Residents in Beirut have been seeking safety wherever they can find it amid the ongoing Israeli bombardments of the Lebanese capital.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a suburb in the south of Beirut, on Thursday.Credit: AP
More than 300 of the more than 1 million displaced Lebanese have taken shelter in a Beirut nightclub, once known for hosting glitzy parties and where staff are now using their guest-list clipboards to register residents.
“We’re trying to keep strong,” said Gaelle Irani, who was formerly in charge of guest relations.
“It’s just overwhelming. So overwhelming and sad. But just as this was a place for people to come enjoy themselves, it’s now a place to shelter people and we are doing everything we can to help and be there for them.”
Reuters
Airstrikes continue to hit Gaza
While international focus has moved in recent days to Lebanon, the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza shows no signs of abating.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City yesterday killed five Palestinians, while another airstrike on Nuseirat, in central Gaza, killed one man and wounded several others, medics said.
The refugee camp in Nuseirat, Gaza following an Israeli airstrike.Credit: Bloomberg
Officials from the Hamas-run health authority said Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people across the enclave on Thursday and at least 99 Palestinians in the previous 24 hours.
The war spilt over into Lebanon after Hezbollah consistently fired rockets into Israel in support of Hamas following that group’s October 7 attacks on Israeli towns. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.
One humanitarian worker has just told CNN that the situation in Gaza is worsening as winter approaches. Aid workers are concerned about famine, as well as a lack of warm clothing, medicine and clean water for the tens of thousands of displaced people living in tent camps, he said.
With Reuters
Foreigners escape Lebanon via Turkey and Cyprus
More now to add to our earlier post (1.15am) about Australia and other countries arranging to evacuate nationals from Lebanon.
Cyprus and Turkey are both becoming hubs for foreigners scrambling to leave Lebanon (two flights arranged by the Australian government will go via Cyprus on Saturday).
This father welcomed his daughter at Larnaca airport on Cyprus after she was evacuated from Lebanon on a flight provided by the Greek military for Greek and Cypriot citizens.Credit: AP
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has advised Australians to leave by whatever means possible.
Gretchen, an American citizen who lived in Beirut for five years, decided to take the ferry to Turkey’s southern Tasucu port in Mersin yesterday. She chose to take a commercial ferry because flights from Beirut were in disarray, she said.
“We are continuously hearing artillery and shelling and it was just too much,” she said. “I just wanted to leave immediately.”
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Lebanese nationals were also on the boat. Many who got off in Tasucu said they would transit in Turkey en route to another country. Some said they had a second citizenship.
Sami Al King, a Lebanese man who lives in Ghana, took the ferry as all flights out of Lebanon were booked and he would still need to book buses and planes for onward travel to Africa.
“All our families are extended throughout Lebanon. So yes, you are worried you are leaving your loved ones,” said King.
Many hoped to return to Lebanon, where they had built their lives, but others were too traumatised to consider the future.
Gigi Khalifa, a Libyan Cypriot, moved to Lebanon four years ago so her two children could learn Arabic.
“The bombing was very close, it was very traumatic,” she said after arriving at Larnaca airport on Cyprus.
“I just feel bad, you know? For all those people left behind. My friends, my kids’ friends. I don’t know if we will ever see them again.”
Reuters
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Dozens of healthcare workers killed in Lebanon
World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says 28 healthcare workers have been killed in the last 24 hours in Lebanon following Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion.
“Many [other] health workers are not reporting to duty and [have] fled the areas where they work due to bombardments,” he told an online press briefing.
“This is severely limiting the provision of mass trauma management and continuity of health services.”
WHO would not be able to deliver a planned shipment of trauma and medical supplies to Lebanon today due to flight restrictions, he added.
The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.Credit: AP
Reuters
Israel orders more Lebanese towns to evacuate
Israel’s military last night (AEST) urged residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes as it pressed on with its ground incursions.
The latest warnings took the number of southern towns subject to evacuation orders to 70 and included the provincial capital Nabatieh, meaning tens of thousands more people may be displaced.
Israel sent its troops into southern Lebanon after two weeks of intense airstrikes, escalating its conflict with the militant Iranian-back Hezbollah group and drawing Tehran into the conflict.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the town of Khiam in Lebanon yesterday.Credit: Getty Images
More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, the Lebanese government says.
Nearly 2000 people have been killed, including 127 children, and 9384 injured since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, the country’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said yesterday.
Most of the deaths occurred in the last two weeks, he said.
Reuters
Australians urged to leave Lebanon
By Lynette Eyb
Russia has become the latest country to start evacuating its citizens from Lebanon after a special flight left the Lebanese capital Beirut yesterday with the family members of diplomats.
As we reported yesterday, Australia is sending two planes to Cyprus to help Australians and their families out of Lebanon.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said 500 seats would be available on the flights on Saturday, in addition to 80 seats on a flight that left Lebanon yesterday. However, she said only 35 of those 50 seats were filled, despite more than 1700 people registering with the Department of Foreign Affairs as wanting to leave.
Wong urged Australians to leave by any means possible. “Now is not the time for you to wait and see,” she said. “Now is the time to leave.”
There could be as many as 15,000 Australians still in Lebanon.
Belgium, Denmark and Italy have all urged their nationals to leave Lebanon as soon as possible, while China, Germany, Cyprus, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the US and the UK have already actioned evacuation plans for nationals resident in Lebanon.
France has not issued an evacuation order, but it has a warship in the region and is also sending a helicopter carrier to the eastern Mediterranean with a view to evacuating its nationals via Cyprus and Turkey.
With Reuters and AP
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Police call for calm ahead of local protests
Australia’s police chiefs will join forces to urge calm ahead of pro-Palestine protests to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack.
NSW demonstrators will proceed with a protest on Sunday and a vigil on October 7, but scrap a planned protest for the day of the anniversary itself following an agreement with police. Events in Melbourne will go ahead as planned despite concerns from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
State and federal commissioners will make a joint statement today ahead of a meeting this weekend in Darwin of Australia’s police chiefs. They will emphasise federal laws against displaying terror banners and urge demonstrators to be peaceful.
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
A quick recap to see where we are as we start the day:
The Middle East is nervously awaiting retaliatory action from Israel after Iran fired almost 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday in response to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said he supported Israel’s right to defend itself, but he refused to back Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell described the situation in the Middle East as “a moment of peril”.
Last night (AEST), the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of more towns in southern Lebanon, including the provincial capital Nabatieh. The move signals a possible broadening of Israel’s invasion amid ongoing skirmishes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces in the south of the country.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said around 1700 Australians and their family members in Lebanon had registered with the government as wanting to leave. She said two flights from Beirut to Cyprus were available – with a total of 500 seats – for Australians and Australian permanent residents on Saturday, but that those flights would be contingent on the airport in Beirut remaining open.
Last night, an Israeli airstrike near the centre of the Lebanese capital killed nine people, including first responders from a Hezbollah-linked health organisation.
