Middle East Tensions Highlights: Israel Declares State Of Emergency; Gaza Death Toll Crosses 40,000

This live blog is now closed. As we close our coverage of the tensions in the Middle East, here are the top developments of the day -

• The Israeli military launched air raids across southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's rocket and drone attack on Sunday.

• Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander. Ahead of this attack, Israel stated it carried out preemptive strikes across Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.

• The escalation comes due to no progress being made in the ceasefire talks as war rages on in the Gaza Strip.

• Following the escalation in tensions, airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa announced they would be cancelling their flights to Beirut, Tehran and Tel Aviv.

• Taking notice of the tensions, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel's strike in Lebanon are "not the end of the story" and added that Tel Aviv would continue to defend itself.

Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike against the Hezbollah militant group, threatening to trigger a broader region wide war that could torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza. 

Soon afterwards, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israel with a “large number of drones” as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, a top commander with the group, in a strike in Beirut's southern suburbs last month.

Hezbollah said the attack was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “targeting a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms.”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a 48-hour nationwide state of emergency from 06:00 am (0300 GMT) Sunday after the Israeli military launched what it called pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon.

"The declaration on the state of emergency enables the IDF (Israeli military) to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant," Gallant said, in a statement issued by his office.

The Lebanese armed group said the “first phase” of its retaliatory attack against Israel has been concluded “with complete success”.

The Lebanese group has announced that it targeted Israeli military bases to "facilitate the passage of drones" towards their intended targets deep within Israel. "And the drones have passed as planned," it said.

Additionally, Hezbollah claimed to have fired over 320 Katyusha rockets at 11 Israeli military bases and barracks, including the Meron base and four sites in the occupied Golan Heights.

The attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Iran supports both groups as well as militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen who might join any larger conflict.

US President Joe Biden has been “engaged with his national security team throughout the evening” and has directed senior US officials to be “communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts”, White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a brief statement.

“We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and we will keep working for regional stability,” Savett added.

Lebanon’s NNA news agency is reporting that one person was critically injured in a drone attack in Qasimia in southern Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes also fired air-to-ground missiles towards al-Mansouri town in Tyre district, NNA added, with no injuries reported.

The Israeli military says Sergeant Amit Tsadikov, 20, was killed in a battle in southern Gaza.

Israel’s Ynetnews said some 337 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground assault on the Palestinian enclave since October 7.

The Israeli military announced a series of restrictions on civilians in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights earlier in the morning as it traded fire with Hezbollah.

The military’s Home Front Command closed beaches near the border with Lebanon and restricted outdoor gatherings to 30 people and indoor meetings to 300, according to the Times of Israel.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that one person has been killed in an Israeli raid on a car in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam.

The attack was part of a series of renewed Israeli raids on southern Lebanon.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying he instructed the Israeli military to “act proactively” after detecting Hezbollah’s preparations to attack Israel.

The military has been working to “thwart the threats” and has “destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the north of the country”.

He added, “It’s also thwarting many other threats and is operating with great power – both in defence and on the attack.

“We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us – we harm him.”

Hezbollah has said its military operation against Israeli positions was "completed" and has denied "claims" that Israel thwarted the attack.

"Our military operation today is completed and accomplished," the Lebanese-based group said in a statement. Israeli "claims of pre-emptive action it carried out... and the thwarting of the resistance's attack are empty claims", it added.

Jordan's national carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights to Beirut on Sunday "due to the current situation", the state news agency reported without giving an exact time frame for the suspension.

There was no disruption to Jordanian airspace following the latest air attacks by Hezbollah and Israel, Jordanian officials told Reuters.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is set to address "the latest developments" in a televised speech at 6:30 pm IST, the Lebanese group has said in a statement.

The chairman of the right-wing New Hope party in Israel urges the government to do more to reduce the Lebanese group’s capabilities.

“Faced with Hezbollah’s decision to fire thousands of missiles and rockets – once again the government chose the less correct strategic alternative,” Sa’ar said on X.

“The choice to thwart the attack only after ten and a half months of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel is the continuation of the policy of containment. This decision has one meaning: only our enemies determine the timing and level of escalation.

“This opportunity should have led to a decision on an overall preemptive attack to change the reality in the north. Whoever runs away from the war – the war will chase him.”

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed n Israeli raids in southern Lebanon.

An "Israeli drone strike on a car in the village of Khiam" killed one person, the health ministry said in a statement.

Two people were also killed in an attack on the village of Tiri, the health ministry said.

The Israeli military claims that Hezbollah intended to strike military intelligence and Mossad bases in central Israel overnight, according to Israeli Army Radio and media outlet Haaretz.

Egypt has warned against the dangers of opening a new war front in Lebanon, the foreign ministry said in a statement, which called for stability in the country.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting with Israel if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

Egypt is hosting a new round of talks to try to broker a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

-France 24

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels praised attacks by Lebanon's Hezbollah on Israel Sunday and renewed threats to launch their own attack in response to Israeli strikes on a port in Yemen.

"We congratulate Hezbollah and its Secretary-General on the great and courageous attack carried out by the resistance this morning against the Israeli enemy," said a Houthi statement, adding that a response to July 20 strikes by Israel on the rebel-run Hodeida port "is definitely coming".

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that Israeli strikes on Lebanon early Sunday “epitomized” the country’s right to self-defense.

‪”The decisive action we witnessed early this morning epitomizes Israel’s right and duty to defend itself and its citizens against the threat of terrorism,” the Israeli president wrote on X.

As per Israeli media outlet Haaretz, global airlines such as Air France, Etihad Airways and Aegean Airlines have started to cancel flights in and out of Israel.

According to Haaretz, the airlines joined 16 others in announcing the discontinuation of flights to and from Israel, including some until Monday and others until further notice.

Jordan's flag carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights to Beirut on Sunday "due to the current situation", the state news agency reported without giving an exact time frame for the suspension.

Officials told Reuters there was no disruption to Jordanian airspace.

Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel early on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut on July 30.

The Israeli military said its jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the military assessed Hezbollah was preparing to launch the attacks.

The latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah comes amid regional fears of a wider response by Iran and its regional proxies to the assassination of Palestinian Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Reuters

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, at least 40,405 people have been killed due to Israeli attacks on Gaza. Apart from this, around 93,468 people have been wounded.

Of this count, 71 Palestinians were killed and 112 wounded in the past 24-hour reporting period, stated the Gaza Health Ministry.

In his opening remarks at the Cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel's preemptive strike against Hezbollah are not the "end of the story".

"Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones. We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful, preemptive strike to eliminate the threat,” stated Netanyahu.

“The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, and all of them were aimed at harming our citizens and our forces in the Galilee,” he adds. “In addition, the IDF intercepted all the drones that Hezbollah launched at strategic targets in the center of the country," he said.

“Israel is hitting Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows. Three weeks ago we eliminated its chief of staff,” Netanyahu says. “Today we foiled its attack plan. [Hezbollah’s Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut and [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei in Tehran should know that this is another step on the way to changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes," he added.