A year later, parents of American hostage Edan Alexander are still fighting for their son’s life
Reporting from New York, New York
More than 200 people took to the pathways of Central Park in New York this morning for a “Bring Them Home” rally and run ahead of tomorrow’s anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Rally organizers called on both the U.S. and Israeli governments — as well as other governments in the Middle East — to do more to bring home the more than 100 hostages taken a year ago.
Yael Alexander, whose son Edan Alexander was taken hostage on Oct. 7 last year, told NBC News this week that it is “very hard” for her and her husband. She added that when they see Edan again, she is going to hug him and is “not going to let go.”
“We are marking one year now without Edan, and I’m feeling still stuck on Oct. 7,” she said. “I still have all this anxious and adrenaline in my body that I’m fighting for my son’s life.”
“We both are,” said her husband, Adi Alexander.
Dana Cwaigrach, one of the organizers of the rally, said none of them thought the hostages would still be in captivity a year on from the attack.
“None of us thought that we would reach this day,” Cwaigrach said. “None of us thought that we will still be here fighting for them a year later.”
Lebanese actor performs famed ‘Li Beirut’ in front of French president
A clip of Lebanese actor and singer Hiba Tawaji performing a famed ballad about Beirut in front of French President Emmanuel Macron made the rounds on social media this weekend.
“Li Beirut” is a song released by singer Fairuz in the 1980s mourning the destruction in the country’s war-torn capital. Her lyrics paint a portrait of a beautiful city by the sea built on the spirit of the people suddenly turned to a “glory of ash.”
It’s a song that has become synonymous with Lebanese nationalism, and it is often played during times the country is under strife. Danny Hajjar, a Lebanese music journalist, wrote today on X that the song is a beautiful ode, as well as “incredibly triggering.”
“Most times that the song is played or included in social posts, it’s during some sort of crisis or war,” Hajjar wrote. “Lebanese hear this song over and over in a barrage of posts, from Lebanese and non-Lebanese alike, and can immediately trigger emotions.”
Tawaji covered the ballad yesterday during the opening ceremony of the Sommet de la Francophonie, at the request of Macron’s government, according to the Lebanese French-language newspaper L’Orient Le Jour.
Tawaji told the newspaper that she felt a “great responsibility” to carry the voice of Lebanon but that the country “needs us.”
IDF says it has dismantled Hezbollah booby traps and weapons caches
IDF soldiers have worked to dismantle Hezbollah booby traps, tunnels and weapons caches in southern Lebanon, the military said today.
The IDF said that in one of the raids, it identified a plan to ambush soldiers and found “a pit booby-trapped with explosives,” which was “located and destroyed.”
The IDF also said it raided and dismantled some of Hezbollah’s underground tunnel system. Large stockpiles of weapons were destroyed and confiscated, the military said.
IDF says it hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut
The Israeli air force struck “terror targets” belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut, the IDF said in a statement.
The targets included “intelligence-gathering means, command centers, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites,” according to the IDF.
The air force also hit weapons storage facilities near Beirut, the IDF said, noting that it knew the targets were housing weapons because of secondary explosions following the strikes.
Further targets were struck in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa area, “including weapons storage facilities, terror infrastructure sites, a command center, and a launcher,” the IDF said.
The IDF accused Hezbollah of deliberately embedding command centers and weapons facilities “beneath residential buildings in the heart of the city of Beirut, endangering the population in the area.”
Israeli air force intercepts ‘suspicious aerial target’
A “suspicious aerial target” that was approaching Israel from the east but did not cross into Israeli territory was intercepted by Israel’s air force tonight, the IDF said.
At least 3 injured in Israel after projectiles are fired from Lebanon
Following rocket fire toward Haifa, paramedics are treating a 13-year-old boy with shrapnel injuries to his head and a 22-year-old man who sustained a head injury after he fell from a window because of one of the blasts, a spokesperson for Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, said in a statement.
