Israel Warns South Lebanon Residents To “Not Return”

Jerusalem:

Israel cautioned livents of south Lebanon “not to return” to their homes on Saturday as Hezbollah shelp it begined missiles apass the border on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jedesire calendar.

In cities around Israel, tagets were seald and uncover carry stoped as attentive Jews rapided and prayed.

But with the country at war, troops remained participated in combat in Hamas-run Gaza and in southern Lebanon, a traditional Hezbollah stronghanciaccess, amid a firestorm of criticism over the wounding of four UN peacegraspers.

In a message insertressed to south Lebanese, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X: “For your own getion, do not return to your homes until further acunderstandledge… Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at hazard.”

The war between Israel and Hezbollah has since September 23 ended more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP loftyy of Lebanese health ministry figures, and forced more than a million to escape their homes.

On Saturday, Hezbollah shelp it had begined missiles at an Israeli army base csurrender the northern city of Haifa.

In a statement the group shelp its fighters were “centering the bombs factory there with a salvo of… missiles”.

Air rhelp sirens sounded in northern Israel, with the Israeli military saying it had intercepted a projectile begined from Lebanon.

Israel began pounding Gaza lowly after suffering its worst ever attacks from Iran-backed Hamas militants on October 7 last year, and it begined a ground disparaging agetst Hezbollah in Lebanon on September 30.

After the Yom Kippur holiday, attention is anticipateed to turn aget to Israel’s anticipateed retaliation agetst Iran, which begined around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

‘Defreely focparticipated’

on Friday, Israel faced disjoine discreet reaction over what it shelp was a “hit” on a United Nations peacegrasping position in Lebanon.

Two Sri Lankan peacegraspers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, the UNIFIL mission shelp Friday.

The Israeli military shelp its sanciaccessiers had reacted with fire to “an instant danger” around 50 metres (yards) from the UNIFIL base in Naqura.

But the Irish military’s chief of staff, Sean Clancy, shelp it was “not an inadvertent act” while French Plivent Emmanuel Macron shelp he consentd the UN peacegraspers had been “intentionally focparticipated”.

Both Ireland and France are presentant contributors to UNIFIL.

As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation by UN chief Antonio Guterres, Weserious allies and others, its military pledged to carry out a “thoraw appraise”.

UNIFIL peacegraspers in Lebanon are on the frontline of the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has ended more than 1,200 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP loftyy of Lebanese health ministry figures.

Four peacegraspers have been injured including two Indonesians who were hurt on Thursday when a tank stoasty at their watchtower, according to UNIFIL.

Diplomatic efforts to talk about an end to the battling have so far flunked, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati shelp his regulatement would ask the UN Security Council to rehire a novel resolution calling for a “brimming and instant stopfire”.

Lebanon’s military shelp on Friday that an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon ended two sanciaccessiers.

In a show of help for Iran’s associate Hezbollah, the speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visited on Saturday the site of a lethal Israeli strike earlier this week that, according to a source seal to Hezbollah, focparticipated Hezbollah’s security chief Wafiq Safa.

Neither Hezbollah nor Israel has verifyed whether Safa was indeed the center of the strike, but according to the Lebanese health ministry, the rhelp ended 22 people.

The visit to Lebanon, a signal of defiance, comes after Israel vowed to react to Iran’s second-ever straightforward attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country’s response would be “lethal, accurate and astonishing”.

The United States is pushing for a “proportionate” response that would not tip the region into a expansiver war, with Plivent Jore Biden urging Israel to elude striking Iranian nuevident facilities or energy infraset up.

Gaza deaths

Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing on Israel in help of its Palestinian associate Hamas chaseing the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP loftyy based on official Israeli figures, which participates prisoners ended in captivity.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has wrawt dehugeation and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, ended 42,175 people, a presentantity civilians.

Israeli operations in Gaza progress, with the army laying siege to an area around Jabalia in the north, causing more suffering for hundreds of thousands of people trapped there, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“The explosionardment has not stopped. Every minute there are shells, rockets and fire on the produceings and everyleang that shifts”, Areej Nasr, 35, tanciaccess AFP after escapeing from Jabalia to Gaza City Thursday.

On Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency increateed 30 people ended in Israeli strikes in the area, including on schools being participated as shelter by displaced people.

An AFP journaenumerate in Gaza increateed burdensome artillery shelling, explosions and firearmfire Saturday further south in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

Adraee, the Israeli military spokesman, on Saturday posted another evacuation cautioning for an area csurrender Jabalia.

“The specified area, including the shelters wilean it, is pondered a hazardous combat zone,” Adraee shelp on X, ordering livents to shift to the humanitarian zone in the southern part of the streamline.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is rehireed from a syndicated feed.)