Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

The Israeli army announced the commencement of a new wave of strikes targeting locations in southern Lebanon.

Reports from Lebanon indicate that villages throughout the southern region have come under Israeli assault. 

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli army told residents of southern Lebanon they should leave their homes, adding that any delay in leaving could "endanger" their lives. 

Earlier, Lebanese media reported that one civilian was killed in Israeli strikes across eastern and southern Lebanon, and that 17 others have sustained injuries.

Israeli jets carried out over 80 air raids within a span of 30 minutes early this morning.

The Lebanese health ministry also reported that 11 additional people were wounded in a separate strike in Aitaroun, southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military on Monday told residents of southern Lebanon to leave their homes, stating it would carry out “extensive strikes” against Hezbollah.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said strikes on houses and other targets in Lebanon are “imminent”.

Residents of southern Lebanon are receiving calls from a Lebanese number ordering them to immediately distance themselves one kilometre away from what Israel claims are Hezbollah targets, a Reuters reporter said.

Residents of Beirut are also receiving text messages, reportedly from the Israeli army, urging them to evacuate their locations quickly, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Minister of Information Ziad Makary received a voicemail urging the evacuation of his building, the agency reported.

Last month, China advised its citizens in Lebanon to leave following an Israeli attack that resulted in the death of a senior Palestinian fighter.

Now, the Chinese embassy in Israel is urging its citizens to “return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible”.

“Currently, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border is extremely tense, with frequent military conflicts,” the embassy stated. “The security situation in Israel remains severe, complex, and unpredictable.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly weighing a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza, including Gaza City, according to a former Israeli military official cited by CNN.

Netanyahu is considering this as part of efforts to allegedly encircle Hamas and pressure the group to release captives, which would see the population of northern Gaza, already besieged by Israel, being further starved.

The plan would turn the northern Gaza Strip into a closed military zone, meaning any person refusing to immediately leave their home would be killed by Israel. The proposal was made by a group of retired Israeli generals.

According to CNN, it has also been presented to the Israeli cabinet and a key parliamentary committee.

However, it remains unclear how many Palestinians still reside in northern Gaza or whether, when, and how civilians would be permitted to return.

"Those who leave will receive food and water," Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli military general spearheading the proposal, alluded to the plan, which would see people being starved.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reports that at least one civilian has died in a new wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting eastern and southern Lebanon.

The NNA stated that “enemy warplanes launched … more than 80 airstrikes in half an hour,” focusing on the Nabatiyeh district in southern Lebanon, with additional strikes reported in the Tyre area.

Simultaneously, the NNA noted “intense raids in the Bekaa Valley” in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, including areas around Baalbek and the outskirts of Hermel.

According to the NNA, the eastern strikes resulted in the death of a shepherd, identified as a civilian, and left two family members and four others wounded.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has instructed all members to refrain from using any type of communication devices following deadly attacks last week in which thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded, according to two senior Iranian security officials who spoke to Reuters.

This attack, widely attributed to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, resulted in dozens of deaths including children, and thousands of injuries.

One security official indicated that a large-scale operation is currently underway by the IRGC to inspect all devices, extending beyond just communication equipment. He noted that most of these devices were either homemade or imported from China and Russia.

Former CIA director Leon Panetta labeled Israel’s pager operation as “terrorism” in an interview with CBS News.

Last week in Lebanon, mass explosions occurred involving pagers and walkie-talkies owned by members of the Hezbollah group. This attack, widely attributed to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, resulted in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries.

In his interview on CBS News Sunday Morning, Panetta said that Israel's actions are “a form of terrorism”. He also warned that these actions could lead to more deadly operations as the conflict continues.

"The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days. And turn it into a war of terror. Really, a war of terror. This is something new," said Panetta.

"I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism…This is going right into the supply chain, right into the supply chain. And when you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question, what the hell is next?" added Panetta. 

The Australian government announced on Monday that it will offer an additional $6.8 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza. 

Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that the funding will focus on delivering "lifesaving assistance, with a focus on women and girls" through United Nations agencies, including Unicef and Unfpa.

