Israel Intensifies Gaza, Lebanon Bombs 10/07 06:25

   

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut 
suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and 
southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the 
region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 
people.

   A year after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon 
against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza 
began.

   Israel's military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of 
Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from "fallen 
projectiles" was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a 
nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 
people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

   Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on 
Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United 
States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. 
Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with 
long-distance strikes on Israel.

   Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, 
while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.

   Israel bombards southern Beirut

   Beirut's skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after 
Israel's heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh 
since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23. It was not immediately clear 
if there were casualties.

   Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant 
group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing 
rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.

   A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast 
of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon's Health 
Ministry said.

   Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes 
overnight into Sunday, while Israel's military said about 130 projectiles had 
crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

   "It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything," resident 
Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it "a night of 
terror."

   One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of 
Jiyyeh. "This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred 
are four women," said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.

   Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into 
southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader 
Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst 
since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

   At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, 
have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims 
to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli 
citizens can return home.

   The Israeli military is now setting up a forward operating base close to a 
U.N. peacekeeping mission on the border in southern Lebanon, a U.N. official 
told The Associated Press. The base puts peacekeepers at risk, said the 
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the 
situation.

   UNIFIL, created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern 
Lebanon after Israel's 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military's request to 
vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.

   New evacuation orders in northern Gaza

   An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the 
main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Another four were 
killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said 
both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the 
bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.

   Israel's military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in 
northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding 
Israel's creation. Israel has carried out several operations there only to see 
militants regroup. The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in 
Sunday's fighting in northern Gaza.

   Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed 
northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.

   "We are in a new phase of the war," the military said in leaflets dropped 
over the area. "These areas are considered dangerous combat zones." A later 
statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza 
into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.

   Frantic residents fled again. "Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 
12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and 
thrown into the streets and do not know where to go," said one, Samia Khader.

   The Civil Defense -- first responders operating under the Hamas-run 
government -- said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, 
after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.

   Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook an airstrike on his 
Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan 
Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was 
killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif 
confirmed his death.

   Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, 
according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, 
but says a little over half were women and children.

   Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took 
another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are 
believed to be dead.

   U.K. advises against travel while France seeks partial arms embargo on Israel

   The United Kingdom on Sunday advised its citizens against non-essential 
travel to Israel due to the violent clashes in the Mideast. The Foreign, 
Commonwealth and Development Office also advised against all travel in parts of 
northern and southern Israel, most of the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

   Last week the UK advised its citizens against all travel to Lebanon.

   French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial 
arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

   Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a "disgrace." Macron's 
office insisted that "France is Israel's unfailing friend" and called 
Netanyahu's remarks "excessive."

   Later on Sunday, Netanyahu's office said the two leaders had spoken and 
agreed to promote "a dialogue" on the matter. Macron's office called the 
discussion "frank" and said both leaders "accepted their divergence of views."