Middle East latest: 7 people killed in Israel by rocket fire from Lebanon

A series of rocket barrages from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Thursday, killing a total of seven people, including four Thai workers. The attacks marked the deadliest strikes to hit Israel since its military invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.

The Israeli military warned people to evacuate from more areas of Lebanon's south and east and launched airstrikes that killed at least 24. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced since Israel’s escalation, according to government estimates.

The developments come as international mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict.

Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation.

The death toll from more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has passed 43,000, Palestinian officials reported this week, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

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Here’s the latest:

Blinken hints at progress on Lebanon cease-fire, and wants Israel to do more for Gaza humanitarian crisis

WASHINGTON — United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken says President Joe Biden's administration is making some progress on crafting a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon but is still seeking more progress from Israel on improving humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza where the conflict with Hamas rages.

Blinken's comments to reporters in Washington came shortly after senior White House aides Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein wrapped up talks with Israeli authorities on both issues.

Blinken insisted any cease-fire in Lebanon must involve Hezbollah withdrawing from its positions in the south, in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

“On Lebanon, let me just say that we are working very hard and making progress on reaching understandings of what would be required for the effective implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701,” Blinken said. “This would be the basis of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.”

As for Gaza, Blinken said the Biden administration is continuing to press Israel on the necessity for improved access to humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians.

“There’s been progress, but it’s insufficient and we’re working on a daily basis to make sure that Israel does what it must do to ensure that this assistance gets to people who need it inside of Gaza,” Blinken said. “It’s not enough to get trucks to Gaza. It’s vital that what they bring with them can get distributed effectively inside of Gaza.”

Israeli airstrikes kill 24 people in eastern and southern Lebanon

BEIRUT — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 24 people in eastern and southern Lebanon on Thursday, state media reported, and the Israeli military warned people to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon, including a built-up Palestinian refugee camp.

Israel invaded Lebanon at the start of October, after nearly a year of trading fire with Hezbollah. The militant group began firing rockets, missiles and drones on northern Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war in Gaza. Iran backs both groups.

Israeli strikes killed 13 people in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News agency. Another strike killed a man on a motorcycle on the coastal highway between Tyre and Sidon.

Also in south Lebanon airstrikes on three areas killed 10 people, including five paramedics, NNA said.

The news agency also reported a strike on a car on a main highway running through the mountains outside the capital, Beirut. It said the strike closed the highway, diverting traffic through nearby villages. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The Health Ministry later said that over the past 24 hours, 45 people have been killed and 110 wounded in different parts of Lebanon. It added that the total death toll since the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel began in October 2023 reached 2,865 while those wounded have reached 13,047.

UNRWA office heavily damaged in West Bank during Israeli raid

NUR SHAMS REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank — The offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees were heavily damaged during an Israeli raid in a West Bank refugee camp on Thursday. The official Palestinian news agency alleged Israeli military bulldozers had partially demolished the building.

Associated Press video of the scene showed the outer cement wall of the UNRWA office had been destroyed, with large piles of sand and dirt dug up in the yard. The main office building had minor damage and an adjacent temporary hall was flattened, covered with dirt, its corrugated roof knocked over.

The Israeli military denied it damaged the building in the Nur Shams refugee camp. It said militants had planted explosives nearby and set them off to attack Israeli troops and that the blast "likely caused damage to the building."

The cause of the damage could not be independently confirmed but appeared consistent with previous Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and buildings in the occupied West Bank, and AP journalists saw Israeli military bulldozers on the perimeter of the Nur Shams camp during the operation.

Israeli troops raided the camp overnight, saying they were battling militants in the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike and a third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas militant.

The damage to the office comes after Israel's parliament this week passed laws that would effectively ban UNRWA's operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israel accuses the agency of turning a blind eye to militants among its staff, a claim UNRWA denies. The law comes into effect in three months.

Israeli fire hits northern Gaza hospital, wounding staff and destroying critical supplies, says WHO chief

JERUSALEM — The director of the World Health Organization said Thursday that Israeli fire again hit one of the only hospitals still partially-functional in Gaza’s north, wounding staff and destroying much-needed supplies that agency had delivered to the embattled facility.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the hit to Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, which he said occurred Thursday morning. He said it damaged a storeroom with supplies WHO had brought to the hospital during “complex missions,” as well as the hospital’s desalination station and water tanks on the roof. The hospital was raided last week by Israeli troops.