Australia's support aims to address the severe humanitarian crisis by providing nutrition, hygiene, and essential health products. 

Wong emphasised, "Rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian relief must reach civilians, and aid workers must be protected to continue their lifesaving efforts."

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs, has proposed a plan to establish a “buffer zone, free of the enemy population” in southern Lebanon.  

In a detailed post on X, Chikli outlined the plan and shared a map of the Lebanese towns that would be included in the zone. He described the forcible removal of the population as the “most just thing to do” from a security, political, and moral standpoint.  

Chikli, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, argued that Israel would be justified in “taking over” the area, claiming that Lebanon had “failed to exercise its sovereignty” there.  

The Economist also alluded to a potential occupation of southern Lebanon.

"Military sources say that Israel is also planning a ground offensive that would include the capture of a buffer-zone consisting of a few miles of territory north of the border," said The Economist. 

Israeli forces have arrested five Palestinians, including a girl, in the Bethlehem governorate of the occupied West Bank, according to security sources cited by the Wafa news agency.

Currently, around 9,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are being held in Israeli prisons, based on the latest figures from the Palestinian Prisoners' Society.

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that an Israeli airstrike on a house near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, has killed five Palestinians, including four children.

Several others were wounded in the attack.

Israeli forces detained dozens of Palestinians, including children, during a raid on the village of Haris, near Salfit in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Palestinian Information Centre reported that the number of those detained exceeded 60.

More details are expected to follow.

According to the most recent data from the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, 9,900 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are currently imprisoned in Israeli jails, including 3,323 held in administrative detention.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 353rd day:

• Israeli forces bombed the Khalid bin al-Walid School in central Gaza and the Kafr Qasim School in the northern part of the enclave, killing at least seven displaced Palestinians. This occurred just a day after another attack on a school-turned-shelter claimed the lives of 22 others

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly weighing a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza, including Gaza City, according to a former Israeli military official cited by CNN

• Hezbollah's deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, made a rare public appearance at the funeral of a top commander killed in an Israeli air raid on Beirut's southern suburbs. During the event, Qassem declared that Hezbollah has entered an "open-ended battle of reckoning" with Israel

• Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden claimed that he would "do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out," as Egypt warned of the potential for an "all-out regional war." The European Union, the United Kingdom, and others have also called for a de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah

• Irish President Michael Higgins condemned Israel’s “outrageous” decision to close Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau, echoing calls from the Committee to Protect Journalists for Israeli authorities to stop harassing and obstructing the network’s reporters.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly weighing a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza, including Gaza City, according to a former Israeli military official cited by CNN

• Gaza's Civil Defence said seven people had been killed and many wounded after Israel bombed the Kafr Qasim school in al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City

• Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has accused Israel of creating "hell in Gaza"

• The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza warned that its facilities could lose power within the next 10 days due to a lack of oil, filters and spare parts

• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) reported that waste continues to accumulate in Gaza as hundreds of thousands of displaced people crowd into the shrinking space of the besieged coastal enclave

• Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Sunday that his group was in a "new phase" in its battle against Israel, which it has waged from across the Lebanese border since the Gaza war erupted

• The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has called for the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to end, saying that Israel was not above the law

• The European Union is "extremely concerned" about an escalation of the conflict between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah, and is calling for an "urgent" ceasefire, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday

• Irish President Michael D. Higgins has accused the Israeli embassy of leaking a letter in which he extended his "best wishes" to Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian

Irish President Michael D. Higgins has accused the Israeli embassy of leaking a letter in which he extended his "best wishes" to Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian. 

Higgins, currently in New York for the UN Summit of the Future, addressed the issue while speaking to journalists after his speech. The letter, which surfaced online in August, became a subject of criticism. 

Higgins defended the correspondence, describing it as a "standard" gesture sent to new heads of state and emphasising that it called for peace in the Middle East and the importance of diplomacy.

When asked about the letter's origin, Higgins questioned the motives behind the criticism, saying, "Why don’t you ask where it came from?...Where the criticism came from and how the letter was circulated and by whom and for what purpose?" He went on to assert that the letter had been leaked by the Israeli embassy.