The Israeli military has continued to bombard Lebanon’s capital, in what it said was a “series of targeted strikes” on weapons storage facilities and other parts of Hezbollah’s infrastructure. Israeli strikes across the country on Saturday killed 23 people and injured 93, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Elsewhere, Israel has said that it has “encircled” the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, after detecting the presence of Hamas members in the area. Strikes on a mosque in central Gaza have killed at least 25, hospital officials said.
Meanwhile, as the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel nears, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country “is defending itself on seven fronts.”
Here’s what you need to know:
• Strikes on Beirut: Israel pounded the city with heavy airstrikes overnight. CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh is on the ground in the capital and said that Saturday night’s strikes were among the most sustained and intense she has seen since the war between Israel and Hezbollah began. The number of casualties from the strikes is not yet known.
• Gaza refugee camp surrounded: The Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza has been “encircled,” the Israeli military said, after it launched both air and ground operations targeting what it says was military infrastructure. At least two people were killed and several others taken to hospital after an apartment in the camp was struck, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
• Strike on Gaza mosque: At least 25 people have been killed in an overnight Israeli strike on the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque in central Gaza, according to hospital officials. A journalist working for CNN said that displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the mosque when it was struck. The Israeli military said the strike was targeting a Hamas “command and control” center. Footage from the scene shows people working in the dark to find victims in the rubble, using the light from their phones to see. A further four people were killed in a strike on a nearby school, the hospital officials said.
• War on multiple fronts: Netanyahu has said that Israel is fighting “against the enemies of civilization” on seven fronts, including Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran itself. “Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world,” he said.
• Global protests: Thousands of people around the world took to the streets Saturday in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Demonstrations took place in London, Dublin, Paris, Manila, Cape Town, Rome and other major cities, calling for an end to the war. Meanwhile, in Israel, protesters across the country are demanding more urgent action to rescue the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
• Key Hezbollah leader missing: Hezbollah has lost contact with a possible successor to its late leader Hassan Nasrallah, a Lebanese security source told CNN Saturday. Hashem Safieddine was targeted in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday.