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US to send antimissile system to Israel
The US will send an antimissile system to Israel as well as a crew of US military personnel to operate the system.
In a statement released on Sunday, Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said:
At the direction of the President, Secretary Austin authorized the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of U.S. military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1.
The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system. This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran. It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months, to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias.”
Sunday’s announcement marks the third THAAD system to be deployed to the region. Following Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, Joe Biden authorised the deployment of a THAAD battery to the region. In 2019, the US deployed a THAAD battery to Israel in 2019 for training and an integrated air defense exercise, the Pentagon said.
Key events
Attacks on Lebanon peacekeepers could be ‘war crime’ – UN chief
United Nations secretary general António Guterres warned on Sunday that any attacks against peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime”, his spokesperson said, after Israeli tanks burst through the gates of a peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon.
Reuters reports it was the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks against the UN peacekeeping mission, known as Unifil, in recent days.
In a statement UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said:
Unifil peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly.
The Secretary-General reiterates that Unifil personnel and its premises must never be targeted.
Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute a war crime.
French president Emmanuel Macron urged his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian to support a “general de-escalation” in the Middle East during a phone conversation on Sunday, the presidential office said.
Reuters reports that in a separate discussion, Macron reiterated to Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati the “absolute necessity” of obtaining a ceasefire in Lebanon without further delay.
Hunger in Lebanon could soar amid Israeli onslaught on the country, a leading UN expert has warned.
The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani reports:
Hunger and malnutrition rates could rise “exponentially” in Lebanon, if Israel follows through with threats to escalate the current military operation which has so far killed more than 2,000 and displaced as many as a million people, according to a leading UN expert.
“Israel has the ability to starve Lebanon – like it has starved Palestinians in Gaza,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “If you look at the geography of Lebanon, Israel has the power to absolutely put a stranglehold on the food system. There is a huge risk of hunger and malnutrition rates skyrocketing very quickly in Lebanon.”
Acute hunger rates could rise very quickly because food security in Lebanon was precarious even before Israel launched its full-scale aerial bombardment in mid-September, as growing hostilities with Hezbollah since 7 October had already displaced 40% of local farmers, disrupting local production and interrupting trade flows and access to markets, according to the UN World Food Programme.
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16 killed during Israeli raid on Al Ma’asara in Lebanon
Sixteen people have been killed during Israel’s raid on Al Ma’asara in Lebanon’s Keserwan district.
In a post on Sunday updating the death toll from yesterday’s attacks, the Lebanese health ministry said that in addition to the 16 people killed, 21 people were injured.
In the last few weeks, Israel has killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon while displacing 1.2 million people across the country.
The UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi has warned that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks.
At least 39 injured by drone attack in northern Israel
At least 39 people have been injured by a drone attack in northern Israel, according to Israeli media outlets.
N12 News is reporting that among the 39 people injured near Binyamina in the northern Haifa district, five were seriously injured.
The outlet added that an IDF spokesperson confirmed that the drone was launched from Lebanese territory and that large medical forces have been called to the scene to treat the injured.
Hezbollah airs Hassan Nasrallah recording
Hezbollah aired an audio recording on Sunday of Hassan Nasrallah, its veteran leader, a little over two weeks after an Israeli strike killed him in Lebanon.
In the audio, which Reuters reported, Nasrallah could be heard saying:
“We count on you … to defend your people, your families, your nation, your values and your dignity, and to defend this holy and blessed land and this honourable people.”
According to Reuters, the recording of Nasrallah was made during a military manoeuvre.
US to send antimissile system to Israel
The US will send an antimissile system to Israel as well as a crew of US military personnel to operate the system.
In a statement released on Sunday, Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said:
At the direction of the President, Secretary Austin authorized the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of U.S. military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1.
The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system. This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran. It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months, to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias.”
Sunday’s announcement marks the third THAAD system to be deployed to the region. Following Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, Joe Biden authorised the deployment of a THAAD battery to the region. In 2019, the US deployed a THAAD battery to Israel in 2019 for training and an integrated air defense exercise, the Pentagon said.
Palestinian civilians and aid workers in the Gaza Strip say “no one is talking about” the bloodshed there and ceasefire hopes are receding as the world’s attention shifts to Lebanon.
The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan reports:
As Israeli bombs began to fall across Lebanon, the scenes of bloodshed and chaos were grimly familiar to the people of Gaza. Mai al-Afifa, 24, was teaching a workshop about how to identify unexploded ordnance in a school turned shelter in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah on Thursday when an Israeli missile hit the next building in the compound. Twenty-eight people were killed and 54 injured, according to medics at the scene.
Through the smoke and rubble dust Afifa saw the body parts of two women and a male aid worker as she stumbled to safety. The Israeli military said it had used a precise strike to target Hamas fighters using the school as a command centre.
“We are very sad about what is happening now in Lebanon … We have experienced this pain and loss,” Afifa said. “But we also fear that Gaza will be forgotten: the massacres have increased here and no one is talking about it. All the TV channels are talking about the regional war, Iran, Israel and what is happening in Lebanon.”
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The US is planning to send an anti-missile system to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing US officials.
According to the outlet, the US is also planning to send “just under 100 troops in all” to operate the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system.
The White House has not released an official statement yet.
An Israeli airstrike killed five children in northern Gaza on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Citing Palestinian news agency WAFA, Reuters reports that the children were playing near a cafe in the Al-Shati area when they were killed by a drone strike.
Since last October, Israel has killed more than 16,400 children in Gaza, making the occupied Palestinian territory the deadliest place in the world for children, according to Save the Children.
Former president Donald Trump, who is the Republican presidential candidate, said he spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “like two days ago”.
Trump made the comments in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday.