Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied across California on Monday protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon.
The demonstrations come on the anniversary of Oct. 7, when Hamas militants in Gaza attacked Israel, killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
At USC, hundreds of protesters shut down the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and McClintock Avenue in the afternoon. The crowd held pro-Palestinian signs and chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” according to video posted on social media. Protests were also anticipated at UCLA later in the day.
In the past year, Israeli military operations in Gaza and, more recently, against the Hamas-allied militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been the focus of protests. More than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including many women and children, have died in Israeli attacks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In Lebanon, hundreds have been killed and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
Demonstrations occurred across the country throughout the weekend and into Monday.
On Sunday, demonstrators filled San Francisco’s Mission District to protest what they said was the oppression of Palestinians. In Orange County, demonstrators gathered along Jeffrey Road in Irvine — one of the city’s main thoroughfares — on Sunday waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags and holding signs that focused on the human cost of the war.
Elsewhere, masked demonstrators set up an encampment outside Ohio Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman’s house in Cincinnati early Sunday. Landsman is Jewish. Protests were also underway in New York City.
JERUSALEM — A year after Hamas’ fateful attack on southern Israel, the Middle East is embroiled in a war that shows no signs of ending and seems to be getting worse.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive was initially centered on the Gaza Strip. But the focus has shifted in recent weeks to Lebanon, where airstrikes have given way to a fast-expanding ground incursion against Hezbollah militants who have fired rockets into Israel since the Gaza war began.
Next in Israel’s crosshairs is archenemy Iran, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other anti-Israel militants in the region. After withstanding a massive barrage of missiles from Iran last week, Israel has promised to respond. The escalating conflict risks drawing deeper involvement by the U.S., as well as Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
When Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7, 2023, it called on the Arab world to join it in a concerted campaign against Israel. While the fighting has indeed spread, Hamas and its allies have paid a heavy price.
The group’s army has been decimated, its Gaza stronghold has been reduced to a cauldron of death, destruction and misery and the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed in audacious attacks.
Although Israel appears to be gaining the edge militarily, the war has been problematic for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too.
Dozens of Israeli hostages are languishing in Hamas captivity, and a year after Netanyahu pledged to crush the group in “total victory,” remnants of the militant group are still battling in pockets of Gaza. The offensive in Lebanon, initially described as “limited,” grows by the day. A full-on collision with Iran is a possibility.
At home, Netanyahu faces mass protests over his inability to bring home the hostages, and to many, he will be remembered as the man who led Israel into its darkest moment. Relations with the U.S. and other allies are strained. The economy is deteriorating.
Here are five takeaways from a yearlong war that has upended longstanding assumptions and turned conventional wisdom on its head.
A region is torn apart by unthinkable death and destruction
A long list of previously unthinkable events have occurred in mind-boggling fashion.
The Oct. 7 attack was the bloodiest in Israel’s history. Young partygoers were gunned down. Cowering families were killed in their homes. In all, about 1,200 people died and 250 were taken hostage. Some Israelis were raped or sexually assaulted.
The ensuing war in Gaza has been the longest, deadliest and most destructive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gaza health authorities say nearly 42,000 people have been killed — roughly 2% of the territory’s entire population. Although they do not give a breakdown between civilians and combatants, more than half of the dead have been women and children. Numerous top Hamas officials have been killed.
The damage and displacement in Gaza have reached unseen levels. Hospitals, schools and mosques – once thought to be insulated from violence – have repeatedly been targeted by Israel or caught in the crossfire. Scores of journalists and health workers have been killed, many of them while working in the line of duty.
Months of simmering tensions along Israel’s northern border recently boiled over into war.
A growing list of Hezbollah officials – including the group’s longtime leader — have been killed by Israel. Hundreds of Hezbollah members were killed or maimed in explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies. Israel’s ground offensive is its first in Lebanon since a monthlong war in 2006.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands of Israelis and over 1 million Lebanese. Israel promises to keep pounding Hezbollah until its residents can return to homes near the Lebanese border; Hezbollah says it will keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
The leaders of Hamas and Israel appear in no rush for a cease-fire
When the war erupted, the days appeared to be numbered for both Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Netanyahu’s public standing plummeted as he faced calls to step aside. Sinwar fled into Gaza’s labyrinth of tunnels as Israel declared him a “dead man walking.”
Yet both men — facing war crimes charges in international courts — remain firmly in charge, and neither appears to be in a rush for a cease-fire.
The end of the war could mean the end of Netanyahu’s government, which is dominated by hard-line partners opposed to a cease-fire. That would mean early elections, potentially pushing him into the opposition while he stands trial on corruption charges. Also looming is the prospect of an unflattering official inquiry into his government’s failures before and during the Oct. 7 attack.
Fearing that, his coalition has hung together even through mass protests and repeated disagreements with top security officials pushing for a deal to bring home the hostages. After a brief period of post-Oct. 7 national unity, Israel has returned to its divided self — torn between Netanyahu’s religious, conservative, nationalist right-wing base and his more secular, middle-class opposition.
Sinwar, believed to be hiding in Gaza’s tunnels, continues to drive a hard bargain in hopes of declaring some sort of victory. His demands for a full Israeli withdrawal, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for scores of hostages have been rejected by Israel — even as much of the international community has embraced them.
With cease-fire efforts deadlocked and Netanyahu’s far-right coalition firmly intact, the war could go on for some time. An estimated 1.9 million Palestinians remain displaced in Gaza while an estimated 68 hostages remain captive in Gaza, in addition to the bodies of 33 others held by Hamas.
Bitter enemies experience the limits of force
Early in the war, Netanyahu promised to destroy Hamas’ military and governing abilities.
Those goals have been achieved in many ways. Israel says it has dismantled Hamas’ military structure, and its rocket barrages have been diminished to a trickle. With Israeli troops stationed indefinitely in Gaza, it is difficult to see how the group could return to governing the territory or pose a serious threat.
But in other ways, total victory is impossible. Despite Israel’s overwhelming force, Hamas units have repeatedly regrouped to stage guerrilla-style ambushes from areas where Israel has withdrawn.
Across the Middle East, bitter enemies are witnessing the limits of force and deterrence.
