Israel has announced that additional troops are to join its ground invasion into southern Lebanon.
In a message posted to its official Telegram channel, the IDF said:
The 36th Division, including soldiers of the Golani Brigade, 188th Armored Brigade, 6th Infantry Brigade, and additional forces are joining the limited, localised, targeted raids on Hezbollah terror targets and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon that began on Monday.
It says, in addition, that “The soldiers are being accompanied by the IAF and the 282nd Artillery Brigade.”
Key events
The Sky News security and defence editor Deborah Haynes has posted another video from northern Israel, close to the UN-drawn blue line that separates the country from Lebanon, in which can clearly be heard an ongoing exchange of fire.
A lot of outgoing artillery rounds being fired by Israeli military into Lebanon. We are on Israeli side of the border. We could hear helicopter gunship also opening fire – you can hear artillery on this pic.twitter.com/5lCuW1F8Ki
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) October 2, 2024
China’s state-owned news agency Xinhua reports that over 200 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from Lebanon. The Lebanese government has staed that a fifth of the country’s population – about one million people – have been displaced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes.
Reuters reports that in a statement Hezbollah has claimed to have targeted areas north of Israel’s city of Haifa with a large missile salvo. Warning sirens have been repeatedly sounding in northern Israel.
Israeli media reports that 10 houses have been damaged by rockets or artillery fire in Metula, an Israeli community which is right up against the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
The information minister in Lebanon’s caretaker government, Johnny Corm, has promised that the country is working hard to “avoid communication paralysis” while it is under attack from Israel.
Posting a video of telecomms equipment in south Beirut that had been destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, he said:
This is one of the cellular transmission stations that was destroyed by the Israeli aggression on the southern suburb of Beirut. We strongly condemn this attack and are working hard to ensure that services are provided to citizens and to avoid communication paralysis.
هي احدى محطات الارسال الخليوي التي تدمّرت بفعل العدوان الاسرائيلي على ضاحية بيروت الجنوبية.
نستنكر هذا الاعتداء أشدّ الاستنكار ونعمل جاهدين لضمان توفير الخدمة للمواطنين وتفادي الشلل بالتواصل. pic.twitter.com/yj0PXl38jJ— Johnny Corm جوني القرم (@JohnnyCorm) October 2, 2024
This image sent to us over the news wires shows smoke rising again over Beirut after another Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s capital earlier today.
At least 60 people killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight – reports
Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 60 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics in the territory said.
Reuters reports that local media said Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded.
At least 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City, including a strike on a school sheltering displaced families that killed 17.
Israel’s military has repeatedly claimed to be targeting Hamas rather than civilians in its operation inside Gaza, which has claimed the lives of over 350 Israeli troops over its course. Palestinian sources put the number of dead in Gaza at well over 40,000. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz has threatened Israeli retaliation for Iran’s “brutal” missile attack yesterday in a post to social media thanking world leaders for their support.
Katz said:
The support and solidarity from leaders and nations around the world will never be forgotten. We know who our friends are. The Ayatollah regime has crossed the red line – and the state of Israel will not remain silent in the face of Iran’s brutal attack on our citizens. The entire free world must stand with Israel to stop the Iranian axis of evil – before it’s too late.
He was responding to US senator Tom Cotton saying “Pray for Israel and then back Israel to the hilt to destroy our common enemies.”
To date it is known that two Israelis were lightly wounded in the attack yesterday by Iran, and one person was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by the attack.
Israeli media reports that about 100 rockets have been launched into Israel from the direction of Lebanon so far today. There are no reports of any casualties.
AFP reports that Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Tehran has warned the US against intervening after Iran launched missiles into Israel yesterday.
“We have … warned the US forces to withdraw from this matter and not to intervene,” Araghchi told state television, adding that the message was relayed through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday called on Iran and Hezbollah to immediately end their attacks on Israel and warned that Iran risks inflaming the entire region.
Reuters reports Scholz said “Iran is risking setting the entire region on fire – this must be prevented at all costs. Hezbollah and Iran must immediately cease their attacks on Israel.”
He added that Germany would continue to work with its partners towards a ceasefire.
Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel. The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by an Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday.
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, which the IDF says are targeting Hezbollah, have killed about 1,000 people and wounded 6,000 more in the past couple of weeks, with one million people said to be displaced from their homes. Israel has ordered residents of more than 20 villages in the south of Lebanon to flee their homes in order to save their lives.
Authorities in Gaza report that over 40,000 people have been killed there by the Israeli military campaign against Hamas over the last year.
Yemen’s Houthis in a statement have said they will not hesitate in broadening their operations against Israel. Reuters reports they also threatened US and UK shipping interests on account of the nations’ “continuous” support of Israel. The Houthis claim to have targeted a military post deep inside Israel with rocket fire.