Both are in moderate condition and are being evacuated to Rambam Hospital, the MDA said. Victims in the area are also being treated for anxiety, the emergency service reported.
The MDA said paramedics sent a man in his 20s to the hospital in serious condition with a shrapnel injury to his chest and abdomen after a shooting in the Tiberias sector.
Debris and shrapnel have been reported in two main areas in Israel, a police spokesperson told NBC News. Some buildings have sustained damage, and the police spokesperson said there are “several reports” of minor injuries.
Many violations of international law in Lebanon, U.N. says
There have been a large number of violations of international humanitarian law during Israel’s recent bombardment of Lebanon, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, told reporters today.
Grandi arrived in Beirut yesterday and said Lebanon faces “a terrible crisis,” with hundreds of thousands of people “left destitute or displaced” by Israeli strikes.
UNRWA says more than 1,800 children are living in its shelters as a result of Israeli strikes, and Grandi said last week that the conflict had forced more than 200,000 people to flee Lebanon for Syria.
Projectiles from Lebanon landed in two different areas in Israel
About five projectiles were fired from Lebanon after sirens sounded just before midnight in the HaCarmel and HaMifratz areas in Israel, the IDF said.
Interceptors were launched, and the IDF confirmed that the projectiles fell in the area.
About 15 more projectiles, also fired from Lebanon, were launched in the upper Galilee area of Israel, also following sirens just before midnight. The IDF said that some of the projectiles were intercepted but that others fell in the area.
Flights resume in Tehran, Iranian news reports
The airport in Tehran has resumed normal operations, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.
State media cited Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, which announced that all prior restrictions “are removed and airlines are allowed to operate flights.” Iranian state media had reported earlier that the aviation authority abruptly canceled flights until tomorrow morning.
U.N. forces in Lebanon say its ‘unacceptable’ for Israel to put its peacekeepers at risk
The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement that it is “deeply concerned” about the threat Israeli military activity poses to its peacekeepers near its post southeast of Maroun El Ras.
“This is an extremely dangerous development,” the statement said. “It is unacceptable to compromise the safety of U.N. peacekeepers carrying out their Security Council-mandated tasks.”
The interim force reiterated the obligation of member states to protect U.N. property and staff members.
Sirens sound in Haifa; strikes over southern Beirut
Sirens are sounding in Haifa as a warning for people in the city to run for shelter from incoming fire, according to the IDF.
At the same time, the skies over the southern suburbs of Beirut are flashing in what appears to be yet another night of heavy bombing in Lebanon.
5 people injured by gunshots, 5 suffer other injuries in Be’er Sheva attack
At least half of the 10 people injured in the fatal attack in Be’er Sheva sustained gunshot wounds, according to Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom.
One of them is a 20-year-old woman who is in moderate to serious condition, MDA said. Four other people, all in their 20s, are in moderate condition.
Five additional people sustained non-gunshot injuries, such as glass shrapnel wounds, according to MDA.
A spokesperson for Israel’s emergency services said earlier that a 25-year-old woman had died in the attack.
Flights from all Iran’s airports canceled from late today
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Flights from all of Iran’s airports will be canceled from 9 o’clock tonight until 6 a.m. local time tomorrow, Iran’s state media said, citing a spokesperson for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization.
The flights have been canceled because of operational restrictions, state media cited the spokesperson as saying without providing further details.
Iran restricted flights Tuesday when it launched missiles at Israel in an attack to which Israel vowed to respond.
Israeli airstrikes hitting ambulances in southern Lebanon
Reporting from Tyre, Lebanon
A member of the Lebanese Civil Defense Team told NBC News last week that Israeli strikes had destroyed 40 ambulances in the previous 10 days and that many people had died in the ambulances.
The IDF says Hezbollah uses ambulances belonging to the Islamic Health Authority for what the Israeli military calls “terrorist purposes.”
The city of Tyre has been almost entirely evacuated following heavy Israeli bombardment in the south, but rescue teams have struggled to reach people as they risk Israeli fire.