• Israel will keep striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. He spoke at a military base hit by a Hezbollah drone attack that killed four soldiers and wounded dozens in the single bloodiest attack on troops inside Israel since October 7.
• The UN has warned that Israel is effectively sealing off northern Gaza and may be carrying out a “large-scale forced transfer” of civilians, which it said would amount to a war crime. As part of its escalated offensive against Hamas in the area, the Israeli military has ordered civilians to leave and blocked all food from entering northern Gaza.
• The UK, France, Germany and Italy have expressed concern for the safety of UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon during Israel’s ground incursion. UN peacekeepers have been wounded recently after their positions came under Israeli fire.
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Israel "sealing off" northern Gaza and may be carrying out large-scale forced transfer of civilians, UN warns
From CNN’s Mick Krever
The United Nations Human Rights Office has warned that Israel is “effectively sealing off North Gaza” and may be carrying out the “large-scale forced transfer of the civilian population,” which it said would amount to a war crime.
The Israeli military has, for more than a week, been carrying out an intense offensive in the north of the Palestinian enclave. It has ordered all civilians north of Gaza City to leave and has blocked all food from entering northern Gaza since the beginning of the month, according to the World Food Programme.
The UN Human Rights Office said Monday that Israel’s roadblocks were effectively sealing off northern Gaza, and that the Israeli military had reportedly fired on civilians attempting to flee, as CNN and others have reported.
Some background: Israel’s operation in northern Gaza bears striking resemblance to a “surrender or starve” proposal made last month by retired Israeli general Giora Eiland. Known as “The General’s Plan,” it recommended that the military order all civilians out of northern Gaza and then besiege any Hamas fighters left behind.
Israel’s cabinet has not adopted Eiland’s proposal in full. But Eiland told CNN last week that while there were differences in what the military was doing in northern Gaza, the government had adopted a version of his plan.
The military told CNN that “the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat areas in the northern Gaza Strip is carried out in order to protect the uninvolved population.” The military said that it is committed to abiding by international law.
The “forcible transfer of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime and may amount to other atrocity crimes,” it added.
After a year of evacuation orders followed repeatedly by Israeli bombardment of declared “humanitarian zones,” many civilians in northern Gaza are refusing to abide by Israel’s latest demand for them to move. “Anyone who wants to leave the north of Gaza wants death,” Jabalya resident Mohammad Ibrahim told CNN by phone last week.
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Funeral begins for senior Iranian commander killed in Israeli strike
From CNN’s Manveena Suri and Leila Gharagzoulou
People attend the funeral ceremony of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' (IRGC) deputy commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan in Tehran, Iran, on October 15.
Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters
A funeral is underway in Tehran for a top Iranian military figure following his death last month in an Israeli drone strike.
Abbas Nilforoushan, a senior commander in the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack on Beirut.
Hundreds of mourners could be seen in the crowds, with many holding photos of Nilforoushan alongside flags representing Iran, Hezbollah, Lebanon and Palestine.
The service included a performance by a girls’ choir celebrating those who have died, followed by speeches and eulogies that included the phrases “death to America” and “death to Israel.”
The commander of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force branch was among the officials at the proceedings, according to CNN’s team on ground.
The public appearance of Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, hours after his appearance on state media, follows his two-week absence from public view that had raised questions about whether he was still alive.
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Death toll from Israeli strike on Christian-majority village in northern Lebanon rises to 21
From CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany in Beirut, Lebanon
Lebanese Red Cross vehicles are parked at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said, October 14, 2024.
Omar Ibrahim/Reuters
The death toll from an Israeli strike on a Christian-majority village in northern Lebanon has risen to 21, with eight injured, according to the Health Ministry.
The ministry said the numbers were preliminary and DNA tests were being conducted to determine the identity of remains removed from the site.
Australia announces new sanctions on Iran for missile attack on Israel
From CNN's Manveena Suri and Lucas Lilieholm
Australia has announced fresh sanctions on Iran in response to its missile attack on Israel.
The financial sanctions and travel bans against five Iranian individuals accused of contributing to Iran’s missile program come on the back of similar punitive measures by the United States and the United Kingdom aimed at the Iranian energy sector.
Iran’s October 1 missile barrage against Israel “was a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” the office of Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
Iran has said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and others.
As tensions rise in the Middle East, Australia has increased its travel warning to the highest level for parts of the region.
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It’s morning in the Middle East. Here’s what you need to know
From CNN's Chris Lau
Israeli soldiers carry the flagged-covered coffin of Sgt. Amitai Alon, killed by a Hezbollah drone attack, during his funeral near Ramot Naftali, Israel, on October 14, 2024.
Leo Correa/AP
Israel will strike Hezbollah everywhere in Lebanon “without mercy,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday, a day after a Hezbollah strike killed at least four Israeli soldiers and injured more than 60 others.
