Middle East latest: At least 60 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza, health officials say; Hezbollah appoints new leader

We’ve been reporting this morning on Israeli attacks on several areas in the eastern Bekka Valley in Lebanon (see 7.23 post).

Lebanon’s health ministry has said at least 60 people died yesterday across the region, which is a Hezbollah stronghold.

Images are now emerging from the aftermath of the attacks, showing rescuers working at a site damaged by the strikes.

Hezbollah has appointed the group’s deputy secretary-general Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new leader.

He will succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Beirut in an Israeli airstrike in September.

Mr Kassem has been Hezbollah’s acting leader since the death of Nasrallah. 

Who is Sheikh Naim Kassem?

Born in 1953 in Beirut, Mr Kassem has been a senior figure in Hezbollah for more than 30 years.

He was appointed deputy chief in 1991 and remained in his role when Hassan Nasrallah became leader a year later.

Mr Kassem was the first member of Hezbollah’s top leadership to make televised remarks after Nasrallah was killed last month.

He said Hezbollah would choose a successor to its slain leader “at the earliest opportunity” and would continue to fight Israel in solidarity with Palestinians.

This month, he said the group supported the efforts of Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, to secure a ceasefire in the country.

The number of people killed in an Israeli strike on the Gazan town of Beit Lahiya has risen to 60, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. 

There are 17 others still missing under the rubble of the residential building that was hit, an official added.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that most of those killed in the strike were women and children, citing medics.

Israel has increased its military operations in the north of Gaza in the last month as it tries to stop Hamas from regrouping in the enclave after more than a year of fighting.

Since then, the health ministry says hundreds of people have been killed and more than 60,000 others displaced under evacuation orders.

The UN’s secretary-general warned last week the “widespread devastation and deprivation” caused by Israel’s military operations in the north of Gaza have made life “untenable” for the population there.

By Alistair Bunkall, Middle East correspondent in Jerusalem

The Israeli decision to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on its territory and sever diplomatic ties with it could have a devastating impact on millions of Palestinians who rely on the services provided.

Unless there is an intervention, the ban will come into force in 90 days. The vote in the Knesset – the Israeli assembly – last night will also preclude Israel from providing work permits to UNRWA staff and prevent Israeli authorities from working with the agency, thereby significantly complicating the access of aid into Gaza and the future for UNRWA schools and medical facilities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Many of Israel’s closest allies, including the US, UK, France and Germany, had urged the Israeli government to rethink – they were ignored.

The UN secretary general said it will have “devastating consequences”, and the UK prime minister said he was “gravely concerned”.

The US state department has warned it could have implications under US law, which implies Washington might rethink arms transfers to Israel unless the ban is reversed – US law prevents the country from supplying military aid to anyone denying humanitarian access.

Although Israel says it will work to ensure aid is still provided to those who need it, no plan or alternative agency has been put forward, and it will be hard to replace UNRWA’s expertise built up over many decades.

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, was set up in 1949 to support Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Today it provides services including education, health services, street cleaning, financial start-up loans and accommodation to almost six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Israel has long disagreed with the status of Palestinian refugees because, in theory at least, it gives them a “right to return”, which means they retain a claim to property and land in modern-day Israel.

Since the 7 October attacks, the Israeli state has repeatedly and vociferously accused UNRWA of being a front for Hamas, claiming that the group used schools and hospitals to hide weapons and plan attacks. 

Although nine UNRWA workers were sacked by the UN for having links to Hamas, many of Israel’s claims have been made with little supporting evidence.

A number of countries briefly suspended funding to the agency, but almost all have since restored it.

Israel has prevented many of its staff from entering Israel, including the agency’s commissioner-general.

We mentioned in our good morning post reports from Lebanon’s health ministry that at least 60 people were killed yesterday in Israeli attacks on several areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

It said the deaths came in 16 areas, most of them in the Baalbek region, which is a Hezbollah stronghold.

