According to the United Nations, a quarter of Lebanon’s territory is under Israeli military displacement orders. In a flash update released on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated, “Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded into previously unaffected areas and increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure.” This update coincided with a fresh set of evacuation orders from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for specific buildings in the Haret Hreik and Hadath areas of Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut and Hezbollah stronghold.
On Wednesday, US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to each other on a “direct” 30-minute phone call. This marks the first conversation between the two counterparts in over two months and comes amid Israel’s vow to strike Iran after enduring missile attacks on October 1. The head of the IDF has pledged to continue its war on Hezbollah “with intensity, without allowing them any respite or recovery.”
This is a message to the people of Lebanon: pic.twitter.com/btMQR0Xwtn
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 8, 2024
The Lebanese Civil Defense Service confirmed the deaths of five of its members in an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Tyre. The attack was condemned by the Lebanese Health Ministry on X for targeting “rescue and ambulance crews (and) disregarding international laws, norms, and humanitarian conventions.” In addition to these attacks, several correspondents from Al Jazeera have accused Israel of firing at a group of journalists in Gaza on Wednesday. According to the Middle Eastern news agency, the Israeli military “targeted a number of journalists” who were working in and near the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. However, the IDF told CNN that it was “not aware of IDF troops in the specified area” at that time.
The IDF has carried out approximately 1,100 airstrikes on Lebanon’s south since its advance to ground war against Hezbollah. The IDF confirmed in a statement attacks on “munitions warehouses, launchers, tunnel shafts, and observation and sniping positions” in the airstrikes. The official death toll in Lebanon has climbed to 2,141 deaths since renewed tensions broke out in the Middle East on September 17.
