عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

At Least 40 Dead in Gaza, Medics Say, as Israeli Tanks Pull back from Camp

Palestinian men sit together inside a destroyed building after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinian men sit together inside a destroyed building after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
TT

At Least 40 Dead in Gaza, Medics Say, as Israeli Tanks Pull back from Camp

Palestinian men sit together inside a destroyed building after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinian men sit together inside a destroyed building after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians overnight and on Friday in the Gaza Strip, many of them in the Nuseirat refugee camp at the center of the enclave, medics said, after Israeli tanks pulled back from parts of the camp.

Medics said they had recovered 19 bodies of Palestinians killed in northern areas of Nuseirat, one of the enclave's eight long-standing refugee camps.

Later on Friday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 Palestinians in a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Others were killed in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, medics added. There was no fresh statement by the Israeli military on Friday, but on Thursday it said its forces were continuing to "strike terror targets as part of the operational activity in the Gaza Strip".

Israeli tanks had entered northern and western areas of Nuseirat on Thursday. They withdrew from northern areas on Friday but remained active in western parts of the camp. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said teams were unable to respond to distress calls from residents trapped in their homes.

Dozens of Palestinians returned on Friday to areas where the army had retreated to check on damage to their homes.

Medics and relatives covered up dead bodies, including of women, that lay on the road with blankets or white shrouds and carried them away on stretchers.

"Forgive me, my wife, forgive me, my Ibtissam, forgive me, my dear," one grief-stricken man moaned through tears beside her corpse, laid out on a stretcher on the ground.

Medics said an Israeli drone on Friday had killed Ahmed Al-Kahlout, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, where the army has been operating since early October.

Contacted by Reuters, the Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike occurring in this location or timeframe.

Kamal Adwan Hospital is one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip that barely function now due to shortages of medical, fuel, and food supplies. Most of its medical staff have been detained or expelled by the Israeli army, health officials say.

DISPLACEMENTS

The Israeli army said forces operating in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia since Oct. 5 aimed to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping and waging attacks from those areas. Residents said the army was depopulating the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun as well as the Jabalia refugee camp.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities released around 30 Palestinians whom it had detained in the past few months during its Gaza offensive. Those released arrived at a hospital in southern Gaza for medical checkups, medics said.

Freed Palestinians, detained during the war, have complained of ill-treatment and torture in Israeli detention after they were released. Israel denies torture.

Months of efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold

A ceasefire in the parallel conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, took effect before dawn on Wednesday, bringing a halt to hostilities that had escalated sharply in recent months and had overshadowed the Gaza conflict.

Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and he urged Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,300 people and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the territory are in ruins.

The Hamas-led fighters who attacked southern Israeli communities 13 months ago, triggering the war, killed some 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages, Israel has said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

EU Lays Groundwork to Keep its Forces in Lebanon after UNIFIL Term Ends

A UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon. (UNIFIL)
A UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon. (UNIFIL)
TT
TT

EU Lays Groundwork to Keep its Forces in Lebanon after UNIFIL Term Ends

A UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon. (UNIFIL)
A UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon. (UNIFIL)

The European Union is continuing to fulfill its commitments to support Lebanon’s military and security institutions after the end of UNIFIL’s mandate by establishing a new mission to provide training and advice to the Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces.

The mission will not replace the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), but will help “strengthen state sovereignty and extend its authority” across Lebanese territory.

Speaking in Beirut on Thursday, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, announced plans for a new EU mission to provide training and advice to the Lebanese army.

She said she expects EU foreign ministers on Monday to formally establish the mission, which will make a key contribution to Lebanon’s security.

The mission will provide advice and assistance to the Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces to strengthen their authority across Lebanon, secure its borders and bolster internal security.

All of this will be in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Kallas said, adding that the mission will not replace UNIFIL and will not focus exclusively on southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL’s mandate is nearing its end. European countries are among its leading supporters and troop contributors, notably France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Ireland.

