Middle East crisis live: Benjamin Netanyahu addresses UN general assembly | Israel

The UN said on Friday that a “catastrophic” intensification of Israeli attacks targeting Hezbollah militants had left Lebanon facing its deadliest period in years, with its hospitals overwhelmed by casualties, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“The recent escalations in Lebanon are nothing short of catastrophic,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon.

“We are witnessing the deadliest period in Lebanon in a generation, and many express their fear that this is just the beginning,” Riza told reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut, reports AFP.

He pointed out that on Monday alone, the death toll was equal to around half of the 1,200 killed during 34 days of war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

“The level of displacement, the level of trauma, the level of panic, has been huge,” he said. At the same time, Riza warned that Lebanon’s “health sector is completely overrun”.

“The events of last week, including the explosions of communication devices, have nearly depleted health supplies,” he said. Riza added: “With the recent escalations and hospitals reaching capacity, the system is struggling with limited resources to meet the growing demands.”

The hospitals in Lebanon “are overwhelmed”, agreed Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO).

She pointed out that the pager and walkie-talkie blasts had caused large numbers of serious injuries, especially to eyes and hands, which require specialised treatment.

A full 777 injured remain in hospitals after those blasts, “and 152 of those are critical cases,” Harris said, according to AFP. “That means they’re not leaving the hospital for quite some time, and so every day of bombing and blasts fills up beds that can’t be unfilled.”

At the same time, she said, 37 health facilities had been closed across Lebanon due to events. Harris stressed that aid agencies had done a lot to prepare for possible mass-casualty events in Lebanon in case the past year of cross-border fire were to escalate.

The WHO had helped “train most of the health workers in most of the hospitals for mass casualty”, she said. But “in our planning scenarios, we didn’t have anything like the numbers that have actually been affected”.

“It was way beyond anything that normal planning, even for a horrific event like this, would have expected”.

Daniel Hurst

Australia has suggested the world should set “a clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood” in a sign of increasing frustration about the stalled peace process.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will float the idea in a speech to the UN general assembly in New York on Saturday Australian time (Friday US time). Benjamin Netanyahu was also due to address the gathering amid mounting concern about an escalating regional war.

Wong will tell the general assembly that “every country in this room” must abide by the rules of war, and Israel “must comply with the binding orders of the international court of justice”, according to speech remarks distributed to media in advance.

Wong will say the Hamas-led attacks on Israel nearly one year ago “cannot and should not be justified” and the group must release all Israeli hostages.

But she will say 11,000 Palestinian children have been killed and two million people in Gaza face acute food insecurity in the resulting war. “This must end,” Wong will say.

“All lives have equal value.”

One of the most significant parts of Wong’s speech is her offer for Australia to “contribute to new ways to break the cycle of conflict”.

She will say Australia “shares the frustration of the great majority of countries” about a lack of progress, more than 77 years after UN general assembly resolution 181 outlined “a plan for two states side by side”.

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Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip shot and killed an aid worker from a US based charity, firing on her car in what government officials told her family was a case of mistaken identity, reports Reuters.

The car in which Islam Hejazy, Gaza programme manager at HEAL Palestine, was travelling was intercepted on Thursday in the area of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip. Gunmen riding in three cars sprayed the vehicle with dozens of bullets, according to residents and the woman’s family.

“She was the mother of two small children and a humanitarian with the highest ethics and professionalism,” HEAL Palestine, posted on its Facebook page. “HEAL Palestine is more dedicated than ever to serving Gaza, in her honor. Ceasefire now,” it added.

Reuters reports that her family issued a statement on Friday, saying they were told by government parties at the hospital where her body was taken that she was killed by mistake. Her killers, whose identity was not immediately clear, had failed to identify the vehicle she was driving, they said.

There has been no immediate comment from Hamas, according to Reuters.

“That was a bigger shock … How would an innocent soul be wasted and 90 bullets fired at her car just for mistaken identification?” the family said in a statement published by Palestinian media. Reuters was not able to verify the number of bullets fired.

The incident highlights growing chaos and anarchy in Gaza almost a year into Israel’s military offensive, which has weakened the ability of Hamas-run security services to police the streets, according to the group.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Friday they had targeted Israel’s cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon with a ballistic missile and a drone in support of Gaza and Lebanon, reports Reuters.

The Israeli army said it had intercepted a missile that was fired from Yemen after sirens and explosions were heard early in the day.

The Houthi’s military spokesperson said their operations will not halt in the coming days until Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon stop.

“We will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in victory for the blood of our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon,” Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Monday, with the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah at its most intense in more than 18 years.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel for almost a year in support of its ally Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia has formed a global alliance to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the country’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly meeting in New York.

The alliance includes a number of Arab and Muslim countries and European partners, the Saudi state news agency reported, without specifying which countries had committed to join.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on X that the first meetings would be in Riyadh and Brussels.

After the eruption of the Gaza war last October between Israel and Hamas that rules Gaza, Saudi Arabia put on ice US-backed plans for the kingdom to normalise ties with Israel, two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking said earlier this year, according to Reuters.

