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French citizen living near Lebanon’s coastal city Tyre is killed in building collapse after powerful explosion

The French embassy in Lebanon said in a statement that an 87-year-old French citizen living near the coastal city of Tyre was killed on Monday after the building in which he was living collapsed following a “powerful explosion” nearby.

More than 600 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past three days, the highest death toll since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The statement said no other French citizens were known to have been killed.


Lebanese official says aim of talks is to reach a deal that begins with a 4-week cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah

A Lebanese official said that there are serious efforts, led by the United States, to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The official, who has knowledge of the negotiations and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the press on the matter, said the aim of negotiations is to reach a temporary four-week cease-fire.

Talks are ongoing in New York where Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati is attending the UN General Assembly.

A new deal will be based on implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, he said.

Local media have reported that if reached, the deal will begin with a four-week cease-fire during which there will be talks for on further issues including land border demarcation, boosting Lebanese army presences along the border area.

French President urges both Israel and Hezbollah to cease launching missiles

France President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

President Emmanuel Macron told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that, “Hezbollah for too long has been running an untenable risk of dragging Lebanon into a war,” and that “Israel cannot, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon.”

“France demands that everyone respect their obligations along the Blue Line,” he said. “We will therefore act to ensure a diplomatic voice can be heard.”

“There cannot be a war in Lebanon. This is why we urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon, and to Hezbollah to cease missile launches to Israel,” he added. “We urge all of those who provide them with the means to do so, to stop doing so.”

Umbrella group for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias claims the attack on the port of Israel’s southern city Eilat

A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, claimed the attack on the port of Israel’s southern city of Eilat. The group has frequently claimed launching strikes on Israel.

Israel’s rescue services said two people suffered light injuries. The attack caused minimal damage.


Drone ‘approaching from the east’ hits port of Israel’s southern city of Eilat, Israeli military say

A drone hit the port of the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, and a second one was intercepted by the Israeli Navy, the Israeli military said.

Israel’s rescue services said two people suffered light injuries.

Footage aired on Israeli media showed a plume of smoke in the area of the port and at least one damaged building.

The army said the drones were identified “approaching from the East.”


U.S. is floating a proposal for a temporary Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, officials say

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a high-level meeting on sea level rise during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The Biden administration has been floating a proposal for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to calm the escalating conflict that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other U.S. officials have spent the past three days at and on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders in New York lobbying other countries to support the plan, which they hope could lead to longer-term stability along the border, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.

However, they said the specifics of the proposal were not yet complete.

One official said Israel is supportive of U.S. efforts to deescalate the situation.

ON THE SCENE: Lebanese who were injured in bombings describe the attacks

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike north of Beirut, in the village of Ras Osta, Byblos district, seen from Maaysrah, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

At Dar Al Amal hospital in the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, Soumaya Moussawi was lying in bed with her head bandaged and face bruised Wednesday.

She had been sitting outside with family members when warplanes started striking in the distance, she said.

“Then suddenly it hit next to us – we were all thrown in different directions,” she said. “My two cousins and my father were killed, and my other cousin is in a dangerous condition.”

Moussawi insisted that there was no military site near them. She said she is trying to “remain strong” in her father’s memory.

Ali Moussawi, a farmer from the town of Nabi Chit who is not related to Soumaya, said “it was a normal day and we were working on our land” when a strike hit a house next to it. A missile fragment hit him in the stomach.

“Thank God it wasn’t too bad this time,” he said. “All the guys who were killed, we’re no better than them.”

Blinken and GCC foreign ministers urge diplomatic process in Lebanon to avoid full-blown war

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting with GCC foreign ministers at the United Nations General Assembly said that “With regard to Lebanon, we’ve been working tirelessly with partners to avoid a full-blown war and to move to a diplomatic process that would allow Israelis and Lebanese alike to go back to their homes.”

