Live: At least 22 Palestinians killed in strike on Gaza shelter, Hezbollah hits military base inside Israel

Israeli forces killed at least 36 people in strikes across Lebanon and wounded 150 on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said on Wednesday.

This brings the death toll since 8 October 2023 to 2,119, with more than 10,019 wounded. 

There is no end to hell in northern Gaza where at least 400,000 Palestinians are trapped, Unrwa chief said, amid a fresh Israeli ground and aerial assault in the area. 

"Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp," said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. 

The new intense Israeli assault, which started on Saturday, has forced Unrwa shelters and services to shut, some for the first time since the war started over a year ago, Lazzarini added on X.

However, many people refusing to leave their homes, knowing there is no safe place in Gaza to flee to.

"With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading & deepening again," Lazzarini warned. 

Northern #Gaza: no end to hell.
At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.

Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp.

Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 9, 2024

US President Joe Biden is expected to hold a phone call on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that will include discussion of any plans to strike Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

Israel's anticipated attack on Iran will be a key subject of the call, with Washington hoping to weigh in on whether Israel's response is appropriate, a separate person briefed on the discussions said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden and Netanyahu are also expected to discuss the Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The two leaders have had sharp differences over the conduct of the war in recent months, setting up a potentially tense encounter.

Reporting by Reuters

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 369th day:

• Israeli forces are attacking the Kamal Awdan hospital in Beit Lahia, alongside other medical facilities in the northern Gaza Strip. Heavy artillery shelling was reported Wednesday morning in its vicinity. 

• Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Awdan hospital, said Israeli forces told him Tuesday night that he and everyone in the hospital must leave within 24 hours or face the same fate as the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Israel forces destroyed the al-Shifa hospital in April. 

• Abu Safiya said the renewed attack on hospitals in northern Gaza is part of Israel's latest attempt to force the population to go from north Gaza to south, and empty the area of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living there. 

• The attacks come following a new ground offensive launched by the Israeli military in northern Gaza on Saturday. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said the latest campaign was Israel's latest attempt to "forcibly transfer" the population south. 

• Meanwhile, local reports said Israeli forces are laying siege to the Jabalia refugee camp and attacking it fiercely. This is the third Israeli ground assault on the camp since the start of the war. 

• At least 17 Palestinians have been killed this morning so far in shelling in central and northern Gaza, according to local media. 

• Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israeli fighter jets carried out air strikes in Beirut's Dahiyeh, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Baalbek overnight, according to local media.  

• In the south, Hezbollah released several statements claiming attacks on Israeli troops attempting to advance into border villages. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that three soldiers were seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon. 

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Gaza's health ministry said that 56 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 41,965 killed since 7 October, 2023

• Additionally, 97,590 people have been wounded since the start of the war

• In September, at least 1,473 people died in Lebanon due to intensified Israeli attacks, according to updated figures from the Lebanese health ministry

• By 8 October 2024, the death toll had risen to 2,083, including 127 children and 261 women, while 9,869 people had been wounded. These casualties are the result of a year of cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah

• The Israeli army fired at least two air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on midday on Tuesday, which nearly hit a bridge that leads to Beirut's airport

• The management of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza reports that Israeli forces have issued a forced removal order of patients and the wounded, demanding everyone be cleared out within 24 hours.

• Matthew Hollingworth, Lebanon country director for the UN World Food Programme, warned on Tuesday that Lebanon could face the same devastation as Gaza if the conflict is not stopped

• A World Health Organisation official warned on Tuesday of disease outbreaks in Lebanon due to crowded conditions in displacement shelters and hospital closures as medics have fled Israel's assault

• CNN reported that US President Joe Biden expressed growing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as revealed in a new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward

• The Washington Post also revealed more details about the growing rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing quotes from Woodward's latest book

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the ongoing situation in Gaza as a "nightmare" during a recent address to the United Nations, with the war on the besieged enclave entering its second year

US citizens who have been impacted by the ongoing intense hurricane season have expressed their frustrations this week with the lack of attention storm victims have received, comparing it with the increase in US government spending on Israel’s expanding wars in the Middle East. 

Over 230 died in several states during Hurricane Helene when it struck the south coast of the country in late September. Now, many are anticipating what is said to be one of the worst potential hurricanes ever recorded to hit Florida, Hurricane Milton, and many are scrambling to flee before its expected landfall late Wednesday or Thursday. 

“This is literally catastrophic,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “I can say this without any dramatisation whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die.” 

As Americans brace for the unknown, many have expressed their anger with the Biden administration's continued focus on supporting Israel's operations abroad. 

Read more: Americans online furious with billions sent to Israel while bracing hurricanes at home

The Hezbollah group has warned it will step up its strikes on Israel, including targeting the northern port city of Haifa, if Israeli strikes on Lebanon persist.

