Hezbollah added that it had struck areas north of the Israeli city of Haifa after at least ten people were injured in an attack on the city. The flare-up marked an escalation as Hamas fired off a barrage of rockets toward Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, when memorials were held across Israel to remember the victims of last year’s deadly assault.
In southern Beirut, huge explosions were also reported as the Israeli forces carried on with their offensive in the Lebanese capital. Tensions remained tight in Haifa after the recent Hezbollah rocket attack that injured ten people.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to worsen, with reports that at least nine Palestinian children were among the 17 casualties following heavy bombardment by the Israeli military in the Jabalia refugee camp. Civilians had been ordered to leave the area immediately before the strikes commenced.
These are catastrophic losses for Gaza since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023: at least 41,909 people were reported to have been killed and another 97,303 injured due to Israeli military action. On the Israeli side, the number of deaths from the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 reached 1,139, with over 200 people taken captive during those attacks.
