Israeli Leaflets Tell South Lebanon Residents to Evacuate

Syrian refugees gather their belongings as the prepare to leave the southern Lebanese village of Wazzani after the Israeli army dropped leaflets calling for them to evacuate on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Syrian refugees gather their belongings as the prepare to leave the southern Lebanese village of Wazzani after the Israeli army dropped leaflets calling for them to evacuate on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Israeli Leaflets Tell South Lebanon Residents to Evacuate

Syrian refugees gather their belongings as the prepare to leave the southern Lebanese village of Wazzani after the Israeli army dropped leaflets calling for them to evacuate on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Syrian refugees gather their belongings as the prepare to leave the southern Lebanese village of Wazzani after the Israeli army dropped leaflets calling for them to evacuate on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Israel dropped leaflets over a Lebanon border village Sunday urging residents to leave, state-run media said, but Israel's military told AFP a brigade had taken the initiative without approval.

"The Israeli enemy dropped leaflets over Wazzani calling on those in the area and its surroundings to evacuate," the official National News Agency said, referring to a southern border village.

Wazzani Mayor Ahmed al-Mohammed shared with AFP a picture of the leaflets that showed a map of the region with the areas marked for evacuation in red.

The leaflet read in Arabic: "To all residents and refugees living in the area of the camps, Hezbollah is firing from your region. You must immediately leave your homes and head north of the Khiam region before 04:00 pm (1300 GMT). Do not return to this area until the end of the war."

It added: "Anyone present in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist."

Wazzani is an agricultural region where Syrians are often hired to work the land.

Asked about the incident, an Israeli military spokeswoman said the leaflets had been dropped by drone in an area from which rockets had been fired into northern Israel.

"This was an initiative of the 769 Brigade, it was not approved by the Northern Command. An investigation has been opened," she added.

A cameraman collaborating with AFP saw Syrian families preparing to evacuate their makeshift tents, with young children carrying belongings in plastic bags.

Some families relocated to an area about a couple of kilometers (miles) further north, said the cameraman, who saw children and women unloading a truck filled with mattresses.

"Some of the Syrian workers are leaving the area... But as for us, we are farmers and we have livestock. We cannot leave our land," Mayor Mohammed said.



Israel Police Says Forces Kill Five Palestinian Fighters in West Bank

 Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
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Israel Police Says Forces Kill Five Palestinian Fighters in West Bank

 Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)

Israeli forces killed five armed Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli police said.

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials or armed groups. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the deaths of only four men.

The Palestinian official news agency WAFA said that Israeli special forces had opened fire on a vehicle that the men were travelling in, in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians - including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders - have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.

Dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian street attacks over the past year. At least six people were wounded, two of them seriously, in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.