighter jets bombed the Tulkarem refugee camp, killing at least 18 people in the deadliest West Bank strike in over 20 years

Hello Middle East Eye readers.

Israel pummeled Beirut with airstrikes early Friday night with residents reporting to Middle East Eye massive explosions, including one strike that fell just outside the perimeter of Beirut’s airport.

According to one report, the target of one strike was Hashem Safieddine,  the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, and  presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah.

Meanwhile, Israel escalated its military campaign in the occupied West Bank with a missile strike on a popular cafe in Tulkarm that killed at least 18 people .

Other developments: 

• Israel's ambassador to the UN said that Israel has "a lot of options" in how it retaliates against Iran
• The level of internal displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon has been “catastrophic,” UN says
• Three Unrwa-operated schools now housing displaced people in Gaza have been bombed
• US President Joe Biden said the US and Israel are considering an attack on Iran's oil facilities
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq took responsibility for firing a drone at southern Israel
• Gulf Arab officials told their Iranian counterparts that they are neutral in the conflict between Iran and Israel

Hashem Safieddine,  the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, and  presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah was the target of a massive strike in Beirut, according to Axios reporter Barak Ravid.

Video footage on social media showed a huge mushroom cloud exploding in the sky and repeated secondary explosions. 

At least 37 people were killed and 151 wounded by Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the last 24 hours, Lebanon's health ministry said on Thursday. 

At least one Israeli strike has hit just outside the perimeter of Beirut’s international airport, according to local media reports and Reuters news agency.

The strike was one of several that pummelled southern Beirut, with one resident reporting at least 10 huge explosions to Middle East Eye. 

Air strikes are being reported in Beirut's southern suburbs after Israel issued a forced displacement order. 

At least 16 people have been killed by an Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israel confirmed carrying out the strike.

At least 14 people have been killed by an Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israel confirmed carrying out the strike.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, at least one strike hit a crowded cafe.

Israel's ambassador to the UN said that Israel has "a lot of options" in how it retaliates against Iran, adding that it does not want an all-out war with the country. 

“We have a lot of options … so it’s [up to] us to decide where and when we want to attack, but they are vulnerable. They know that,” Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told CNN.

“We would have to make it a calculated response because we don’t want to see full war with Iran. And believe me, they also don’t want to see it,” he added.

“They better look at what happened in Beirut and in Gaza before they start a war with us". 

The level of internal displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon has been “catastrophic”, Imran Riza, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator, said. 

“The level of trauma, the level of fear amongst the population, has been extreme,” Riza said.

“You’ve got people being displaced from one place to another, thinking they were going to a safe place, and then that being struck,” he added.

Three Unrwa-operated schools now housing displaced people in Gaza have been bombed by Israel in the last three days, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said. 

The schools were home for more than 20,000 displaced people, Lazzarini said, adding that some schools were hit more than once. 

“More than 140 UNRWA schools have come under attack since 7 October, the majority while people were taking refuge in them under the UN flag,” he said.

"Schools used to be a safe haven for learning. They have now turned into hell for far too many," he said. 

US President Joe Biden said the US and Israel are considering an attack on Iran's oil facilities. 

Iran's main terminal for exporting its oil sits on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

An attack on Iran's Kharg island facility could add more than $12 a barrel to oil prices, which would translate to about 30 cents more per gallon of gasoline in the US, according to an analysis by Clearview Energy Partners, cited by The Wall Street Journal. 

The average price per gallon of gasoline in the US is $3.18, according to US government data. 

Israel’s military said that another soldier died in combat in southern Lebanon, bringing its total losses from fighting there to nine.

Columbia, France and Greece have begun evacuating their citizens from Lebanon as fighting between Hezbollah and Israel rages. 

Colombia’s defence ministry said it evacuated 117 Colombian citizens. 

Sixty Greek nationals are expected to leave. 

France, Lebanon's former colonial power, has the largest number of nationals in Lebanon by far, with around 23,000 French and Franco-Lebanese residents.

US President Joe Biden said that Israel will not attack Iran on Thursday, in remarks to reporters. 

Biden said the US is consulting with Israel over its retalition.

Biden sent oil markets surging earlier, when he confirmed that the US and Israel have discussed bombing Iran's oil facilities.