Tom Bateman
State Department correspondent, travelling with Antony Blinken

Image source, Reuters

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to land in Israel at 09:00 local time (08:00 BST) for his 11th trip to the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war.

In Israel, he is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials before moving onto Arab countries in a bid to reinstate the stalled diplomatic process for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, despite the Middle East war intensifying on several fronts.

A senior State Department official describes uncertain prospects for quickly re-establishing the Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks, blaming Hamas for walking away from the negotiations weeks ago.

In the absence of progress on a truce, the official suggests discussions with Arab leaders would try to refine proposals for post-conflict governance of Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

Hezbollah says is has launched "a salvo" of rockets at an Israeli intelligence base in Tel Aviv this morning, after claiming similar attacks on the same position on Monday night.

The strikes targeted the "Glilot base of the 8200 military intelligence unit", the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's central intelligence gathering body and is often likened to the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The Israel Defense Force says about 20 rockets have been fired into Israel so far this morning. Five of those targeted the Tel Aviv area, and 15 others were launched at northern Israel, it said.

The IDF added that sirens had been sounding in the Samaria area of central Israel.

Image source, Reuters

Welcome back to our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Israel shortly. In his eleventh visit to the region since Hamas's attack on Israel last year, he's released five priorities to try end the conflict in the Middle East.

In Lebanon, four people including a child were killed in an Israeli air strike on Monday evening near the main government hospital in southern Beirut, the health ministry says.

The strike, which left 24 people injured, was among 13 strikes in southern Beirut. Israel says it was attacking facilities linked to Hezbollah.

An Israeli spokesman earlier warned people to move away from several locations in southern Beirut, but Rafik Hariri hospital was not mentioned.

Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, with sirens sounding in the central Samaria region early today. The majority of these have been intercepted, the Israeli military says.

Stay with us for more updates and analysis throughout the day.

Image source, Reuters

The south of Beirut has been hit by 13 strikes this evening, Lebanese state media reports. Israel earlier issued evacuation orders for parts of the city's southern suburbs, saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

At least four people have been killed, including a child, on a strike close to a government hospital, the Lebanese health ministry has said.

Also today:

• About 170 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel on Monday, according to the Israeli Defense Forces
• The IDF has claimed responsibility for an attack on Syria's capital, Damascus, saying it killed the head of Hezbollah's financial arm. Syria's defence ministry has said two civilians were killed and another three injured
• The IDF has also apologised for a strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, which it says killed three Lebanese soldiers. The IDF says a Hezbollah vehicle had been carrying weaponry in the area the day before
• Israel is "continuing to deny" humanitarian access to northern Gaza, according to the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel says it has expanded access and blames the UN, saying aid trucks are awaiting delivery by the organisation

We're pausing our live coverage now but you can continue reading in our latest story here.

Emir Nader
Reporting from Beirut

Medics and the fire brigade arriving to the scene at the Rafik Hariri hospital found locals in distress following an air strike that struck in its vicinity.

A BBC producer who was nearby the hospital at the time said a sharp bang sent people running for cover. The hospital’s neighbourhood wasn’t among the targets announced in advance by the Israeli army as part of a series of airstrike warnings on Monday night.

The Rafik Hariri hospital is the largest government hospital in Beirut and became well known for its efforts during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, an air strike in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood struck within half a kilometre of Lebanon’s only international airport, forcing flights to change runway according to local media reports, with pictures circulating online showing blown out windows on one of its buildings.

David Gritten
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) says Israel is continuing to prevent humanitarian missions from reaching northern Gaza with critical supplies, including food and medicine.

“Hospitals have been hit and are left without power while injured people are left without care,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, external.

He also said Unrwa’s remaining shelters were so overcrowded that displaced people were “forced to live in the toilets”, and cited reports that people trying to flee were being killed.

The Israeli military has been intensifying a weeks-long offensive in parts of northern Gaza against what it said were Hamas fighters who had regrouped there. On Monday residents and medics said Israeli forces were besieging hospitals and shelters for displaced people.

The Israeli military said it was facilitating evacuations of civilians and ensuring hospitals remained operational while it continued “operating against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.

Follow this link to read more on this story

We've just been hearing that a child appears to have been among the four people killed after an Israeli strike close to a hospital in southern Beirut, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The health ministry also says 24 people have been wounded.

Lebanese state media reports that Beirut's southern suburbs have been hit by 13 strikes.

Israel is yet to comment, but earlier issued a number of evacuation warnings for parts of Beirut's southern suburbs, saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

Emir Nader
Reporting from Beirut

Multiple airstrikes have hit the Lebanese capital Beirut, targeting a number of locations the Israeli army claims are linked to Hezbollah.

One site is near a main government hospital. At just after 22:00 local time an Israeli spokesperson began issuing warnings of imminent airstrikes on locations in southern Beirut, urging residents to move away from buildings for their safety.

Around 15 minutes after the first warning was given, Israel began a series of airstrikes in two southern neighbourhoods of Beirut.

An airstrike hit outside the main government hospital – a loud sharp noise sending people scurrying for cover according to eyewitnesses.

Local media reported that the Hariri public hospital building itself wasn’t directly hit. However, its location wasn’t among those announced in advance as a target by the Israeli army.

Image source, EPA

Videos from the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of Beirut, where seven locations to be targeted were announced in advance, showed locals fleeing from the locations by vehicle and by foot as the strikes began hitting, smoke visible in the night-time skyline.

One location identified as a target by the Israeli army was roughly 400 metres from Beirut’s airport - the only international airport serving Lebanon and part of the country’s crucial infrastructure.

Local media have shared images of some windows of the airport blown in the blast.

At least four people have been reported killed.

Image source, Reuters

Here are some of the latest images we've been seeing from Lebanon's capital Beirut tonight.

Smoke and flames have been pictured billowing over the city's southern suburbs amid Israeli strikes.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

An Israeli strike has hit close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in southern Beirut, Reuters is reporting.

The news agency cites a hospital source, who also says the strike appeared to hit the hospital's car park.

This is a different hospital to the one mentioned in our previous post.

We'll keep you updated with more when we get it.

The Israel Defense Forces claims that a bunker under a hospital in Beirut contains hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold belonging to Hezbollah.

In a brief video posted online, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari says they targeted another underground vault - which he says was under a residential building - last night during attacks on what it claims were on financial infrastructure with links to Hezbollah.

But Hagari says the IDF deliberately did not strike at a bunker he describes as belonging to Hassan Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah but was killed by Israel last month.

It's this bunker that Hagari claims is located under the Sahel hospital in Beirut, and is filled with large quantities of cash and gold.

The hospital was evacuated after Israel made the allegation and its director denies that such a bunker exists, and told the Reuters news agency that he was calling on the Lebanese army to visit the site.

Israel says it is monitoring the compound but will not strike the hospital, calling on the Lebanese authorities not to allow Hezbollah "to use the money for terror".

Daniel Wittenberg
BBC News

An American-Israeli businessman offering $100,000 (£77,000) to any Palestinian who hands over a hostage held in Gaza to Israel tells the BBC he has passed on “a couple of dozen” propositions to security services that he believes might be plausible.

Daniel Birnbaum, a former chief executive of the SodaStream carbonated drinks machine company, tells me he thinks “the diplomatic road is not working” and “someone has to try something different” to return the hostages.

Israel says 101 people who were kidnapped in the 7 October attack are still in Gaza, at least half of whom the authorities believe are still alive.

Palestinians would be eligible for immunity and safe passage out of Gaza in exchange for freeing one of the hostages, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced last week.

Image source, Reuters

“What’s missing is the third part, which is a financial prize,” says Birnbaum, who posted his offer in a video, including Arabic subtitles and a phone number for people to contact him, which has been widely shared on social media.

The BBC hasn’t seen the responses.

Asked whether the offer of a financial incentive risks affording legitimacy to Hamas, a group proscribed as terrorists by the UK and other governments, Birnbaum says “we’re obligated as human beings to do whatever we can to release the hostages”.

He adds: “This not a bidding war. We don’t want to provide an incentive for more terrorism in the future. But $100,000 is enough for you to start a new life.”

Birnbaum says he is acting alone, although he has taken advice from former Israeli security officials and hostage negotiation experts.

He claims he hopes to be made bankrupt by the proposal but says he is being “optimistic”.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum in Israel declined to comment. The BBC has also approached the Israel Defense Forces.

Nafiseh Kohnavard
reporting from Beirut

“We chose Qard al Hassan because in Lebanon it’s safer than the banks,” says Maha, a 64-year-old woman with three children.

Maha says she has taken loans for various occasions, including school expenses and her son’s engagement ceremony, and says “you only need to return the same amount you take from them".

I asked her if she is concerned whether her deposit is gone after last night's attack.

“We trust them [Hezbollah] to protect our land, so we will certainly trust them to protect our money,” she says.

Image source, Nafiseh Kohnavard/BBC News

For some, Al Qard al Hassan was a way to do business and invest.

Rasha al Ali, a 27-year-old from the mainly Shia populated Chiyah neighbourhood of Beirut, is one of them.

