The Health Ministry in Ramallah identified the victim as 34-year-old Nour al-Din Kamal Hassan Fayyad, saying he was “killed by occupation forces’ fire in the Jenin camp”. (The image is used for representational purpose only). File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a dinner with the leaders of the C5+1 Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on November 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Men walk through the rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike targeting the Ouzai neighborhood near Beirut International Airport in the city’s southern suburbs on November 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lebanon’s Transport Minister said on Thursday (November 7, 2024) the country’s only international airport was operating normally after Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, including one in an area near the hub. 

Minister Ali Hamie told AFP that planes were taking off and landing without any issue.

A heater factory next to the airport’s perimeter wall had been badly damaged in a strike, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border.

The strike near the airport came after Hezbollah announced on Wednesday (November 6, 2024) that it had targeted a military base close to Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international transport hub.

The overnight strike in Beirut caused “minor damage” to some buildings but “not inside the terminal building”, an airport official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

He said the strike had affected a maintenance building belonging to a subsidiary of Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier and practically the only airline still operating flights there.

Abu Elie, a taxi driver, was at the airport when the strikes hit. “The entire car park shook. People were carrying their luggage on their shoulders and running,” he said. “When I made it to the street, there was so much smoke I had to turn the headlights on.”

The Israeli army had earlier issued an evacuation order for four neighbourhoods in southern Beirut, including a site near the airport.

“Once they sent warnings, we got in the car and fled,” Beirut resident Malak Okail told AFP.

“It has become repetitive,” said Ramzi Zaitar, another resident. “We’ve had to flee our homes several times. Sometimes we sleep in the car,” he added. 

“Death has become a matter of luck. We can either die or survive,” he said.

Since September 23, 2024, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.

The Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution meeting chaired by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) hosted the first meeting of a new “international alliance” to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Unveiled last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the “International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution” brings together nations from the Middle East, Europe and beyond.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said nearly 90 “states and international organisations” were taking part in the two-day meeting in Riyadh.

“A genocide is happening with the goal of evicting the Palestinian people from their land, which Saudi Arabia rejects,” he said, describing the humanitarian situation as “catastrophic” and denouncing the “complete blockade” of northern Gaza.

“The Riyadh meeting was expected to focus on humanitarian access, the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and measures to advance a two-state solution,” diplomats said.

“The European Union was set to be represented by Sven Koopmans, the special representative for the Middle East peace process,” diplomats said.

The United States, Israel’s top military backer, sent Hady Amr, the State Department’s special representative for Palestinian affairs.

The Gaza war has revived talk of a “two-state solution” in which Israeli and Palestinian states would live in peace side by side, though analysts say the goal seems more unattainable than ever.

The hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains implacably opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Arab-Islamic summit

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, paused U.S.-brokered talks on recognising Israel after the Gaza war broke out last year between Palestinian militants Hamas and Israel.

In September, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said an “independent Palestinian state” was a condition for normalisation.

Prince Faisal reiterated that position on Wednesday (October 30, 2024).

The Saudi Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) also called for “a joint Arab-Islamic follow-up summit” to be held on November 11 focused on “the continued Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories and the Lebanese Republic, and current developments in the region”.

In November last year, Saudi Arabia hosted a joint meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that condemned Israeli forces’ “barbaric” actions in Gaza.

Ireland, Norway and Spain announced their recognition of a Palestinian state in May, prompting an angry response from Israel.

Slovenia soon joined them, bringing the number of countries that recognise a Palestinian state to 146 out of the 193 United Nation member states.

The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,163 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

The FBI confirmed the investigation for the first time on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) and said that it is “working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.”
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) that it is investigating the unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel’s preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday (October 23, 2024) that the Joe Biden administration is still not certain if the classified information was leaked or hacked but that officials don’t have any indication at this point of “additional documents like this finding their way into the public domain.”

