Gaza live: Palestinians appeal to 'save what can be saved' in north

The UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) is close to a possible breaking point for its operations in the Gaza Strip due to increasingly complicated conditions, said its head on Wednesday.

"I will not hide the fact that we might reach a point that we won't be able any more to operate," Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini told journalists at a news conference in Berlin.

"We are very near to a possible breaking point. When will it be? I don't know. But we are very near of that," he said.

Reporting by Reuters

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the deadly Israeli strikes on the southern city of Nabatieh on Wednesday, saying that they intentionally targeted a municipal meeting.

In a statement, Mikati said he "condemned the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh, which deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city's services and relief situation". The city's mayor was among those killed, according to local media. 

Reporting by AFP

The likelihood of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low, but any potential damage would be "quickly compensated", Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told Nournews on Wednesday.

"We have planned in a way that if they commit any stupidity, the damages would be minimal," Kamalvandi said, referring to a potential Israeli attack. 

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli forces have killed at least 65 Palestinians and wounded 140 in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the death toll since 7 October 2023 to 42,409, with more than 99,153 wounded and at least 10,000 still missing, likely buried under rubble.

Health officials report that over 60 percent of the victims are women and children.

Northern Gaza is being "wiped off the map" and world leaders need to act now to stop the "atrocities" committed by Israeli forces, 38 NGOs said in a joint statement on Tuesday. 

"The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity," said the groups, which included Oxfam, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), ActionAid, Islamic Relief, Christian Aid and other UK-based charities. 

"Under the guise of 'evacuation,' Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City," their statement read.  

"This is not an evacuation - this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents." 

Global leaders have a "legal and moral duty" to act now, the groups said, adding that Israel has failed to adhere to the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. 

"This is not a time for silence - this is a time for action. The people of Gaza cannot wait. The world must intervene now before more innocent lives are lost." 

Israeli fighter jets heavily bombed the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, launching at least 10 successive air strikes that killed at least five people and wounded several others. 

The city's mayor, Ahmad Kheil, and a number of the municipality's staff were killed in one of the air strikes that hit the building, according to Lebanese media reports.   

The Gaza-based government media office has issued an urgent appeal for safe passage into besieged northern Gaza to save its collapsing health system, which has been facing "catastrophic and unprecedented" conditions since Israel launched a new military assault on 5 October.  

Israeli forces are directly targeting hospitals in northern Gaza and have threatened to cause them to collapse, the media office said. 

It added that hospitals are struggling to operate under the Israeli siege, with neonatal intensive care units hit hardest by the harsh conditions.

Fuel, medical staff, medicine, vaccinations and baby formula are among the most critical needs for hospitals in northern Gaza, the office said.

"This is an urgent appeal to help save what can be saved in the North Gaza Governorate, which is being subjected to genocide. The governorate and its hospitals are experiencing a catastrophic situation in every sense of the word." 

European Union countries that contribute to UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) have no intention of pulling back from the south of the country despite Israeli calls to do so, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said.

Since an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon began on 1 October, Unifil positions have come under Israeli fire and two Israeli tanks burst through the gates of one of its bases. The Israeli attacks wounded five peacekeepers.

Sixteen EU countries, including Austria, contribute to Unifil and the recent incidents have sparked widespread alarm among European governments.

Schallenberg, summarising a discussion among EU foreign ministers on Monday, said European nations were not minded to pull troops back or out.

"There was no debate about pulling back or whatever," he told Reuters in an interview in Brussels.

"They are there to stay but the security and the safety of our troops is paramount and has to be ensured by everybody," said Schallenberg, whose country has about 160 soldiers in Unifil.

He added Israel had a right to defend itself against Hezbollah but even unintentional attacks on peacekeeping positions were a breach of international law.

"There's a clear demand on Israel to be very cautious on this," he said in the interview, which took place late on Tuesday afternoon.

Reporting by Reuters

Iran's top diplomat has warned UN chief Antonio Guterres that Tehran is ready to deliver a "decisive and regretful" response if Israel retaliates for its missile attack. 