As the mandate’s expiration approaches, a proposal to establish a European replacement force with the same responsibilities has faced US and Israeli opposition, stalling the initiative.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (R) meets with Kaja Kallas (L), the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 October 2026. (EPA)

Multiple roles

Through the new mission, the EU is continuing its commitment to support Lebanon’s armed forces and enable the Lebanese state to fulfill its pledges, particularly maintaining internal stability and implementing its decisions to establish a state monopoly on weapons and extend control across its territory exclusively through its legitimate forces.

A Lebanese ministerial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the mission “is not linked to UNIFIL or any other mission.”

“Its role is not military, and it will not take over UNIFIL’s responsibilities. Its role will be logistical and will include training Lebanese military forces, alongside social, health and education activities, meaning it will have more than one role,” the source said.

It added that the European mission’s task would be to “strengthen state sovereignty, extend its authority and enable Lebanese security agencies to deploy and carry out their duties.” That role can be inferred from Kallas’s statement that the mission would align with Security Council Resolution 1701, which provides its political framework.

The EU has allocated 505 million euros to Lebanon for 2026 and 2027, the second part of a 1-billion-euro package announced in 2024, to support economic recovery, reforms, security and essential services.

European assistance to the army through the European Peace Facility has totaled 182 million euros since 2022.

The EU has expressed its readiness to provide Lebanon with the assistance it needs, particularly for the army, Internal Security Forces, and social and humanitarian institutions. It also supports the Lebanese state’s decisions to establish full control over its territory and move ahead with disarming Hezbollah.

Alongside this role, the EU is pushing to extend UNIFIL’s mandate to avoid a security vacuum after the international mission leaves.

UNIFIL has played an important role for almost 50 years. A continued UN presence in Southern Lebanon is under discussion, and the EU remain ready to work with Lebanon, the UN, and the Security Council members on what comes next, Kallas said in Beirut.

Arab World

A Year into Ceasefire, Israel Wages a Scaled-Down War in Gaza

A Palestinian woman weeps during the funeral of an eight-year-old boy killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Friday. (EPA)
A Palestinian woman weeps during the funeral of an eight-year-old boy killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Friday. (EPA)
TT
TT

A Year into Ceasefire, Israel Wages a Scaled-Down War in Gaza

A Palestinian woman weeps during the funeral of an eight-year-old boy killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Friday. (EPA)
A Palestinian woman weeps during the funeral of an eight-year-old boy killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Friday. (EPA)

October 10, 2026, marks one year since the announcement of an end to the war in Gaza, even as Israel continues to wage it on a smaller scale, killing more Palestinians and destroying their homes on the grounds that Hamas refuses to disarm.

On the eve of the fragile ceasefire’s first anniversary, Gaza endured a night of intense attacks that reminded thousands of residents of the war’s harshest days.

The Israeli military ordered residential blocks evacuated at night before bombing and destroying homes and apartment buildings in Gaza City and Khan Younis. A child and a woman were killed while trying to evacuate homes where families had sought refuge.

Shortly before midnight on Thursday, Israeli warplanes twice bombed homes in a residential block in the Katiba area, north of the al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The strikes destroyed or severely damaged several homes, displacing hundreds of Palestinians who lost their only shelter.

Israeli warplanes also destroyed two residential buildings in Gaza City. One housed displaced people in apartments in the Sabra neighborhood in the city’s south.

The Israeli military ordered the entire surrounding residential block evacuated, but some families did not have enough time to leave.

A child and a woman from the Abu Asr family, displaced from the Shujaiya neighborhood, were killed. At least seven people were wounded, including a journalist who put down his camera to help residents evacuate their homes.

The second building was destroyed in Gaza City’s Old City, west of Shujaiya and north of Zeitoun, after orders to evacuate it and the entire surrounding area.

Palestinians observed that Israeli warplanes fired several missiles at the targeted buildings, particularly in Gaza City, that failed to explode, prompting repeated attacks.

