MEZIESBLOG

The Israeli military has named six Palestinian Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza that it says are also members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups.

The Israel Defence Forces published documents that it said it had found in Gaza that proved the men had a military affiliation to the groups. 

It said the papers included Hamas and Islamic Jihad lists of personnel details, salaries and militant training courses, phone directories and injury reports. 

Al Jazeera rejected Israel’s claims as an attempt to silence its journalists.

“Al Jazeera condemns Israeli accusations against its journalists in Gaza and warns against [this] being a justification for targeting them,” the network said.

Israel has long accused Al Jazeera of being a Hamas mouthpiece and over the past year its authorities have ordered it to shut down its operations for security reasons, raided its offices and confiscated equipment. 

The network says it has no affiliation with militant groups and has accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing several of its journalists in the Gaza war.

Israeli strikes in Syria kill one, defence ministry says

Israel launched strikes on the Syrian capital of Damascus and a military site near the western city of Homs this morning, the country’s defence ministry has said.

The Israeli strikes targeted the central Damascus neighbourhood of Kafr Sousa and a military site in the Homs countryside, killing one soldier and injuring seven other people.

The strikes caused “material damage”, the ministry said.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for years, but the number has risen since last year’s 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel.

IDF: More than 160 Hezbollah targets struck in 24 hours

This morning, we’ve been reporting on Israel’s overnight bombing campaign in Beirut, where Lebanese media say at least 17 airstrikes were recorded (see 06.39 post).

We now have more images of the capital southern’s Dahieh suburbs this morning in the aftermath of the attack.

White smoke is seen still pouring from the bomb sites, with some buildings turned completely to rubble.

Israel’s military says it conducted strikes against weapons storage and manufacturing facilities belonging to Hezbollah.

It said all the sites hit were found under and inside civilian buildings in the heart of populated areas. 

It added this was an example of Hezbollah’s “systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure and willingness to endanger the population in the area”.

Israel’s military says it has “eliminated dozens of terrorists” and struck more than 160 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours.

The Israel Defence Forces said fighter jets attacked targets including launchers, military buildings and military infrastructure throughout Lebanon – and eliminated “approximately 20 terrorists”.

It also claimed one of its divisions had located “ammunition depots that contained hundreds of antitank missiles and mortar bombs”, without specifying where.

At the same time, in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza where Israel has increased its activity in recent weeks, Israeli troops killed “dozens of terrorists”.

In central Gaza, the IDF says its artillery struck and dismantled “a number of terrorist infrastructure sites”.