UN mission in Lebanon rejects Israeli request to leave

Israel is still conducting "relentless" strikes against Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, journalist Karim El-Gawhary told DW on Saturday evening.

El-Gawhary said he had counted eight strikes in the southern part of the city in the previous three to four hours.

Noting how the Lebanese Ministry of Health had said that more than 50 paramedics were killed as a result of Israeli strikes over the last 72 hours, El-Gawhary also described how two Lebanese hospitals were struck by Israeli strikes and had to close, while a third was shuttered because it ran out of supplies.

"The UN is saying that the health system in Lebanon is starting to collapse," he told DW.

The Lebanese government said this week that more than a million people have been displaced by the worsening conflict, many of them have left in cars to neighboring Syria.

"People are too scared to go back," El-Gawhary said, despite having left with just the clothes on their backs. He added that "some of them are quite traumatized [by seeing their city being attacked]."

The Beirut-based journalist said some of those forced to evacuate were now camping alongside the Corniche — a seaside promenade in the center of the city — and are "really desperate" as they don't know whether the strikes would last just a few more days or maybe for many more weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's military has eliminated much of Hezbollah's arsenal and altered the course of the war against the militant group supported byIran.

"We destroyed a large part of the array of missiles and rockets that Hezbollah built over the years," said Netanyahu in a televised address, adding: "We have changed the course of the war and the balance of the war.

Referring to the attacks on Hezbollah positions inLebanon in recent weeks, Netanyahu said: "We are not done yet."

Israel and Hezbollah traded regular fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past 12 months, a spillover from the war in Gaza.

But Israel shifted much of its focus from targeting the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said its forces had killed more than 400 Hezbollah fighters during a ground operation inside southern Lebanon this week.

"Since the beginning of the (ground) maneuver, forces have eliminated some 440 terrorists from the ground and from the air, including 30 commanders of various ranks," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said his forces "must continue to put pressure on Hezbollah and inflict further and continuous damage on the enemy, without concessions and without respite for the organization."

On Saturday, Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, with airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north.

In less than two weeks, at least 1,400 people in Lebanon, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed, according to a tally by the Associated Press.

Some 1.2 million Lebanese have been driven from their homes to avoid the worsening conflict, according to the Lebanese officials.

An Israeli military spokesman said his country would retaliate against Iran for the October 1 missile attack launched by Tehran when the time is right.

"The way in which we respond to this disgraceful attack will be in the manner, at the location and the timing which we decide, according to the political leadership's instructions," Israel Defense Forces Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement.

Hagari said two Israeli air bases struck by Iran remain fully operational and no aircraft were damaged.

The military spokesman also said Israeli forces were on high alert ahead of the October 7 anniversary of Hamas' attack on southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned of an "ongoing threat" from Iran, almost a year after the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

"Our wounds still cannot fully heal because they are ongoing. Because hostages are still being tortured, executed, and dying in captivity," Herzog said in a statement issued on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the October 7 terror attack. "In many senses, we are all still living the aftermath of October 7."

The Hamas attack triggered war with Israel that continues in Gaza and has since expanded to include Israel fighting the Lebanon-based militia, Hezbollah, which like Hamas receives support from Iran.

Herzog continued: "It is in the ongoing threat to the Jewish State by Iran and its terror proxies, who are blinded by hatred and bent on the destruction of our one and only Jewish nation state."

But he said Israel has "not abandoned our deep longing and pursuit of peace with our neighbors," adding that his country "will not stop believing that a better world is possible."

The international community is bracing for potential direct Israeli retaliation on Iran after Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

The barrage was widely reported to avenge the killings of top Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters were out in the streets of Berlin on Saturday, with some 500 police officers deployed by the city.

The rallies were called in the run-up to the anniversary of October 7, which saw Hamas militants carry out terror attacks on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage.

It was also the trigger for a war on Hamas that saw Israel bombard and conduct a ground assault on Gaza — killing more than 41,000 people, according to UN figures. The conflict has also expanded to include Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

Saturday's pro-Palestinian protest began at the Platz der Luftbrücke near the police headquarters in Berlin's Tempelhof district. The event was titled: "One Year of Genocide — and the World Watches. Against Police Violence."

