Live: Over 200 Lebanese children killed in two months of Israeli attacks

Israeli forces bombed the desalination plant for the kidney dialysis department at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza in its latest attack, the Palestinian health ministry has said. 

The attack also targeted the engineering and maintenance department, as well as the water tanks inside the hospital. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned the "repeated attacks by occupying forces" on the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza after a strike on Thursday caused significant damage to a warehouse containing medicines and medical supplies. 

"The ministry urges all international and humanitarian organisations to protect hospitals and medical staff from the occupation’s violence and crimes against health institutions in Gaza," the ministry said. 

Israeli fighter jets bombed the third floor of Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

A warehouse containing medicines and medical supplies, received just five days ago from the World Health Organization, was set ablaze in the bombing.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from day 391 of the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon: 

• An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, following the killing of a Hamas member by Israeli troops during a midnight raid. 

• In Gaza, Israeli jets and tanks intensified bombardments on the Jabalia refugee camp, which has been under suffocating siege for 26 days. 

• Meanwhile, Axios reports that significant progress has been made in ceasefire talks between Israel and Lebanon in the past day, though a final agreement has not been reached yet.

Our live coverage will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

The Al-Jadeed news channel in Lebanon has reported that an Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire could be announced within hours, citing the Lebanese caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati. Mikati said he had already spoken to US envoy Amos Hochstein, who is expected in Israel on Thursday. A draft of the US-proposed truce between Lebanon and Israel revealed by Israel's public broadcaster on Wednesday shows a period of 60 days without hostilities. 

Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 19 people including eight women in two towns in Lebanon's Baalbek region. The US said that it backs that operation: "We support [Israel's] right to go after legitimate Hezbollah targets, but in doing so, it is critical that they do so in a way that does not threaten the lives of civilians," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters.

The Israeli military also said on Wednesday that it bombed fuel reservoirs located in military complexes of Hezbollah's logistical empowerment unit in Lebanon's Bekaa region. 

The Washington Post reported that the US State Department has received hundreds of reports that Israel’s use of its weapons is responsible for civilian casualties. But the Biden administration has not done anything about it, the report said. 

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday "strongly warned against any attempts to dismantle or diminish" the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) after Israel passed a law banning its operations. Unrwa's chief Phillippe Lazzarini met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan earlier in the day, in Saudi Arabia.

In his first speech since being appointed as secretary general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem has thanked the group's leadership for choosing him to carry this "heavy weight," and said Hezbollah took part in "preemptive defence" against Israel.

Video shared by the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed shows emergency crews in the vicinity of a collapsed building in the Baalbek region, combing through the rubble. Two bodies were retrieved. 

Israeli air strikes on the area killed 19 people here on Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said. 

عمليات رفع الأنقاض لا تزال مستمرة في بعلبك - راس العين وانتشال شهيدين من تحت انقاض المبنى الذي استهدفته غارة اليوم pic.twitter.com/fxuoIZlrbp

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) October 30, 2024

Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 19 people including eight women in two towns in Lebanon's Baalbek region, according to Reuters, which cited the Lebanese health ministry. 

A draft of the US-proposed truce between Lebanon and Israel revealed by Israel's public broadcaster on Wednesday shows a period of 60 days without hostilities. 

The document maintains that the Lebanese Armed Forces would monitor and enforce the deal, and that Israel would have the right to defend itself.

Washington has thus far distanced itself from the document, saying several different versions have been circulating. 

EXCLUSIVE @kann_news: this is the full draft of the Israel-Lebanon agreement, wrote by special envoy Amos Hochstein. The document was inspected by PM Netanyahu and his aides. Final discussions will take place in coming days. https://t.co/S6Qu2ebVVq

— Suleiman Maswadeh סולימאן מסוודה (@SuleimanMas1) October 30, 2024

The Al-Jadeed news channel in Lebanon has reported that an Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire could be announced within hours, citing the Lebanese caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati. 

Mikati said he had already spoken to US envoy Amos Hochstein, who is expected in Israel on Thursday. 

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN published what it says is the draft proposal of the ceasefire, and which includes the Lebanese armed forces as monitor and enforcer of the deal. 

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it bombed fuel reservoirs located in military complexes of Hezbollah's logistical empowerment unit in Lebanon's Bekaa region. 

The Reuters news agency, citing a Lebanese source, said that at least one explosion that created a huge column of black smoke had been caused by those air strikes. 

Two Biden administration officials, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, are travelling to Israel to discuss a potential "diplomatic resolution" in Lebanon, the US confirmed on Wednesday.

"[Israel has] made significant progress in striking Hezbollah sites along the border, in clearing out Hezbollah infrastructure along the border... and we will be engaging with them privately about what we see as the path forward," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters. 

However, the US is not urging for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

"We are not calling for one right now. What we are trying to do is structure such a diplomatic resolution with all of the relevant parties. That's the diplomatic work that we have been engaged in, and we're not there yet, but we're working to get there," Miller said. 

As Israel on Wednesday bombed the city of Baalbek - a United Nations-designated world heritage site - the US said that it backs that operation. 

"We support their right to go after legitimate Hezbollah targets, but in doing so, it is critical that they do so in a way that does not threaten the lives of civilians," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters.

"It's important that they not threaten the lives of journalists, UN peacekeepers, members of the Lebanese Armed Forces," he added. "And it's also critical that civilian infrastructure and significant cultural heritage sites can be protected."

Israeli forces had earlier issued evacuation orders for Baalbek.

"The campaign they're conducting in Lebanon should not - cannot, must not - look like the campaign that they have conducted in Gaza, and we do not want to see that type of widespread damage," Miller said. 

An infographic released by the Palestinian Ministry of Education on Wednesday shows that nearly 12,000 students have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 when the war on Gaza broke out.

More than 18,000 students have been wounded. 

None of the dozen universities in Gaza have been left intact, with most destroyed by Israeli air strikes or ground demolitions. 

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the US State Department has received hundreds of reports that Israel’s use of its weapons is responsible for civilian casualties.

But the Biden administration has not done anything about it, the report said. 

"At least some of these cases presented to the State Department over the past year probably amount to violations of US and international law, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss internal deliberations," the Post said.

"The reports are received from across the US government, international aid organizations, nonprofits, media reports and other eyewitnesses. Dozens include photo documentation of US-made bomb fragments at sites where scores of children were killed, according to human rights advocates briefed on the process."

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday "strongly warned against any attempts to dismantle or diminish" the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) after Israel passed a law banning its operations. 

It expressed deep concern over the legislation adopted by the Knesset earlier this week. 

The council "urged the Israeli Government to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and live up to its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip."