UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict as Israel urges evacuations in Lebanon and Gaza

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned Saturday against a "catastrophic" regional conflict as Israeli forces battled Hezbollah and Hamas militants on two fronts, on Yom Kippur.  In cities around Israel, markets were closed and public transport halted as observant fasted and prayed.

Israel has faced a fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in south Lebanon that saw five Blue Helmets wounded. On Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said Israeli air strikes on two villages located near the capital Beirut killed nine people.

Later, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli strike hit a marketplace in Nabatiyeh, a key city in southern Lebanon located about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the Israeli border.

"Israeli warplanes... carried out a strike that targeted the centre of the marketplace" in Nabatiyeh, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, after Israel's army last week told residents to evacuate the city.

The Israeli air force "struck approximately 280 terror targets belonging to both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the Yom Kippur weekend. Among these targets were underground terror infrastructure sites, weapons storage facilities, military command centres, terrorist cells, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites," the military said in a statement.

Israel had earlier told residents of south Lebanon not to return home, as its troops fought Hezbollah militants in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, and forced more than a million others to flee their homes.

"For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice... Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk," Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

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On Saturday, Hezbollah announced that it launched missiles across the border into northern Israel, triggering air raid sirens. The Israeli military reported intercepting a projectile, with the missiles targeting an army base near the northern city of Haifa.

Hezbollah fighters were "targeting the explosives factory there with a salvo of... missiles", the group said in a statement.  The Israeli military reported intercepting a projectile, with the missiles targeting an army base near the northern city of Haifa.

At least 22 people have been killed in northern Gaza by Israeli airstrikes, according to emergency responders. This comes as Israel escalates its military operations in the region, issuing evacuation orders and cutting off food supplies.

The war between Israel and Hezbollah has since September 23 killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, and forced more than a million to flee their homes.

Israel began pounding Gaza shortly after suffering its worst ever attacks from Iran-backed Hamas militants on October 7 last year, and it launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon on September 30.

After the Yom Kippur holiday, attention is likely to turn again to Israel's expected retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

'Deliberately targeted'

In the hours ahead of Yom Kippur, Israel faced severe diplomatic backlash over what it said was a "hit" on a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Saturday that unknown gunfire a day earlier hit a peacekeeper, the fifth wounded in south Lebanon near the Israeli border in just two days.

"Last night, a peacekeeper at UNIFIL's headquarters" in Naqura "was hit by gunfire due to ongoing military activity nearby... We do not yet know the origin of the fire," a statement said, adding that the peacekeeper was "stable".

As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation by UN chief Antonio Guterres, Western allies and others, the military pledged to carry out a "thorough review".

Five peacekeepers have been injured including two Indonesians who were hurt on Thursday when an Israeli tank shot at their watchtower, according to UNIFIL.

Sean Clancy, the Irish military's chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel's explanation of Friday's incident.

"So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act," said Clancy, whose country has troops in UNIFIL.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the UN peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted".

Guterres condemned the firing as "intolerable" and "a violation of international humanitarian law," while the British government said it was "appalled".

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers.

The incidents came more than two weeks into Israel's war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes and send ground troops across the border.

Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a "full and immediate ceasefire".

Lebanon's military said on Friday that an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two soldiers.

US expects Israel to hit Iran

The US believes Israel has narrowed down potential targets for its response to Iran's recent missile attack to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported, citing US officials who weren't identified.

There's no indication Israel will target Iranian nuclear facilities or attempt to assassinate specific individuals "- but nor is there a final decision about how or when it will act, according to NBC's report.

US and Israeli officials have said the response may come during the Yom Kippur holiday, which ends Saturday at nightfall, NBC said.

Iran retaliation

Rocked by a year of war in Gaza that's now spread to Lebanon, the Middle East has been bracing for Israel's response to Iran's Oct. 1 missile barrage for almost two weeks. The US and other allies have urged a limited response in order to avert further escalation in the region.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country's response would be "deadly, precise and surprising" with Biden's administration pushing for a "proportionate" response that would not tip the region into a wider war. Biden has urged Israel to avoid striking Iranian nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Saturday denounced Israel's "crimes" as he visited the site of the deadliest Israeli strikes on central Beirut in recent weeks, an AFP photographer said.

A source close to Hezbollah had said Thursday night's strikes in the densely populated Basta neighbourhood and the nearby Nweiri district had targeted the Iran-backed Lebanese group's security chief Wafiq Safa.

Speaking to reporters in Basta, accompanied by two Hezbollah lawmakers, Ghalibaf denounced what he called Israel's "crimes".

"International organisations and the UN Security Council have the capability (to stop Israel) but they are unfortunately keeping silent," he said.

Earlier Saturday, Ghalibaf met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who told him his government's priority was "to work towards a ceasefire", Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said.

Mikati had on Friday urged the United Nations to pass a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ghalibaf told reporters after meeting his counterpart Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, that Iran "will certainly support the decisions of the Lebanese government, the Lebanese people, and the resistance (Hezbollah) in this period".

When Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Lebanon last week, he said Tehran backed efforts for a simultaneous ceasefire with Israel in both Gaza and Lebanon. Ghalibaf was expected to head to Geneva later Saturday to participate in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, according Iran's state news agency IRNA.

Beirut attack

In Beirut, residents of a central area of the capital targeted by twin Israeli air strikes on Thursday night salvaged their possessions and cleared rubble from the devastated streets.

"There are a lot of families living here," said Bilal Othman, who explained that many people had sought shelter there from southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, which has been pummelled by Israeli raids since last month.

"Do they want to tell us there is no safe place left in this country?" he said.

The Israeli strikes apparently targeted Hezbollah's security chief Wafiq Safa, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP.

Safa was close to Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.

"When Israel bombards, it flies over our heads. And when Hezbollah fires back, it also whizzes by above," Joseph Jarjour told AFP by phone from the border village of Rmeish. "We've never liked war."

Gaza deaths

Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has wrought devastation and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,175 people, a majority civilians.

Israeli operations in Gaza continue, with the army laying siege to an area around Jabalia in the north, causing more suffering for hundreds of thousands of people trapped there, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

"The bombardment has not stopped. Every minute there are shells, rockets and fire on the buildings and everything that moves", Areej Nasr, 35, told AFP after fleeing from Jabalia to Gaza City Thursday.

On Friday, Gaza's civil defence agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes in the area, including on schools being used as shelter by displaced people.

An AFP journalist in Gaza reported heavy artillery shelling, explosions and gunfire Saturday further south in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood.

Adraee, the Israeli military spokesman, on Saturday posted another evacuation warning for an area near Jabalia.

"The specified area, including the shelters within it, is considered a dangerous combat zone," Adraee said on X, ordering residents to move to the humanitarian zone in the southern part of the strip.