Israel-Gaza war: Israel launches airstrikes on Beirut suburb | 10 updates

Israel’s air force launched heavy strikes on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight, causing significant destruction to dozens of buildings across multiple neighbourhoods, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency on Friday, Associated Press reported.
Here are the top ten updates: 
1. In recent weeks, Israel has escalated its airstrikes on the northeastern city of Baalbek and surrounding villages, as well as various areas in southern Lebanon. As violence continues, international mediators are stepping up efforts to de-escalate the conflict in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, presenting new proposals aimed at ending the regional hostilities, the report said.
2. Israel has resumed mass evacuations and imposed stringent restrictions on aid, drawing widespread international condemnation. The military has also conducted raids on hospitals, alleging that militants are using them.
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3. In Beit Lahiya, a northern border town that was among the initial targets of last year’s ground invasion, Israeli strikes this week resulted in the deaths of at least 88 Palestinians, including many women and children. The military stated its objective was to target a spotter on a rooftop.
4. Lebanon’s Health Ministry had reported that since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began launching rockets into Israel nearly every day, more than 2,800 people have been killed, and around 13,000 have been wounded.
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5. Since its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, Hamas has suatained heavy losses. The recent killing of its top leader, Yahya Sinwar, was viewed as a possible turning point. Yet the two sides do not appear any closer to a cease-fire, and Hamas, which still holds scores of hostages, remains the dominant power in Gaza, AP reported.
6. The conflict has escalated to involve militants from Lebanon to Yemen, with Iran, a key supporter of these groups, edging closer to a potential all-out war with Israel. In northern Gaza, however, the situation appears to be in a cycle of intense Israeli offensives, which are often followed by Hamas regrouping and retaliating.
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7. On Monday, Israel enacted legislation that could significantly limit the operations of the U.N. agency that is the primary aid provider in Gaza, despite objections from the United States and other allies. Israel claims that Hamas has infiltrated the agency, a charge that the UN has denied. The latest Israeli offensive in northern Gaza began in early October, concentrating on Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp where Israel alleges Hamas has regrouped.
8. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250 on October 7. Israel’s offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but indicate more than half were women and children.
9. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters without providing evidence, and the United States says Hamas is no longer capable of mounting an Oct. 7-style attack.
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10. “It’s endless war,” said Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who now leads a Palestinian studies program at Tel Aviv University. He says Israel has only two options to break the cycle: Either completely reoccupy Gaza, which would require several thousand troops to be stationed there indefinitely. Or secure a cease-fire with Hamas that involves the release of its hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails and a full Israeli withdrawal — the kind of deal that has long eluded U.S. and Arab mediators, AP reported.
(With inputs from agencies)