The ministry said 58 people were wounded and that rescue efforts were ongoing across the area. 

The region’s governor, Bachir Khodr, called the attacks the “most violent” in the area since Israel invaded Lebanon last month, targeting what it says are Hezbollah’s operatives, infrastructure, and weapons in the country.

The Israeli military has not yet commented.

At least 55 people have been killed in Gaza after an Israeli strike on the town of Beit Lahiya, according to reports. 

The Palestinian news agency Wafa and Hamas media both reported the attack on the town in northern Gaza. 

Many of those killed in the strike were women and children, Wafa reported, citing medics. 

The Gaza civil service says the strike hit a residential building. 

We’ll bring you more on this breaking story as we get it.

Israel’s parliament voted yesterday to ban the UN relief and works agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from the country within 90 days.

The Knesset banned the agency from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. 

The legislation will take effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s foreign ministry notifies the UN, according to the spokesman for politician Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors of one of the bills.

UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the new laws “could have devastating consequences” for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank.

UNRWA’s chief Philippe Lazzarini has warned the ban “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”.

UNRWA has come under repeated attack from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who says it has links to Hamas and other militant groups – something the group disputes.

When Israel first brought the accusations against UNRWA, it initially led top donor countries to suspend their funding for the agency.

The UK resumed its fundingof the agency in July, just weeks after the Labour Party was elected.

Welcome back to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East.

Israel has passed a law banning UN aid agency UNRWA from operating in the country – a move which the organisation’s chief says will “deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”.

The new law passed in the Knesset yesterday banned the agency from having any ties to Israeli officials and stripped its staff of their legal immunities.

We’ll bring you more on that and the global reaction to this story in a moment.

We’ll also bring you the latest on the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, where the country’s health ministry says at least 60 people were killed yesterday in Israeli raids.

Elsewhere, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel has not received a temporary ceasefire proposal from Egypt, as had been suggested.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi proposed on Sunday an initial two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said that the Israeli leader would have accepted such a proposal “immediately” if it had been raised.

That brings an end to our live updates on the conflicts in the Middle East for today.

Before we go, here’s a round-up of the day’s key developments: 

• The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned Israel it will face “bitter consequences” following its attack on the country’s military sites on Saturday, Iranian media says;
• Iraq has submitted a complaint to the UN over Israel’s use of its airspace to strike Iran, a government spokesperson has said;
• Lebanon’s health ministry said at least seven people died after a dawn attack on the southern port city of Tyre by Israel;
• A fresh evacuation warning was issued for Lebanon’s third-largest city later in the morning, followed by reports of strikes on the ground;
• The social platform X has suspended a new account on behalf of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that posted messages in Hebrew. A note on the account says it has been suspended for violating X’s rules;
• According to the latest figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 43,020 people have now been killed by Israel in the enclave since 7 October 2023, 96 more than yesterday’s number;
• In Lebanon, the number of deaths since the conflict begun has risen to 2,672, with 12,468 people wounded.

Israel’s high-powered laser interception system, dubbed Iron Beam, is expected to be operational next year.

That’s according to the director-general of Israel’s foreign ministry Eyal Zamir, who signed a $535m (£411m) contract with manufacturers Rafael and Elbit yesterday.

Iron Beam would supplement Israel’s other aerial defence capacities, such as the more well-known Iron Dome.

These have been unable to intercept every projectile launched into Israel, resulting in both civilian and military casualties.

The cost of a single Iron Dome interception is thought to be about $50,000 (£38,400). Iron Beam interceptions, by contrast, would cost a few dollars apiece.

“This may sound like science-fiction, but it’s real,” said Israel’s former prime minister Naftali Bennett in 2022, adding the Iron Beam’s interceptions would be silent, invisible and cost $3.50 each.

This month, the US equipped Israel with a highly advanced defence system that possesses the ability to fend off ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) requires a crew of 95 soldiers to operate it, which the US is also supplying.

You can read more on Israel’s air defence systems below.