BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed three people near the southern city of Sidon on Sunday as more bombs fell in the country’s east after Israel warned it would again hit Hezbollah targets there.

In Israel, the military claimed it intercepted several rockets and drones fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since September 23, when Israel escalated air raids over the border after a year of tit-for-tat exchanges of fire. One week later it sent ground troops into southern Lebanon on “targeted raids”.

Hezbollah said it was acting in support of Hamas after Israel launched an offensive in Gaza.

Turkiye asks UN for arms embargo against Israel

“The Israeli enemy’s raid on Haret Saida resulted in an initial death toll of three people killed and nine others injured,” Lebanon’s health ministry said, referring to a densely populated area near Sidon.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported another Israeli strike south of Sidon, on the town of Ghaziyeh. That strike hit a residential building and a child was rescued from the rubble.

The NNA said other Israeli strikes hit near a hospital in Tebnin, a town in the south Lebanon district of Bint Jbeil. The mayor of Tebnin said the hospital was significantly damaged.

Neither the Haret Saida strike nor those in Lebanon’s south were preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.

Israel kills 31 in Gaza

At least 31 people were killed during Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian medics said, with nearly half of the deaths in northern areas.

Palestinians said the new aerial and ground offensives and forced evacuations were “ethnic cleansing” aimed at emptying two Gaza towns and a camp of their population.

Turkiye asks UN for arms embargo

Meanwhile, Turkiye’s foreign ministry submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two organisations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.

“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” said Hakan Fidan at a press conference in Djibouti, where he was attending a Turkiye-Africa partnership summit.

Among the signatories were Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Algeria, China, Iran and Russia, with the two organisations being the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024