UK could halt Israel arms sales after UNRWA ban, minister hints

Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the main events:

• The UN said that a rocket that hit a peacekeeper HQ in southern Lebanon was likely fired by Hezbollah.
• Israeli forces made their deepest advance into Lebanon yet, with fighting reported at a town four miles from the Israel-Lebanon border.
• Anneliese Dodds, the Development Minister, hinted that the UK could halt more arms sales to Israel over its ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
• An Israeli strike killed at least 60 people in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
• Hezbollah announced that Naim Qassem had been chosen to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as the group’s leader, after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut in September.

The UN has said a rocket that hit a peacekeeper HQ in southern Lebanon on Tuesday was likely fired by Hezbollah.

Eight Austrian soldiers suffered minor injuries after a rocket strike on the UN base in Naqoura in southwest Lebanon, the Austrian defence ministry said.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) later said the attack came from the north, and was likely fired by Hezbollah or an affiliated group.

It comes after Israel faced weeks of criticism from the UN and world leaders over several Israeli military strikes that hit Unifil positions in southern Lebanon.

Israeli forces have made their deepest advance into Lebanon since the start of the ground invasion on October 1, Lebanese media has said.

Security sources told the L’Orient Today newspaper that Hezbollah and Israel are fighting on the outskirts of Khiam, a large town roughly four miles from the Israel-Lebanon border.

It said Israel attacked the town on Monday with artillery and “30 air strikes”, adding that the sound of machine gun fire, explosions and helicopters could be heard throughout the night.

The newspaper also said that it had lost contact with its correspondent in Khiam on Monday afternoon.

Lebanese state media said on Tuesday that a “large number” of Israeli tanks had reached Khiam’s eastern outskirts.

A total of four Israeli divisions are deployed in Lebanon, but their operations have until now been largely limited to small-scale raids near the border.

Khiam is located on the edge of Israel’s eastern flank, around five miles north of where the Institute for the Study of War said on Monday that Israel’s 91st Division was involved in fierce fighting trying to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.

Israel’s defence minister has hinted that Israel will target Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem.

In a post on X, Yoav Gallant shared a picture of Qassem alongside the message: “Temporary appointment. Not for long.”

Qassem was announced as Hezbollah’s new head on Tuesday after the group’s long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut last month.

An Israeli politician had to be physically restrained in parliament on Monday after an outburst at a pro-Palestinian colleague.

Tally Gotliv, from the Right-wing Likud party, was held back by ushers when she approached the podium during a speech by Arab nationalist politician Ahmad Tibi.

Mr Tibi was condemning legislation banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israeli, labelling it “fascist”.

“The Palestinian people will be freed from the occupation,” Mr Tibi shouted amid calls from Right-wing Israeli politicians for him to leave the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said it has demolished a Hezbollah command centre in southern Lebanon, along with a bunker used to store explosives. 

The IDF added that reservists from the Carmeli Brigade found the command centre, which it said was built roughly 8 metres underground. 

It said the reservists also found the bunker where “half a ton” of explosives were stored. 

The IDF says it demolished an underground Hezbollah command center and another bunker where explosives were stored, during recent operations in southern Lebanon.

Reservists of the Carmeli Brigade located the command center, which the IDF says was built some 8 meters underground.… pic.twitter.com/dxBPaTOSUp

Unicef has condemned Israel’s decision to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from operating in the country. 

“If UNRWA is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” Unicef spokesman James Elder said. “So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children.”

In a vote late on Monday, the Israeli parliament banned UNRWA from conducting any activity inside Israel, including the annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. 

UNRWA has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza. 

The UN found in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Hamas’ leader in Lebanon - killed last month in an Israeli strike - was found to have worked for UNRWA.

Qatar has said it will work with Joe Biden’s administration to reach a ceasefire deal “until the last minute”.

“We don’t foresee any negative result of the elections on the mediation process itself,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, referencing next month’s US presidential election. 

“We believe that we are dealing with institutions, and in a country like the United States, the institutions are invested in finding a resolution to this crisis,” he added. 

The US has attacked Israel’s banning of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and urged the country to reconsider its decision, according to Israeli media. 

“We urge the government of Israel to pause and further consider implementation of this legislation to ensure UNRWA can effectively carry out its mission and facilitate humanitarian assistance,” a US State Department spokesman told the Times of Israel newspaper. 

“Implementing the legislation risks catastrophe for the more than 3 million Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services,” the spokesman added. 

In a vote late on Monday, the Israeli parliament banned UNRWA from conducting any activity inside Israel, including the annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. 

