Middle East crisis live: explosions in Beirut after Israeli warning of imminent strikes

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The al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which Israel says is Hezbollah’s financing arm, has said in a statement it has taken “all of the necessary procedures since the beginning of the war to safeguard your deposits and valuables and can confirm that you should not worry they are safe”, Al Jazeera reports.

The statement ended with “an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth”, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.

Hezbollah says it downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone Sunday, without saying where. The Iran-backed group also says it has fired several rocket salvos at Israeli troops across the border.

Several Palestinians have reportedly been killed and others injured late on Sunday when Israeli airstrikes hit two schools housing displaced people in Jabalia, the area in northern Gaza that Israel has placed under siege for more than two weeks.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the airstrikes targets the Unrwa-run Hafsa school and the Abu Hussein school in Jabalia refugee camp. Civil defence teams were banned from accessing the area to rescue those injured or trapped under the rubble.

A fire also broke out at Hamad school due to an Israeli attack, Wafa reported. The school, which was sheltering displaced people, is adjacent to the Indonesian hospital and the fire reportedly spread to the hospital’s generators.

Several more Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the al-Fakhura area and Al-Hattab Street in Beit Lahia, both in northern Gaza, according to Wafa. There were further casualties when Israeli forces attacked a group of civilians in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighbourhood and three civilians were killed when an Israeli drone hit a vehicle in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

A Palestinian child injured in an Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp is brought to Al-Ma’madan Ahli Hospital in Gaza City last week. Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News/ZUMA Press/REX/Shutterstock

It was not possible to independently verify the reports as Israel does not allow foreign media into Gaza.

The attacks come a day after an Israeli attack on the town of Beit Lahiya, north of Jabalia, flattened entire residential blocks and killed at least 87 people.

The commander of an Israeli armoured brigade has been killed in northern Gaza, the Israeli military (IDF) has said.

Col. Ehsan Daxa, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, is the highest ranking Israeli officer to have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on the Palestinian territory last year, according to Israeli media.

He was killed when an explosive device exploded as he got out of a tank, the IDF said. Three other soldiers were injured.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) has so far reported 11 strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, many of them targeting Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which Israel says is financing Hezbollah’s operations against Israel. AFP reports further:

It said a strike landed near Beirut’s airport, the main entry-point of humanitarian assistance to the country and a major evacuation hub for those fleeing the conflict.

Commercial planes were still seen flying past clouds of smoke over the embattled southern suburbs, said an AFP correspondent, who watched them land at Beirut’s airport, located near targeted areas.

AFP footage showed a column of smoke rising near one of the airports runways, as well as over nearby areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs, hit hard by the nearly month-long war.

In the suburb of Chiyah, the strikes flattened an entire building, AFP footage showed. Excavator’s worked to clear the rubble, as rescuers scoured for survivors.

The building housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, according to an AFP correspondent.

NNA also reported strikes targeting the association in Hermel, Riyaq and Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley region in Lebanon’s east.

The strike on Baalbek hit a commercial market housing a building formerly used by Al-Qard Al-Hassan, NNA said. An AFP correspondent said residents quickly evacuated the area after the Israeli army issued a warning.

In south Lebanon, Israeli strikes hit branches near the cities of Sidon and Nabatieh, according to NNA.

Journalist Leila Molana-Allen has posted footage of what she says are airstrikes right next to Beirut’s airport:

Summary

Here’s a look at where things stand:

• Israel’s military announced on Sunday night that it will begin striking buildings belonging to al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-run banking system that provides loans and banking services primarily to people who live in areas where Hezbollah is popular. Israel said that the institution finances Hezbollah and that “Hezbollah uses this money to finance its terrorist activities,” including purchasing and storing arms.

• Israeli strikes landed near Lebanon’s only airport, Agence France-Presse reports. AFP cited a security source saying that two strikes landed close to the airport in Beirut as Israel attacked the capital’s southern suburbs after issuing multiple evacuation orders.

• Israeli forces have “deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin,” Unifil said on Sunday. The UN peacekeeping mission added: “Yet again, 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.”

• The US government is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran. The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, confirmed the investigation in remarks to CNN’s State of the Union program on Sunday, saying “the leak is very concerning.”

• Medecins Sans Frontieres has condemned Israel’s siege on the last remaining hospitals in Gaza, saying: “This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between being forcibly displaced from the North or killed. We fear that this will not stop.”

• Hezbollah said on Sunday that it launched rockets at Haifa in Israel following the latest Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, Agence France-Presse reports. According to the group, its fighters launched a “rocket salvo” at the “city of Haifa,” adding that it was “in response to the aggressions on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs” from Sunday morning.

Here are more images coming through the newswires from Beirut following Israeli strikes across the city on Sunday evening:

Smoke rises near Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon October 20, 2024. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Flames and smoke rise form Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

Smoke rises near Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon October 20, 2024. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

Israeli strikes landed near Lebanon’s only airport, Agence France-Presse reports.

AFP cited a security source saying that two strikes landed close to the airport in Beirut as Israel attacked the capital’s southern suburbs after issuing multiple evacuation orders.

Videos emerging on social media are showing buildings being leveled and fires starting across Beirut as Israel strikes Lebanon’s capital:

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