Live updates: Beirut faces heavy bombardment; Israel launches major offensive in northern Gaza

The start of Lebanon’s school year for all primary and secondary schools has been pushed to November, Lebanon’s Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced today.

Private universities may resume classes as soon as possible with the option of remote learning, Halabi said. The minister said the goal is to save the school year for pupils with the potential of hybrid or remote learning options if in-person education is not possible.

The country’s only state-funded college, Lebanese University, closed its campuses in Sidon, Nabatieh and Tyre last month as Israeli airstrikes bombarded the region.

“We also hope that the displacement period will not be prolonged, that stability will be restored, and that alternative centers will be found instead of public schools to receive the displaced until they return to their homes,” Halabi said.

At least 40 percent of students are displaced in Lebanon, according to LBCI News.

An Israeli proposal to stop the U.N. Relief and Works Agency from operating has been prepared for a second and third reading in the country’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, or UNRWA.

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Israel, which has fostered an increasing combative relationship with the United Nations and its agencies, accused a dozen its workers for participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.

UNRWA fired nine members of its staff following an internal investigation, while noting that Israel had not provided all the necessary information to support the accusations.

But conservative Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu maintains that UNRWA took an “active part” in the October 7 attacks, and called for it to be “outlawed.” Yulia Malinovski, an Israeli member of parliament for the party, initiated the bill.

The IDF is marking one year since Oct. 7 with a military display of what they called “items seized from Hamas terrorists.”

It says the exhibition will include items taken from Hamas militants who attacked Israel on October 7, as well as during combat in Gaza.

On display are uniforms, intelligence documents, and weapons including anti-tank missiles and explosives. The IDF says Israel’s Enemy Assets Confiscation Unit has confiscated “approximately 70,000 items of enemy equipment.”

The director of the Al-Hasyaa industrial area in Homs, Amer Khalil, told the state-run SANA news agency that the cars were loaded with medical and relief supplies.

The Lebanese health ministry says 23 people were killed and 93 wounded yesterday by a wave of Israeli air strikes.

Israel heavily bombed Dahiya, in Beirut, and carried out raids on southern Lebanon and in the eastern region of Beqaa and Baalbek.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said that Iranians “did not touch” the nation’s air force capabilities during the missile barrage sent last week, and said Israel would retaliate when ready.

During a visit to Israel’s Nevatim Air Force basem Gallant said “not a single” squadron nor aircraft was damaged by Iran’s strikes, and that there were no disruptions in operations.

Israel has been weighing up its response to Iran’s attack after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.

“We are powerful in both defense and offense,” Gallant said. “This will be reflected in the manner of our choosing and in the time and place of our choosing.”

Israel struck central Gaza’s Ibn Rusdh school-turned shelter overnight, setting the building ablaze as two journalists made a narrow escape.

Video verified by NBC News showed the school on fire before the sound of an explosion sends Saleh Aljafarawi, who was holding the camera, backwards. He runs to another member of the press, who was hunched in pain and grasping his face.

“It is 2:30 a.m. and the Israeli occupation targets a school that shelters displaced people,” Aljafarawi says into the camera, his face lit by the flames. “These are people are peaceful who are displaced in this building.”

One person has died and 10 people were wounded this afternoon after a shooting at the central bus station in Be’er Sheva, a city in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

An Israeli police spokesperson said preliminary reports suggests a “suspected terror attack,” and that the attacker had been killed. It added that numerous police forces were at the scene.

A spokesperson for Israel’s emergency services said that a 25-year-old female had died, and that staff were treating ten other casualties, some with gunshot injuries.

Palestinian journalist Hassan Hamad was killed by the Israeli military this morning, Hamas’ Government Media Office said in a statement today.

The statement said Hamad worked for Media Town Media Company, and that 175 journalists had been killed since the conflict began on Oct. 7.

The IDF has continued its operations in Jabaliya, but Hamas has advised residents not to leave their homes despite Israeli evacuation orders.