German police, especially in Berlin, have come under international criticism for their heavy-handed response to the pro-Palestinian protests.

At the same time, a pro-Israel rally took place in front of Humboldt University in central Berlin. Protesters waved Israeli flags and condemned antisemitism.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN Human Rights Commission, landed in the Lebanese capital on Saturday as Israel continues to launch airstrikes across the country, including in Beirut.

"I have just landed in Beirut as Lebanon faces a terrible crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people are left destitute or displaced by Israeli air strikes," Grandi said in a post on X.

"I have come here in solidarity with those affected, to support the humanitarian effort and to ask for more international help."

Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has urged Canadian citizens still in Lebanon to register for evacuation on special flights out of the country as Israel's cross-border strikes intensify amid an escalation of hostilities with the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.

"We've still got seats on airplanes organized by Canada. We encourage all Canadians to take seats on these airplanes and get out of Lebanon while they can," Trudeau said at a summit of leaders from French-speaking countries in France, according to Reuters news agency.

So far, 6,000 Canadians have signed up to depart on the planes, with 1,000 people already having left Lebanon by air, Reuters said.

As the flights have not been filled by Canadian citizens alone, seat have also been offered to people from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and some European countries, according to an official from Trudeau's office.

Trudeau said an immediate cease-fire from both Hezbollah and Israel was needed so the situation could be stabilized and United Nations resolutions could begin to be respected again.

Israel's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, shared a message on social media Saturday morning warning residents of villages that had previously been evacuated not to return.

Adraee said, in Arabic, that the Israeli military was continuing its attacks and warned people not to return to their homes until further notice.

Israel has been striking villages across southern Lebanon for several weeks, forcing more than a million people to flee their homes.

Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Lebanese authorities have accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to the dozens of women and children who have been killed.

An Israeli strike hit a refugee camp near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli for the first time on Saturday, as strikes in the south and in Beirut continued.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said one of its commanders was killed in the Tripoli attack.

Saeed Attallah Ali, his wife and two daughters were killed in the "Zionist bombardment of his house in the Beddawi camp," a Palestinian refugee camp close to the city of Tripoli.

Israel did not immediately comment on the strike, but it has killed numerous Hamas officials in Lebanon over the past year.

Lebanon is home to thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes during the 1948 war, an event known in Arabic as the Nakba, which accompanied the creation of the state of Israel.

US President Joe Biden on Friday cautioned Israel against targeting Iran's oil facilities and said he was trying to rally the world to stick with plans that prevent a full-fledged war in the Middle East.

In a surprise visit to the White House briefing room, Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "should remember" US support for Israel when considering next steps.

"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden told reporters, when asked about his comments a day earlier that Washington was discussing the possibility of such strikes with its ally.

Biden added that the Israelis "have not concluded how they're, what they're going to do" as Middle Eastern nations brace for Israel’s response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this week. 

The United Nations refused a request from Israel to move some of its peacekeepers near the Lebanese border just days before Israel began its ground operation earlier this week.

"On September 30, the IDF [Israeli military] notified UNIFIL of their intention to undertake limited ground incursions into Lebanon. They also requested we relocate from some of our positions," the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, adding that "peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly."

South Korea has evacuated 97 citizens from Lebanon amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

South Koreans, along with Lebanese family members, were evacuated in a KC-330 aircraft which landed in a military airfield south of Seoul on Friday, the ministry said.

The evacuation order came from President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it also flew a C130J transport plane, which is capable of operating on shorter runways and under fire, as a precaution.

South Korean diplomats stationed in Lebanon remain in the country, Yonhap news agency reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Syria's capital, Damascus, to discuss regional developments and bilateral relations with Syrian officials, said a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a year ago, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes in different parts of Syria.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed. Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

The United States will provide nearly $157 million (€142.9 million) in new humanitarian assistance to support people affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region, the US State Department has said.

"This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them. The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighboring Syria," said the statement on Friday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is "at the forefront" of the humanitarian response to the situation in Lebanon.

"We are committed to supporting those in need and delivering essential aid to displaced civilians, refugees and the communities hosting them," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.