At the Pentagon, Major General Pat Ryder said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with his counterpart, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, about the release of documents. But Mr. Ryder, who is press secretary, said he could provide no details or say when the conversation took place.

The Associated Press reported on Saturday (October 19, 2024) that U.S. officials were investigating the release. The FBI confirmed the investigation for the first time on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) and said in a statement that it is “working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.” It did not comment further.

The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel is still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on October 1, 2024. They were shareable within the “Five Eyes,” an intelligence alliance comprised of the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Marked top secret, the documents first appeared online Friday (October 18, 2024) on the Telegram messaging app and quickly spread among Telegram channels popular with Iranians.

Mr. Ryder said he could provide no details about the probe, including who in the department is working with the FBI, which is leading the investigation.

“The investigation is in its first few days, so it’s important to let that investigation run its course,” he said, adding that the department takes the safeguarding of sensitive information very seriously and will continue to do so.

File image is used for representational purpose.
| Photo Credit: AP

Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday (October 19, 2024) they targeted a ship, which they identified as Megalopolis, in the Arabian Sea with drones, without specifying a date.

Megalopolis, a Malta-flagged container ship, is currently en route to Oman’s Salalah port, according to LSEG data.

Yahya Saree, the military spokesperson of the Houthi militants, said in a televised statement that the vessel was targeted for violating the group’s ban on entering the ports of “occupied Palestine”.

Maritime agencies have not reported any incidents involving the named vessel.

Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November 2023 and say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.

In their previous attack on shipping, they struck a Liberia-flagged tanker with missiles and drones last week.

(Clockwise from top left): People, who fled their villages in southern Lebanon, take refuge at a school turned temporary shelter in the capital Beirut; Smoke billows over southern Lebanon as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel; Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a local municipality storage in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel; and Lebanese citizens who fled from the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Sept. 23, sit in a pickup in Beirut.
| Photo Credit: AFP, Reuters and AP

After Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, Israel responded with a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

The air and ground operation has killed more than 41,700 people, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Hamas attacks

At dawn on October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrate Israel.

The unprecedented attack results in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. This toll includes hostages who subsequently died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas took 251 hostages back to Gaza, some as corpses. A year later, some 64 are still detained, while 117 have been freed and 70 confirmed dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to destroy Hamas, which is blacklisted as a “terrorist” organisation by the European Union and the United States.

Ground offensive

Israel begins bombing Gaza and further tightening its siege of the territory. On October 13, 2023, it tells civilians in northern Gaza to move south.

The United Nations later estimates that nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million is eventually displaced.

On October 27, 2023, Israel launches a ground offensive. On November 15, 2023, its troops raid Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, where Israel says Hamas has a command centre, an accusation the militants deny.

Truce and hostage swap

On November 24, 2023, a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas takes effect.

Hamas releases 80 Israeli hostages in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Twenty-five other hostages, mainly Thai farm workers, are also freed. Israel allows more aid into Gaza via Egypt, but the humanitarian situation there remains dire.

When fighting resumes, Israel expands its actions into southern Gaza.

Aid hitches

On February 29, Gaza’s Health Ministry says 120 northern Gaza residents were shot dead by Israeli forces as they rushed towards a convoy of food aid. Israel says soldiers believed they “posed a threat”.

From early March, several countries airdrop aid into Gaza. A first aid ship from Cyprus arrives on March 15. On April 1, seven aid workers from the U.S. charity World Central Kitchen are killed in an Israeli strike, which the military calls a “tragic mistake”.

Israel-Iran tensions

On April 13, 2024, Iran pounds Israel with drones and missiles in retaliation for a deadly strike on its consulate in Damascus blamed on its arch-enemy. Most of the projectiles are intercepted.

Operations in the south

On May 7, 2024, the Israeli army launches a ground offensive in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where a majority of the territory’s people have sought shelter.

It takes control of the border crossing with Egypt, blocking a key entry point for aid, and targets safe areas, including tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people.

“On July 13, 2024, a strike in southern Gaza kills the chief of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif,” Israel says.