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the same meeting said: “I believe it’s getting more and more dangerous and worrying, and we believe that all of us, we have a responsibility to stop this, and just to stand up and to step up and to say enough is enough, and we need to find a solution.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani reacts as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council Member States in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Caitlin Ochs/Pool Photo via AP)

GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi at the same meeting said that the council is calling on the international community to take urgent measures to halt provocative actions by Israel in Lebanon territory, and to work towards lasting stability in the region.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council reaffirms its steadfast position in supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and stability. The council also expresses deep concern regarding the recent Israeli violations in Lebanon territory, which poses serious threat of escalating the region,” he said.

Netanyahu says Israel will continue ‘inflicting blows on Hezbollah’ until displaced Israelis can return to their homes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference at the Government Press office in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool via AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue “inflicting blows on Hezbollah” until displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes.

In a video statement released by his office on Wednesday, Netanyahu said “I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing: we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes.”

He added, “we will not rest until they come home.”

Earlier on Wednesday the Israeli army’s Chief of Staff said the military was preparing for the possibility of a ground offensive in Lebanon, after days of extensive Israeli strikes on the country.


Biden says all-out war is still possible as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “all-out war” is still possible as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, but he’s hopeful an off-ramp can be found to prevent further bloodshed.

Biden spoke during an interview on ABC’s “The View.” His comments come after days of back and forth between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon that have killed hundreds and rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.

Blinken urges Israel and Hezbollah to step back from conflict

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a high-level meeting on sea level rise during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging both Israel and Hezbollah to step back from their intensifying conflict, saying that an all-out war would be disastrous for the region and its people.

In New York for the annual UN General Assembly, Blinken said Wednesday the U.S. was working on a plan to de-escalate tensions and allow tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to return to homes they have had to evacuate in border areas.

“The best way to get that is not through war, not through escalation,” he said in an interview with CBS news. “It would be through a diplomatic agreement that has forces pulled back from the border, create a secure environment, people return home.”

U.S. officials say they are floating a number of ideas to calm the situation but they have not been specific.

Some of those ideas may be discussed at a special UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon that France called for later Wednesday.

“What we’re focused on now, including with many partners here in New York at the UN General Assembly, the Arab world, Europeans and others, is a plan to de-escalate,” Blinken said. “If there were to be a full-scale war — which we don’t have and which we’re working to avoid — that’s actually not going to solve the problem.”

IDF says troops preparing for possible ground operation in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Force’s chief of staff says the military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon.

Addressing troops on Israel’s northern border, the IDF Chief of Staff, LT. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said: “You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day. This is both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”

He added: “Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves.”

Halevi said that to achieve the goal of returning displaced citizens of northern Israel to their homes, “we are preparing the process of a maneuver.”


Israeli strike on Lebanese village kills children of deceased Hezbollah fighter

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike north of Beirut, in the village of Ras Osta, Byblos district, seen from Maaysrah, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

An Israeli air raid on a Lebanese village near the coastal town of Byblos targeted the home of a deceased Hezbollah fighter, killing six members of his family, including his two children between five and six years old, local officials say.

The strike on Wednesday morning levelled the two-story building in Maisara, where people displaced from the south have sought shelter.

Zuheir Amro, a local official, said the owner of the house, Ali Amr, was a Hezbollah fighter killed on the frontline in south Lebanon 50 days earlier. The building attacked Wednesday was his family home.

Amro said there were no military targets or commanders in the house. He said two children and four women were killed, 10 were pulled out alive while 10 others remain missing under the rubble.

Two AP journalists at the scene described severe damage to the adjacent buildings.

Lebanon says 51 killed and 223 injured in Israeli strikes on Wednesday

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a hangar in the southern town of Jiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanon’s health minister says 51 people were killed and 223 injured in Israeli strikes Wednesday.

The death toll comes on top of 564 who were killed and more than 1,800 injured in the previous two days, including around 150 women and children.

This week has been the deadliest in Lebanon since the bruising monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. In the current conflict, Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah fighters and weapons storage, while Lebanese officials say it has targeted civilian sites.

Human Rights Watch calls for UN probe into strikes in Lebanon and Israel

Human Rights Watch says Israel’s ongoing aerial bombardment in Lebanon has put civilians “across the country at grave risk,” and called for a United Nations investigation into strikes in Lebanon and rocket fire by Hezbollah militants into northern Israel.

