Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

A series of massive Israeli air strikes have just hit the southern neighbourhoods of Beirut. Vast and thick clouds of smoke could be seen rising from the site of the strikes.

US Navy warships travelling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait intercepted a barrage of missiles and drones launched by Yemen's Houthis, a US official said on Friday.

The official confirmed that the projectiles had not caused any damage to the ships.

Earlier on Friday, the Houthis claimed an attack on three US destroyers in the Red Sea with 23 ballistic and winged missiles and a drone.

Reporting by Reuters

Netanyahu also took aim at the UN, denouncing it as a "swamp of antisemitic bile"

He added that the "singling out" of Israel by the institution is a "moral stain."

“Until Israel, until the Jewish state, is treated like other nations, until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce.”

In his speech to the UN, Netanyahu warned that “there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East."

“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you,” he said.

"We are winning," he claimed, holding aloft a map which he described as “the curse” of Iran’s influence and another which he termed as a blessing.

“For too long, the world has appeased Iran. That appeasement must end and that appeasement must end now," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told world leaders at 79th UN General Assembly that Israel must defend itself "against these savage murderers."

“Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilisation and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror,” he claimed.

His comments follow Israel's week long bombing campaign in Lebanon that has killed 700 people in a week.

Meanwhile the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza has topped 41,000.

A group of ten trade unions has filed a complaint against Israel with the International Labour Organization (ILO), accusing it of breaching international labour law by withholding pay from over 200,000 Palestinian workers.

The complaint demands unpaid wages and compensation for the workers, saying that workers from Gaza and the West Bank have not received payment for work completed prior to 7 October.

“Two hundred thousand workers in the West Bank lost their jobs,” Assaf Adiv, executive director of Maan Workers Association, an independent workers’ organization in Israel that was not involved in the filing of the complaint, said in comments reported by the Guardian. “They did not receive any compensation and have been suffering ever since from extreme poverty.

Al Jazeera is reporting that funerals have been held for the 15 people killed in Israeli air strikes on Wednesday in the town of Karak, in the central Beqaa valley.

Al Jazeera is reporting that an Israeli air strike targeted the road that runs between Lebanon's Beqaa valley and Homs, around the town of Rasm el-Hadath.

Lebanese media is reporting that an air strike targeted the town of Nabi Aila, in the centre of Beqaa valley.

Yemen's Houthis have said their fighters fired 23 ballistic and winged missiles and a drone at three US destroyers in the Red Sea, which were bound for Israel.

Reporting by Reuters

The UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon has warned that Lebanon is facing "the deadliest period in a generation."

“The recent escalations in Lebanon are nothing short of catastrophic,” Imran Riza said, adding that many fear this is "just the beginning."

Over 700 people have been killed in Israel's bombing campaign in Lebanon which started on Monday, with at least 25 people killed since dawn today.

An Israeli security official is quoted by AFP news agency as saying that an Israeli ground incursion on Lebanon would be as "short" as possible.

“We will try to do it as short as we can,” the official told AFP. “I think that we are preparing that every day, and for sure that is inside our toolbox.”

Israel’s Metula Regional Council chairman, David Azulai has said in comments reported by Israeli media that the US-French proposal for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will ensure "the next 7 October," referring to the Hamas led attack on southern Israel last year.

Azulai urged that the Israeli government must "remove the threat" to avoid another "7 October next year".

Israeli media also reported that Amir Sofer, the Upper Galilee Regional Council’s chairman had said that “there is a time for negotiations, this is not the time”.

The UN agency for children has said that 50 children have been killed in the span of two days by Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

In a post on X, the agency said that the number of children killed per day in Israel's bombing campaign on Lebanon this week is "more than double the number of children killed per day during the country’s devastating 2006 conflict."

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, an estimated 400 children, around 12 a day were killed during the 2006 conflict.

The escalation in recent days in Lebanon has killed and injured thousands, spurred mass displacement, caused extensive damage to infrastructure and instilled an unimaginable fear in the daily lives of people.

— UNICEF Lebanon (@UNICEFLebanon) September 27, 2024

More than 5,000 people have been injured in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, according to the head of the Doctors Syndicate, Youssef Bakhash, who spoke alongside the country’s health minister.

Bakhash stated that Rafik Hariri University Hospital and Baabda Governmental Hospital will be designated as specialized centers for treating war injuries and providing psychological support.

Lebanon’s health minister announced that over 25 people have been killed and many others injured in Israeli airstrikes since midnight.