She says most of her family and friends also preferred to put their money in that institute. Like Maha, she also says she trusts her investment is safe.

But both Rasha and Maha acknowledge that many lost their houses last night as several Al Qard al Hassan branches were sitting just on the ground floor of residential buildings.

“In some buildings they have only targeted bank offices but in most areas they have taken down the entire residential buildings. So I think it wasn’t only about the bank. They wanted to destroy more civilian buildings,” says Rasha.

It is still not clear what may have happened to people’s deposits in those branches, but through their interviews with Hezbollah-affiliated channels, some Hezbollah MPs have tried to assure people that their money and investments are safe.

Israel has warned residents in a suburb southern Beirut to “evacuate immediately.”

Shortly after that warning, we got reports from the Reuters and AFP news agencies that a strike had been heard in the city's southern suburbs.

In a post on X, Avichay Adraee, an IDF spokesperson, alludes to an incoming Israeli operation in Hadath, Beirut.

“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests that the IDF will act against in the near future,” Adraee says.

The IDF spokesperson tells residents to evacuate the buildings listed, as well as those nearby, and advises they stay at least “500 metres” away.

The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in northern Gaza, is calling for an "urgent" humanitarian corridor, describing a dire situation at the facility.

"The blood units in the hospital have completely run out. We have lost a number of injured individuals due to a lack of resources,” Dr Hussam Abu Safia says in a statement.

"The wounded are lying in the streets, and there are no means to rescue and treat them.

"A large number of the injured have become martyrs. We demand an urgent humanitarian corridor to bring food to the teams that are working without nourishment," he adds.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, along with the nearby Indonesian and al-Awda Hospitals, are facing dire shortages of fuel and other supplies, according to the UN.

Image source, EPA

The IDF has claimed responsibility for an attack on Syria's capital Damascus earlier today that they say has killed the head of the Hezbollah's financial arm.

Earlier, Syria's defence ministry released a statement saying that two civilians have been killed and another three injured after an Israeli strike.

"We will continue to act against Hezbollah in Syria and everywhere," the IDF statement reads this evening.

In an update on their operation in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has struck "approximately 300" targets including "weapons storage facilities" and "control centres" in the last 24 hours.

The IDF also targeted bank branches associated with Hezbollah in aerial strikes last night.

Today, the IDF’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi says that “close to 30 targets” were hit across Lebanon in the strikes on Al Qard al Hassan branches.

Halevi says the bank - which has now been added to a list of "terrorist organisations" by Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant - “receives funds from Iran, provides loans and ultimately finances Hezbollah’s terrorism.”

Earlier today, we reported that a UN aid agency criticised Israel for "continuing to deny" humanitarian access to northern Gaza, where fighting remains intense.

Now, a spokesperson for humanitarian groups International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies tells the BBC he is “deeply alarmed” about the state of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Although much of the fighting is currently taking place in the north of the territory, Tomasso Della Longa says that “life in Gaza is almost impossible everywhere,” not just in the north.

The UN said recently that only a “trickle” of aid is reaching citizens in Gaza, and Della Longa agreed that the current influx is “not even enough” for basic support of Palestinians.

“It’s really very limited,” he says. “Two or three hospitals are almost closed, so the situation is deeply concerning.”

He adds that a lack of communications makes it “very difficult” to assess just how much aid is getting to those in need.

Earlier today, Israel said that it had helped “several hundred” people leave Jabalia in northern Gaza, but Della Longa tells the BBC that the road system in Gaza is so damaged that it is “almost impossible” to move around.

Where did Israel strike in Beirut?published at 18:53 British Summer Time 21 October 2024

18:53 BST 21 October 2024

By Benedict Garman and Richard Irvine-Brown

BBC Verify has been continuing to analyse footage of airstrikes in Beirut overnight, targeting premises of Al-Qard Al-Hassan bank (AQAH) that Israel says is used by Hezbollah.

Earlier we located three targeted buildings and confirmed these were all close to known premises of AQAH.

The BBC Verify team has now identified the location of three further air strikes from video released by the Israeli military by using the unique shapes of the buildings and the layout of panels, and other objects on their roofs.

All three are quite close together in or near the suburb of Haret Hreik and near to major roads in the city.

At present, we can’t say what relationship these buildings have to AQAH, but the video was posted by an Israeli spokesperson alongside claims of targeting many sites used by Hezbollah and named AQAH.

We've just seen an update from the Lebanese health ministry which says 19 people were killed, and 98 people wounded, in Israeli strikes on Lebanon yesterday.

The statement on X, external, formerly called Twitter, adds that 2,483 people have now been killed and 11,628 injured by Israeli attacks since last October.