"The Israeli enemy's intensifying strikes" mean that "Haifa and other locations will be targeted by our rockets just as much as Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and other areas," Hezbollah threatened.

Earlier today, the group launched over 100 rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel, including Haifa, in what marks the largest strike on the region since Israel's invasion began.

Iran has sent its oil tankers back to a key Persian Gulf oil export hub after evacuating them last week, in a sign that Tehran may believe it skirted an Israeli strike on one of its most important energy facilities.

Two VLCC supertankers belonging to The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) are now loading oil at Kharg island, home to a massive terminal from which 90 percent of the  Islamic Republic’s oil is exported, according to data shared with Middle East Eye by TankerTrackers.com. An Aframax tanker not owned by NITC is also loading there.

That means Iran is exporting 4.7 to 4.9 million barrels of oil on bulky, easily targeted tankers, even as it girds for what Israel says will be a "significant retaliation" to last week’s massive ballistic missile attack.

US President Joe Biden jolted oil markets last week when he said the US and Israel were discussing strikes on oil facilities. He later walked back the comments, saying, “If I were in their shoes, I would be thinking about other alternatives than striking Iranian oil fields”.

The NITC’s decision to send vessels back to Kharg Island means Iran now appears to be in a “risk-off mode”, Samir Madani, chief executive of TankerTrackers.com, told MEE.

Read more: Iran sent tankers back to key oil facility, in sign it believes an Israeli attack was averted

Amid escalating Israeli strikes, at least 36 people were killed and 150 wounded across Lebanon on Monday, reported the Lebanese health ministry.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been growing increasingly concerned by the activities of the Israeli army in areas adjacent to their operations.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) was established in 1978 and since the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, it is the only military force apart from the Lebanese army that should be deployed between the Israeli border and the Litani River, 30 kilometres north of the border, under UN Resolution 1701.

Following Israel's invasion of Lebanon last week, however, the Israeli army has begun to increase its presence throughout the south, ostensibly to target Hezbollah operations in the region.

Israel ordered Unifil to evacuate its bases in the areas it was operating - however, it refused.

Now, Israel has reportedly established a forward operating base within very close proximity to UN Post 6-52, which is staffed by Irish peacekeepers, raising alarm from the organisation about the possible threat to their activities.

Read more: UN peacekeepers in Lebanon wary after Israeli forces set up base next door

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from travelling to the US for a scheduled meeting with his counterpart, Lloyd Austin.

A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed the cancellation, adding that the US Defence Department looks forward to hosting Gallant at a later date.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu made the decision on Tuesday, opting to speak with President Biden before Gallant’s visit to Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a clear threat to Lebanon on Tuesday evening, saying it could face destruction "like Gaza", as Israel escalates its ground invasion against Hezbollah along the southern Lebanese coast.

Netanyahu's warning coincided with the deployment of more Israeli troops and calls for civilians in coastal areas to leave.

In a video address aimed at the Lebanese people, Netanyahu stated, "You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza."

The Washington Post has revealed more details about the growing rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing quotes from veteran journalist Bob Woodward's latest book.

According to the report, Biden said, eighteen "out of 19 people who work for Netanyahu are liars". Woodward also notes that tensions exist between other senior US officials and Netanyahu, highlighting that “it was obvious Blinken had no influence” over Israel's actions in Gaza.

The book further illustrates Israeli officials’ growing frustration with Vice President Kamala Harris, especially since she secured the Democratic presidential nomination.

Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Herzog is quoted as saying, "Until now, I didn't feel that Vice President Harris had any impact on our issues. She was in the room, but she never had an impact."

Netanyahu was reportedly "infuriated" by the difference between Harris' cordial behaviour behind the scenes and her public criticism of Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties after their July meeting.

The management of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza reports that Israeli forces have issued a forced removal order of patients and the wounded, demanding everyone be cleared out within 24 hours.

Hospital officials stated that the Israeli army arrested a paramedic and obstructed efforts to remove premature infants.

“The occupation seeks to put the health system out of service to displace the residents of northern Gaza,” the hospital's management said.

Dr Hossam Abu Safia, the hospital's director, confirmed the threat: “The military reached out to me directly with a clear threat, stating that by tomorrow all patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital must be evacuated, and the hospital, including its medical staff, must be cleared out. Otherwise, we will be putting ourselves in danger. This is an explicit threat."

An Israeli air strike on a residential building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus has killed at least seven people, including women and children, according to Syrian state TV.

The attack also left 11 others wounded.

The strike caused significant destruction in the area, which was reportedly busy at the time.

Earlier, Syria's official news agency, Sana, confirmed the strike in a neighbourhood that houses security headquarters and embassies.