Moment of explosion in Lebanon as Hezbollah radio devices detonate

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Dozens of people including children have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.

At least 22 people, including 13 children and six women, were killed in the attack on Gaza City while using the building as a shelter, the ministry added.

The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command centre embedded in the building previously used as a school.

Footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room as witnesses said children were in the playground.

It comes after at least 31 people including a top Hezbollah commander were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday.

Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations commander, was killed in the strike on a block of apartments in the city’s southern suburbs on Friday afternoon. Lebanon said 68 people were also injured in the attack.

Aqil was involved in Hezbollah’s bombing of the US embassy in Beirut which killed 63 people in April 1983, according to the US State Department.

Key Points

  • ‘At least 22 killed’ in Israeli strike on Gaza
  • Death toll rises to 31, Lebanon says
  • Israel will 'pay price' for killing top commander, Hamas says
  • Hezbollah fires 140 rockets at Israel
  • Israel ‘destroys 100 rocket launchers’ in major airstrikes on southern Israel
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Iran calls Israeli attacks 'shameless' as it unveils new ballistic missile

Iran’s supreme leader has said that Israel is committing “shamless crimes” against children, not combatants.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking on state TV from Tehran, where he told a group of envoys from Muslim countries that Israel is not “fighting men, but ordinary people”.

“Unable to hurt the real fighters in Palestine, they are venting their malicious anger on small children, on hospital patients, and on schools filled with young children,” he said.

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 16:30 1726929025

Pictured: School shelter hit in Gaza by Israeli airstrike

A group of Palestinian men look over the damage following an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza (AFP via Getty Images)
Rubble is strewn across the building after women and children were killed in the attack, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry (AFP via Getty Images)
An exterior view of the school in Gaza City, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering (AFP via Getty Images)
Alexander Butler21 September 2024 15:30 1726921526

School shelter hit in Gaza strike

Palestinians said an Israeli strike killed at least 22 people in a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City on Saturday, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a command centre of militant group Hamas.

The Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children. The Hamas-run government media office said 13 children and six women were among the dead.

The military said it hit a Hamas command centre embedded in the compound that previously served as a school, repeating an accusation that the group uses civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas denies that.

Reuters footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room as people tried to salvage what they could of belongings.

“The women and their children were sitting in the playground of the school, the kids were playing, and suddenly two rockets hit them,” said one witness Said Al-Malahi.

The Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children (AFP via Getty Images)
Alexander Butler21 September 2024 13:25 1726920925

Cyprus urges restraint in Lebanon

Cyprus’s president called for restraint over escalating tensions in the Middle East in separate telephone conversations with the Lebanese and Israeli prime ministers on Saturday, his spokesperson said in a statement.

The east Mediterranean island is the closest European Union member state to the Middle East, and has good relations with both Lebanon and Israel. Cyprus was ready to act as a conduit for diplomacy as well as facilitate contacts between the sides, said spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis.

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 13:15 1726917302

How the plot to explode Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies unfolded

How the plot to explode Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies unfolded

Israel’s Mossad spy agency is believed to be behind the operation, Chris Stevenson writes, which likely took months of planning

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 12:15 1726915525

Weaponizing ordinary devices violates international law, United Nations rights chief says

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 11:45 1726913702

What to know about the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah

What to know about the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah

This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 11:15 1726912066

Iran's Supreme Leader says Israel is committing 'shameless crimes' against children

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday that Israel is committing “shameless crimes” against children.

His comments came a day after an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, killed 31 people, including three children and seven women, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 10:47 1726910102

Comment: The Hezbollah pager attacks prove that Israel has no strategy for peace

The Hezbollah pager attacks prove that Israel has no strategy for peace

With the first anniversary of 7 October approaching, Israel is no closer to a resolution of the Gaza conflict  – and making terrorists’ electronic devices explode will not help, says Bronwen Maddox

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 10:15 1726908591

Death toll rises to 31, Lebanon says

At least 31 people including three children and seven women were killed in the Israeli military’s airstrike on Beirut on Friday, the Lebanese health minister said.

Alexander Butler21 September 2024 09:49 Newer1 / 6Older

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