Israel-Lebanon latest: Hamas fires rocket barrage at Tel Aviv as vigils mark anniversary of October 7 attack

Thousands of people have died in the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Middle East. The conflict involving Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran threatens to engulf the region. The missile attack by Iran on Israel has already caused widespread disruption to flights – and has raised concerns for tourists planning to visit destinations in the Gulf.

These are the key warnings made by the UK Foreign Office for the Gulf region, and individual advice for Qatar, Oman and the UAE (including Dubai) from the US State Department and the Government of Canada.

The Independent has also assessed current flight plans in and out of major airports, sampling typical routings for overnight flights from the UK arriving in the Gulf area.

Key flights are tracking south of the conflict zones, typically adding 30 minutes to journey times in either direction – or an hour for round-trips – and jeopardising connections at hub airports.

Simon Calder has more.

Israel today claimed 726 of its soldiers had died in the year-long war in Gaza.

Of these, 380 were killed during the 7 October Hamas attacks last year, and the other 346 died in the subsequent Gaza ground offensive starting 27 October 2023.

At least 56 soldiers died as a result of “operational accidents”, which the military did not define.

Since the start of the war, 13,200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, the military said. Another 12,400 were fired from Lebanon, while 60 came from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran, it added.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant Israel would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely coordinating with longtime ally the US.

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its operations in Lebanon and Gaza, where Hezbollah and Hamas militants are Tehran’s allies in the “Axis of Resistance”.

“Everything is on the table,” Mr Gallant, who is due to meet US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday.

“Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far areas, we have proved it,” the minister told CNN.

While the US has said it would not support strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, president Joe Biden said last week that Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities were being discussed.

Israel snubbed a US-backed push for a ceasefire in launching ground operations in Lebanon.

Israel is on high alert for possible attacks on the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas assault on southern Israel.

“We are ready with increased forces in anticipation for this day,” said military spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari, adding that there could be “attacks on the home front”.

Israel will today hold memorials for the victims of the Hamas attack.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages remain held by Hamas.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run Strip.

One year after the atrocities committed by Hamas, 7 October 2023 remains a date that will live in infamy. It is a moment to remember and commemorate all those innocents who lost their lives and suffered terrible injuries, who were taken hostage and orphaned, and who suffered other bereavements then and in the wars that have followed and continue still.

There are more than 40,000 dead in Gaza, and thousands more elsewhere as there seems no end to the slaughter. Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and everywhere there is disease and starvation. These are the facts of this war.

Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and Gaza on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked its war on the Strip.

Hezbollah rockets launched last night got past Israeli air defence systems and landed in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, causing damage to buildings, police said. Israeli media reported 10 people wounded in rocket strikes in Haifa and the city of Tiberias.

Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.

Large fireballs lit the darkened skyline and booms reverberated across Beirut.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that “we must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community” and reiterated his calls for a ceasefire as he marked the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Monday is one year since the Hamas attacks in Israel, which triggered Israel’s subsequent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Sir Keir described October 7 2023 as “the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust” and said that “collective grief has not diminished” in the year since.

“Over a thousand people were brutally murdered. Men, women, children and babies killed, mutilated, and tortured by the terrorists of Hamas. Jewish people murdered whilst protecting their families, young people massacred at a music festival, people abducted from their homes,” the Prime Minister said.

“Agonising reports of rape, torture and brutality beyond comprehension which continued to emerge days and weeks later.

“As a father, a husband, a son, a brother – meeting the families of those who lost their loved ones last week was unimaginable. Their grief and pain are ours, and it is shared in homes across the land.

“A year on, that collective grief has not diminished or waned.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said.

Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbour, Ali Al Hajj.

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday.

The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town. The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.

Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, Israeli police said early on Monday, and Israeli media reported 10 people were injured in the country’s north.

Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a salvo of “Fadi 1” missiles. Media reports said two rockets hit Haifa.

Police said that some buildings and properties were damaged, and that there were several reports of minor injuries.