On 1 October, Iran fired approximately 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of two of its key allies, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as an Iranian general.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed last week that Israel's response would be "deadly, precise and surprising".

"Iran, while making all-out efforts to protect the peace and security of the region, is fully prepared for a decisive and regretful response to any adventures [by Israel]," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during a phone call with Guterres, according to a statement from his office on Wednesday.

During the call on Tuesday evening, Araghchi also appealed to the UN to use its resources "to stop the crimes and aggressions of the Israeli regime and to send humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Gaza".

Reporting by AFP

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, commonly known as Dahiyeh, on Wednesday.

It claimed the target was "an underground storage" of Hezbollah weapons, though no evidence was provided to support this claim.

Hezbollah has repeatedly denied storing weapons in civilian areas, including Dahiyeh. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

It is now just after 7am in Palestine, Lebanon and Israel. Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon, now in its 376th day: 

• At least one Israeli strike hit the southern suburbs of Beirut at dawn on Wednesday after going days without attacking the Lebanese capital. 

• Round-the-clock Israeli bombing across Gaza and Lebanon did not stop overnight. At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli bombing on Qana village in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night, while five people were killed in a bombing on Naser neighbourhood in Gaza City just before dawn. 

• Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he was starting a regional tour including stops in Jordan, Egypt and Turkey as part of a diplomatic effort to "end genocide, atrocity and aggression". 

Hello Middle East Eye readers. On Tuesday, reports emerged that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to the Israeli government, warning that Israel must boost humanitarian aid to Gaza or risk a reassessment of Israeli military aid.

Israel said it was reviewing the letter. The letter, dated 13 October, comes months after the US administration released a report that avoided making any legal determinations as to whether Israel had violated international humanitarian law in its war on Gaza.

That report also cited no violations of Section 620l of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits US military support to governments that withhold humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, Israel's military continued attacking parts of Gaza, killing more than 40 people in its latest wave of bombings on the Strip.

In Lebanon, the Israeli bombing didn't stop, either. Israeli strikes hit a healthcare centre in Lebanon's Qana, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than a dozen others.

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

• An Israeli strike on the town of Riyaq in the Beqaa Valley has killed five people, including three children.

• An Israeli air strike on eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip killed Palestinian footballer Imad Abu Tima, 21, along with nine members of his family.

• The US imposed sanctions on the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, accusing the organisation of diverting funds to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is a US-designated terrorist group.

• An Israeli company has launched an underwear collection "inspired" by soldiers who were wounded during the country's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, sparking anger among social media users highlighting record numbers of child amputees in the enclave as a result of the war.

• A cross-party coalition of nearly 50 British MPs from seven political parties have backed a motion calling for the Labour government to impose sanctions on Israel.

• Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has said a "ceasefire" is the only solution to the ongoing fighting in the region.

Israel is reviewing a letter from the Biden administration that calls on Israel to improve Gaza's humanitarian situation or risk military aid.

"Israel takes this matter seriously and intends to address the concerns raised in this letter with our American counterparts," the Israeli official said, as reported by Reuters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to the Israeli government warning Israel to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza or risk a reassessment of US military support.

Blinken and Austin said that within the next 30 days, Israel must allow 350 aid trucks a day into Gaza.

The letter also called for winter preparations that included allowing those who were forcibly displaced to “move inland” and an end to forced displacement from northern to southern Gaza. It further urged Israel to remove the bureaucratic barriers that prevent certain drivers and goods from entering the strip. 

Despite the US expressing doubts about the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) and its mission in Gaza, the letter also advocated for the protection of the institution.

To read the full story, click below.

US warns Israel that failure to increase aid to Gaza could have 'implications'

The World Bank now estimates that damages from Israel's air strikes and bombings in Gaza range between $14bn and 20bn.

Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, said during a Reuters Next event in Washington that a significant widening of the conflict, such as the recent Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Iran's strike on Israel, would draw in other countries and could cause significant damage to global growth.

"First of all, I think this unbelievable loss of life - women, children, others, civilians - is just unconscionable on all sides," Banga said. "The economic impact of this war, on the other hand, depends a great deal on how much this spreads."