Lebanon blasts: Death toll from walkie-talkie explosions rises to 25, health minister says

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivers remarks after deadly blasts

The head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has started speaking in his first public address since the deadly explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon.

The Israeli Defense Forces’ chief of the general staff has “recently completed approval of plans for the northern arena,” the military said.

The IDF also said it is striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires of funerals being carried out in Lebanon after two waves of attacks, widely regarded to be by Israel, detonated pagers and walkie-talkies.

Lebanon bans pagers and walkie-talkies being taken on flights from Beirut

Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, Reuters reports.

Citing the Lebanese national news agency, it notes the Lebanese civilian aviation directorate asked airlines operating from Beirut to tell passengers that walkie-talkies and pagers were banned until further notice. Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air, the Lebanese state news agency reported.

At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated in two waves of attacks widely attributed to Israel. Those killed or wounded included Hezbollah fighters, medics and administrative staff. At least two of Tuesday’s dead were children.

The impact of the attack on civilian life will add further to criticism that the attack bore the hallmarks of “wanton disregard” for civilian life, as Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin said earlier in the week.

Reuters spoke to a Beirut resident, Mustafa Sibai, who said “Of course we’re scared, my children, my siblings’ children, all of us. Who can feel safe in this situation? When I heard about what happened … I left my phone on my motorcycle and walked away.”

Mustafa Jemaa, who owns an electrical shop in Sidon, told the news agency he had removed some stock. “We had some devices here that we believed were 100% safe, but out of caution, we removed them ... because we got worried,” he said.

Earlier today the Lebanese army said it was carrying out controlled demolition of suspicious electronic devices. Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makari said panic was to be expected, noting that the attack was “a new type of crime to the Lebanese” and that it had struck people at home, at work and during their daily lives.

Lebanon’s state-owned NNA news agency reports that French president Emmanuel Macron phoned Lebanese caretake prime minister Najib Mikati today.

Israeli media is reporting that Israel has submitted a new ceasefire proposal to Joe Biden’s administration in the US.

Jonathan Lis reports for Haaretz that it is has been put forward by the government official responsible for returning the hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch. Lis writes:

All hostages held in Gaza would be released in one phase, in exchange for ending the war. As part of Hirsch’s proposal, Israel would agree that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, his family, and thousands of operatives of his choice would leave Gaza for a third country. According to the proposal, this move would not be defined as a “surrender” or “exile” and would allow Hamas leaders to leave through a safe passage. Sources familiar with the initiative stated that the move is intended to “unblock” the deadlock imposed by the crisis in the negotiations.

Earlier this week, while visiting Cairo, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken claimed that 15 out of 18 paragraphs of a ceasefire agreement had been settled upon, and that progress had been made in the last few weeks, despite there being no imminent sign of Israel relenting in its bombardment of Gaza or the impending release of any of the hostages who have been held by Hamas for approaching a year.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, said at the same press conference that his country would not accept any changes to the pre-7 October security arrangements for the border between Egypt and Gaza, including for the Rafah crossing. Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have been insisting that as part of any deal Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi corridor, the strip of land running along the Egypt-Gaza border. Israel’s military seized control of the Rafah crossing in May.

Turkey's military reviewing security of communication devices after Lebanon pager and walkie-talkie detonations

Turkey is reviewing its measures to secure the communication devices used by its armed forces after the deadly blasts in Lebanon, a Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday.

The Turkish government has put the blame for the 37 people killed and thousands injured in the explosions firmly at the door of Israel, with foreign minister Hakan Fiden earlier today saying “The escalation in the region is alarming. We see Israel mounting its attacks towards Lebanon step by step. We have come to a point where these operations carried out by Israel have become increasingly provocative.”

Reuters reports a Turkish official, speaking to the news agency on condition of anonymity, said Turkey’s military exclusively used domestically produced equipment but Ankara had additional control mechanisms in place if a third party is involved in procurement or production of devices.

“In the context of this incident, we as the defence ministry are carrying out the necessary examinations,” the person added

In interviews in the UK this morning Jonathan Reynolds, the business minister, said that he rejected “very much” a claim by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, that the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms sales to his country was a boost to Hamas.

Netanyahu made the claim in an interview with the Daily Mail. He told the paper:

They say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but they undermine our ability to exercise that right both by reversing Britain’s position on the absurd allegations made by the ICC [international criminal court] prosecutor against Israel and by blocking weapons sales to Israel as we fight against the genocidal terrorist organisation that carried out the 7 October massacre.

The new UK government suspended 30 arms licences to Israel, days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, sending a horrible message to Hamas.

Asked how he reacted to Netanyahu saying Labour was sending a “horrible message to Hamas”, Reynolds said:

I would respectfully reject very much that position and say the decision we took was fair, was proportionate, was consistent with international law, and, fundamentally what we need, what everyone needs in the Middle East is a ceasefire in that conflict. That is in Israel’s interest. I think it’s in everyone’s interest to make sure we get there. But we will always comply with international law as a government. I think you’d expect that of the UK government.

A funeral has been taking place in Ghobeiry in Beirut’s southern suburbs for two Hezbollah members. In an earlier update Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad gave the casualty figures from the two waves of attacks that exploded electrical devices as 12 people killed and 2,323 admitted to hospital on Tuesday, and 25 people killed and 708 wounded on Wednesday.

A UN committee has condemned Israel for committing “severe violations” of a global treaty protecting children’s rights, saying its military actions in Palestine since last October has had a “catastrophic” impact on them.

“The committee condemns in the strongest terms the severe violations of rights under the convention in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories), including the tremendous loss of life as a result of the state party’s military actions,” the four-person committee said in a document, referring to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Israel’s delegation argued in a series of UN hearings earlier this month that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank and said that it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law.