'We are trapped in a war'
In the town of Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, Lebanese citizens are growing increasingly worried as Israel expands its invasion, with some saying they feel “trapped in a war.”
There is “daily destruction, killings and more people on the street,” said one Beirut resident, Hiam Youssef, 32. With the number of people displaced and forced to sleep on the streets, and in parking lots and playgrounds, the question remains of what happens when the weather starts to turn.
“It is going to rain. What will happen to all the people on the streets?” said Youssef, an employee at a supermarket. “What are they going to do? Our Lebanese government is weak, helpless and corrupted, and we’re left to our destiny facing Israel and Hezbollah.”
Mayssa Zeidan, a 40-year-old physiotherapist from Beirut said she was no longer working with her patients as she is afraid of leaving the area in northern Lebanon where she and her children fled to.
“I really don't know if we're safe here," she said. “Didn't you see what happened with Gaza?”
Boy arrested in Sweden after a shooting at Israeli defense office
A boy has been arrested in the Kallebäck district in Gothenburg, Sweden, after a shooting at the offices of the Israeli-owned defense company Elbit Systems, Swedish police said, according to Reuters.
While nobody was injured, Swedish police are investigating the shooting as attempted murder and an aggravated weapons offense, according to the Swedish public television station SVT, adding that police have confirmed that the boy is younger than 15 but declined to give an exact age.
This is not the first time Elbit's global subsidiaries have been targeted in recent months. In August, Reuters reported that seven people in the U.K. were charged with violent disorder, burglary and other offenses at a warehouse linked to Elbit in what prosecutors said was an attack by the protest group Palestine Action.
Swedish police in May said they had stepped up security around Israeli and Jewish interests after officers on patrol heard suspected gunshots near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm.
IDF says it is ‘committed to mitigating civilian harm’ in Gaza amid assault in enclave's north
The Israeli military said it is “committed to mitigating civilian harm” in Gaza after authorities there accused the IDF of systematically targeting civilians in its renewed assault on the enclave's north.
The government media office in Gaza accused Israeli forces of “committing murders against civilians in the streets” in an operation that has focused on the area's Jabalia refugee camp where it said at least 125 people had been killed in five days.
In response, the IDF said in its statement that it “is fully committed to respecting all applicable international legal obligations.”
Dozens killed and injured in two Israeli strikes on Gaza shelters for displaced people
Two separate Israeli airstrikes on shelters for displaced people in Deir Al-Balah and Gaza City left dozens dead and wounded, aid agencies and eyewitnesses said.
U.N. peacekeeping force accuses Israel of injuring 2 in Lebanon
Two people working with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon were injured as the Israeli military "repeatedly hit" the force's headquarters in Naqoura in southern Lebanon and nearby positions, the force said today.
"In the past days we have seen incursions from Israel into Lebanon in Naqoura and other areas," UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. "UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit."
Tenenti said two UNIFIL members were injured after an IDF tank fired toward an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. They did not suffer serious injuries, but were both receiving treatment at a hospital, he said.
UNIFIL said IDF soldiers had also fired on a U.N. position in Ras Naqoura, hitting the entrance to a bunker where it said peacekeepers were sheltering in a strike that damaged vehicles and a communication system.
"We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times," Tenenti said, adding that any "deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701."
The IDF did not immediately comment on UNIFIL's allegations.
Displaced civilians camp along Beirut's coastal promenade
Lebanese security forces check on displaced people sleeping on the streets of Beirut today. Many have been forced to seek temporary shelter along the coastal promenade after being forced to evacuate their homes due to ongoing Israeli strikes.
Tanker struck off Yemen as Houthis continue Red Sea strikes
A Liberia-flagged tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile in the Red Sea, resulting in some damage, British maritime security agencies said today.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said a ship was attacked in the Red Sea about 70 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, Yemen. The UKMTO said the master of the vessel had reported being hit by an “unknown projectile” and that the vessel had sustained damage, but no casualties were reported.
“The crew are reported safe and the vessel proceeded to its next port of call,” it said, adding that authorities were investigating.
According to Reuters, security firm Ambrey also reported the incident, saying the tanker had been hit on its starboard side while en-route from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to Muscat in Oman. “Ambrey assessed the vessel to have a strong affiliation with the Houthi targeting profile,” the security firm said, according to Reuters.
Analysis: Netanyahu riding high in polls, but his government remains deeply divided
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a huge wave of criticism after Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attacks. While attempts to protest his leadership didn’t really get off the ground — some saw them as unpatriotic at a time of national mourning — his popularity nevertheless suffered a huge blow.
But following several successful strikes on the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, the six-term prime minister has surged in several polls, which suggest that his right-wing Likud party would form the largest single party in Parliament were an election held tomorrow.
Even so, those polls don't necessarily mean that all the anger towards him has subsided. His Cabinet, a still-uncomfortable alliance of hard-right and religious parties, remains deeply divided.
He still has detractors in the military too, with key figures saying his plan for Gaza lacks an end game, represents an endless war and remains thin on detail. Those divisions are being exposed once again as his government mulls its response to last week’s missile attacks by Iran.
That was apparent when Netanyahu canceled his defense minister Yoav Gallant's trip to Washington to brief President Joe Biden. It seems pretty clear that the prime minister was worried Gallant would agree to a deal he'd see as insufficient.
Instead Netanyahu insisted on speaking with Biden directly. We don’t know what was said, but the division within his government was clear.
The World Podcast with Richard Engel & Yalda Hakim is out now and a new episode will be ready every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Lebanese PM: Diplomatic contacts intensified before U.N. Security Council meeting
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says diplomatic communications and efforts to bring about a ceasefire intensified in the final hours before yesterday's UN Security Council session.
There has been contact between the U.S. and France to discuss re-establishing a temporary ceasefire, the country's Presidency of the Council of Ministers said on X, quoting Mikati.
Lebanon also stressed the priority of stopping civilian casualties in Gaza during diplomatic discussions, Mikati said.
Dozens killed in strike on school in Deir al-Balah, Palestinian Red Crescent says
More than two dozen people have been killed in a strike by Israeli forces in the area near a school sheltering displaced civilians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
The PRCS said that at least 27 people were killed and more than 54 were wounded in the strike on the Rafidah school, with children among those killed. NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the situation on the ground.
When asked for comment, the IDF said it had conducted a “precise strike” on militants it said were operating inside a command and control center that it said was embedded in the school compound. It said the center was being used by militants to “plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
The IDF said it had taken “numerous steps” to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.
UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma told NBC News the school was not one of the facilities being run by the U.N. agency as a makeshift shelter amid Israel's offensive.