Israel’s deepening invasion of Lebanon and repeated strikes on Hezbollah have failed to halt the rockets and missiles. Missile and drone attacks by Iran and its allies have only deepened Israel’s resolve. Israel is vowing to strike Iran hard after its latest missile barrage, raising the likelihood of a broader, regionwide war.
Without diplomatic solutions, the fighting is likely to persist.
Israel and Gaza will never be the same
Israel is still deeply traumatized as people try to come to terms with the worst day in its history.
The Oct. 7 killings and kidnappings had an outsized impact on a tiny country founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Israelis’ sense of security was shattered, and their faith in the military was tested like never before.
Photos of Israeli hostages are everywhere, and mass demonstrations are held each week calling on the government to reach a deal to bring them home. The prospect of ongoing war looms over families and workplaces as reserve soldiers brace for repeated tours of duty.
The trauma is far more acute in Gaza – where an estimated 90% of the population remains displaced, many of them living in squalid tent camps.
The scenes have drawn comparisons to what the Palestinian call the Nakba, or catastrophe – the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The Palestinians now find themselves looking at a tragedy of even greater scale.
It remains unclear when displaced Palestinians in Gaza will be able to return home and whether there will be anything to return to. The territory has suffered immense destruction and is littered with unexploded bombs. Children are missing a second consecutive school year, virtually every family has lost a relative in the fighting and basic needs like food and health care are lacking.
After a hellish year, the Palestinians of Gaza have no clear path forward, and it could take generations to recover.
Old formulas for pursuing Mideast peace no longer work
The international community’s response to this bloodiest of wars has been tepid and ineffective.
Repeated cease-fire calls have been ignored, and a U.S.-led plan to reinstate the Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza has been rejected by Israel. It remains unclear who will run the territory in the future or who will pay for a cleanup and reconstruction effort that could take decades.
One thing that seems clear is that old formulas will no longer work. The international community’s preferred peace formula – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – seems hopelessly unrealistic.
Israel’s hard-line government opposes Palestinian statehood, says its troops will remain in Gaza for years to come and has further cemented its undeclared annexation of the West Bank. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has been pushed to the brink of irrelevance.
For decades, the United States has acted as the key mediator and power broker in the region – calling for a two-state solution but showing little political will to promote that vision. Instead, it has often turned to conflict management, preventing any side from doing anything too extreme to destabilize the region.
This approach went up in smoke on Oct. 7. Since then, the U.S. has responded with a muddled message of criticizing Israel’s wartime tactics as too harsh while arming the Israeli military and protecting Israel against diplomatic criticism. The result: The Biden administration has managed to antagonize both Israel and the Arab world while cease-fire efforts repeatedly sputter.
This approach has also alienated the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, complicating Kamala Harris’ presidential aspirations. The warring sides appear to have given up on the Biden administration and are waiting for the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election before deciding their next moves.
Whoever wins the race will almost certainly have to find a new formula and recalibrate decades of American policy if they want to end the war.
The U.S. military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed.
Military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at approximately five locations, according to the officials.
Seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeida, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base, Houthi media said. Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province. The Houthi media office also reported three air raids in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa.
The strikes came days after the Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over Yemen. Last week, the group claimed responsibility for an attack targeting American warships.
The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, according to several U.S. officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.
Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started last October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.
The group has maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.
In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.
The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent confirmation.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.
The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider war.
The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.
Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
___
Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.
In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.
The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent confirmation.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.
The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider war.
The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.
Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
___
Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
Southern Israel — Ahead of the Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashanah, Efrat Machikawa helped prepare food for dinner at her home in southern Israel. Her family eats Tunisian food to mark the occasion, and her mother made a number of delicacies, including spinach glazed in honey.
But Machikawa told CBS News that this year’s holiday — one of the most significant in Judaism — wouldn’t be the celebration it usually is, because one of her family members is still being held hostage in war-torn Gaza.
“We know it’s a holiday, but it’s nothing to celebrate. Nothing,” she said. “They should have been here.”
CBS News last visited Machikawa at her home in southern Israel almost a year ago, just days after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks. Six members of her family had just been killed or taken hostage from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz — among the 1,200 people massacred and the 251 kidnapped that day.
Chanon Cohen and his daughter Efrat Machikawa are seen days after a number of their relatives were killed or taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks.
Duarte Dias/CBS News
“It’s very hard to describe this past year, because it really doesn’t feel as if a year has been… I say, it’s one long day,” Machikawa said.
One of her relatives was killed and four were eventually released by Hamas, including her aunt Margalit, who had serious health issues when she was abducted.
Finally freed from captivity, it was hard for Margalit to accept what had happened on Oct. 7.
Margalit Moses, a released Israeli hostage, walks with an Israeli soldier shortly after her return to Israel, Nov. 24, 2023.
IDF via AP
“It wasn’t easy for her to realize what really happened to her house, to her community, to her friends, to people she loved, to the other kibbutzim, to the whole country,” Machikawa said.
Since we last met her, she’s been working tirelessly to get her uncle Gadi Moses, the last member of the family still held in Gaza, back home.
She’s been among the families and friends of hostages pushing Israel’s government hard to accept a deal with Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Machikawa has traveled the world, appealing to foreign leaders to mount pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses is in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, is seen at the Gaza border, in Kibbutz Nirim, southern Israel, in a Jan. 11, 2024 file photo.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
“Everyone that is connected to the negotiation table and the army — the security and the army — are amazing, amazing people. But if I talk about my government… I don’t think they did what a government, what my idea of government, would do,” Machikawa said. “The feeling that it’s on us, on the families, to maintain the national and international interest in releasing these 101 hostages is quite hard to take.”
Israeli officials believe 64 of the hostages are still alive.
Machikawa said that, despite the difficulties, she will continue working to bring her uncle, and the other hostages, back home.
“There must be a hope. I am hopeful,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able not to be hopeful. I don’t have the capacity not to be hopeful.”
Beirut, Lebanon — Israel expanded its airstrikes on Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and beyond over the weekend, launching raids thousands of miles away on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Israeli attack on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida came after months of U.S. and British strikes against the group – a joint response to the rebels’ regular rocket, drone and missile attacks on international military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The Israeli strikes also came, however, amid growing concern that Israel’s nearly-year-long war with the Houthi’s ideological allies Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon could spiral into a broad regional conflict, drawing in Iran and even the U.S. to back their respective allies.