“The hospital has been barely functioning since the most recent raid,” he said. “The latest attack is putting patients’ lives at great risk.”

The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, said in a recorded video statement posted to social media Thursday that heavy Israeli gunfire targeted the facility beginning at 1 a.m. Thursday night, striking the surgical ward and the storage facility — holding supplies delivered days earlier by WHO — and setting a fire that damaged the hospital’s dialysis department. The fire injured four staff members as they worked to extinguish it.

The Israeli military said it was “unaware” of a strike on Kamal Adwan Hospital but would review the allegation. In recent days, it has said it assisted WHO humanitarian missions bringing supplies and evacuating patients from the hospital.

Around 120 patients remain in the hospital, with more arriving every day, injured by Israeli strikes on north Gaza. Supplies are nearly at zero and there are only two doctors left in the facility to treat the waves of war-wounded, according to Abu Safiya, after the Israeli raid last week arrested 100 people from the hospital, including much of the remaining medical staff.

Israel’s military says it raided the hospital to root out Hamas militants sheltering there, and following the raid released photos of several firearms, a magazine, and RPGs found at the facility.

UNICEF calls for immediate cease-fire and says at least 1 child was killed each day of October in Lebanon

BEIRUT — The United Nations children’s agency is calling for an immediate cease-fire, saying that at least one child has been killed in Lebanon each day of October and at least 10 have been wounded.

“The ongoing war in Lebanon is upending children’s lives, and in many cases, inflicting severe physical wounds and deep emotional scars,” UNICEF said in a statement Thursday.

Lebanon’s health ministry says 166 children have been killed and at least 1,168 children have been wounded since the conflict began last year.

“This devastating tally grows by the day,” UNICEF said.

The agency says that thousands children who have survived bombings and attacks are displaying alarming signs of emotional, behavioral and physical distress, such as disrupted sleep, loss of appetite, overwhelming fear, increased anxiety, aggression and difficulty concentrating.

UNICEF said it has reached thousands of children and caregivers with psychological first aid and support since the escalation began last month.

“But true healing can only begin when the violence ends," the agency said.

Another rocket barrage from Lebanon kills 2 in northern Israel, raising day's toll there to 7

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s rescue service said projectiles fired from Lebanon killed two more people Thursday in northern Israel, just hours after the deadliest rocket barrage to hit the country since the Israeli military’s invasion of southern Lebanon killed five.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization, said its medics confirmed the deaths of a 30-year-old man and 60-year-old woman in a suburb of the northern city of Haifa. They also treated two other people who suffered mild injuries and were hospitalized.

The Israeli military said that roughly 25 rockets crossed into Israel from Lebanon as part of the volley that struck an olive grove where people had gathered for the harvest.

The deadly attack came just hours after officials in Metula, in northern Israel, said that five people were killed, including four foreign workers, in a rocket barrage Thursday that struck an Israeli agricultural area.

“I am deeply saddened to learn about the four Thais killed and one injured from rocket fire close to the town of Metula near the Israeli-Lebanese border," Thailand’s Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa posted Friday morning on social media. "Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict.”

The back-to-back attacks made Thursday one of the deadliest days for civilians in Israel since the Israeli military invaded southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 as part of a widening campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group.

Rocket from Lebanon fired toward Israel hits Irish peacekeepers' base but no one is injured

LONDON — Ireland’s military says a base for Irish peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon was hit by a rocket fired towards Israel. No one was injured.

Lt. Gen. Sean Clancy, chief of staff of Ireland’s defense forces, said the Katyusha rocket landed in an unoccupied area of Camp Shamrock on Wednesday, causing “minimal damage.”

He said the rocket was travelling towards Israel, and it was unclear whether it fell or was taken down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

About 350 Irish soldiers are currently deployed as peacekeepers with the United Nations mission Lebanon known as UNIFIL.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris described the incident as “extremely serious” and said not enough was being done to protect peacekeeping troops amid the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

“I really reiterate my call in relation to the need for people to respect international law and respect the specific protections that are provided to peacekeepers in relation to that,” he said.

Israeli military says it struck Hezbollah weapons depots and bases in Syria

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday that it struck Hezbollah weapons depots and bases in Syria.

According to a military statement, the air force hit targets near Qusair, a city in western Syria along the border with Lebanon. The military claims Hezbollah recently began storing weapons along the Syrian-Lebanese border in an attempt to smuggle arms into Lebanon.

