Middle East crisis live: explosions in Beirut after Israeli warning of imminent strikes

Israel may be causing the “destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza’s northernmost governate through death and displacement” with its latest military campaign there, the UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) has said in a statement.

The Israeli military (IDF) has made life in north Gaza “impossible” for Palestinians, many of whom were already facing starvation, while also ordering their displacement and preventing supplies from entering, it said.

Israel has “continued to relentlessly bomb and attack the area” making it “extremely dangerous” for civilians to flee, the body wrote, adding that it had received reports of civilians being deliberately targeted. It added:

Many Palestinians in the north have also expressed fears that should they flee; they will never be allowed to return to their homes in north Gaza.

Israel has attacked two of the three main hospitals in the area – which were already damaged in previous attacks – and also bombed schools serving as shelters for displaced people, with many casualties appearing to be women and children.

Medical and rescue teams were also reporting that Israel was hindering their movements as well as directly attacking them, OHCHR said.

Palestinian men were meanwhile being detained by the IDF, “raising fears that they may be subjected to arbitrary detention as well as torture” given the previous violations documented by the UN, it continued.

The statement ended by reminding Israel of the provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice in January, which said Israel must ensure it did not commit acts of genocide in Gaza and reminded it that as an occupying power, it has a duty to ensure the provision of food, medicine and shelter to the population.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) has so far reported 11 strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, many of them targeting Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which Israel says is financing Hezbollah’s operations against Israel. AFP reports further:

It said a strike landed near Beirut’s airport, the main entry-point of humanitarian assistance to the country and a major evacuation hub for those fleeing the conflict.

Commercial planes were still seen flying past clouds of smoke over the embattled southern suburbs, said an AFP correspondent, who watched them land at Beirut’s airport, located near targeted areas.

AFP footage showed a column of smoke rising near one of the airports runways, as well as over nearby areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs, hit hard by the nearly month-long war.

In the suburb of Chiyah, the strikes flattened an entire building, AFP footage showed. Excavator’s worked to clear the rubble, as rescuers scoured for survivors.

The building housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, according to an AFP correspondent.

NNA also reported strikes targeting the association in Hermel, Riyaq and Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley region in Lebanon’s east.

The strike on Baalbek hit a commercial market housing a building formerly used by Al-Qard Al-Hassan, NNA said. An AFP correspondent said residents quickly evacuated the area after the Israeli army issued a warning.

In south Lebanon, Israeli strikes hit branches near the cities of Sidon and Nabatieh, according to NNA.

Here’s a look at where things stand:

• Israel’s military announced on Sunday night that it will begin striking buildings belonging to al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-run banking system that provides loans and banking services primarily to people who live in areas where Hezbollah is popular. Israel said that the institution finances Hezbollah and that “Hezbollah uses this money to finance its terrorist activities,” including purchasing and storing arms.

• Israeli strikes landed near Lebanon’s only airport, Agence France-Presse reports. AFP cited a security source saying that two strikes landed close to the airport in Beirut as Israel attacked the capital’s southern suburbs after issuing multiple evacuation orders.

• Israeli forces have “deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin,” Unifil said on Sunday. The UN peacekeeping mission added: “Yet again, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times.”

• The US government is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran. The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, confirmed the investigation in remarks to CNN’s State of the Union program on Sunday, saying “the leak is very concerning.”

• Medecins Sans Frontieres has condemned Israel’s siege on the last remaining hospitals in Gaza, saying: “This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between being forcibly displaced from the North or killed. We fear that this will not stop.”

• Hezbollah said on Sunday that it launched rockets at Haifa in Israel following the latest Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, Agence France-Presse reports. According to the group, its fighters launched a “rocket salvo” at the “city of Haifa,” adding that it was “in response to the aggressions on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs” from Sunday morning.