The strikes displaced hundreds of Palestinians living in those residential blocks. Unable to find alternative shelter, they had to spend the night in hospital courtyards, at shelters or with relatives.

The Israeli military said the strikes aimed to destroy four weapons storage facilities belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has offered the same explanation in statements about similar strikes in the past.

Palestinian factions have repeatedly denied those claims, accusing Israel of deliberately destroying the homes and buildings still standing in Gaza.

Targeted killings and ground operations

The nighttime strikes came hours after six Palestinians were killed in a series of airstrikes in two separate incidents. Those killed included a woman and two members of the Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, whose vehicle was attacked by an Israeli drone in the industrial area south of Gaza City.

A third member was killed in a targeted strike on a tent in the Tawam area northwest of the city.

On Friday morning, a Palestinian was killed and five others, including two women and a child, were wounded by gunfire from Israeli military vehicles that advanced into al-Masdar and the Maghazi refugee camp in the eastern part of central Gaza.

Two Palestinians were also wounded in a strike on al-Mawasi in Khan Younis.

For the third time in less than a week, Israeli military vehicles advanced from the Abu Hamam military position east of Deir al-Balah toward areas north of al-Masdar village, firing as engineering vehicles bulldozed land.

Israel is digging a wide trench and erecting an earth embankment in that area near the Yellow Line, as part of a broader plan being implemented along Gaza’s borders.

Figures covering the fragile ceasefire’s first year show that more than 1,478 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded since it took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and government media office.

The government media office said Israel had committed 5,223 violations on the ground since the agreement began, including bombing, gunfire, the demolition of homes and buildings, and incursions. More than 200 Palestinians have also been detained.

Israel controls more than 63% of Gaza’s territory after expanding the area within the so-called Yellow Line over the past year of the ceasefire. The agreement announced at the time designated it as an initial withdrawal line.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 196 Palestinians, including 18 women and 43 children, were killed near that line between the start of the ceasefire and early April 2026.

OCHA said areas subject to access restrictions accounted for about 64.9% of Gaza’s territory. It said those areas were under tighter and more direct Israeli control, with Palestinians barred from entering most of them and humanitarian organizations required to coordinate access in advance.

Arab World

Lebanon Says 6 Wounded in Attack That Israel Says Targeted Pro-Iran Syrian Operative

An Israeli army vehicle operates in East Zawtar, as seen from West Zawtar, southern Lebanon, October 1, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli army vehicle operates in East Zawtar, as seen from West Zawtar, southern Lebanon, October 1, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Lebanon Says 6 Wounded in Attack That Israel Says Targeted Pro-Iran Syrian Operative

An Israeli army vehicle operates in East Zawtar, as seen from West Zawtar, southern Lebanon, October 1, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli army vehicle operates in East Zawtar, as seen from West Zawtar, southern Lebanon, October 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanon said an Israeli attack on Friday wounded six people as Israel said it targeted a "Syrian terrorist" who planned anti-Israel attacks under Iranian instructions.

"The Israeli attack near the town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in the Hermel district led to six wounded, including five Syrian nationals, two of them women, and one Lebanese," Lebanon's health ministry said.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that "an enemy military drone targeted a car" in the town, located close to the Syrian border, an area largely been spared such attacks since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was agreed in June.

Israel's military said that it "struck a Syrian terrorist", identified as Yusuf Ali al-Hassoun, who it said "operated under the direction of the Iranian regime and advanced terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians and Israeli soldiers operating in southern Syria".

It did not say whether the suspect was operating as part of a particular militant group.

Hassoun allegedly "planned and advanced attacks" against soldiers "that were thwarted, including the launching of explosive drones and rockets toward Israeli soldiers in southern Syria".

The Israeli military "will continue to operate to eliminate immediate threats on all fronts", it said.

Since the December 2024 ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974.

It has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory, sometimes seizing residents, and has vowed to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarized area.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it had killed an assailant at an army outpost in the area it occupies in southern Syria.

Syria's former ruler Assad was an ally of Iran and Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war this year by attacking Israel.