In Lebanon, Hezbollah said it launched artillery shells and rockets at an Israeli force advancing in the south of the country. The Israeli military said it struck more than 2,000 sites in five days.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned that his allies, mainly Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, will continue to fight Israel, which has launched new strikes targeting them in Lebanon and Gaza, amid heightened fears of a flare-up in the Middle East. The Israeli military, for its part, announced that it had killed 250 Hezbollah fighters and struck more than 2,000 sites since it launched a ground offensive against the movement in southern Lebanon on Monday, where nine of its soldiers died in fighting. Here's what to remember from this new day of conflict.
Several Lebanese hospitals suspend operations
At least four hospitals in Lebanon, including one near the southern suburbs of Beirut, announced that they were suspending their activities due to Israeli strikes on the country on Friday, October 4. The private Saint Therese hospital near the southern suburbs of the capital announced that it was closing its services due to shelling nearby, and reported “immense damage” at the nun-run facility, according to a statement reported by Lebanon’s national news agency, NNA. Mais al-Jabal hospital near the border has “closed all its services” due to Israeli strikes and difficulties with supplies and access. The director of a third facility, Marjayoun hospital, said it was forced to evacuate and close after an Israeli strike targeted Hezbollah-affiliated medics outside the hospital’s entrance as they were transporting wounded patients. The precinct of Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil was “targeted by Israeli artillery fire,” NNA also reported, and seven medical staff were injured, according to the director.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatens Israel
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a rifle at his side, said Iran’s missile attack on Israel was “completely legitimate,” during a speech to thousands of people(New window) in Tehran. Israel “doesn’t have much longer,” the supreme leader added, before warning that Iran’s allies, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, “will not back down” in the face of the Jewish state. And this, "despite the martyrs," he added, referring to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah killed on September 27 in an Israeli raid near Beirut, and that of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran blamed on Israel.
Israel says it has struck more than 2,000 sites in Lebanon
The Israeli military said it has killed 250 Hezbollah fighters and struck more than 2,000 sites, including infrastructure and weapons, in southern Lebanon since it began its ground offensive Monday against the Iran-backed Islamist movement Hezbollah. The statement cited "including terrorists, infrastructure (...), military buildings, weapons depots."
Joe Biden not in favor of Israeli strikes on Iranian oil sites
US President Joe Biden said Israel should "consider other options" than striking oil sites in Iran, after admitting the day before that the possibility was under "discussion." "If I were them, I would consider other options than striking oil fields" in Iran, he said during an exchange with reporters at the White House. The leader, meanwhile, said he was trying to "mobilize the rest of the world" to achieve peace in the Middle East. "We are doing many things. The most important thing we can do is try to mobilize the rest of the world and our allies" to help ease tensions between Israel and Iran and its regional partners.
Two Israeli soldiers killed by drone strike
The Israeli military announced that two of its soldiers were killed by a drone strike "coming from the east" that was launched from Iraq and hit a military base in the Golan Heights, according to Israel's Army Radio. According to Army Radio, two drones "were launched from Iraq and entered Israeli territory through the Syrian Golan Heights" that Israel has annexed and occupied. In addition to the two soldiers killed, 24 were injured, Army Radio reported. This is the first time since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7 that "shots from Shiite militias in Iraq have managed to hit Israeli territory [causing] deaths and injuries," according to military radio.
UN condemns Israeli strike on Tulkarm in occupied West Bank
The United Nations has condemned the Israeli airstrike that killed 18 people on Thursday at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, calling it an “unlawful airstrike.” The attack “comes amid a very worrying pattern of unlawful use of force by Israeli security forces during military-style operations in the West Bank, which have caused widespread injury to Palestinians and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure,” according to a statement from the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Israeli military said it had “eliminated” a local Hamas leader in an airstrike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank, in a joint operation by the armed forces and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency.