The global rights group documented over a thousand Israeli strikes across Lebanon since the Israeli military announced a new phase in its conflict with Hezbollah, which has launched over 200 rockets into northern Israeli towns.

The organization added that Israel’s warnings for thousands of civilians in Lebanon to evacuate from southern and eastern towns with only two hours’ notice did not give them adequate time to flee and could amount to violations of international law.


Israel says its air force has struck some 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon

The Israeli military says its air force has struck some 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon so far on Wednesday.

It said the targets included launchers used to fire rockets on the northern Israeli cities of Safed and Nahariya.

Also among the targets were Hezbollah militants, buildings used to store weapons, and ready-to-use launchers, as well as some 60 targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence unit, the army said.

The military says its strikes in Lebanon are continuing.

Over 90,000 people in Lebanon are displaced by airstrikes, UN says

The U.N. says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that a total of 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel nearly a year ago, drawing Israeli retaliation.


Israeli military activates reserve troops as conflict with Hezbollah escalates

The Israeli military says it is activating reserve troops in response to rising tensions with the Hezbollah militant group.

The announcement Wednesday indicates that Israel is planning even tougher action against the Lebanese group. It comes hours after Hezbollah fired a missile toward Tel Aviv for the first time.

The army said it was calling up “two reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena.”

“This will enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” it said.


Israeli general hints at ground operations and ‘maneuvers’ in Lebanon

The head of Israel’s northern command says it must be prepared for “maneuvers” in Lebanon, apparently referring to a possible ground operation.

Israel has carried out waves of heavy airstrikes in recent days against Hezbollah, which has fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel and targeted Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin said Israel had “entered a new phase of the campaign.”

“We need to change the security situation, and we must be fully prepared for maneuvers and action,” he said, according to a statement released Wednesday.

Israeli military officers often use the term “maneuver” to refer to ground operations.

He spoke on Tuesday during a visit to soldiers carrying out exercises near the border.

The military has said it is focused on aerial operations for now, without giving a timetable.

PHOTOS: Scenes from the Israel-Hezbollah conflict

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People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a hangar in the southern town of Jiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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An armed Israeli fighter jet flies over Haifa, northern Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

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People look at a damaged house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near Safed, northern Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo//Leo Correa)

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Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in the southern village of Kfar Rouman, seen from Marjayoun, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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An Israeli firefighters plane uses a fire retardant to extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an open area near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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People gather near a damaged car at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a hangar in the southern town of Jiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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A wounded girl lies in a hospital bed in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)



2 wounded by rocket fire in northern Israel

First responders say two people were wounded by a rocket fired into northern Israel from Lebanon.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said a 32-year-old man was seriously wounded and a 52-year-old was moderately wounded by shrapnel in the agricultural village of Kibbutz Saar.

Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday as Israel carried out heavy strikes against the militant group in Lebanon.


Pregnant woman and her 4 children killed in strike on Gaza, officials say

An Israeli airstrike in central Gaza has killed a pregnant woman and her four children, Palestinian medical officials say.

The strike on Wednesday hit a house in the urban Bureij refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.

An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies. Hospital records showed that the 35-year-old woman was 6 months pregnant. Her four children were between 8 and 18 years old.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of putting them in danger by operating in crowded residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Pope Francis weighs in on violence in Lebanon

Pope Francis called for a stop to escalating tensions in Lebanon, calling it “unacceptable.”

“I am saddened by the news coming from Lebanon, where intense bombing in recent days has caused much death and destruction,” the pope said Wednesday during a regular audience at the Vatican.

“I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. It is unacceptable. I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past.”


Britain sends troops to prepare for possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon

Seven hundred British troops are due to arrive Wednesday to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus in preparation for the possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon.

Cyprus is located across a strip of water from Lebanon, and Beirut harbor has been used before to evacuate foreign nationals by sea from Lebanon.

During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, tens of thousands of foreigners were evacuated by sea to Cyprus in a fleet of commercial and military vessels, many supplied by American, British, European and other naval forces.

British Defense Secretary John Healey says the Royal Air Force will also have “aircraft and transport helicopters on standby to provide support if necessary.”