“We will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon — including Beirut,” Netanyahu said at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade Training Base.
The Hezbollah drone that hit the base evaded Israel’s defense system, prompting the country to launch an investigation into the deadly breach.
Netanyahu’s remarks also come after CNN learned there had been a reprieve of Israeli strikes in Beirut in recent days amid growing “understandings” between US and Israeli officials, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Israel’s weaknesses exposed: The deadly Hezbollah drone attack presents a major headache for Israel. Experts say they show how the Iran-backed group is still able to strike despite the loss of key leaders in recent weeks to Israel’s bombardments and that, Iran and its allies are capable of overwhelming its defense system.
Anti-missile defense system: The Pentagon announced Sunday that it was deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel with some 100 US troops to operate it. The request was made by Israel to the US several weeks ago, according to a US defense official and someone familiar with the discussion.
Attack on UN peacekeepers: Netanyahu said claims that Israeli military is deliberately attacking United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are “completely false.” The UN has accused the Israeli military of firing on its peacekeepers and forcibly entering a base. Israel has said Hezbollah is operating in areas near those peacekeepers and warned UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon that they are in “harm’s way.”
Concern for UN peacekeepers: France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have expressed concern for the safety of UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon. They condemned “unequivocally any threat to the security of UNIFIL,” the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, adding that any deliberate attack would go against international law and a key UN resolution.
“Crushing loss”: The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas militants in Gaza in August, have told CNN about the “crushing blow” of losing their son. They say they fear that other families will receive the same “devastating news” unless world leaders take urgent action to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Strikes in Lebanon: At least 19 people were killed after an Israeli strike hit the northern Lebanese village of Aitou on Monday, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. Rescue operations and debris removal are ongoing.
Death toll rises at Gaza hospital: One more person has died in an Israeli strike at the Al Aqsa hospital in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, bringing the death toll to five, according to Medecins sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). The group said the facility has been bombed seven times since March.
Iran halts indirect US talks: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that indirect talks between Iran and the United States, facilitated by Oman, have been paused due to escalating tensions in the region.
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Commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force seen on state media after 2-week public absence
From CNN’s Negar Mahmoodi and Lucas Lilieholm
The commander of the elite Quds Force branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has appeared on state media following a two-week absence from public view that had raised questions about whether he was still alive.
Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani was shown in a live report by Iranian state broadcaster IRINN on Tuesday morning as the body of a senior IRGC figure killed in Lebanon arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.
Sitting alongside other officials, Qaani was seen attending a ceremony to receive the body of Abbas Nilforoushan before the slain commander’s funeral, expected to take place later Tuesday.
Nilforoushan was killed along with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut in September. Qaani’s absence from official events since the start of October had fueled speculation about whether the top general had met a similar fate.
Iranian officials and state media had repeatedly denied the rumors of Qaani’s death.
Qaani took charge of Iran’s vast paramilitary network across the Middle East in 2020 after replacing Qasem Soleimani following the killing of the former Quds Force chief in a US drone strike. He is sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western nations.
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Parents of slain Israeli-American hostage grapple with "crushing" loss
The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas militants in Gaza in August, have told CNN about the “crushing blow” of losing their son.
They say they fear that other families will receive the same “devastating news” unless world leaders take urgent action to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
“I’m stunned that we still have not seen world leaders emerge on a global stage all together and demand that the hostages be let go,” Jon Polin told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview Monday alongside his wife, Rachel Goldberg.
Both parents were wearing stickers with “374” written on them to mark the number of days that have passed since the hostages were taken captive to Gaza by Hamas.
Goldberg-Polin was one of six hostages whose bodies were discovered by the Israeli military in tunnels under Gaza shortly after they had been killed by Hamas.
Death toll rises to 5 from Israeli strike on hospital courtyard in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders says
From CNN’s Eve Brennan in London
People look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Monday.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
The death toll from an Israeli strike on the courtyard of the Al Aqsa hospital in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah has risen to five, according to Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF), which is also known as Doctors Without Borders.
Another 65 people were wounded in the attack, according to MSF, which said it was supporting the hospital housing displaced people.
“It is the seventh time that Al Aqsa hospital compound was bombed since March 2024; three of them in the last month,” said MSF on X on Monday.
It quoted MSF nurse Eliza Sabatini, who described “a scene of devastation.”
The Israel Defense Forces has previously said it conducted a “precise strike” on a Hamas command center embedded at the site. It said it had taken steps to limit harm to civilians and blamed Hamas for using civilian infrastructure.
According to MSF, another strike hours earlier had hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Al Mufti school in the Nuseirat camp, officials from Gaza’s Al Awda and Al Aqsa hospitals said on Sunday. More than 5,000 displaced people were sheltering at the site, according to Gaza’s civil defense.
The strikes caused the United Nations to cancel polio vaccinations which were due to take place there, according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the Nuseirat strike.
