Updates: Lebanon’s Hezbollah hits Israel’s Haifa; Israel pounds Gaza

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For more on UN chief Guterres’s speech today, you can watch our video, here.

And you can stay across all our coverage of Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon, here.

We will be closing this live page shortly and moving to a new one but before we do, here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:

• Israeli forces have told the Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and health personnel within 24 hours.
• The Palestinian Civil Defence warns that the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is becoming more dangerous in the wake of large-scale Israeli attacks on Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, which have been ongoing for four days.
• Hezbollah fired more than 80 rockets into the northern Israeli city of Haifa as the Israeli army has continued air strikes on Beirut and announced it is expanding ground operations in Lebanon.
• Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that Israeli attacks killed at least 36 people and wounded 150 across Lebanon on Monday.
• Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said the group’s capabilities and command structure are intact.
• In Syria, an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus has killed at least seven people.
• Netanyahu published a video addressed to Lebanese citizens claiming that Israel has killed former Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s “replacement and the replacement of his replacement”.
• UN chief Antonio Guterres slammed the killing of journalists and aid workers in Gaza, saying he wrote to Netanyahu to “express profound concern” about draft legislation to stop UNRWA from working in Gaza.

Netanyahu insists he will achieve his goal of destroying the armed groups that threaten Israel’s security. But hundreds of thousands have left Israel since the war began to search for safety somewhere else.

Official figures show the trend of reverse immigration has grown on a scale not seen in decades. The government is aware of the growing crisis and has introduced incentives to attract new immigrants.

Al Jazeera’s Inside Story speaks to experts about the long-term consequences of this exodus.

Watch the discussion below:

Donald Trump claimed in a radio interview that he has been to Gaza even though no record of such a visit exists.

The comment came in response to a question about whether the occupied territory, which Israel has largely razed to the ground over the last year, could be developed to “be Monaco, if it was rebuilt the right way?”

“I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place, before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years,” he said.

Asked to clarify, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said that “Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel”.

Read more on this story here.

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government

Hezbollah says in a statement that 190 rockets were fired towards targets in northern Israel. It’s causing a lot of concern among Israelis at a time when the country is under heightened alert.

A day ago, five rockets landed in central Haifa – the largest city in the north of the country, a port with 300,000 people. But there are also military bases in Haifa. A lot of people are questioning how this could’ve happened and wondering about the vulnerabilities of the much-vaunted Israeli defence systems.

We’re hearing from the Israelis about more closed-off military zones being created near Israel’s border with Lebanon. That indicates the army really intends to ramp up pressure on Hezbollah and continue to escalate the situation with more Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Chris Gunness, a former spokesman for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, denounced Israel’s continuing “slaughter” in Gaza, and countries around the world for failing to stop it.

“In the last year, we have seen Gaza transform from the world’s largest open-air prison to the world’s largest concentration camp,” Gunness told Al Jazeera.

“Today, Gaza has been transformed into an industrial-scale slaughterhouse. And I use the word ‘slaughter’ advisedly because frankly animals in most abattoirs around the world are killed more humanely than the women and children of Gaza.

“Shame on the UN Security Council, shame on the Israeli leaders who’ve done this, and shame on all of us because what we’ve seen in the last year is a stain on the conscience of humanity.”

The Israeli army issued a warning that it’s going to hit a number of buildings in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut.

There have been at least four strikes in the past couple of hours. We don’t know the extent of the damage yet. We cannot independently verify it but Israel said the strikes targeted Hezbollah intelligence quarters.

They’ve often said this, but it’s extremely difficult to get in there. It’s even difficult for paramedics to see if there are any injuries or fatalities.

In the Baalbek region, a small village was struck and we’ve seen flames going up into the night sky. We know that there was an Israeli strike but we don’t know exactly what they were hitting, but we do know that flames have been burning for hours.

The Wafa news agency is reporting that a young Palestinian was wounded by an Israeli army grenade in Sebastia, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Sebastia’s mayor, Mohammad Azzem, said that “Israeli forces raided the town, triggering confrontations, which saw the soldiers opening gunfire, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades” according to the report.

