Al Jazeera :
An Israeli air attack on Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, has hit a local government building, killing at least five people, including the town’s mayor.
The Israeli siege of northern Gaza continues for a 12th day, with rights groups warning that the assault has escalated to a “horrifying level of atrocity”.
Israeli air raids pound Beirut’s southern suburbs hours after the United States said it opposed the scope of attacks on Lebanon’s capital and Lebanese prime minister said he had received US assurances Israel would stop.
At least 15 people have been killed in Israeli bombings of homes and a healthcare centre in Qana, a southern Lebanese village that suffered Israeli massacres in 1996 and 2006.
In Gaza, at least 42,409 people have been killed and 99,153 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 and more than 200 taken captive.
A new report on conflict-fuelled hunger by the UK-based charity says nearly half a million people in Gaza are starving during the ongoing war in the coastal enclave.
“As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering,” Emily Farr, Oxfam’s food and economic security lead, said in a statement.
“Nearly half a million people in Gaza – where 83 percent of food aid needed is currently not reaching them – and over three-quarters of a million in Sudan are currently starving as the deadly impact of wars on food will likely be felt for generations.”
Oxfam called on the international community, including the UN Security Council, to hold accountable those responsible for “starvation crimes” under international law.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting with the Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi as part of a regional tour to de-escalate regional tensions, reports Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom.
Before the stop in Amman, the top Iranian diplomat visited Syria, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
“At every stop, Araghchi stressed Iran wants peace but added that Tehran will retaliate should Israel attack his country,” said Jamjoom, reporting from the Jordanian capital.