Israel hit the Houthis just a couple days after it assassinated Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah with a massive airstrike on Friday.
After that strike, Israeli forces continued pounding purported Hezbollah and Hamas targets across Lebanon’s south and east all weekend, but the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold where Nasrallah was killed along with another senior commander and two other high-ranking members of the group, has borne the brunt.
A man mourns people killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ain Deleb, near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon, Sept. 30, 2024.
Aziz Taher/REUTERS
The well-armed group’s surviving deputy leader Naim Qassem vowed Monday that Hezbollah would carry on – despite its near decapitation via airstrikes, and before that exploding pagers and walkie talkies – “facing the Israeli enemy to support Gaza and Palestine.”
He accused the U.S. of offering Israel “limitless support” for Israel to carry out “massacres” in Lebanon and Gaza, and then claimed Hezbollah had fired even more weapons at Israel, and deep into the country, since Nasrallah was killed.
But Hezbollah’s incessant drone and rocket fire is virtually wiped out by Israel’s advanced air defenses before it reaches any targets. There have been civilians injured over the last couple weeks, but in Lebanon’s capital, entire residential buildings have been flattened.
CBS News went to see the aftermath of one Israeli strike Sunday on the edge of Dahiyeh. A five-storey-building was reduced to rubble. It was still smoldering as another massive boom reverberated in the distance, underscoring the unpredictable security situation for Lebanese civilians as Israel carries on, determined, it says, to push Hezbollah many miles away from its border to stop the cross-border attacks.
Getty/iStockphoto
Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders over the past week alone, and 19 in just a few months — dealing a major blow to the U.S.-designated terrorist group. Hezbollah ramped up its attacks on Israel a day after Israeli forces launched their first airstrikes on its Hamas allies, in immediate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
Hezbollah has acknowledged losing more than 30 operatives in recent weeks, including many of its senior leaders, but the ferocity and pace of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon has also taken a massive toll on Lebanese civilians. At least 1,000 people have been killed in just two weeks — 105 on Sunday alone.
According to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the strikes have displaced almost 1 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut of other locations further north.
Some of those displaced families — including many with young children — have come to Beirut’s iconic Blue Mosque, desperate to find safety. The place of worship has become a refuge for people who told CBS News they’d rather sleep in the courtyard’s surrounding the building, out in the open, than go back to their neighborhoods amid Israel’s bombardment.
Samar al-Attrash is among those who have found sanctuary outside the mosque. She fled her home in Dahiyeh with her husband and their three children, and little more than the clothes on their backs.
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab (right) speaks with Samar al-Attrash as she sits with her husband and their three young children on the steps of Beirut’s Blue Mosque, to which they fled seeking shelter amid Israeli bombing near their home in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Sept, 28, 2024.
CBS News
“We have nowhere to go to but here,” the mother told us. “We are very scared and we can’t go back to Dahiyeh at all until the situation gets better.”
“I told my kids it’s scary and that we can’t go home,” she said. “I’m only telling [them] a little at a time so I don’t traumatize them.”
President Biden reiterated his warning on Sunday that an all-out regional war must be avoided, but as he spoke, CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay and his team reported that tanks and armored vehicles were massing on the Israeli side of the country’s northern border with Lebanon.
A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in black, meeting Israeli forces near the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Sept. 30, 2024.
IDF handout
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant paid another visit to Israeli troops waiting for orders near the border, telling them killing Nasrallah was, “an important step, but it is not the final one.”
“We will employ all of our capabilities,” Gallant told the Israeli troops, “and this includes you.”
It was the latest clear signal that Israel is preparing for some kind of ground operation in Lebanon — a move that has the potential to spark fighting even deadlier than anything seen since Oct. 7.
Despite the body blows dealt by Israel, Hezbollah’s deputy leader claimed Monday that the group’s “military capabilities are solid,” that it “will continue along the same path” it has been on for months – and that it is ready for a war with Israel.
Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.
Israel’s military said Saturday that it had killed the overall leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in an airstrike the previous day on the group’s “central headquarters” in Beirut, Lebanon. The Friday afternoon strike was the latest in a series of massive explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon’s southern border into Israel for almost a year.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a Saturday statement that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, “was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders” in a strike by Israeli fighter jets on the group’s command facility “embedded under a residential building” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have long been a stronghold of the U.S.-designated terrorist group.
“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.
People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.
Aziz Taher / REUTERS
The Friday strikes leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings in the biggest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital since Hezbollah started firing on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in response to Israel launching its war on the group’s Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip.
At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strike, Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday, noting that the toll could rise as people were believed to be buried under rubble at the site.
A senior Israeli official said Friday that the IDF had sought to minimize civilian casualties by striking in the daytime, when many people wouldn’t be home. He said Israel was not seeking a broader regional war, but that Hezbollah’s military capabilities had been meaningfully degraded by the recent series of Israeli military operations and that the objective of the strike was to leave Hezbollah with a significant leadership gap.
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024.
Mohamed Azakir / REUTERS
In a possible early sign of the strikes’ significance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States to return home on Friday instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening, his office said. Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great import.
Hours earlier, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Several delegates stood up and walked out before he gave his address.
To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddling with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.
In a separate statement Saturday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Nasrallah’s killing demonstrated “anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel — we will know how to reach them.”
The series of gigantic blasts around nightfall on Friday reduced six buildings to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The shock wave rattled windows and shook houses some 18 miles north of Beirut. TV footage showed several craters — one with a car toppled into it — amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated, predominantly Shiite neighborhood.
Smoke rises above buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video.
Social media image /via REUTERS
Nasrallah had been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gave speeches, but always by video from unknown locations. The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.
The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.
The White House said President Biden was briefed by his national security team “several times” on Friday and “has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary U.S. force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of U.S. objectives. He has also directed his team to ensure that U.S. embassies in the region take all protective measures as appropriate.”
“The events of the past week and the past few hours underscore what a precarious moment this is for the Middle East and for the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference Friday in New York. “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. The way it does so matters. The choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine which path this region is on, with profound consequences for its people now and possibly for years to come.”
Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory. The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.
Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to Health Ministry statistics.
A predawn strike Friday in the mainly Sunni border town of Chebaa hit a home, killing nine members of the same family, the state news agency said. A resident identified the dead as Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two of their grandchildren.
At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people in Israel and take 251 hostage. Since then, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.
An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.
In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.
The Israeli military said Friday it struck the headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, where a series of massive explosions leveled multiple buildings and sent clouds of orange and black smoke into the sky in the biggest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year. At least two people were killed and dozens were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Three major Israeli TV channels said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The unsourced reports could not immediately be confirmed by The Associated Press, and the army declined comment. But given the size and timing of the blasts, there were strong indications that a senior leader may have been inside the buildings struck.
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024.
Mohamed Azakir / REUTERS
In a possible further sign of the strikes’ significance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States and was returning home instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening, his office said. Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great import.
Hours earlier, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. News of the blasts then came as Netanyahu was briefing reporters traveling with him. A military aide whispered into his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing.
To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddling with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.
The series of gigantic blasts at around nightfall reduced six buildings to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The shock wave rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut. TV footage showed several craters — one with a car toppled into it — amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated, predominantly Shiite neighborhood.
Smoke rises above buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video.
Social media image /via REUTERS
First responders were still searching under the rubble hours later as others struggled to put out fires. The full scope of casualties was not immediately clear, the health ministry said, adding that 15 of the 76 wounded had been hospitalized. Many people who live in the vicinity were seen gathering belongings and fleeing along a main road out of the district.
Nasrallah has been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gives speeches – but always by video from unknown locations. The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.
People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.
Aziz Taher / REUTERS
The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.
Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory. The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.
Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to Health Ministry statistics.
A predawn strike Friday in the mainly Sunni border town of Chebaa hit a home, killing nine members of the same family, the state news agency said. A resident identified the dead as Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two of their grandchildren.
At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Since then, it and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.
An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.
In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.
The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of strikes around the south Friday, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and infrastructure. It said Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets toward the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.
In the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, civil defense workers pulled the bodies of two women — 35-year-old Hiba Ataya and her mother Sabah Olyan — from the rubble of a building brought down by a strike.
“That’s Sabah, these are her clothes, my love,” one man cried out as her body emerged.
Israel says its accelerated strikes this week have already inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah’s weapons capabilities and its fighters. But the group boasted a large arsenal of rockets and missiles and its remaining capacities remain unknown.
Hezbollah officials and their supporters remain defiant. Not long before the explosions Friday evening, thousands were massed in another part of Beirut’s suburbs for the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier strikes, including the head of the group’s drone unit, Mohammed Surour.
Men and women in the giant crowd waved their fists in the air and chanted, “We will never accept humiliation” as they marched behind the three coffins, wrapped in the group’s yellow flag.
Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah’s top official in Beirut, said in a speech that no matter how many commanders Israel kills, the group has endless numbers of experienced fighters who are deployed all over the front lines. Fadlallah vowed that Hezbollah will keep fighting until Israel stops its offensive in Gaza.
“We will not abandon the support of Palestine, Jerusalem and oppressed Gaza,” Fadlallah said. “There is no place for neutrality in this battle.”
In the company’s fall economic outlook released Thursday, it forecasts the central bank’s interest rate will fall to 3.75% by the end of this year and a neutral rate of 2.75% by mid next year.
Meanwhile, it expects the economy to grow moderately as softer labour market conditions persist, especially as many home owners have yet to face higher rates when they refinance their loans.
“We do think that we’re going to be in for a decent year next year,” said Dawn Desjardins, chief economist at Deloitte Canada.
It appears Canada will successfully skirt a recession despite the impact of higher borrowing costs on the economy, said Desjardins.
“It’s hard to argue that the economy is just skating through this period of higher interest rates. But having said that, the overall numbers themselves continue to show the economy is expanding,” she said.
“Yes, the labour market has softened, but I don’t think we’re in any kind of crisis in the labour market at this time.”
Higher interest rates impacting economic growth, labour market
The Bank of Canada has cut its benchmark rate three times so far this year as inflation has eased, and signalled more cuts are coming.
Inflation in Canada hit the central bank’s 2% target in August, falling from 2.5 in July to reach its lowest level since February 2021.
Missiles slammed into southern Lebanon, shattering the early-morning silence Monday and reportedly killing more than 490 people as Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah weapons hidden in residential buildings. The explosions came as Israel heralded a new wave of attacks on the Iran-backed group in Lebanon, warning civilians to flee from any buildings or areas where the organization had weapons or fighters positioned.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people, The Associated Press reported. Monday marked the deadliest day of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006. The death toll also surpassed the deaths from the 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut that killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.
Israel’s military said at least 35 more rockets or drones were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, many of which fell in open areas or were intercepted. Israeli media said at least one man was injured amid the barrage.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024
Aziz Taher/REUTERS
The new crossfire came as Israel warned people in Lebanon — via automated phone calls, text messages and reportedly even Lebanese radio stations hacked into by its military — to avoid buildings used by Hezbollah.
The IDF shared images online of what it said were secondary explosions following some of its strikes Monday in southern Lebanon, showing, it said, “Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside homes.”
“Every house that we strike contains weapons — rockets, missiles, UAVs — that are intended to kill Israeli civilians,” the IDF said. It said 300 separate Hezbollah targets were hit in its Monday morning airstrikes in Lebanon.
President Joe Biden said on Monday that the U.S. was trying to calm the situation in Lebanon.
“I’ve been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” Mr. Biden said as he held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Monday the U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region.
Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets in one salvo Saturday night, sending them hurtling deeper into northern Israel and “toward civilian areas,” according to the Israeli military, wounding at least three people and spreading panic further into a region where many towns and villages have already been abandoned.
In a video posted on social media, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Monday morning that raids on homes and other buildings being used by Hezbollah to hide and launch weapons in Lebanon would “begin soon,” warning residents to follow orders from the Israeli army to evacuate.
“The raids will begin soon. Evacuate the houses where #Hezbollah has hidden weapons immediately,” Adraee said in the video, speaking Arabic. “Hezbollah is lying to you and sacrificing you.”
“We are deepening our attacks in Lebanon, the actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in his own video message, warning his nation of “days ahead of us when the public will have to show composure.”
Lebanon’s state-run media said people in some parts of the capital Beirut and in southern areas of the country — both areas where Hezbollah has long enjoyed significant support — received automated phone messages warning them to evacuate. The French news agency AFP said someone in national Information Minister Ziad Makary’s office got one of the calls.
The minister’s office told AFP that someone took a call on the office landline and heard a “recorded message” telling them to evacuate.
The warnings about what appeared likely to be a significant intensification of Israel’s assault on Hezbollah came after a weekend of increased fire between the two sides over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed group is a powerful political and military force.
Hezbollah started launching rocket and drone attacks on Israel as soon as Israel launched its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to that group’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Israel’s long-time arch rival Iran, and both have long been designated as terrorist groups by both the Israeli and U.S. governments.
The IDF has stepped up strikes on purported Hezbollah targets across Lebanon for weeks, vowing to remove the threat they pose to enable the safe return of tens of thousands of residents from towns and villages in Israel’s northern border region who’ve been evacuated due to the cross-border fire.
As Israel ramps up offensive operations against Hezbollah, it does so with wary U.S. support. The Biden administration has voiced concern for months about the tit-for-tat attacks by Israel and Hezbollah, simmering in parallel to the war in Gaza, escalating into a full-scale conflict. The concern is based largely on an assessment that a wider conflict in the Middle East will put U.S. troops increasingly in direct danger. Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have already targeted U.S. forces in the region with deadly drone fire during the Gaza war.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Saturday and Sunday with Gallant amid the increasing hostilities, and he “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself,” according to a readout of the first call from the Pentagon, but he also “stressed the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution” to the crisis and “his concern for the safety and security of U.S. citizens in the region.”
According to the readout of the Sunday night phone call, Austin “made clear that the United States remains postured to protect U.S. forces and personnel and determined to deter any regional actors from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.”
The long-feared escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah — which is a far larger and far better equipped militant group than its ally Hamas — started snowballing last week with Israel’s officially-unclaimed covert operations to blow up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon. Those attacks killed about 40 people, including an unconfirmed number of Hezbollah figures and at least two children, according to Lebanese officials.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted the explosions were a “severe blow” to the group, and he accused Israel of not only violating “all red lines” with the attacks, but of a “declaration of war.”
Israel hasn’t admitted to carrying out the complex attacks using rigged communications device, but CBS News learned that American officials were given a heads-up by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began, though no specific details were shared about the methods to be used.
Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com’s foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington D.C. and London.
Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.”We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.””We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.”We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.”We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
WASHINGTON —
Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.
Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.
One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.
“We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.”
“We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”
Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.
“We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”
President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.
“We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.
There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.
The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Beirut, Lebanon — The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut on Friday, as social media video showed smoke rising from the site of an attack in the Lebanese capital.
“At this moment, there are no changes in the Home Front Command defensive guidelines,” the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement.
Lebanese health officials said at least 8 people were killed and 59 people were wounded in the strike. The IDF said it had “eliminated” Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil.
“During the strike, senior operatives in Hezbollah’s Operations Staff and commanders from the Radwan Unit were eliminated alongside Aqil,” the IDF said in a statement, claiming the killed Hezbollah operatives, including Aqil, had been planning an attack on Israel “in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians.”
The United States had previously offered a “reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction,” of Aqil, who it said was a leader of Hezbollah in the 1980s, when the group claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
An Israeli fighter jet takes off from an unidentified location to conduct strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo released Sept. 19, 2024 by the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel Defense Forces/Handout/REUTERS
There were loud explosions and fires ignited by what the IDF said were strikes targeting hundreds of active Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon early Friday. Hezbollah struck northern Israel again in a counterattack, killing at least two soldiers, according to Israeli officials.
The deadly escalation in violence followed a televised address from a weary-looking Hassan Nasrallah — the leader of Hezbollah — who admitted this week’s pager and walkie talkie explosions had delivered a “severe blow” to the powerful group, which like Hamas has long been designated a terrorist group by Israel and the U.S.
Nasrallah accused Israel of not only violating “all red lines” with the explosions but of a “declaration of war.”
Israel has not publicly claimed the complex communications device attacks, but CBS News learned that American officials were given a heads-up by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began in Lebanon on Tuesday. There were no specific details shared about the methods to be used.
For two terrifying days in Lebanon, thousands of low-tech communications devices — many used by Hezbollah members — exploded simultaneously across the country, wounding over 3,000 people and killing at least 37, including children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
In his address, Nasrallah vowed that Israel would not achieve its goal of enabling the return of tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in northern border towns. Even as he spoke on Thursday, however, sonic booms echoed above Beirut as Israeli fighter jets roared over the city, flexing Israel’s military might.
But as the U.S. warning Thursday indicated, the next moves — be they further retaliation from Hezbollah or ground operations by the IDF against the group — could have major consequences.
“Ultimately, if they [Israel] do invade, they would have to occupy” southern Lebanon, regional analyst Makram Rabah told CBS News. “This would lead to a kind of a slow, depleting war for Israel, and this would, more importantly, legitimize Hezbollah.”
But hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were likely injured by the explosives attacks, which almost certainly left the group’s communications networks in complete disarray. And despite warnings from Israel’s defense chief of “a new phase” in the country’s war with Iran’s so-called proxy groups, and one IDF division already being transferred there from Gaza, there’s also been no major Israeli build-up of forces or hardware along the Lebanon border seen yet.
Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.
“They don’t trust their smartphones, so they reach back to these more archaic devices, and those blow up. What’s next?” says Schneier. “Everything becomes less efficient, because they can’t communicate well.”
Schneier describes the paranoia-inducing effect of the operation as a kind of ongoing “tax” on Hezbollah as an organization. “There are a lot of things you can’t do if you can’t trust your comms,” he says. Schneier compares the end result to the nearly incommunicado state of a hunted figure like Osama bin Laden, who in his final years was reduced to sending messages only via the human couriers who visited his secret compound in Pakistan.
That paranoia, in fact, has been seeded among Lebanon’s population for years. Israel’s pager- and walkie-talkie-based attacks follow repeated public warnings from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah about the surveillance dangers of smartphones, given Israeli intelligence’s well-known hacking prowess. “Please break it, bury it, lock it up in a metal box,” Nasrallah said in one speech. In another, he appeared on Lebanese television next to an image of an iPhone circled in red with a slash across it. “These are deadly spies,” he warned. Cell phones were reportedly banned from Hezbollah meetings in favor of pagers.
Now the older, alternative devices Hezbollah has fallen back to carry even greater fears of injury or death. And that fear has come to encompass communications electronics more broadly: At Wednesday’s funeral for victims of Tuesday’s attack, for instance—an event that was itself the target of another attack—attendees were asked to remove the batteries from their phones.
Creating distrust of communication devices within Hezbollah may well be Israel’s purposeful tactic of “preparing the battle space” ahead of impending Israeli military operations against Lebanon, says Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University and author of Active Measures, who specializes in disinformation and influence operations. He compares the operation to cyberattacks or physical attacks on “command-and-control” infrastructure at the beginning of a conflict, such as the United States’ efforts, documented in former NSA chief Michael Hayden’s book Playing to the Edge, to destroy the Iraqi military’s fiber-optics-based communications in 2003 in order to “herd” the enemy’s military toward more easily intercepted radio-based communications.
“This is taking attacks on command-on-control to a whole new level,” Rid says. “They sent the message: ‘No, we’re not just penetrating these devices and bugging them, we’re literally blowing them up, taking away the confidence you might have had in your command-and-control and also in any future devices that you might procure.’”
For Israeli intelligence, Rid notes, the attack also represents a stunning reassertion of its power and public image following its disastrous failure to prevent Hamas’ attacks of October 7. “This operation goes a long way in terms of demonstrating that they are, perhaps, the most creative and the most ruthless intelligence establishment on the planet right now,” he says.
Thanks to the collateral damage of Israel’s brazen offensive, however, its effects—both physical and psychological—have by no means been limited to Hezbollah operatives. The French-Lebanese security researcher Kobeissi, who now works as the founder and CEO of Paris-based tech firm Symbolic Software, says he’s already seen false rumors and misleading videos spread among Lebanese people, suggesting for instance that iPhones, too, are exploding. “People are losing their minds, because it’s scary as shit, and that’s the point,” he says. “It’s impossible to think about this as limiting Hezbollah’s communications and capabilities without realizing it’s also going to have a terrorizing effect on the adjacent population.”
Kobeissi argues that the attack’s collateral damage will shape how a generation of people think about Western technology in Lebanon and beyond. “The average Lebanese person doesn’t have a specific understanding of what it means to conduct a supply chain attack,” he says. “What they see is that a device made by an American ally, a device they rely on, may blow up. And it’s unfortunate that the Israeli intelligence community didn’t consider the knock-on effects that this could have globally.”
Aside from that issue of trust, Israel’s attack also represents an escalation, says Harvard’s Bruce Schneier—a new kind of attack that, now that it’s been demonstrated, is sure to be seen again in some form, perhaps even in an act of retaliation against Israel itself.
“It’s not just Hezbollah that should worry. If I were Ukraine, I’d be worried. If I were Russia, I’d worry. If I were Israel, I’d worry. This doesn’t just go one way,” he says. “Now we all live in a world of connected devices that can be weaponized in unexpected ways. What does that world look like?”
The AP-900 runs on two AAA batteries, which, like any battery, could be induced to explode, but likely not with such force and scale as the explosions depicted in alleged videos of the blasts. If the pagers used by Hezbollah are the AR-924 or another model that runs on lithium-ion batteries, which can cause more dangerous explosions, it’s still unlikely that a regular pager battery alone could produce blasts that could injure multiple people.
“Those explosions aren’t just batteries,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “Based on the reporting, these pagers were likely interdicted by Israeli authorities and modified with explosives. This highlights the risks of supply chain security, especially in places where technology is harder to ship to.”
Gold Apollo did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Williams points out that such an operation would likely involve operatives on both the tech distribution side and the Hezbollah procurement side. “You compromise the supply chain, but you don’t want thousands of explosive pagers running around Lebanon,” he says. “The mole gets them to exactly the right people.”
Some reports on Tuesday indicate that Hezbollah recently expanded its use of pagers in an attempt to secure communications after other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. The Associated Press reported that an anonymous “Hezbollah official” said the group had recently adopted a “new brand” of pagers that “first heated up, then exploded.”
“It’s unlikely that hacking was involved, as it’s likely that explosive material had to be inside the pagers to cause such an effect,” says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and visiting senior research fellow at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies. “Reports mention the delivery of new pagers recently, so perhaps the delivery was compromised.”
Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Middle East and North Africa risk management company Le Beck International, says if the attack is supply-chain-based, then it could have taken years to prepare and involved infiltrating a supplier and placing explosives inside new pagers.
“This is a major security breach, particularly if we’re talking about a charge that was placed inside the devices—which, in my opinion, is the most likely scenario,” Horowitz says. “This would mean that Israel has managed to infiltrate Hezbollah providers to the point of delivering hundreds (if not thousands) of devices used for secured communication.”
The incident comes amid escalations of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months, raising fears of a full-blown war. In the hours before the explosions on Tuesday, Israel said its war goals would include allowing 60,000 people to return to Northern Israel after they were evacuated following Hezbollah attacks, and it would not rule out military action.
Horowitz says the incident could be a “prelude to a broader offensive” and possibly meant to disrupt Hezbollah’s communications networks. It is likely that replacing a large number of pagers would take some time to organize. Alternatively, Horowitz says, the attack could also have been conducted to show the “scale of Israel’s intelligence penetration.”
“This is a high-value operation that you wouldn’t use just to cause injuries,” Horowitz says.
Even if the blasts were not caused by a cyber-physical attack that induced the pager batteries to explode, it’s still possible that explosives planted in the pagers were detonated using a remote command, possibly even a specially crafted pager message. Some footage appeared to show users checking their pagers right as the explosions occurred, though this could have been coincidental.