“Implementing the two-state solution is the best solution to break the cycle of conflict and suffering, and enforce a new reality in which the entire region, including Israel, enjoys security and coexistence”, bin Farhan was quoted as saying, reported Reuters.

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said last week the kingdom would not recognise Israel without a Palestinian state and strongly condemned the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” against the Palestinian people.

UK PM calls on Israel and Hezbollah ‘to stop the violence’ and ‘step back from the brink’

Rowena Mason

Before a meeting with Donald Trump, the UK prime minister gave a speech at the UN general assembly where he told world leaders that Britain will approach international relations with less “paternalism” than before while listening more and speaking less.

He also pleaded with Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the brink of a wider war “that no one can control”.

“I call on Israel and Hezbollah: stop the violence, step back from the brink. We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement and we are working with all partners to that end,” he said.

More than 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

In a post on X the UNHCR also shared a video of the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi calling for a ceasefire.

Dan Sabbagh

Extra commercial flights have been scheduled this weekend to allow Britons and other foreign nationals to evacuate from Lebanon while Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah continues, mostly by Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines.

Official estimates are that there are 5,000 British citizens, single and dual nationals, and immediate family members who would be a priority for any emergency evacuation. Of those, several hundred are thought to be single nationals resident in the country.

Britain, along with other western nations, has been urging its citizens to leave Lebanon since early August, while commercial flights are available, though back-up evacuation plans were stepped up this week when 700 UK troops were moved back into the region.

Ministers are closely monitoring the status of Beirut’s international airport, and if it closes because of Israeli bombing near the capital, that is likely to be a trigger to launch an international rescue to allow foreign nationals to escape the hostilities.

However, with the summer holiday season over, the number of Britons leaving in recent days has been relatively modest, suggesting those remaining have close ties with Lebanon. Officials are monitoring closely how much demand there is for people to fly out this weekend, to assess the level of remaining need.

Japan is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon and has decided to prepare military flights for their possible evacuation, the government said on Friday.

Israeli bombing has killed hundreds of people this week in Lebanon, particularly in Hezbollah strongholds while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

“We’re currently checking the safety of Japanese citizens living in Lebanon, as well as urging them to leave the country while regular commercial flights remain in operation”, chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday morning, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Hours later, the defence ministry said air force planes had been ordered to go to Jordan and Greece to be on stand-by in case Japanese nationals need to be transported out of the region.

The C-2 transport aircraft would be used to evacuate about 50 Japanese citizens currently in Lebanon, media outlets including Kyodo News said, citing unnamed government sources.

Yoko Kamikawa, Japan’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that Tokyo is “strongly concerned about the escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah”.

Japan, she added, “strongly urges” all parties to “exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation”.

As the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arrived in New York on Thursday ahead of his address to the United Nations general assembly, scheduled for Friday morning, protesters opposed to the war in Gaza gathered near UN headquarters.

One group of people who waved Israeli flags and campaign banners described themselves as an informal coalition of Jewish and Israeli-led organisations taking an anti-occupation and anti-war stance in relation to the Palestinian territories. They assembled close to the UN building in Manhattan to protest against Netanyahu’s arrival after he flew in from Israel overnight.

As it began to drizzle, a speaker addressed the crowd of about 50 people, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and telling those gathered that “Netanyahu will lie to the world” on Friday, just “like he lies to us Israelis”.

“Stop killing children, end the war, sign the deal, bring the hostages home,” the speaker continued. “There is no military solution.”

More protests are planned for Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday.

People carried signs reading “bring the hostages home” and “end the war”, and when Netanyahu’s name was mentioned in a speech, the crowd chanted “shame, shame, shame”.

Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, one of the groups organising the protest, said the coalition was coming together to call on Netanyahu to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza, and bring out the remaining Israeli hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October last year.

“There is no solution but a diplomatic solution, and we’re making sure that this message cuts through and gets to Netanyahu, to our government, and to all allies of peace who care about Israeli and Palestinian lives,” Wisdom said. She added that the groups were also planning on protesting outside Netanyahu’s hotel.

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, reports the Associated Press (AP).

Israel has dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s military capacities and senior Hezbollah commanders.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that more than 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in October, in support of Hamas.

The US, France and other allies jointly called for a 21-day ceasefire to try to avoid an all-out war. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and will not stop until its goals are achieved.

The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighbouring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

Israel has rejected a US-backed 21-day ceasefire call, and its military chief has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive.

“A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,” foreign undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea. He did not provide other details, according to AFP.

Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said.

Millions of Filipinos work overseas – with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East – due to limited job opportunities at home. About 90% of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers, reports AFP.

“To some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death,” de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah.

After Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last year following the group’s 7 October attack, Manila began voluntary repatriations of its citizens from the areas affected by the fighting.

So far, only 500 Filipinos have taken up the government’s offer to leave Lebanon, De Vega said.

Filipino ambassador to Beirut Raymond Balatbat said 196 Filipinos have fled southern Lebanon, where the Israeli campaign has been concentrated. Most Filipinos working in the country are based in central Lebanon around Beirut, he added.

Anthony Mandap, consul general at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, said there are no plans as of now to repatriate 30,000 Filipinos working in Israel, reports AFP.