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Joe Biden has said Israeli strikes on Iranian oil are being discussed.
When reporters asked the US president whether he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities as he left the White House on Thursday, Biden said, “We are discussing that,” reportedly causing a spike in the price of oil.
Biden previously stated the US would not support an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites, following Tehran’s missile attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, at least nine people were killed after Israel launched an airstrike on Beirut, targeting a building near the parliament, in what was the closest an air assault has come to the central downtown district.
Lebanese health officials said 14 people were also wounded, while multiple blasts have been heard across the southern suburbs on Thursday.
It comes after Israel suffered its first military casualties in its ground invasion of southern Lebanon, with eight Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers killed in intense fighting against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah confirmed it was engaged in clashes with Israeli forces, claiming to have destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks.
The Israeli military fired at a Lebanese army post in southern Lebanon on Thursday, killing a Lebanese soldier, with the Lebanese army reportedly firing back for the first time since last October because the post was hit.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Iran’s “Axis of Evil”.
Key Points
- Biden says US ‘discussing’ Israeli oil field strikes
- Death toll from strike on Beirut rises to nine
- Israeli millitary says it ‘eliminated’ head of Hamas government in Gaza
- Israel fires at Lebanese army post and Lebanese forces ‘fire back for first time’
- Israel’s PM pledges to defeat ‘Iran’s axis of evil’ after eight IDF soldiers killed
- Biden says he does not support attack on Iran's nuclear sites
Israel orders evacuation of Lebanese communities north of UN buffer zone
The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war.
The warnings issued on Thursday signalled a possible broadening of Israel's incursion into southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the border.
Israel has told people to leave Nabatieh, a provincial capital, and other communities north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the UN Security Council after the 2006 war in a resolution that both sides accuse the other of violating.
Just after the warning, the Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike wounded four of its paramedics and killed a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south.
It says the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted on Thursday despite co-ordinating its movements with UN peacekeepers.
It came after Lebanon's health ministry has said that at least nine people had been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut.
It also said it is running DNA tests on remains they have obtained to identify others.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 19:45 1727978737Civilians bear brunt in 'catastrophic' Lebanon conflict, UN official says
Civilians are bearing the brunt of a "truly catastrophic" situation in Lebanon, a senior UN official said, urging respect for the rules of war nearly two weeks since Israel launched a major offensive against the armed group Hezbollah.
With around 1 million people in Lebanon impacted, Imran Riza, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, said the pace of displacement since Sept. 23 had exceeded worst case scenarios, and too much damage was being done to civilian infrastructure.
"What we saw from 23 September on is truly catastrophic," Riza said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. He was referring to the day when Israel dramatically ramped up airstrikes in Lebanon, killing more than 500 people in a single day, according to Lebanese government figures.
"The level of trauma, the level of fear amongst the population, has been extreme," he said.
Israel says its campaign against the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah aims to secure the return home of Israelis evacuated from areas near the Lebanese border as a result of nearly a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel.
The Lebanese government says around 1.2 million people have been displaced by Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut and other parts of the country. Some have been killed in Israeli strikes after having been displaced.
"You've got people being displaced from one place to another, thinking they were going to a safe place, and then that being struck," Riza said.
Riza said 97 medical and emergency workers had been killed - the majority of them in the last 10 days. There has been too much damage to civilian infrastructure, and civilians have been "bearing the great brunt of what's been going on", he said.
He noted that international humanitarian law requires that humanitarians be allowed to access people in need, and that civilian infrastructure and water systems be protected.
"This is what we call for when we're saying respect the rules of war in this," he said. "Unfortunately, we are seeing a situation where we have to go back to everybody and advocate for these basics in terms of protecting civilians."
Israeli soldier killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Israeli military says
An Israeli soldier was killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israeli military has said.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 18:17 1727975743Full story: Israeli strikes on Beirut kill at least nine as military calls for more Lebanon evacuations
Strikes by Israel on Beirut have killed at least nine as the military called on citizens in southern Lebanon to evacuate more than 20 more towns in a sign of a potential expansion of its ground and air assault on Hezbollah.
The latest warnings took the number of southern towns subject to evacuation calls to 70 and included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli military operation was imminent, further stoking fears of an all-out regional war.
Into Thursday, Israel bombed central Beirut in an attack the Lebanese health ministry said killed nine people. A Hezbollah-linked civil defence group said seven of its staff, including two medics, were killed in the Beirut attack. In response, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy accused Israel of a possible breach of humanitarian lae: “Not only civilians are victims of attacks, including in densely populated areas, but they are deprived of emergency care. I condemn this violation of IHL [international humanitarian law],” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Israel denies all such accusations.
Chief International Correspondent Bel Trew and International Editor Chris Stevenson report:
Israeli strikes on Beirut kill 9 as military calls for more Lebanon evacuations
Residernts in more than 20 towns told to leave in sign of postential expansion of air and ground assault against Hezbollah. It comes as US President Joe Biden says Washington ‘discussing’ possibility of Israel striking Iranian oil sites
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 18:15 1727973619Russian deputy foreign minister and Israeli envoy discuss situation in Middle East in Moscow
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held a meeting with the Israeli envoy to Moscow Simona Halperin on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry said Bogdanov and Halperin discussed the situation in the Middle East, including Gaza and Lebanon, but provided no details.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 17:40 1727973266Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it attacked target in southern Israel
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has said it has attacked a target in southern Israel in a statement issued on Thursday.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 17:34 1727972419Israeli military says it intercepts drone in southern Israel
The Israeli military has said it has intercepted a drone in southern Israel.
It added that no injuries have been reported.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 17:20 1727971219In pictures: Israel launches airstrikes on Lebanon
Watch: Girl, 9, calls for end to violence from hospital bed in Lebanon
Girl, 9, calls for end to violence from hospital bed in Lebanon
A nine-year-old girl whose leg was shattered after an Israeli missile struck her family home in Lebanon has pleaded for an end to the bombardment. Mariam Kashami spoke from her hospital bed, where she lay with bandages on her leg and arm. She told ITV News she stepped outside to eat a sandwich when "there was a huge strike and the whole house fell down," she told ITV News of the strike. "I want this war to stop. Maybe then everyone will go back to their home," she added. The strikes came as Israel responded to Iran's huge missile attack.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 16:40 1727969607Biden says US ‘discussing’ Israeli oil field strikes
US President Joe Biden has said “we are discussing that” when asked whether he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities.
Reporters put the question to Biden as he left the White House on Thursday, with the US president appearing to hesitate at the end of his answer.
The BBC reports Biden’s words caused the price of crude oil to surge 5 per cent to $77 a barrel.
Tara Cobham3 October 2024 16:33 Newer1 / 7OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