“We urge our steadfast people not to comply with the occupation’s threat to leave their homes and move to the southern Gaza Strip,” Hamas’ Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza said in a statement, dismissing the IDF’s claims that there were safe areas in southern Gaza.

It said any people in direct danger should instead move to the nearest neighboring residential area.

In a statement today, the IDF said it had “successfully encircled the area,” and that it had struck “dozens of military targets.”

The IDF says it has increased security around Gaza to deflect the possibility of another attack from Hamas, as the nation prepares to commemorate the anniversary of October 7.

It said the southern command remained at a “a heightened state of vigilance” ahead of events taking place tomorrow, with forces stationed “to defend both the communities and the border area.”

Last year, Hamas militants, alongside other affliated groups, stormed communities along Israel’s southern fence with Gaza on Oct. 7. About 1,200 people were killed in the fighting, 790 of whom were Israeli civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The rest were foreigners, attackers and soldiers. At least 250 people were taken hostage into Gaza, where 97 remain. About a third of them are believed to be dead.

The IDF issued “urgent” evacuation orders to more than 20 villages in southern Lebanon today, as it continues its ground invasion in the country.

“For your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately,” spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X, urging residents to move north of the Awali River.

“Any movement towards the south puts your life at risk,” he added.

Israeli bombardment of Dahiya, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, is trapping people inside their homes, as a choking smoke wafts through the city.

Tony Najm, 35, told NBC News that the stench kept him awake at night at his home in Hazmiye, a neighborhood overlooking Dahiya. He said the city was shrouded in a graying haze all day and night and the streets were polluted with waste.

“The smoke is continuous,” he said. “Garbage is all over the streets.”

Rita Rizallah, 42, added that the buildings in Dahiya were continuously on fire because firemen were unable to reach the area with the roads were blocked due to the bombing.

Professor Raif Reda, Head of Lebanese Medical Social Gathering, said the fumes could be poisonous because Israel had attacked the city using what he beleived to be bombs that released “toxic gases.”

Ellisar Kozah, 48, said residents were unable to breathe the air in her neighborhood of Sainte Therese, bordering Dahiya. But she explained that she had to keep her windows open despite the stench and fumes, in case Israel bombardment caused them to shatter.

“What are we supposed to do?” she said, “Where to go? Are we going to deal with this forever?”

The IDF has expanded central Gaza’s Muwasi humanitarian zone, Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said.

COGAT, which is responsible for overseeing civilian policy in the West Bank and Gaza, posted a map on X of the existing area humanitarian zone with more than a dozen areas added east and southeast.

It said the expanded area included field hospitals, tent compounds and supplies of food and water, though current provision for basic services in Muwasi fall far short of the displaced population’s health and sanitation needs.

Muwasi has been designated a “safer” humanitarian zone since December, but the IDF has attacked it multiple times, including a deadly July attack that killed 90 people and injured 300 displaced Palestinians. COGAT has also frequently shifted the boundaries of the humanitarian zone, adding to the confusion.

The latest announcement follows evacuation orders issued this morning for most of the northern part of Gaza.

UNICEF says children and still being killed, injured or displaced in Gaza one year on from the start of the current conflict.

In a post on X, it said the average daily volume of humanitarian aid cargo has decreased since April, and that the families of Gaza “need a ceasefire.”

At least 26 people have been killed and dozens wounded overnight when an Israeli airstrike hit central Gaza’s Ibn Rushd School and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque, which were sheltering displaced Palestinians, local health authorities said.

Other victims remained under the rubble, and ambulances and emergency services could not reach them, the health ministry said.

In video seen by NBC News, people searched desperately for survivors in the debris of the Al-Aqsa mosque, many of them bloodied and blinded by the attack and others crushed by the wreckage.

Hamas accused Israel of committing “two brutal massacres” in a statement issued on Telegram, adding that both the school and the mosque were sheltering “hundreds of displaced persons.”

The IDF said in a statement this morning that both facilities had been “command and control centers” used by Hamas, and that steps were taken to minimize civilian casualties. It did not provide evidence for either claim.

The IDF has issued evacuation orders for much of northern Gaza as it returned to the area to launch what appears to be a major new offensive.

Spokesperson Avichay Adraee told people living in northern Gaza that Hamas established “terrorist infrastructure” in there, using shelters and health facilities.

In a post in Arabic on X, he told residents to use “humanitarian transportation and evacuation routes” to leave northern Gaza for the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi in central Gaza, which he said had been expanded.

In a separate statement, the IDF said it began operating in northern Gaza’s Jabiliya area overnight.

The headlines this morning in Lebanon told us what had kept us up all night: “One of the toughest nights on Dahiya.”

For people outside Beirut; you wake up in the middle of night and you are no longer able to sleep. As for people in Beirut, they’re having sleepless nights. 

A local Lebanese TV channel, MTV, counted more than 30 strikes during the night over Dahiya, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, 7 of them within 1 minute, followed by strong explosions. In Beirut, it felt like an earthquake.

Rescuers from the Lebanese Civil Defense and ambulances said on local media this morning said that they were unable to enter parts of Dahiya, with the fires and smoke that from last night’s heavy bombing still raging.

Georges Mechleb, who works at the airport in the south of the city, near Dahiya, told NBC that he could not get to work this morning, Israeli airstrikes left large craters on the road to the airport.

The Israel Defense Forces has increased security ahead of the one-year anniversary of the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, a spokesperson said.

“We are prepared with increased forces in the assumption that towards the anniversary, they will try to carry out attacks on the home front,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in reference to Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces addressed action the country may take in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack this week.

The attack, which hit parts of the country and air force bases, did not result in any casualties, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

“The manner in which we will respond to the criminal attack will be in the manner, place and time we decide, in accordance with the guidance of the political echelon,” Hagari said in a statement.

Israel’s soldiers are continuing to fight in Lebanon “to destroy Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure in the villages,” he said, adding that the offensive has killed 440 militants, 30 of whom “were commanders of various ranks,” and destroyed more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets.

A man set himself on fire at a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the White House this evening, according to three eyewitnesses and video shared with NBC News.

The witnesses said the person made various pro-Palestinian exclamations as he set himself on fire. In witness video, fire can be seen on the man’s left arm before being extinguished with the help of surrounding bystanders.

Law enforcement monitored activity and remained at the periphery of the demonstration, which had been peaceful, and moved in once the man set himself on fire and a path was cleared for the ambulance that took him from the scene.

“We responded at 5:56pm for a call described as advanced life support injury,” D.C. Fire and EMS spokesperson Vito Maggiolo said. “The patient has been transported to an area trauma center.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said the man’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Witnesses told NBC News they smelled gasoline before seeing the man, who at some point shouted “Free Palestine,” set his arm on fire. The witness video shows law enforcement officers and bystanders quickly put the fire out with water and cloth.

A coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations based in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region held the demonstration with the moniker “One Year of Genocide, One Year of Resistance,” to mark one year since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war.

More than 20 large flashes were seen over Beirut last night, coloring the skies over Dahiyeh bright orange. The bombing continued all night in what is by far one of the heaviest — if not the heaviest — series of Israeli strikes on Beirut since this most recent conflict began.

A thick haze of white and grey smoke is wafting from the Dahyeh area, moving west towards Beirut’s Mediterranean coastline. Lights from homes in the mountains that overlook the southern suburbs, which normally dot the city’s skyline, have virtually all gone dark.

Booms from explosions were heard following the flashes. Between bombings, a Middle East Airlines flight landed at Hariri International Airport in Beirut.

Plumes of black smoke rose from the area where a strike hit. Buzzing Israeli drones were also heard circling over Dahiyeh, with more loud booms.

After two more large flashes, yet another big boom was heard, followed by a flight taking off from the airport seconds later.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was striking Hezbollah facilities and infrastructure.