The operation could have a psychological impact on Hezbollah given that bombs may have been lurking undetected in such an unassuming device. And though Tuesday’s attacks were notably aggressive, it would not be the first time Israeli intelligence has reportedly planted explosives in electronics.
Updated at 3:25 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about potential ways the attack could have been carried out.
Updated at 3:40 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about the pager model that may have been used in the attack.
An Israeli strike on an area in the Gaza Strip home to Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war has killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others, authorities said Tuesday.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the toll for the strike, citing medical officials.
Details about the strike in the Mawasi coastal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone remained unclear. The area is home to many Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war in which the Israeli military has devastated the wider Gaza Strip after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The Israeli military described the strike as hitting “significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center,” without immediately providing additional evidence.
Hamas in a reported statement denied that, though Israel long has accused Hamas and other militants of hiding in civilian populations.
Footage circulating on social media showed deep craters at the site of the attack, the strewn ruins around it covered in shredded tents, a bicycle and other debris. Rescue workers used shovels to shift through the sand. Bystanders used their hands to dig, illuminated by mobile phone light. At least one crater at the site looked to be as deep as 32 feet.
Teams conduct a search and rescue operation after an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment of displaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on September 10, 2024.
Abdallah F.s. Alattar/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Israeli military said it used “precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional means” it did not immediately describe to limit civilian casualties.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Search and rescue teams work after an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment of displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on September 10, 2024.
Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Meanwhile, the United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.
The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City. “The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”
He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.
“UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law, he wrote. “Gaza is no different.” The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two NATO members said Sunday that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day.
A drone entered Romanian territory early Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense reported. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions.
It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Later on Sunday, Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Sprūds said a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighboring Belarus.
Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of Russia and around 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.
While the incursion into Latvian airspace appeared to be a rare incident, Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, as recently as July this year.
Mircea Geoană, NATO’s outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania’s former top diplomat, said Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. “While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Latvia’s military on Sunday similarly said there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely sent a drone into the country. In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site, and that a probe was ongoing.
Sprūds, the Latvian defense minister, sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.
“I can confirm that there are no victims here and also no property is infringed in any way,” Defense Minister Andris Sprūds told the Latvian Radio on Sunday, adding that any risks in the event were immediately eliminated: “Of course, it is a serious incident, as it is once again a reminder of what kind of neighboring countries we live next to.”
Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the incursions “a reminder (that) the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation go beyond Ukraine’s borders.”
“The collective response of the Allies should be maximum support for Ukraine now, to put an end to (Russian aggression), protect lives and preserve peace in Europe,” Sybiha said in a post on X.
Civilians reported killed in Ukraine
In Ukraine, two civilians died and four more suffered wounds in a nighttime Russian airstrike on the northern city of Sumy, the regional military administration reported. Two children were among those wounded, the administration said. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed later on Sunday that its forces struck foreign pro-Kyiv fighters in a village on Sumy’s northern outskirts. It was not immediately clear whether this was a reference to the same attack.
Also on Sunday, Ukraine’s General Staff said that Russian troops continued to pound Sumy and the surrounding regions with airstrikes, and had lobbed at least 16 devastating “glide bombs” at the province by mid-afternoon. Russian forces shelled the city again during the day Sunday, wounding a teenager and a civilian man, the regional prosecutor’s office reported.
Three more women died Sunday after Russian forces shelled a village in the eastern Donetsk region, Gov. Vadym Filashkin reported on the Telegram messaging app. Separately, Russian shelling killed a woman on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city in the northeast, local authorities said.
Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 58 from the massive Russian missile strike that on Tuesday blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in the eastern city of Poltava, regional Gov. Filip Pronin reported. More than 320 others were wounded.
Ukrainian servicemen carry crosses and pictures of their comrades killed in a Russian rocket attack at a Ukrainian military academy, during their funeral ceremony in Poltava, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP
Since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to smash civilian targets, sometimes killing scores of people in a single attack.
Russian forces continued their monthlong grinding push toward the city of Pokrovsk, and also ramped up attacks near the town of Kurakhove farther south, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday its troops had taken Novohrodivka, a small town some 19 kilometers (11 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk. An update published Saturday evening by DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site, said Russian forces had “advanced” in Novohrodivka and captured Nevelske, a village in the southeast of the Pokrovsk district.
Pokrovsk, which had a prewar population of about 60,000, is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture would compromise Ukraine’s defense and supply routes, and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.
Berlin raises prospect of peace talks with Russia
Also on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree that Moscow should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending its invasion of Ukraine.
“There will certainly be a further peace conference, and the president (Zelenskyy) and I agree that it must be one with Russia present,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF public television.
A previous peace conference June 15-16 in Switzerland ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” but otherwise left the path forward unclear. Russia did not participate.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy did not immediately comment on Scholz’s remarks, but said in a video address Sunday that he had held “important negotiations” with the German leader and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He did not give details.
The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar are working on a new ceasefire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. The deal also hopes to bring hostages and prisoners home.Meanwhile, protests in Israel stretched into a third day Wednesday, calling on the government to reach an agreement after six hostages, including an American, were found killed by Hamas over the weekend.The killings sparked new urgency for a deal.The U.S. says constructive talks are now edging closer to a “bridging proposal” that could get Israel and Hamas to agree.”Every day that goes by without an agreement, there are risks. Obviously one of the risks is region-wide conflict that we’ve worked to try and avoid,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Tuesday. “Another risk is the continued loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Hostages could die and so that’s why we continue to push for this urgency.”The White House is brushing off the deal as a “final” or “take it or leave it” offer but did not go into detail on what would happen if the deal proves unsuccessful.On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against six Hamas leaders connected to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel igniting the war. The indictment includes charges of terrorism and sanctions evasion but the case is mostly symbolic.Hamas’ leader is believed to be hiding in tunnels in Gaza and three other defendants are presumed dead.The United Nations Security Council will meet Wednesday to talk about the fate of the remaining hostages.
The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar are working on a new ceasefire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. The deal also hopes to bring hostages and prisoners home.
Meanwhile, protests in Israel stretched into a third day Wednesday, calling on the government to reach an agreement after six hostages, including an American, were found killed by Hamas over the weekend.
The killings sparked new urgency for a deal.
