Israeli strike on Gaza mosque kills 19 as conflict widens in Lebanon: NPR

Israel has intensified its strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, as the expanding conflict in the Mideast approaches one full year since the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.

Israeli airstrikes this weekend have killed scores of people, according to health officials in Gaza and Lebanon, as Israel’s government continues to mull a response to nearly 200 Iranian missiles targeting Israel last week.

In northern Gaza, the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning of a “new phase of war,” as commanders issued fresh evacuation orders for the several hundred thousand residents who remain in the northern part of the strip.

In the Jabaliya area of ​​northern Gaza, Israeli ground troops have encircled a sizeable swath of territory, where they say they have launched a large-scale assault against Hamas fighters for the first time in months, forcing civilians once more to flee.

Meanwhile, just days after sending soldiers into southern Lebanon, the Israeli military has struck buildings and other targets it links to Hezbollah across Lebanon overnight.

Israel says its recent operations inside Lebanon are part of an attempt to prevent Hezbollah rockets that have landed in northern Israel for the past year, forcing thousands of Israeli civilians to evacuate towns and cities in the region.

Strike on mosque in Gaza kills 19

At least 56 people have been killed in Gaza this weekend, according to the local health authorities there, prompting a seemingly endless series of funerals after a strike on a mosque Sunday. The building was so close to a nearby hospital morgue that no ambulances were required, with bodies of at least 19 dead simply carried by hand from one compound to the next.

Israel said it had been a “precision strike” on the mosque, targeting Hamas militants inside, but mourners said the approaching one-year mark of the fighting in Gaza was a horrible reminder of the costs families there have faced, with more than 41,000 deaths recorded in the past 12 months.

“Enough, world, enough, tomorrow will be a complete year,” said Hakima Al Jamal, as she watched her dying father be carried out of the mosque. “We are tired. By God, we’re so tired.”

More Israeli troops are being moved to the border with Gaza to protect one-year commemoration ceremonies in communities affected by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks last year that killed some 1,200 people and saw more than 200 hostages taken into Gaza.

On the eve of those ceremonies, a knife and gun attack in the southern city of Beersheba left one person dead and 10 others wounded, according to Israeli emergency services.

Police have not yet identified the attacker, who launched the rampage at the city’s central bus station. But officials said they were treating it as a terror incident, with the country currently on high alert after several stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks in the past year, including one in Tel Aviv last week that saw seven shots inside and around a transportation hub.

Israel launches targeted strikes in Lebanon overnight

In southern Lebanon, the Israeli military says it has lost at least nine of its troops and killed more than 400 Hezbollah fighters, as it ramped up destructive strikes on the capital Beirut. The strikes were concentrated in the city’s southern suburbs that have historically served as a hub for Hebzollah, an Iran-backed militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and other nations.

Israel says its latest strikes targeted “weapons storage facilities and infrastructure sites,” but in the past two weeks similar strikes have also killed civilians, including children. The total death toll in Lebanon has now topped 1,000, and the Israeli assault has displaced more than a million people — around a fifth of the country’s population.

In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, new arrivals from the country’s south — some of them refugees from Syria forced to move on once more for another round of conflict — have seen their lives shattered in a short period of time.

While local residents sit on blue plastic benches — young men sharing videos on their phones, older couples whiling away the time — the Israeli airstrikes penetrate further north into the country, leaving few locations secure for civilians.

One man, Riqad, who only gave his first name out of concerns for his safety, had arrived four days ago with his family from the southern suburbs of Beirut, after earlier fleeing Israeli attacks near their home in the southern city of Tyre.

“There is no safe place” Riqad said Saturday. “The Israelis are bombing everywhere.” As he spoke, two young children in his family asked an adult relative if the bombs would reach them at the hotel where a politician affiliated with Hezbollah had granted shelter to them and other displaced families.

A few hours earlier, Israeli jets had fired on a nearby refugee camp for Palestinians, close to Tripoli. The attack targeted a commander linked to the militant group Hamas, as well as members of his family, and represented the most northerly attack by Israel since the conflict began in Gaza, 200 miles to the south.

The devastating impact on Lebanese society has been shockingly swift. One pre-med student, who gave only her first name Yasmin, had started college only a month earlier.

“I thought it would be one of the best years of my life. I’ve worked so much to get to the university I am in,” she said. “Now, all I miss is my university days… the coffee there, my friends, studying in the library. That’s all I want now.”

NPR producer Anas Baba contributed to this story from Gaza.