At least 87 killed in strike on northern Gaza, officials say, as UN warns ‘nowhere is safe’

The Israeli military has urged residents in parts of southern Beirut to leave, as it warned of future operations in the area.

“Urgent warning to residents of the southern suburb (of Dahieh), specifically those in …Haret Hreik neighbourhood.

“You are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which the IDF (Israeli military) will be operating in the near future,” a military spokesman writes on X. , external

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, says the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces could increase the chances of achieving a ceasefire in the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters at a G7 defence ministers’ meeting in Napels, Borrell says after Sinwar’s killing, “a new perspective is open”, which should be used to reach a ceasefire and secure the release of the remaining hostages.

He says Unifil, the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which has come under fire during recent clashes in Lebanon, could be strengthened and its mission “has to be reviewed”.

How Israel could respond after drone launched towards PM’s homepublished at 12:44 British Summer Time 19 October

Sebastian Usher
BBC Middle East analyst

Hezbollah had vowed in response to the killing by Israel of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that it would embark on a new and escalatory phase in its conflict with Israel.

Aiming drones at the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence would seem to fit the bill. Hezbollah has not yet confirmed that it was responsible, but it seems unlikely that there could have been another source for the attack.

Netanyahu was not in the house at the time – and no casualties have been reported. But much will depend on how he and his government choose to frame the incident.

They could describe it as a failed assassination attempt and point the finger at Iran, which is Hezbollah’s all-important sponsor.

That would potentially have consequences for the severity of Israel’s response to the major ballistic missile attack Tehran launched at Israel earlier this month.

A man has been killed by shrapnel while in his car, Israel’s medical service Magen David Adom (MDA) says.

The MDA says that following a red alert siren in Ein Hamifratz, north of Haifa, another person was in a “moderate condition” and sent to a nearby hospital for treatment.

As we reported earlier, the MDA also say a 29-year-old man sustained moderate injuries from shrapnel and another had minor injuries after a rocket, launched from Lebanon, hit a house in Haifa.

In its latest update, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says 19 people have been killed and 91 others wounded in the past 24 hours.

At least 42,519 Palestinians have been killed and 99,637 others wounded since Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after the7 October Hamas-led attack, the health ministry adds.

• A drone was launched towards Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, northern Israel, a spokesman for the Israeli PM says, adding that he was not there at the time and there were no casualties
• At least 33 people were killed and 85 wounded after Israeli strikes on Friday in Jabalia, northern Gaza, the strip’s authorities say. The Indonesian Hospital there has also come under “heavy gunfire” from Israeli forces, the Hamas-run health ministry says
• In central Gaza, at least 11 people were killed in a strike on the al-Maghazi refugee camp, local media report
• In southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the Bint Jbeil area. Hezbollah has not commented
• More than 50 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Haifa and other northern Israeli cities since this morning, the IDF says, with some intercepted

• Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Hamas is “alive and will remain alive” in his first remarks since the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar

Israel’s military says that 55 rockets have been launched from Lebanon towards Haifa and other northern Israeli cities.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) adds that some were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.

Israel’s medical service Magen David Adom said a 29-year-old man sustained moderate injuries from shrapnel, while another had mild injuries after a rocket hit a house in Haifa.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired a “large salvo” of advanced rockets at a military base east of Haifa, the AFP news agency reports.

Sinwar’s death a blow to Iranpublished at 10:39 British Summer Time 19 October

Sebastian Usher
BBC Middle East analyst

In a statement earlier, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei eulogised Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel earlier this week, as what he called the “shining figure of resistance and struggle”.

Under Sinwar’s leadership, ties between Hamas and Iran had deepened – giving Tehran extra leverage in its strategy of using proxy armed groups to enhance its influence across the Middle East.

So, his death is undeniably a blow to Iran, even if the consequences of the October 7 attack on Israel – which Sinwar masterminded – have drawn Tehran more directly into open conflict with Israel than the Iranian leadership had bargained for.

Iran – and the world – is still awaiting Israel’s response to the ballistic missile attack that Tehran launched last month. For now at least, there seems little end in sight to the cycle of escalation between Israel and Iran, including its regional proxies.

As we’ve reported, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the key figure behind the 7 October attacks on Israel, was killed by Israeli troops on Wednesday.

Drone footage released by the military is said to show Sinwar’s final moments before he was killed.

BBC Verify was able to confirm the location of the footage: a northern area of Rafah, in southern Gaza, and studied satellite imagery of the area.

Watch as the BBC’s analysis editor Ros Atkins takes a look at that footage:

At least 11 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a home in central Gaza’s al-Maghazi refugee camp, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The agency, citing medical sources, reports that in addition to those killed, others were injured and several people were still missing under the rubble.

Lebanon’s health ministry says two people have been killed after an Israeli strike on a car in Jounieh.

The car was reportedly hit as it was travelling on the main highway connecting Beirut to the north of Lebanon.

Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) says emergency services rushed to the scene after reports of “a loud explosion”, adding that a car was hit by “three missiles” near the highway.

The Israeli military says it’s looking into the report, while there’s been no comment so far from Hezbollah.

The Israeli military says its air force has killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the Bint Jbeil area of southern Lebanon.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Naser Abed al-Aziz Rashid was involved in “terrorist activities against Israeli civilians”.

Hezbollah has not commented.

A drone was launched towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, northern Israel, his spokesman says.

Netanyahu was not in the building and there were no casualties, the spokesman adds.

The Israeli military earlier said three drones had been fired towards the coastal town early on Saturday. One hit a building, while the other two were intercepted, it added.

A British doctor working in southern Gaza says her hospital is so low on medical supplies that staff are forced to ration items, “using just one glove sometimes”.

“I’ve never seen such a lack of access to basic medical items needed to be a doctor,” Dr Clare Frost tells the BBC’s Today programme, “even gloves and gauze – we just have such a chronic short supply”.

Frost, from Wales, works for humanitarian medical NGO UK-Med, and has been in al-Mawasi – west of the southern city of Khan Younis – for the past five weeks.

“It’s an incredibly difficult and hostile environment to be a healthcare worker in Gaza,” she says.

She treats more than 400 patients a day and for children, “we’re seeing lots of blast injuries…who’ve lost one or two limbs”.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza has come under “heavy gunfire” from Israeli forces.

In an update, the ministry says the upper floors of the hospital, in the territory’s northern town of Beit Lahia, have been targeted.

There are “more than 40 patients and wounded in addition to medical staff” inside the hospital, the ministry says, adding that and electricity has been “completely cut off”.

In a statement, Israel says it is operating near the Indonesian Hospital, adding: “The troops operating in the area have been trained for the operational activity and briefed on the importance of mitigating harm to civilians and medical infrastructure.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says about 20 missiles crossed into Israel from Lebanon late on Friday night.

Some were intercepted and others fell in open areas, the IDF adds.

In another update, the IDF says a “hostile aircraft” was also detected in the western and Upper Galilee areas. It says it’s reviewing the details.

And in the past hour, the Israeli military says it intercepted two drones crossing from Lebanon, with a third drone hitting a structure in Caesarea. No one was injured, it adds.

Meanwhile, in posts on Telegram, Hezbollah says it fired rockets at several locations in northern Israel overnight including Safed, Malkiya and Avivim.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Hamas was “alive and will remain alive” despite the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Sinwar, the key figure behind the 7 October attacks on Israel, was killed after Israeli troops attacked a building in Rafah earlier this week.

“His loss is undoubtedly painful for the Axis of Resistance, but this front did not cease advancing with the martyrdom of prominent figures”, Khamenei says in a statement.

The “Axis of Resistance”, backed by Iranian support, includes Hamas, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as well as other armed groups around the Middle East which have attacked Israel.

“He was a shining face of resistance and struggle. With a steely resolve, he stood against the oppressive and aggressive enemy,” Khamenei adds.

Israel intensifies efforts on northern Gazapublished at 07:09 British Summer Time 19 October

Jonah Fisher
Reporting from Jerusalem

There’s little immediate sign that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is changing the course of the war in Gaza.

Overnight, the Israeli military appeared to continue its offensive in the north and in the Jabalia refugee camp.

On Friday evening, the Hamas-run administration in Gaza said the homes of three families were hit by an airstrike. It says at least 33 people, 21 of them women, have been killed and 85 injured.

Video posted to social media – which the BBC has not yet verified – appears to show bodies wrapped in blankets and shrouds on the floor of the nearby Al Awda hospital.

The director of the hospital has sent a message to reporters telling them that its wards are full and that people are being treated on the floor.

This morning, the Hamas-run health ministry say another hospital in northern Gaza has come under Israeli fire with the top floor targeted by artillery rounds.

The Israeli military has yet to respond to our request for comment on these specific incidents but in the last few weeks has been urging people to leave northern Gaza. It says it is looking for Hamas fighters.

But many civilians have stayed behind in what United Nations officials say are “atrocious conditions”.

At least 33 people have been killed and 85 others wounded in Israeli air strikes at Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Friday, the strip’s Hamas-run authorities say.

The final death toll could reach 50, a statement from Gaza’s government media office says, as people were buried under the rubble of buildings. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reported attack.

Israeli forces have been besieging the densely-populated camp for weeks, saying its offensive there is intended to prevent Hamas fighters regrouping for more attacks.

About 400,000 people have been trapped inside the camp with little food or water for more than two weeks.

Fighting also continues in Lebanon, where Israel has been conducting a ground invasion against Hezbollah.

Israel’s military says it killed about 60 Hezbollah fighters and destroyed the Iran-backed group’s regional command centre with an air strike, while Hezbollah says it fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north.

We’ll be bringing you the latest developments from the region here throughout the day, so stay with us.