Israeli Air Force carries out dozens of airstrikes on southern Lebanon

Israeli aircraft carried out dozens of airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday morning, and the Israeli military appealed to residents of the area to immediately evacuate their homes and other buildings where Hezbollah says weapons are stored.

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed eight Palestinians, including five children, on Monday morning, Palestinian medical officials said.

Residents of various villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns being attacked. The state-run National News Agency also reported airstrikes in various areas.

An Arabic-speaking Israeli military spokesman said the aircraft were attacking Hezbollah-linked targets.

The wave of airstrikes followed a tense day in which Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into northern Israel, some of which landed near the city of Haifa. Israel also carried out hundreds of airstrikes.

The Hezbollah rocket attack followed an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut on Friday that killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen Hezbollah members, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communication devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in various parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

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Lebanese PM calls on UN to ‘deter aggression’

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s acting prime minister on Monday called a wave of Israeli airstrikes “genocide in every sense of the word.”

Najib Mikati made the comments at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beirut. He said the aim of Israeli airstrikes was to destroy Lebanese towns and villages.

Mikati said the Lebanese government is calling on the United Nations, the UN Security Council and world states to “deter aggression.”

Israeli airstrikes kill 1, wound others in Lebanon, report says

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli airstrikes in various parts of Lebanon on Monday killed at least one person and wounded several others.

Airstrikes have hit peaks in the central Byblos province for the first time since gunfire began along the Lebanese-Israeli border in early October, NNA reported. A security official confirmed the airstrike in the village of Almat.

Early this morning, airstrikes also targeted the northeastern regions of Baalbek and Hermel, where a shepherd was killed and two members of his family were wounded in fields in the village of Bodai, NNA reported. It added that four other people were also wounded in Bodai and all were taken to hospitals in the area.

NNA also reported that 11 people were injured in the southern village of Aitaroun, including one in serious condition.

China urges its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to leave the country or move to safe areas as soon as possible

BEIJING — China is urging its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensifies.

Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety, the Consular Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat on Monday.

“Those who must remain in Lebanon should exercise particular vigilance, effectively strengthen precautionary measures and emergency preparedness, and avoid traveling to high-risk and vulnerable areas in the south,” the statement said.

On Sunday, the Chinese embassy in Israel warned its citizens in the country to be prepared for any potential attacks, including missiles, rockets and drones. It added that Chinese were advised against traveling to Israel and entering high-risk areas in the north of the country.

Israel calls on Lebanese to leave homes where Hezbollah stores weapons

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has urged residents of southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate homes and other buildings where Hezbollah stores weapons, adding that it is carrying out “widespread attacks” on the militant group.

Monday’s statement was the first such warning in a nearly year-long minor conflict along the border.

Lebanese media reported that residents had received text messages urging them to leave buildings where Hezbollah stores weapons until further notice.

“If you are in a building where Hezbollah weapons are stored, please leave the village until further notice,” the message read in Arabic, Lebanese media reported.

It was not immediately clear how many people would be affected by the Israeli orders. Communities on both sides of the border have been largely deserted by near-daily exchanges of fire.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of turning entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead to a particularly heavy bombing campaign even if no ground forces intervene.

Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday morning.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip kill 8 Palestinians, including 5 children

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have claimed the lives of eight Palestinians, including five children.

A girl and her parents were killed in an attack on a school housing displaced people in central Gaza early Monday morning. Two of the girl’s siblings were wounded.

Israel attacked several such schools, which were previously shelters, claiming that militants were hiding there.

Another attack hit a house near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, killing a mother and her four children, aged between 4 and 8.

Details of the victims of both attacks are contained in hospital records, and their bodies were also seen by an Associated Press reporter.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians but rarely comments on individual attacks.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. It does not say how many were fighters. It says just over half are women and children.

The war began when Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. About 100 captives remain in the Gaza Strip, and a third of them are believed to be dead.

Australia announces more aid for Gaza

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia has announced it will provide an additional A$10 million ($6.8 million) in aid to Gaza, bringing the total amount of aid since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas on Oct. 7 last year to A$82.5 million ($56.2 million).

A government statement Monday said the new money would be targeted at women and children. It would be channeled through the United Nations Population Fund, the sexual and reproductive health agency and the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

“Australia continues to advocate for the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in desperate need, as well as the protection of all aid workers,” the statement read.

New crisis for displaced Palestinians: floods

MUWASI, Gaza Strip — As the first rains of the cold season begin to fall in the Gaza Strip, displaced Palestinians living in the sprawling Muwasi tent camp are grappling with floods that are deepening the humanitarian crisis.

Some children are amused by the novelty of walking barefoot through ankle-deep water, but their parents are less amused. Adults try to salvage what they can from their families’ tents. One mother tries to dry her temporary home with a mop.

“We woke up in the morning and saw tents with rainwater pouring on them and water from the streets pouring onto us,” said Rana Goza’t, a displaced person from Gaza City. “It’s the beginning of winter. What will happen in the coming days?”

Suhail Al-Barawi, a displaced person from Beit Lahiya, helped build sand barriers to prevent further flooding in the camp.

“People want rain,” he said, “and we say, ‘Oh God, don’t give us rain.’”

According to the UN, the nearly year-long war between Israel and Hamas has displaced 90 percent of Palestinians from Gaza.

Israel’s Defense Minister Praises Airstrikes in Beirut

Israel’s defense minister said recent attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon are a step toward facilitating the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the country’s north.

On Sunday evening, after visiting the Northern Command headquarters, Yoav Gallant described the recent airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs as “significant, important and powerful.”

He said Israel would take all necessary measures to ensure “the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.”

Israeli strikes since Friday have killed dozens of people in Lebanon, including a Hezbollah veteran. Hezbollah responded with more than 100 rocket attacks in northern Israel on Sunday morning, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis into air raid shelters.

Gallant says: “This past week has been the most difficult week in the history of Hezbollah, especially the last day.”