Other Western nations including Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia have condemned Israel’s move, calling UNRWA’s work “essential and irreplaceable”. The UK said UNRWA is the only agency able to provide adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

UNRWA has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza. 

The UN found in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Hamas’ leader in Lebanon - killed last month in an Israeli strike - was found to have worked for UNRWA.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed fighting in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said. 

The IDF added that all four were members of its “Multidomain Unit”, a versatile commando force established in 2019 that combines various fields of warfare. 

It said an officer from the unit was seriously wounded in the same incident. 

Some 5,200 Israeli soldiers have had rehabilitation treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, the Israeli defence ministry has said. 

In a statement, the ministry said a total of 12,000 soldiers had entered rehab centres for various injuries since the start of the war. 

It said 14% of the total had moderate to severe injuries, including 23 with severe head injuries, 60 amputees and 12 who lost their eyesight.

Some 1,500 soldiers have been wounded twice, the ministry added, meaning they returned to active duty after being treated by its rehab facilities before being wounded a second time. 

Iran plans to raise its military budget by 200%, according to Iranian state media citing a government spokesman. 

“A considerable raise that amounts to 200% has been witnessed in the country’s defense budget,” Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted as saying. 

The report did not give any further details about how the additional defence funding would be spent, but said it was part of larger budget proposal that Iran’s government had submitted to parliament for approval. 

It comes after more than 100 Israeli aircraft struck targets across Iran on Saturday, in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage of Israel on October 1. 

The Israeli military has said a drone that hit the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon on Tuesday morning was launched from Yemen, some 1,400 miles away. 

The drone hit an open area and caused no injuries but sparked a small fire, the military added. 

A spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the group had launched drones towards Ashkelon. 

Since October 2023, the Iran-backed Yemeni group has launched long-range strikes on Israel, as well as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in what it said was an attempt to pressure Israel to end its campaign in the Gaza Strip. 

An Israeli strike on a residential building in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, killed at least 60 people and wounded dozens of others, according to the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry. 

The ministry added that 20 children were amongst the dead.

Video footage showed several bodies wrapped in blankets outside a bombed four-storey building. 

“There are tens of martyrs - tens of displaced people were living in this house. The house was bombed without prior warning,” Ismail Ouaida, an eyewitness who was helping to recover bodies, said in the video.

“As you can see, martyrs are here and there, with body parts hanging on the walls,” he added

The Israeli military has yet to comment on the reported strike. 

A man has been killed in the northern Israeli city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha after a barrage of rockets were fired at it from Lebanon, according to Israeli media. 

The Israeli military said a total of 50 rockets were fired, adding that some were intercepted but that “several impacts were identified”. 

Hezbollah has chosen Naim Qassem, the group’s deputy head, to succeed Hasan Nasrallah as leader. 

Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah before he was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut shortly after Nasrallah’s assassination.

Qassem is one of the most senior figures still alive in Hezbollah today, Jotam Confino writes, serving as the group’s deputy leader since 1991.

Born in Kfar Kfila in Lebanon in 1953, Qassem became involved with the Shiite Amal movement in Lebanon in the 1970’s but later became one of the founders of Hezbollah.

Seen as one of Hezbollah’s chief ideologues and religious scholars, he is not considered a leader with vast military experience, but rather an important figure in Shura Council, the main decision-making authority in the terror group.

He was the first to speak publicly on behalf of Hezbollah following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, striking a defiant tone and warning Israel that the group would be ready to meet Israeli soldiers if they invaded Lebanon. 

The secretary-general of the United Nations has said there is “no alternative to UNWRA”, after Israel last night passed a law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in the country. 

“The implementation of these laws would be detrimental for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for peace and security in the region as a whole. As I said before, UNRWA is indispensable,” Antonio Guterres added. 

Mr Guterres went on to say that he would bring the matter to the attention of the UN General Assembly. 

At least 60 people have been killed - including two children - in Israeli air strikes in several areas of northern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the country’s health ministry said. 

The ministry added that at least 58 other people were wounded across 12 areas of the Valley. 

The mayor of Baalbek, a city in the region, described the Israeli attacks as the “most violent” raids on the area since Israel stepped up its offensive against Hezbollah last month. 

Israel has concentrated its bombing campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah strongholds in the country’s southern border regions and Beirut’s southern suburbs. 

Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a fertile farming region around 19 miles east of Beirut, has also come under regular bombardment due to a large Hezbollah presence in the area.