BEIRUT: The mayor of a major town in south Lebanon was among 16 people killed when an Israeli airstrike targeted its municipal headquarters in the biggest strike on an official Lebanese state compound since the Israeli offensive began.
Reuters news agency reported that Lebanese officials condemned the attack, which also injured over 50 people in Nabatieh, a provincial capital, adding it was proof that Israel’s offensive against the Hezbollah was now shifting to target the state of Lebanon.
The country’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the Israelis deliberately attacked a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city’s relief situation to assist people displaced by the Israeli offensive. Israel has launched its ground and air offensive in Lebanon to target Hezbollah.
Reuters news agency reported that fears of a regional conflict have also increased following Israel vowed to retaliate for an Iranian missile strike on October 1.
UN, US and Israel
Meanwhile, the top UN humanitarian official has alleged Israel of blocking the delivery of desperately needed help to the people in Gaza, and the US envoy also demanded that its government step up efforts in order to tackle the Palestinian territory’s” catastrophic and intolerable humanitarian crisis.”
Acting humanitarian head Joyce Msuya and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield have stepped up the pressure on Israel at an emergency meeting of the UNSC on the escalating humanitarian emergency, particularly in northern Gaza.
The council meeting was called by Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, followed a Washington warning to Israel to boost assistance efforts dramatically or risk losing funding for arms from its main supplier. The US government gave Israel 30 days to take a number of acts, including sending 350 trucks with food and other help into the Gaza Strip every day.
