Rescuers are searching for survivors after an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon and villagers were told not to return to their homes.
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned against a “catastrophic” regional conflict as Israeli forces battle Hezbollah and Hamas militants on two fronts, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Israel has faced fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in southern Lebanon in which five UN peacekeepers were injured.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Saturday that an Israeli airstrike on two villages near Beirut killed at least nine people.
Official media later reported that an Israeli strike targeted a market in Nabatiyeh, a major southern city.
A rescuer searches for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the town of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Saturday that an Israeli airstrike on two villages near Beirut killed at least nine people.
Official media later reported that an Israeli strike targeted a market in Nabatiyeh, a major southern city.
Footage shows widespread damage caused by the airstrikes as rescuers search the rubble for survivors.
Israel had earlier told residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes, as its troops fought Hezbollah militants in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23 and forced more than a million of people to flee their homes, Lebanese authorities say.
‘For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice… Do not go south; Anyone who goes to the south can put their lives at risk,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.
Hezbollah said it fired missiles into northern Israel, where air raid sirens sounded and the army said it had intercepted a projectile.
Iran-backed militants have stepped up their attacks on targets in and around Haifa, Israel’s main northern city.
Israel’s military said Hezbollah fired about 320 projectiles into Israel over the Yom Kippur weekend, which ended at nightfall.
It also said that approximately 280 “terrorist targets” were attacked in Lebanon and Gaza during the same period.
For the third time, he declared a “closed military zone” along the Lebanese border in northern Israel.
Since late September, these measures have preceded ground operations inside Lebanon.
In an interview with AFP, Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, said she feared that an Israeli escalation against Hezbollah could soon spiral out of control “into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone.”
Footage shows widespread damage caused by the airstrike as rescuers search the wreckage for survivors.
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned against a “catastrophic” regional conflict as Israeli forces battle Hezbollah and Hamas militants on two fronts, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Israel has faced fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in southern Lebanon in which five peacekeepers were injured.
Israel had previously told residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes, as its troops fought Hezbollah militants in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23.
A rescuer searches for survivors in the city of Nabatiye, southern Lebanon.
Damage caused by airstrikes in the Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh
“There was no military solution,” Tenenti stated.
The U.N. mission said five peacekeepers were wounded during fighting in southern Lebanon over two days, and Tenenti said “a lot of damage” had been caused to their posts there.
Across Israel, markets were closed and public transportation stopped as observant Jews fasted and prayed on Yom Kippur.
After the holidays, attention is likely to focus again on Israel’s promised retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.
Tehran said the bombing was retaliation for the killing of top militants and an Iranian general.
Israeli forces have been at war in Gaza since Palestinian Hamas militants carried out the worst attack ever against Israel on October 7 last year.
Hezbollah, saying it was acting as a “support” front for Hamas, had been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year.
But on September 30, Israel began a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon after intensifying airstrikes against targets there.
There has been widespread damage in Nabatiyeh following an Israeli airstrike.
Rescuers begin searching for survivors in the rubble.
Rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on October 12, 2024.
On Friday, Israel faced criticism from the UN, its Western allies and others for what it said was a “blow” to a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon.
Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were injured in the second such incident in two days, UNIFIL said on Friday.
The Israeli military said soldiers had responded to “an immediate threat” about 50 meters from the UNIFIL base in Naqurah, and pledged to carry out a “comprehensive review”.
Irish Army Chief of Staff Sean Clancy said it was “not an accidental act”, and French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the peacekeepers had been “deliberately targeted”.
Both countries contribute troops to UNIFIL.
Efforts to negotiate an end to Lebanon’s war have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the U.N. Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a “complete ceasefire and immediate”.