The U.S. says constructive talks are now edging closer to a “bridging proposal” that could get Israel and Hamas to agree.
“Every day that goes by without an agreement, there are risks. Obviously one of the risks is region-wide conflict that we’ve worked to try and avoid,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Tuesday. “Another risk is the continued loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Hostages could die and so that’s why we continue to push for this urgency.”
The White House is brushing off the deal as a “final” or “take it or leave it” offer but did not go into detail on what would happen if the deal proves unsuccessful.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against six Hamas leaders connected to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel igniting the war. The indictment includes charges of terrorism and sanctions evasion but the case is mostly symbolic.
Hamas’ leader is believed to be hiding in tunnels in Gaza and three other defendants are presumed dead.
The United Nations Security Council will meet Wednesday to talk about the fate of the remaining hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will “not give in to pressure” to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas in the face of massive protests in his country as well as President Biden saying he’s not doing enough to end the nearly 11-month war in Gaza and Britain’s government restricting the sale of some weapons to Israel.
Speaking Monday after dramatic protests following the killing of six Israeli hostages, Netanyahu said he would not back down on some of his demands in the ongoing cease-fire negotiations aimed at stopping the fighting, at least temporarily, to allow the release of dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
In the televised address late Monday night, Netanyahu asked for forgiveness for not saving the six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. According to Israeli officials, they were killed by Hamas hours before their bodies were recovered. All six were found by the Israeli military in a Hamas tunnel over the weekend.
“I ask for your forgiveness for not bringing them back alive,” Netanyahu said. “We were close but we didn’t succeed. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this.”
Netanyahu insisted that “the achievement of the war’s objectives” requires Israel to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land along the border between southern Gaza and Egypt. Egypt’s government has voiced its objection to an Israeli military presence on that border, and Hamas has demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from the area as part of any cease-fire agreement.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Israel on Sunday and Monday to demand that Netanyahu bring an end to the war and secure the release of the 101 remaining hostages, about 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
“He’s ruining the country. Divides us in order to keep his control,” one protester told CBS News.
Demonstrators march during a protest calling for a cease-fire deal to secure the release of Israelis held hostage by militants in Gaza since October, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 31, 2024.
JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty
President Biden met with negotiators working on the cease-fire negotiations alongside mediators from Egypt and Qatar on Monday. When asked by reporters whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a deal that would end the war and see the release of the hostages, he said, “No.”
Adding more international pressure, the U.K. government announced Monday that it would suspend some of its arms exports to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that the weapons could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. The government said it was suspending 30 of the approximately 350 licenses for items being used in the current conflict.
“The U.K. continues to support Israel’s right to self-defense in accordance with international law,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
Netanyahu called the U.K. move “shameful” and “misguided.”
In Gaza, the fighting continued as the World Health Organization raced to meet its goal of vaccinating at least 90% of the children living in the enclave against polio. The health ministry in Gaza said around 160,000 Palestinian children in the territory had been vaccinated in the first two days of the emergency vaccination campaign.
There were widespread disruptions across Israel on Monday as members of the country’s largest labor union went on strike to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The leader of the Histadrut union, which has hundreds of thousands of members in Israel, called for the strike on Sunday after news broke of the recovery of the bodies of six hostages who had previously been known to be alive, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The Israel Defense Forces said all six were killed a short time before their bodies were found by Israeli troops inside a tunnel in Gaza.
People pay their respects on the street on the day of the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of six Israeli hostages whose body was recovered from Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 2, 2024
Ronen Zvulun / REUTERS
“My message to Prime Minister Netanyahu is that my brother Keith and all the remaining hostages need to be home immediately,” Israeli-American Lee Seigel, whose brother Keith is among the roughly 75 hostages still believed to be held alive in Gaza, told CBS News at a protest on Sunday that drew hundreds of thousands of Israelis onto the streets.
Seigel said a deal was needed immediately for “those who are alive, to start rebuilding, as the country needs to rebuild, and those who are deceased, for a proper burial. Eleven months, almost 11 months of war is too much, too long,” he said.
While many private sector businesses were open as usual on Monday, municipal services as well as services at Israel’s main air transport hub, Ben Gurion Airport, were at least partially disrupted. Banks were closed and hospitals were only partially operating, the Reuters news agency reported.
Israel’s labor court ruled that the general strike would need to end by 2:30 p.m. local time on Monday, and the ruling was accepted by the union.
The nationwide strike came after months of regular protests led by the families of the hostages over Netanyahu’s handling of negotiations aimed at securing a cease-fire and hostage release agreement.
As negotiations have taken place between Israel and Hamas through mediators including Qatar, Egypt and the United States, one of the biggest recent sticking points has been whether Israel would agree to pull back its troops from the border area between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor after any deal.
“The country needs quiet. The region needs quiet,” Seigel told CBS News. “Politics are driving the speech, the [cease-fire] non-negotiations negotiations, and are driving an extreme government in attempts to hold on to their power.”
Seigel said the killing of the six additional hostages meant President Biden should rethink the way the U.S. supports the Israeli government.
The war “serves political interests that do not jibe with the needs of our country, nor the region, nor Gaza,” Seigel said. “President Biden… we know you will not give up. But not giving up at this point means doing whatever is necessary. The United States can leverage many different interests, issues within Israel, within the region… They need to make some very, very hard decisions now that we have crossed a red line, where everything is available in the arsenal of the United States government to bring a cease-fire, to bring quiet and return hostages.”
This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat, who were held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza. On Sept. 1, 2024, the Hostages Families Forum announced their deaths while in Hamas captivity.
The Hostages Families Forum via AP
The six hostages whose bodies were recovered were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino. The Israeli Ministry of Health said that autopsies showed they had each been shot at close range on Thursday or Friday.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s family confirmed his death in a statement released early Sunday, thanking supporters and asking for privacy. His funeral was schedule to take place on Monday, and thousands lined the funeral procession route to pay their respects.
President Biden, who spoke to the Goldberg-Polin family, said he was “devastated and outraged” by Goldberg-Polin’s killing.
“Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel on October 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’ savage massacre,” Mr. Biden said.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the stalled cease-fire negotiations, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”
Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were scheduled to meet with the team representing the U.S. in the hostage deal negotiations at the White House later on Monday.
