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Israel Bombs South Lebanon after Hezbollah Rocket Fire, US Voices Concern

Smoke rises from Dhayra village as pictured from the Lebanese town of Marwahin, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from Dhayra village as pictured from the Lebanese town of Marwahin, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israel Bombs South Lebanon after Hezbollah Rocket Fire, US Voices Concern

Smoke rises from Dhayra village as pictured from the Lebanese town of Marwahin, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from Dhayra village as pictured from the Lebanese town of Marwahin, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2023. (Reuters)

Israeli shelling hit southern Lebanese towns on Wednesday in response to a fresh rocket attack by armed group Hezbollah, as cross-border violence extended into a fourth day.

Hezbollah said it had fired precision missiles at an Israeli position in response to the killing of its members in Israeli shelling earlier this week, pledging "decisive" responses to attacks on Lebanese territory, especially deadly ones.

The Israeli military said it had hit a Hezbollah position with an air strike and had also "attacked" Lebanon after a military post near the Israeli town of Arab al-Aramshe was targeted with anti-tank fire on Wednesday.

It did not immediately provide details on casualties.

A Lebanese security source said Hezbollah fired two precision missiles into Israel, which the group considers its sworn enemy.

Residents of the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish said Israeli shelling hit nearby. A security source told Reuters that Israeli artillery rounds were hitting the rocket launch point around Dhayra, across from Arab al-Aramshe.

Lebanese in those towns say the recent violence has brought back memories of the summer of 2006, when Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel fought a brutal month-long war.

Local Lebanese television station al-Jadeed broadcast images of plumes of white smoke billowing out of a wooded region near some homes and farmland in Dhayra.

Hezbollah and Palestinian faction Hamas both claimed attacks from Lebanon on Tuesday. Hezbollah fired a guided missile at an Israeli tank, posting a video of its destruction, and Hamas said it launched a salvo of rockets from Al-Koleilah into Israel.

The Lebanese army said on Wednesday that it had found the platform from which rockets were launched in Al-Koleilah.

The outbreak of violence along the border came after Hamas launched a deadly attack against Israel at the weekend, with Israel unleashing a bombing campaign against Gaza.  

Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military said that hostile aircraft had entered the country from Lebanon, setting sirens blaring across northern Israel as it urged citizens there to shelter.

The military did not specify the kind of aircraft. But Hezbollah and Palestinian militants are known to have drones and gliders.

Meanwhile, the United States said it is watching developments on the Lebanon-Israel border closely and does not want to see the conflict widened or expanded.

"We have seen rocket fire coming from southern Lebanon ... into northern Israel. We obviously are watching this with great concern. We don't want to see this conflict widened or expanded," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in an interview with MSNBC.

He said he does not believe it is in Israel's interest to have a second front to fight and defend.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a spillover of the conflict in Israel must be avoided and that he is concerned about attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.

"I appeal to all parties, and those who have an influence over those parties, to avoid any further escalation and spillover," he told reporters.

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Death Trap in Gaza Will Scar Generations

Photograph taken inside Nasser Hospital, after a siege by the Israeli forces. At the end of January, the Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for the entire area and surrounded the hospital, which found itself at the center of intense fighting for several weeks. (MSF)
Photograph taken inside Nasser Hospital, after a siege by the Israeli forces. At the end of January, the Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for the entire area and surrounded the hospital, which found itself at the center of intense fighting for several weeks. (MSF)
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Death Trap in Gaza Will Scar Generations

Photograph taken inside Nasser Hospital, after a siege by the Israeli forces. At the end of January, the Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for the entire area and surrounded the hospital, which found itself at the center of intense fighting for several weeks. (MSF)
Photograph taken inside Nasser Hospital, after a siege by the Israeli forces. At the end of January, the Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for the entire area and surrounded the hospital, which found itself at the center of intense fighting for several weeks. (MSF)

Repeated Israeli military attacks on Palestinian civilians over the last 14 months, the dismantling of the healthcare system and other essential infrastructure, the suffocating siege, and the systematic denial of humanitarian assistance are destroying life conditions in Gaza, according to a new Doctors Without Borders report “Gaza: Life in a death trap.”
Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, who visited Gaza earlier this year, said “People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave.”
He added that the recent military offensive in the north is a stark illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped, and bombed.
“What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza,” he said.
Also, the secretary general noted that “while we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.”
The United Nations estimated earlier this year that more than 10,000 bodies remained buried under the rubble.
Israeli forces have on numerous occasions prevented essential items such as food, water, and medical supplies from entering the Strip, as well as blocked, denied, and delayed humanitarian assistance, as documented in the report.
Some 1.9 million people—90% of the entire population of the Strip—have been forcibly displaced, many forced to move multiple times.
The situation in northern Gaza is especially dire following Israel’s recent scorched earth military offensive that has depopulated large areas and reportedly killed almost 2,000 people.
The northern part of the Strip, particularly Jabalia camp, has been besieged again by Israeli forces since Oct. 6, 2024.
Israeli authorities have dramatically reduced the quantity of essential aid authorized to enter the north.
“For more than a year, our medical staff in Gaza have witnessed a relentless campaign by the Israeli forces marked by massive destruction, devastation, and dehumanization,” said Lockyear.
“Palestinians have been killed in their homes and in hospital beds. They have been forcibly displaced time and time again to areas that are not safe or healthy. People cannot find even the most basic necessities like food, clean water, medicines, and soap amid a punishing siege and blockade,” he added.
MSF called on states, particularly Israel’s closest allies, to end their unconditional support for Israel and fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza.
Nearly a year ago, on Jan. 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has taken no meaningful action to comply with the court order, the MSF report said.
Instead, Israeli authorities continue to actively block MSF and other humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance to people trapped under siege and bombardment.
MSF said that States must leverage their influence to alleviate the suffering of the population and enable a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance across the Gaza Strip.
Describing Israel as the occupying power, MSF said Israeli authorities are responsible for ensuring the rapid, unimpeded, and safe delivery of humanitarian aid at the level sufficient to address people’s needs.
Instead, MSF said Israel’s blockade and continued obstruction of aid have made it close to impossible for people in Gaza to access essential goods, including fuel, food, water, and medicines.
At the same time, Israel has decided to effectively ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which is the largest provider of aid, health care, and other vital services for Palestinians, it added.
MSF repeated its call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.
It said the total destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza must stop.
MSF said it is also calling for immediate and safe access to northern Gaza to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to hospitals.
Its report noted that even if the Israeli military offensive on Gaza ended today, its long-term impacts would be unprecedented, given the scale of the destruction and the extraordinary challenges of providing health care across the Strip.
It said a staggering number of war-wounded people are at risk of infection, amputation, and permanent disability, and many will require years of rehabilitative care.
“The cumulative physical toll and mental trauma caused by the extreme violence, loss of family members and homes, repeated forced displacement, and inhumane living conditions will scar generations,” MSF added.