Since the start of Israel’s ground invasion into Lebanon, the military has struck border crossings between Lebanon and Syria multiple times, claiming they served as arms-smuggling routes. The strikes, humanitarian groups say, intensified an already severe humanitarian crisis by blocking key routes for supplies and impeding access for those fleeing to safety.

Three of the six official border crossings between the two countries have closed as a result of airstrikes, forcing people fleeing from Lebanon to take long detours or cross on foot.

Thousands of Lebanese flock to a Christian area in the Bekaa Valley

DEIR AL-AHMAR, Lebanon — Thousands of Lebanese have flocked to a Christian area in the eastern Bekaa Valley after Israel warned civilians to leave the city of Baalbek and surrounding areas ahead of airstrikes this week.

Jean Fakhry, head of the Union of Municipalities of the area of Deir al-Ahmar, described a “massive human influx” in the wake of the warning, with the road turning "into a parking lot.”

"This is the first time we’ve witnessed such a major disaster,” Fakhry said.

About 12,000 displaced people are now staying in the area — about 2,500 of them in shelters and the rest hosted in private homes, he said.

At one of the shelters, displaced families were still arriving toting luggage on Thursday while women cooked and tidied up mattresses and blankets.

“Our homes were destroyed,” said Zahraa Younis, from the village of Bouday. “We came with nothing — no clothes or anything else — and took shelter here.”

Fadwa Qasim from the village of Douris said, her family came with their neighbors.

“We hope the situation calms down so we can return to our homes, if we still have homes,” she said. "My children are scattered, each in a different area.”

Lebanese officials estimate that 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon as a result of the ongoing war.

Authorities in northern Israel say 5 killed by projectiles fired from Lebanon

JERUSALEM — Projectiles fired from Lebanon into northern Israel killed five people on Thursday, including four foreign workers, authorities said. It was the deadliest such attack since Israeli troops invaded Lebanon earlier this month to battle the Hezbollah militant group.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel for more than a year, drawing retaliatory strikes. Sixty-eight people have been killed in rocket attacks in northern Israel since the conflict began last year.

“I am deeply saddened to learn about the four Thais killed and one injured from rocket fire close to the town of Metula near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” Thailand’s Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa posted Friday morning on social media. “Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict.”

The regional council of Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, reported the attack. The town is surrounded by Lebanon on three sides and has suffered heavy damage from rockets. The town’s residents evacuated in October 2023, and only security officials and agricultural workers remain.

Israeli airstrikes kill 8 people in eastern and southern Lebanon

BEIRUT — The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon, including a built-up Palestinian refugee camp. Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, killed at least eight people in different parts of the country on Thursday.

The Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tyre is one of several dating back to the 1948 Mideast war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out of what is now Israel.

Israel has warned people to evacuate from large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Over a million people have already fled their homes.

Israeli strikes killed seven people in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News agency. Another strike killed a man on a motorcycle on the coastal highway between Tyre and Sidon.

Israeli police arrest a couple accused of spying for Iran

JERUSALEM — Israeli police said Thursday they have arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information on an Israeli academic on behalf of Iran.

Israeli security services say they have uncovered several Iranian spy networks in recent months. The two archenemies have waged a long-running shadow war that has burst into the open since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. They exchanged fire directly for the first time in April and then again this month.

In a statement released Thursday, the police and the Shin Bet internal security agency said that the man arrested, Rafael Guliev, from the central city of Lod, had surveilled Israel’s Mossad spy headquarters for the Iranians and collected information on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies, a prominent Israeli think tank. It did not identify the scholar.

The statement said Guliev was also entrusted with finding an assassin, though the statement did not make clear if he had actually done so.

Guliev’s wife, Lala, assisted in the activities, the statement said.

Officials in West Bank say 3 people were killed in Israeli raid

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials said an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people.

The military said its forces were targeting militants in the area of the Nur Shams refugee camp, which has seen repeated battles in recent months. The military said it eliminated a Hamas militant in the area who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike and third by Israeli gunfire.

Israel said its forces were still in the area.

At least 763 Palestinians, including over 165 children, have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of the Gaza Strip triggered the war there, according to the Health Ministry.

Most appear to have been militants killed during army operations, but the dead also include civilian bystanders and people killed during violent protests.

Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis since the start of the war.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. Israel has built scores of settlements there that are now home to over 500,000 Israeli settlers.

The 3 million Palestinians in the territory live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising limited self-rule in population centers.