Updated death toll from Gaza

A protester waves a Lebanese flag as demonstrators gather to protest the war in Gaza and Lebanon in front of the Los Angeles Federal Building on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

The bodies of 28 people killed in Israeli airstrikes were brought to local hospitals over the past day and another 85 people were wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.

A total of 41,495 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago, according to the ministry, which says another 96,006 have been wounded.


Hezbollah launches dozens of rockets into northern Israel

Hezbollah has launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel after days of heavy Israeli airstrikes.

The Israeli military said that at one point on Wednesday, more than 40 projectiles were launched simultaneously, though most were intercepted.

The municipality in the northern city of Safed said a projectile hit a home, causing a fire. No one was home and no injuries were reported.

Israeli warplanes pound southern and eastern Lebanon for a third day

Israeli strikes have hit a town near the northern coastal town of Byblos, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

There were no immediate reported casualties, as Israeli warplanes pound southern and eastern Lebanon for a third day in a new phase of their ongoing conflict with the Hezbollah militant group.

A photo circulated by the NNA and local media shows large plumes of smoke between the houses and green fields of the town of Maisara, a stone’s throw away from the Mediterranean Sea.


Israel launches airstrikes across Lebanon, state news agency says

As thousands of Lebanese flee the airstrikes from the country’s southern and eastern provinces, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israel launched three strikes airstrikes over the northeastern city of Hermel, the town of Labweh, and a handful of towns and villages across the country’s southern province.

The Israeli army says it will continue its strikes until it can return the tens of thousands of residents who were displaced from Israel’s north, near its border with Lebanon. Israel maintains that Hezbollah is launching rocket attacks in and near civilian areas.

While Lebanon’s north has mostly been spared from the strikes, Israel has launched rare strikes near the northern town of Mayrooba and in the outskirts of Qartaba.

The days of strikes have killed over 560 people, in some of Lebanon’s deadliest days since Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006.

Israel is pushing the Middle East into an all-out war, neighboring countries say

Egypt, Jordan and Iraq say Israel is pushing the Middle East into an all-out war. Their foreign ministers are calling on the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the three countries’ foreign ministers affirmed that averting a regional war requires the cessation of “the Israeli aggression on Gaza.” The ministers also condemned Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and said that “Israel is pushing the region into an all-out war.”

Egypt and Jordan were the first two Arab countries to make peace with Israel. But relations have been strained since the war began in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Iraq has close ties to Iran, which supports both Hamas and the Lebanese militant group. Hezbollah has traded heavy fire with Israel in recent days.


Thousands seek refuge from fighting around the Lebanon-Israel border

Lebanese fleeing the Israeli bombardment, arrive in a taxi at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdaidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled from Lebanon across the border to Syria following heavy Israeli bombardment, a United Nations refugee agency official said Wednesday.

Rula Amin, Middle East and North Africa spokesperson at UNHCR, said families were “arriving in buses and cars, but also travelling by foot.”

“Crowds of people — many of whom are women, young children and even infants — continue to await processing for entry,” she said. “Many will have to spend the night outdoors waiting their turn.”

Amin said that UNHCR teams, along with the Syrian Red Crescent, were providing water, mattresses, blankets and food. She noted that the team has “also seen people, including children, bearing injuries suffered from the recent attacks on Lebanon.”

Israel intercepts Hezbollah’s farthest strike in 11 months of exchanges

The Israeli military intercepted a missile launched from Lebanon into central Israel on Wednesday morning in the latest escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel Rescue Services said there were no injuries or damage reported from the missile, which triggered sirens in Tel Aviv and Netanya, two large cities in central Israel. It was Hezbollah’s farthest strike yet in nearly a year of exchanges.

Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it said was responsible for the targeted killing of its senior leaders. Israel later said it struck the site the missile was launched from in southern Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza injure many, including children

Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza left multiple Palestinians injured, including children, who were rushed to Awda and Al-Aqsa hospitals.

AP footage shows two children with face injuries rushed inside Al-Aqsa hospital, while a man lying on a stretcher inside an ambulance was wailing in pain as two other men were lying face down. Several children were brought in with injuries to their legs and faces.

