Gaza live: Several dead including Hezbollah commander after Israeli strike on southern Beirut

Lebanese media is reporting that an Israeli drone strike hit a motorbike in Mays al-Jabal, south Lebanon.

مسيّرة إسرائيلية تستهدف دراجة نارية في #ميس_الجبل، وأنباء عن سقوط إصابات

— Annahar (@Annahar) September 11, 2024

What do we do with ourselves in the midst of a genocide?

Palestinians in Gaza are being slaughtered in the tens of thousands, while Israeli settlers are burning olive trees in the West Bank and stealing their lands.

Our sacrosanct precincts in the Noble Sanctuary, or Al-Aqsa Mosque, are being desecrated by repulsive Israeli politicians.

Ancient mosques and churches are being destroyed as pages of the Holy Quran are torn and defiled by repugnant thugs in Israeli military uniforms. Our brothers and sisters are tortured and raped in Israeli dungeons, beheaded in their homes, and buried under tonnes of rubble.

It is in this context and mood that Nizar Hassan called me from Nazareth in occupied Palestine to tell me he had just finished a new film he wanted me to see.

In Hidden Haifa (Haifa al-Makhfiyyah), the eminent Palestinian filmmaker visually reclaims Palestine through its mostly deserted streets, empty and abandoned buildings, and old Arabic film posters.

READ MORE: Hidden Haifa, How Palestinian collective memory became powerful archival evidence, opinion by Hamid Dabashi

Following US President Joe Biden's statement saying Israel's killing of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was "apparently" an accident, Eygi's partner Hamid Ali said Biden never reached out to the family.

"For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing: To call us, offer his condolences, and let us know that he is ordering an independent investigation of the killing of Aysenur," he said.

"She was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that came from an Israeli sniper positioned 200 meters away. This was no accident, and her killer must be held accountable."

The Israeli army said in a statement that it struck 30 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight, including rocket launchers and "military infrastructure".

The military said the areas hit were al-Jebbayn, Naqoura, Deir Sirkin and Zibqin.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanon's National News Agency said that Israel's dawn attacks had caused a "belt of fire" between the villages of Zibqin, al-Shaitiya and al-Qleila.

Israeli forces also reportedly fired at other towns in southern Lebanon, and caused fires in the border areas.

Israeli forces have detained five members of the Palestinian Red Crescent’s (PRCS) ambulance crew in the Tulkarm refugee camp, occupied West Bank, the PRCS told Al Jazeera Arabic.

The PRCS said they have lost contact with their detained crew members.

Palestine's Wafa news agency says Israeli forces have blocked off all entries to the occupied West Bank city of Tubas amid their ongoing raid.

The city's governmental hospital has also been besieged.

Earlier on Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli strike on Tubas killed five Palestinians.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli attack on Khan Younis, southern Gaza killed 13 people
• Another nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Najjar family home in Jabalia, northern Gaza
• An Israeli strike on Tubas, occupied West Bank killed five people as Israeli forces carry out raids in Nablus and the Tulkarm refugee camp
• ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has urged the court's pre-trial chamber to issue arrest warrants “with utmost urgency” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
• At the US Presidential debate, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris said she will "always give Israel the ability to defend itself", but that the war in Gaza must end as "far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed"

Hello MEE readers. A day after Israel's massacre on the Mawasi humanitarian zone in Gaza, rescue teams are still trying to assess the death toll.

The health ministry officially placed it at 19 Palestinians killed, but the Israeli bombs evaporated an additional 21 bodies, which therefore were not able to be registered at hospitals. There are also still persons missing from the area of the strike.

Israel continued bombing parts of Gaza throughout Tuesday, killing at least 46 Palestinians over the past 24 hours.

In Jabalia in northern Gaza, Palestinian medics and rescue workers are currently trying to comb through the rubble of an Israeli air strike to find either the bodies of those killed or any survivors.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military forces killed two Palestinians during a raid on Tulkarm. Additionally, Israel detained two Palestinian medical technicians in the town.

Here's what else happened on the 340th day of the war on Gaza:

• US President Joe Biden said Israel's killing of US-Turkish citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was "an accident". Eyewitnesses told MEE that Eygi was deliberately shot by Israeli forces, noting she was shot in the head.

• On the other hand, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to initiate "fundamental changes" in the way it conducts military operations in the occupied West Bank after the killing of Eygi.

• A Florida state lawmaker celebrated the killing, saying that Eygi's death meant "one less #MuslimTerrorist". Muslim rights groups are calling for the lawmaker to be censured for the comments.

• The government of South Africa said it will be filing a memorial in its case at the International Court of Justice, pledging that the case in which it accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians will continue.

• The Palestinian civil defence said at least seven people, including three children and two women, were killed as a result of Israel's bombing of a residential building in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that Israel's killing of US-Turkish citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was "an accident".

"Apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and just got hit by accident. I'm working that out now," Biden said.

Activists on the ground during Eygi's killing told MEE that she was deliberately targeted by Israeli fire, noting she was shot in the head.

The killing led to outrage, especially among Palestinian Americans, over what was described by progressive activists as a double standard in the way the US government responds to the deaths of Israeli Americans versus Americans killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military concluded its probe into the killing, saying that "it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF (Israeli army) fire".

The military said the bullet that killed her "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot".

President Biden tells reporters of Aysenur Eygi, the US citizen killed by Israeli forces: "Apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and just got hit by accident. I'm working that out now."

— Matt Viser (@mviser) September 10, 2024

The government of South Africa said in a statement that it will be filing a memorial in its case at the International Court of Justice, where it has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

"This case will continue until the court makes a finding. While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date," South Africa's presidency said in a statement.

A memorial is a written statement of facts provided to a court, and provides the key points and summaries for its case.

Since it filed its submission against Israel at the end of last year, the countries of Nicaragua, Palestine, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia have all joined South Africa's legal battle.

SA TO FILE ITS MEMORIAL TO THE ICJ

South Africa will file its memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in October 2024. South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine. https://t.co/EqxzWxG2BS

— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) September 10, 2024

Several reports citing the Palestinian civil defence say that at least seven people, including three children and two women, were killed as a result of Israel's bombing of a residential building in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The reports say that there are still missing people under the rubble of the blast.

The Palestinian civil defence gave an update on the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli military forces on Tuesday.

So far, the bodies of at least 46 people were found dead, including at least three women and three children.

Those found dead were discovered after Israeli bombings across several areas in Gaza, including Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Rafah.

The update also included the death toll from the Israeli massacre in the Mawasi humanitarian zone, where the bodies of 19 people were found.

The health ministry placed the death toll to be at least 19, but this number is only representative of the bodies registered at hospitals. An additional 21 other people had their bodies completely "evaporated" as a result of the bombing, and therefore their bodies were unable to be brought to hospitals.

Randy Fine, a member of the Florida state legislature, went on X to celebrate the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Turkish-American activist who was fatally shot by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. 

"Throw rocks, get shot. One less #MuslimTerrorist. #FireAway," Fine wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a post announcing Eygi's killing last weekend. 

Fine’s comments have sparked widespread condemnation, calling attention to growing concerns about Islamophobia from US officials.

Read the full story by clicking below.

Florida lawmaker sparks outrage for celebrating Turkish-American activist's killing in West Bank

The European Union's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell met with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Turkey and discussed the Israeli war on Gaza.

The meetings came after Borrell visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with Gaza, where he urged for the restarting of aid deliveries into Gaza.

Israel's military forces have arrested two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the occupied West Bank town of Tulkarm.

The arrests come after Israel launched a raid on Tulkarm, killing two Palestinians and wounding eight.

🚨Israeli Occupation forces arrest two EMTs from inside the #Tulkarm EMS center.#NotATarget #IHL #WestBank pic.twitter.com/f9z3zLwI0X

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) September 10, 2024