Middle East latest: Israel’s deadliest strike in central Beirut kills 22

The commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is under investigation for allegedly spying for Israel, according to reports.

Esmail Qaani has not been seen in public since 4 October when Israeli forces struck a bunker in Beirut where he was believed to be meeting Hezbollah members.

Qaani suffered a heart attack during his interrogation and was hospitalised, Middle East Eye reported, citing sources.

The US has called on Israel to urgently address the “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza and stop “intensifying suffering” by limiting the delivery of aid.

Speaking to the UN security council, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “These catastrophic conditions were predicted months ago, and yet, have still not been addressed. That must change, and now.”

Ms Thomas-Greenfield added that there must be “no demographic or territorial change” in the Gaza strip, The Guardian reported.

Israeli tanks attacked northern Gaza with force this week, stating they were preventing Hamas from regrouping.

An Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering in Gaza killed 28 people, including women and children, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Dozens were injured in the strike on Rufaida School in western Deir Al-Balah, where more than one million displaced people are sheltering after fleeing a year of war.

The Israeli military said it was targeting militants, claiming it took “numerous steps” to mitigate harm to civilians.

Alex Croft has more.

Hezbollah claimed on Monday its fighters have managed to push Israeli troops back near the border village of Labbouneh, having fired several rocket salvoes.

Further east, the Lebanese militant group said it had attacked Israeli soldiers in the village of Maroun el-Ras and unleashed missile barrages at Israeli forces advancing towards the twin border villages of Mays al-Jabal and Mouhaybib.

Video footage posted on social media and geolocated by Reuters had shown three Israeli soldiers raising their country’s flag in Maroun el-Ras, marking the first time for decades they are known to have done so on Lebanese territory Israel occupied from 1982-2000.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit” by Israeli forces.

It said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in the town of Naqoura, Lebanon, and that soldiers had attacked a bunker near where peacekeepers were sheltering. The attack damaged vehicles and a communication system, it said.

The two UNIFIL troops wounded in the attacks and hospitalised were Indonesian.

The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a UN base in southern Lebanon yesterday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces”.

The UN peacekeeping chief said 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions on southern Lebanon’s border have been temporarily moved to larger bases, and plans to move another 200 will depend on security conditions as the conflict escalates.

Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut killed 22 people and wounded dozens, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

The air raid on central Beirut — the deadliest in over a year of war — apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighborhoods simultaneously.

The bombing brought down one eight-story building and wiped out the lower floors of the other.

Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings.

Over 100 Israeli soldiers have threatened to stop fighting if Netanyahu’s government does not secure a hostage release deal.

In a letter addressed to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant, 130 soldiers said: “If the government does not change course immediately and work towards securing a deal to bring the hostages home, we will not be able to continue serving.

“For some of us, the red line has already been crossed, and for others, it is rapidly approaching: the day when, with broken hearts, we will stop reporting for service.”

The group includes both reserve and regular soldiers, some of whom have served in Gaza and on Israel’s northern border since last year’s 7 October Hamas attacks.

Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about a potential Israeli response to Iran’s missile strike last week.

Biden and Netanyahu talked about Israel’s plans in a call that lasted 30 minutes, the White House said.

The discussion was “direct and very productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.

Relations between Biden and Netanyahu have been tense over the Israeli leader’s handling of Gaza and Lebanon. The US has tried to prevent hostilities from escalating and has unsuccessfully sought to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, which caused little damage, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region that could draw in the United States.

Biden last week made comments discouraging Israel from striking Iranian oil fields and said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.

Some analysts say Israel is most likely to respond to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack by targeting Iranian military installations, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like those used in the attack. It could also seek to destroy Iranian air defence systems and missile-launching facilities.

Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday that firing on UN bases is “totally unacceptable”.

He added in a statement that Israel’s actions clearly flout international law, Reuters reported.

Two UN peacekeepers were injured after Israeli forces fired at a UN watchtower.

UNIFL accuses Israel of “deliberately” firing at other UN peacekeeper positions. They said that “any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law”.