One of the grenades hit a young man, injuring him in the hand, it added.

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government. 

It seems that Netanyahu feels emboldened and empowered. He is riding on that high of the victory he declared 24 hours ago that Israel was achieving.

In fact, he not only threatened the people of Lebanon, he incited them to fight Hezbollah.

To “liberate” Lebanon from Hezbollah, a movement and party that is part of the social fabric and has elected members in parliament, represents an important component in Lebanese society.

So, that evokes or promotes thoughts and memories in the region of the Lebanese civil war, which was very bloody and very complicated because of outside intervention, including from Israel.

Ali al-Attar, 27, was wounded in a bombing that targeted Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.

Al-Attar was wounded as two pieces of shrapnel hit his head following the bombing that targeted a police checkpoint inside the hospital next to the journalists’ tents where he was located.

He is currently suffering from a skull fracture and internal bleeding in the brain, and doctors have described his condition as critical, especially in light of the depleted medical facilities.

Journalists and media professionals are appealing to international humanitarian and media organisations to intervene to transfer al-Attar for treatment outside Gaza.

Journalists have been forced to work from inside hospitals during the war due to lack of electricity, internet and workspace.

Amid increasing Israeli attacks, at least 36 people were killed and 150 wounded across Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah fired 180 rockets into Israeli territory in various attacks today.

As we reported earlier, Hezbollah fired more than 80 rockets at the northern Israeli city of Haifa, as the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said in a public address that Hezbollah’s military capabilities were intact.

The Palestinian Civil Defence said the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is becoming more dangerous following a large-scale Israeli military attack on Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia that has been ongoing for four days.

“Israeli forces have imposed a tight siege on these areas and are preventing the entry of water, food and medical supplies. The occupation has committed massacres against civilians, killing dozens and injuring hundreds. People’s bodies are strewn in the streets and it is difficult to reach them because soldiers are targeting ambulance and civil defence crews,” it said in a statement.

The Palestinian Civil Defence added that the Israeli military is forcing the more than 200,000 citizens in these areas to evacuate their homes and medical staff and patients to leave hospitals in the northern Gaza.

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting a massive air strike on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in the last 30 minutes.

They have also added that at least four strikes took place on Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut.

We will keep you updated with all the latest in Lebanon, Palestine and across the region.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claims that Hezbollah previously “refused” a ceasefire and now that it was “getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire”.

Let’s bring you up to speed with recent developments:

• Israeli forces have told Kamal Adwan Hospital, Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and health personnel within 24 hours.
• According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli forces threatened Kamal Adwan Hospital staff and opened fire at the administration office.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu published a video claiming Israel has killed former Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s “replacement”. However, Israeli forces say no confirmation yet.
• Israeli settlers have attacked the Umm Safa village, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
• Hezbollah says its command and control structure has recovered fully following Israeli attacks and is now “stronger” than before.
• At least seven people, including women and children, have been killed by an Israeli strike on a residential building in Damascus.
  

  

Israeli forces tightened the siege on the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood in central Hebron City, according to a human rights activist.

Imad Abu Shamsieh said that Israeli forces sealed off all entrances leading to the neighbourhood, as settlers held a rally in the area, chanting anti-Palestine slogans.

The Palestinian neighbourhood is located in the Israeli-controlled area of the old town, known as H2, where several hundred hardline Jewish settlers are based. Israel heavily restricts the movement and activity of Palestinians in the H2 area while allowing the settlers free movement and access.

Meanwhile, settlers attacked Palestinians’ vehicles near Khan al-Ahmar village, east of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem.

Wafa reported that settlers attacked and damaged the cars of Palestinians who were passing by the village.

Israeli spokesperson Daniel Hagari says the military is still looking into whether top Hezbollah commander Hashem Safieddine was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut last week, Times of Israel reported.

During a news conference, Hagari said the army hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and that they knew Safieddine was inside the building.

“The results of this strike are still being looked into. Hezbollah is trying to hide the details. When we know, we will update the public,” he said.

Hagari’s comments come after Netanyahu said earlier that the army had killed the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s projected successor, who is widely tipped to be Safieddine.