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Israel requested advanced missile defense system from US several weeks ago, sources tell CNN
From CNN's Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky
Israel requested an advanced missile defense system from the US several weeks ago, according to a US defense official and a source familiar with the conversations.
This comes after the Pentagon announced Sunday that it was deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel with approximately 100 US troops to operate the system. The US has only 7 THAAD systems in its inventory, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The US deployed a THAAD battery to the Middle East shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, though the Pentagon declined to say where the system would be located.
Nasrallah’s killing came days before Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1. Though many of the missiles were intercepted, a number of missiles did penetrate Israel’s aerial defense network.
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Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah everywhere in Lebanon, Netanyahu says
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown and Eve Brennan in London
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on July 16.
Abir Sultan/AFP/Getty Images
Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah targets everywhere in Lebanon, including the country’s capital Beirut, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“We will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon — including Beirut,” he said at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade Training Base in a video released by the country’s government press office.
That training base was hit Sunday evening by a Hezbollah drone launched from southern Lebanon, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring more than 60 people.
Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families of the four Israeli soldiers killed in Sunday’s strike, adding he would visit those who were wounded.
Netanyahu’s remarks come after CNN learned Israeli strikes on Beirut paused in recent days amid growing “understandings” between US and Israeli officials, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Two Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 100 in Beirut on Thursday. Since then, there have been no strikes on the Lebanese capital, however they have continued elsewhere, particularly in the south of the country.
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European foreign ministers express concern for UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown and Hamdi Alkhshali
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have expressed concern for the safety of UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s ground incursion.
In a joint statement, the ministers said they condemned “unequivocally any threat to the security of UNIFIL,” the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, adding that “any deliberate attack against UNIFIL goes against international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.”
United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) peace keeping troops from the Spanish contingent conduct an early morning patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Qliyaa on October 11.
picture-alliance/dpa/AP
Some context: Over the past week, the UN has said the Israeli military has fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered a base, stopped a critical logistical movement and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon were in “harm’s way.”
In their joint statement, the European foreign ministers urged Israel and all parties to safeguard the well-being and operational freedom of UNIFIL personnel.
The ministers also reaffirmed the contribution of the UN in resolving armed conflicts and mitigating their humanitarian toll.
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Iran halts indirect US talks as regional tensions rise
From CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali and Fred Pleitgen
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that indirect talks between Iran and the United States, facilitated by Oman, have been paused due to escalating tensions in the region.
Speaking during a visit to Oman’s capital, Muscat, Araghchi said the negotiations, known as the “Muscat process,” have been halted “due to the specific circumstances of the region.”
He emphasized, however, that the current regional turmoil has rendered further talks impossible for the time being. “We do not see any ground for these talks until we can get past the current crisis,” he said, leaving the door open for the process to resume at a later stage.
Asked whether any message was conveyed to the US during his visit, Araghchi said:
Araghchi said the US and European nations, as well as regional actors, must recognize Iran’s stance on recent developments. “Our position is crystal clear,” Araghchi said. “We do not seek war or conflict, but we are fully prepared for it. We believe that diplomacy must be used to prevent escalation.”
The halt in talks comes amid mounting tensions since Iran launched a barrage of missiles toward Israel on October 1, a retaliatory move after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in Beirut. Israel had targeted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike on Tehran two months prior.
With Israel vowing a response, concerns about a wider regional conflict are intensifying.
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What is UNIFIL and why have there been peacekeepers on the Israel-Lebanon border for more than 45 years?
From CNN's Kara Fox
UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon) armoured personnel carriers depart a base to patrol near the Lebanon- Israel border on October 5.
Carl Court/Getty Images
Over the past week, the UN said that the Israeli military fired on its peacekeepers, forcibly entered its base, stopped logistics and injured more than a dozen of its troops in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s attacks on the peacekeeping mission, which has operated in Lebanon for more than 45 years, have been widely condemned by the international community. UNIFIL — the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon — has called the violations “shocking” while Israel has accused Hezbollah of operating in areas near UNIFIL posts.
So, what is UNIFIL and what does it do?
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was established by the UN Security Council following Israel’s first invasion into southern Lebanon in 1978.
Its mandate was to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the country, restore international peace and security, and assist the Lebanese government to restore its effective authority in the area. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon for a second time and subsequently established a security zone inside the country, which remained until its withdrawal in 2000.
In 2000 UNIFIL established the Blue Line — an area spanning 120 kilometers (around 75 miles) along southern Lebanon to ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. It acts as a de-facto border between the two countries since Lebanon and Israel have an ongoing border dispute.
The mission is made up of more than 10,000 personnel from 50 countries, the majority of whom are troops. Indonesia, Italy, India, Nepal, Ghana and Malaysia contribute the most troops. The UNIFIL troops are tasked with monitoring border violations and keeping the area, which includes Hezbollah strongholds — secure.