At the hospital morgue, a mother is seen crying and bidding farewell to her twin sons, Osama and Bilal Fayad, two young men who were killed in the strikes in Nuseirat.

“I raised those two boys.. they were killed together after being struck,” said their father Ahmed Fayad. “They were born together and died together.”

Over a dozen people gathered outside the hospital to perform a funeral prayer as the bodies of the twins were in front of them on the ground wrapped in white shrouds before they were loaded onto a motorbike to be taken for burial.

The strike that killed the Fayad twins in Nuseirat camp also killed three women and injured over 20 people were also injured, according to Awda hospital, where they were taken.

The Israeli strikes in Nuseirat and Bureij camps on Tuesday killed a total of 29 Palestinians, including 14 children and 6 women, hospital officials told the AP.

Israel’s military identifies 3 drones crossing from Lebanon into Israel

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Israeli military says three drones were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel a short while ago, setting off sirens in coastal towns just south of Haifa — more than 50 km (31 miles) from the border with Lebanon. It said two of the drones were intercepted. There were no reports of injuries.

Altogether, more than 300 projectiles have been launched today from Lebanon at northern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

The army said strikes will continue in Lebanon. In the last two hours, Israeli jets carried out a “number of extensive strikes” on targets in the Bekaa region and in southern Lebanon, according to the army, hitting rocket launchers and infrastructure that the army says was used to store weapons.


Turkey’s president accuses Israel of carrying out ‘a clear genocide’ and calls on UN to impose sanctions

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly he wanted to state “loudly and clearly” that the Israeli government is disregarding human rights, trampling on international law, and “is practicing ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinians.

He also accused Israel at Tuesday’s opening of the annual global gathering of carrying out “a clear genocide against a nation a people, and occupying their lands, step by step.”

“Israel’s behavior has once again demonstrated that it is imperative for the international community to develop a protection mechanism for Palestinian civilians,” Erdogan said. “70 years ago, just as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity, (Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his murder network must be stopped, must be stopped by an alliance of humanity.”

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called Erdogan’s remarks “shameful” and told reporters the reference to Hitler is “beyond imagination.”

Erdogan called for the Security Council to impose “coercive measures against Israel” – U.N. language for sanctions – and said the General Assembly should recommend the use of force to achieve an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the exchange of prisoners, and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

In language aimed at Israel’s supporters, especially the United States, Erdogan said their backing “is the reason why this aggression is still going on” in Gaza.

While “supposedly working for a cease-fire,” he said, they continue to send arms and ammunition to Israel.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been working for months for a cease-fire in Gaza, and the United States has blamed Hamas for refusing the latest deal. But Erdogan claimed it’s Israel “that doesn’t want peace, by constantly dragging its feet making a settlement much more difficult, almost impossible.”

Israel’s UN envoy says Israel does not want to send troops into Lebanon but will do what’s necessary to halt Hezbollah fire

Israel’s envoy to the U.N. says his country doesn’t want to send troops into Lebanon but will do “whatever necessary” to halt the Hezbollah rocket fire that has driven tens of thousands of Israelis from their country’s north.

Asked during at a news conference Tuesday at U.N. headquarters whether Israel was contemplating a ground invasion of its northern neighbor, Ambassador Danny Danon said his country is “not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks at a press conference during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“We prefer a diplomatic solution. But if it’s not working, we are using other methods to show the other side that we mean business,” he said.

“We will do whatever necessary to bring the residents back to the north,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still plans to come to the U.N. to speak Friday at the General Assembly’s annual meeting of world leaders, Danon said. But he noted that “things are dynamic,” and an update on Netanyahu’s plans could come Wednesday.

Israel’s Defense Minister says forces are ready to carry out more strikes after Hezbollah suffers ‘extremely severe blows’

Israel’s Defense Minister said Tuesday that Hezbollah has suffered “extremely severe blows” and Israel has “more strikes ready.”

Speaking to troops after an IDF drill that simulated a ground offensive in Lebanon, Yoav Gallant said “The Hezbollah of today is not the Hezbollah of a week ago. The sequence of blows it faced in its command and control, its operatives, its weapons — all these things are extremely severe blows.”

Mourners carry bodies through Lebanese streets, some draped in Hezbollah flags

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Mourners carry the coffin of a relative, killed in the Israeli airstrikes ahead of burial at the al-Hawra Zeinab cemetery in Beirut’s southern suburb, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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Relatives carry the body of a young girl, killed in an Israeli airstrike, during her funeral procession in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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People react during the funeral procession of their relatives, who were killed in Monday’s Israeli airstrikes, in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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Mourners carry the coffin of a relative, killed in the Israeli airstrikes ahead of burial at the al-Hawra Zeinab cemetery in Beirut’s southern suburb, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)


In the Lebanese village of Saksakieh, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel border, mourners carried 11 bodies through the streets Tuesday, including those of four women, an infant and a 7-year old girl. All had been killed in Israel’s bombardment of the village the day before. Israeli strikes killed more than 560 people across Lebanon in two days.

Some of the bodies were draped in Hezbollah flags, others wrapped in black clothes. A wreath of flowers had been placed on top of the smallest one.

Mohammad Halal, the father of 7-year-old Joury Halal, said his daughter was an “innocent child martyr.”

“She is a martyr for the sake of the south and Palestine,” Halal said and defiantly stated his allegiance to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

A look at the latest round of strikes in Lebanon


US Navy replenishment ship operating in Mideast was damaged in an incident, officials say

By JOHN GAMBRELL, TARA COPP

This handout photo from the U.S. Navy shows the Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn sailing alongside the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Sept. 11, 2024, at an undisclosed location at sea in the Middle East. (U.S. Navy via AP)

The damage to the USNS Big Horn came after the oiler supplied the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and remained in the region amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and Israel’s ongoing strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A U.S. Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters yet to be made public, said the damage happened in the Mideast, but declined to elaborate on its location. A photo released by the U.S. military dated Sept. 5 showed sailors aboard the Lincoln receiving supplies from the Big Horn, while another on Sept. 11 showed the Big Horn alongside the Lincoln. The Lincoln is patrolling the Arabian Sea.

The official said the Big Horn’s crew was safe and there was no sign of an oil leak from the vessel.

Another U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the vessel was being supported by private tugboats and an assessment was still ongoing for the vessel.

▶ Read more about damage to the U.S. Navy ship

WATCH: Recovery underway after Beirut building heavily damaged in Israeli strike

Emergency services and locals have started the cleanup process in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday where an Israeli airstrike hit a building. Streets were blocked off as rubble was being removed.


US officials in talks with allies to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah

White House principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Tuesday that Biden administration officials were in talks with allies to help find an off-ramp to the escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We’re working on that in real time right here in New York and in capitals around the world,” Finer said in an appearance at an event hosted by the news site Axios on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

United States President Joe Biden addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“We’re not going to reveal all the details of those sensitive conversations, but we very much want that conflict to de-escalate.”

Finer sidestepped questions about whether the fighting has already become the all-out war that the U.S. had been pressing Israel to avoid with Lebanon as it continues its nearly yearlong conflict in Gaza. But he underscored that a “big war, a wider war” is in neither Israel’s nor Lebanon’s interest.

PHOTOS: Two-day death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon reaches 558

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Hezbollah supporters carry pictures of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil, during his funeral procession in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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Israeli security forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)

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People look at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Moreshet, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)

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People look at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)

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Hezbollah members carry the coffin of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil during the funeral procession in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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A man who was injured in one of the handheld exploding devices, sits outside a hospital as he waits for treatment in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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People react during the funeral procession of their relatives, who were killed in Monday’s Israeli airstrikes, in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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Relatives mourn over the coffins of Hezbollah members who were killed in an Israeli airstrikes, during their funeral procession in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)

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Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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Emergency workers clear the rubble at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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The shattered window of a car at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)



A new airstrike in central Gaza kills 10 people, hospital says

A boy checks the damage to a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern village of Akbieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Another Israeli airstrike in a central Gaza refugee camp on Tuesday killed 10 Palestinians, including four people from the same family, and injured 11 others, according to Al-Awda Hospital.

The strike hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where six people including three women were killed in an earlier airstrike.

The dead and wounded were taken to Al-Awda Hospital.


Israeli military says it killed a top commander in Hezbollah missile unit

The Israeli military says it has killed a commander with Hezbollah’s missile and rocket unit in a strike in Beirut.

It said Ibrahim Kobeisi, who it said was responsible for launches toward Israel, was killed Tuesday.

The military said “other key commanders” were with Kobeisi at the time of the strike, but it did not say whether any of them had been killed or injured.


Lebanese woman working for UNHCR, her son and a cleaner killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

The U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon says a Lebanese woman who had been working for the agency for 12 years, one of her sons and a cleaner employed by the agency have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The building where Dina Darwiche lived with her family was hit in a strike on Lebanon’s Bekaa region on Monday, UNHCR said. Her husband and another son were seriously injured. Her body and that of her younger son were recovered from the rubble on Tuesday.

Ali Basma, who worked as a cleaner for the agency for seven years, was killed in a separate strike in the south. He worked at UNHCR’s office in the city of Tyre.

The agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened by the killing of two beloved members of the UNHCR family in Lebanon” and warned that the protection of civilians is a must under international humanitarian law.

Sirens continue almost nonstop across large parts of northern Israel

Sirens have continued almost nonstop across large parts of northern Israel, warning of incoming fire after Israeli forces carried out what they described as a “targeted strike” on a southern Beirut suburb on Tuesday.

The Israeli military says about 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel in several barrages over the last two hours, including on the Haifa bay area, the Golan Heights, and the city of Safed. There were no reports of injuries.

Israeli police said there was heavy damage in several places by falling fragments of rockets or interceptors, and a fire was sparked in the Golan Heights.


An Israeli airstrike hits a building in southern Beirut, Hezbollah’s TV station says

An Israeli airstrike hit a building in a southern Beirut suburb on Tuesday afternoon, a Hezbollah TV station reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Later, Israel’s military said it had carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut, without elaborating. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “a number of people” were injured in the strike , which destroyed three floors of a six-story apartment building.

Al-Manar TV, which belongs to Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, said the strike occurred in the suburb of Ghobeiri, without giving any details.

The attack came after a Monday evening airstrike missed Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s top military commander in south Lebanon, the group said.

An Israeli airstrike on a nearby area on Friday killed 55 people, including top Hezbollah military commander Ibrahim Akil and 15 other Hezbollah members.

Israeli military reports 10 more rockets fired from Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel’s military says that 10 more rockets from Lebanon were fired into Israeli territory on Tuesday afternoon, injuring a reservist and raining shrapnel onto a road in northern Israel.

The rockets came in two volleys, the first targeting the Upper Galilee area and the second an area south of Haifa known as Eliakim. Rocket fragments from a rocket that was intercepted injured the Israeli soldier, the military said.

Hezbollah said it had fired middle-range rockets at an Israeli army position in Eliakim.

Israel’s military has now said that there have been at least 110 rockets fired into Israeli territory from Lebanon since Tuesday morning. Israeli strikes across the border have killed over 550 people in Lebanon since Monday.

Another Israeli strike in central Gaza kills at least 6 people, including 3 women, Gaza medics say

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike hit a family house in central Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least six people, including three women.

The strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp also wounded 21 others, according to the Awda hospital in the camp, where the casualties were taken.

Footage circulated online showing a woman screaming and rushing to a building that was hit. A man is seen lying on the ground, without moving and bleeding from his head. There were several other people lying on the ground nearby.


A journalist for a pan-Arab television is killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon

A journalist working for the pan-Arab network Al-Mayadeen has been killed in an Israeli airstrike while he was at his home in southern Lebanon, the network said.

Hadi Al-Sayyed, 22, is the third journalist from the network killed in the ongoing conflict between the Israeli military and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The network said he was wounded on Monday and died of his wounds on Tuesday.

According to the TV station, Al-Sayyed worked for Al-Mayadeen’s online section and was at his house in the town of Burj Rahhal near the southern city of Tyre when it was hit.

Last November, Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Al-Maamari were killed in an Israeli strike while covering southern Lebanon.

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