Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that an Israeli air strike targeting Beirut's southern suburbs has killed at least two people, and injured 15 others.

Norwegian police issued an international search request for a man linked to the sale of pagers that exploded last week in Lebanon.

Rinson Jose, 39, disappeared while on a work trip to the US last week. He is a founder of a Bulgarian company that was reportedly part of the pager supply chain linked to the ones that were detonated in Lebanon.

Reporting by Reuters...

Before starting his address to the UN General Assembly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said "we will not leave".

“We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave,” he said. “Palestine is our homeland. It is the land of our fathers, our grandfathers. It will remain ours.

“And if anyone were to leave, it would be the occupying usurpers.”

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), said the PA should exercise full jurisdiction on the Gaza Strip and its crossings, including the Rafah crossing in the south of the enclave, once Israel's war on the Strip ends.

Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Abbas said Israel's war on Gaza could not continue and that Israel has destroyed most of Gaza's infrastructure.

"This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people," he told the 193-member General Assembly.

Since 2006, Gaza has been governed by Hamas.

Israel said on Thursday it has secured an $8.7bn aid package from the US to support its military. 

The package includes $3.5bn for essential wartime procurement, which has already been received and earmarked for critical military purchases. In addition, $5.2bn was designated for air defence systems including the Iron Dome and an advanced laser system.

Hezbollah, regarded as the most powerful armed non-state group in the world, has come under increased attack from Israel during the past week.

The group had already been engaged in tit-for-tat hostilities along Lebanon's southern border since the 7 October Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel's war on Gaza.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah, which had already been firing rockets into northern Israel for months, for the first time directed a ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv, Israel's most populous city.

The Lebanese movement, born out of Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon between 1982 and 2000, has acquired and developed a diverse and sophisticated arsenal.

Middle East Eye's Rayhan Uddin and Heba Nasser take a look at Hezbollah's military capabilities.

Read more: What arms does Hezbollah have?

Halima Abu Dayya thought she lived the worst day of her life when Zionist militias expelled her from her home during their ethnic cleansing campaign of Palestine in 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba. 

But that day turned out to be merely a glimpse of the hardships she endured during the ongoing Israeli campaign of bombardment, starvation and forced displacement in Gaza. Hardships that eventually led to her death in Gaza City, according to her family.

Middle East Eye spoke to the grandmother, a resident of Gaza City, in 2018, when she was 91. Then, she recalled her forced displacement from her home in Dayr Sunayd, a village in the Gaza subdistrict, as Zionist massacres and destruction of Palestinian towns paved the way for the creation of the state of Israel. 

“We were forced at gunpoint to get in cars that drove us to a place near the borders with Gaza, where we stayed for three days, and then were moved again to the Gaza Strip,” Abu Dayya told MEE.

“I had three children and was pregnant when we were displaced. It was the hardest day of my entire life.”

As the ongoing, year-long Israeli war on Gaza escalated, MEE contacted Abu Dayya’s family for another interview. 

The family said Abu Dayya was displaced over 10 times in nearly seven months. They struggled to provide her with food during the Israeli-triggered famine in northern Gaza earlier this year, as she couldn’t eat the bread made from animal fodder - the only food available at the time.

And ultimately, she passed away.

Read more: Gaza grandmother's story of survival and death in 1948 and 2024

Mohammad Surur, the head of a Hezbollah air force unit, was killed in Israel's strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, according to two security sources cited by Reuters.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has threaten to quit Israel's government if a ceasefire is reached with Hezbollah. 

"If a temporary ceasefire is signed, Jewish Power will not be committed to the coalition," Ben-Gvir said, referring to his far-right party. 

"If the temporary ceasefire becomes permanent, we will resign from the government."

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that he "did not even respond" to US and French proposals aimed at bringing about a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel's Army Radio is reporting that Hezbollah's air unit commander was the target of an air strike in Beirut.

Reuters previously reported, citing a security source, that a senior Hezbollah commander was the target of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where the armed movement is known to have a presence.

Shortly after a blast was heard and smoke seen emanating from Beirut's southern suburbs, the Israeli military issued a statement saying they had conducted  'precise strikes' on Beirut.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on a school in Jabalia has risen to 15, Gaza's civil defence is reporting.

It added that casualties included women and children.

Israel's prime minister indicated that he "did not even respond" to proposals aimed at bringing about a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israeli forces continued raining down air strikes on Lebanon. 

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron published a joint statement calling for a 21-day truce, aimed at paving the way for broader negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. 

Just hours later, however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office rejected the idea. 

"The news about a ceasefire - not true. This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond," his office said. 

"The prime minister instructed the [Israeli army] to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to them," it said, adding that hostilities would continue in Gaza too. 

Foreign Minister Israel Katz reiterated the message, writing on X that there would be no ceasefire. 

Read more: Israel 'didn't even respond' to truce proposal, as it continues bombing Lebanon

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October has risen to 41,534, with another 96,092 injured, the enclave's health ministry has reported.

The Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs targeted a senior Hezbollah leader but his fate is currently not known, Reuters is reporting citing a security source.

Shortly after the blast was reported in Beirut's southern suburbs, the Israeli military released a statement saying it is conducting 'precise strikes' in the capital.