Regional flare-up feared

On July 20, 2024, Israel attacks Yemen in retaliation for a deadly drone strike on Tel Aviv by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have repeatedly attacked Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping in solidarity with Gaza.

On the Israel-Lebanon border, almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah intensify. On July 27, 2024, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 12 children are killed in a rocket strike. Hezbollah denies responsibility.

Hezbollah’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, is killed in a Beirut suburb on July 30 in a retaliatory strike.

The next day, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is killed in a strike in Iran, blamed on Israel. Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza, to replace him.

Truce talks

Washington on August 16, 2024 presents a new truce deal, which Hamas immediately rejects. Negotiations mediated by Egypt, then Qatar, resume on August 22, 2024.

On August 25, Israel says it has thwarted a large-scale Hezbollah attack with air strikes into Lebanon. Hamas says it successfully launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.

West Bank raid

On August 28, 2024, Israel launches a major operation against Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations calls for an immediate end to the raid.

After the military recovers the bodies of six hostages from Gaza on August 31, pressure mounts on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining captives, but Mr. Netanyahu does not budge over a truce.

Lebanon attacks

On September 17 and 18, 2024, thousands of Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies explode across Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding almost 3,000.

Israel had announced it was expanding its Gaza war aims to include securing the northern front with Lebanon, but does not claim responsibility.

Amid a mounting series of bombardments against Hezbollah, on September 27, 2024, an Israeli strike on its south Beirut stronghold kills the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah alongside an Iranian general in the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows that Mr. Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain”.

On October 1, 2024, Iran launches a barrage of missiles at Israel in what the Revolutionary Guards say is a response to the killings of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.

The attack comes the day Israel announced limited ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. More than 1,900 people have also been killed in Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began clashing last October, according to Lebanon’s health minister.

Representational file image. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military said a missile fired from Yemen crossed into central Israel on Sunday (September 15, 2024) and “fell in an open area”.

The army said in a statement that “a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the East and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported.”

“The missile was fired from Yemen,” it added in a subsequent statement sent just before 7:00 a.m. (04:00 GMT).

“The explosive sounds heard in the last few minutes are from the interceptors. The result of the interception is under review.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been launching attacks against Israel and its interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The rebels belong to Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, which includes Tehran-backed militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched a flurry of missile and drone strikes on Israel-linked shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

And in July 2024, they carried out a drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed an Israeli civilian.

Israeli warplanes bombed the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida in response, with a rebel official vowing at the time to “meet escalation with escalation”.

Israel calls for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ resignation after his remarks angered Israel, accusing him of “tolerating and justifying” terrorism

October 25, 2023 06:55 am | Updated 06:55 am IST

Rapidly expanding Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip has killed more than 700 people in the past day as medical facilities across the territory were forced to close because of bombing damage and a lack of power, health officials said on Tuesday.

The soaring death toll from Israel’s escalating bombardment was unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It could signal an even greater loss of life in Gaza once Israeli ground forces backed by tanks and artillery launch an expected offensive into the territory aimed at crushing Hamas.

On Tuesday, Israel said it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they were preparing to launch rockets into Israel and striking command centres and a Hamas tunnel shaft.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen, who participated in a Security Council ministerial meeting on the Israel-Gaza situation in United Nations, cancelled his meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called for his resignation after his remarks angered Israel, accusing him of “tolerating and justifying” terrorism.

ALSO READ | Israel-Hamas war, Day 18 updates

Addressing the council, Mr. Guterres said the situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour and the war in Gaza is raging and risks spiralling throughout the region. The U.N. chief said it is “important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.

Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been under increasing bombardment and running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the devastating October 7 attack by Hamas militants on towns in southern Israel.

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said the attacks killed at least 704 people over the past day, including 305 children and 173 women. More than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including some 2,300 minors, the ministry said, without giving a detailed breakdown.

(With inputs from agencies)

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