Iran’s Israel retaliation ‘imminent’ as Hezbollah launches drone swarm – latest news

Eight Palestinians were killed, including four teenagers, and another seven have been wounded by Israeli fire during military raids in the occupied West Bank, officials say.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday that four people, including two 19-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were killed in an overnight raid in the village of Aqaaba in the northern West Bank.

It said another four people, including an 18-year-old, were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Jenin – a frequent flashpoint – where the Islamic Jihad militant group said its fighters were battling the army.

As he began his speech to mark one week since the assassination of Hamas commander Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the sonic booms of Israeli warplanes flying overhead in Beirut were intended to provoke those gathered for the memorial.

“The [Israeli] enemy is breaking the sound barrier over the southern suburbs to frighten those gathered for the ceremony. It has such a small mind,” Lebanese outlet L’Orient Today reported Mr Nasrallah as saying.

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters have broken into an Israeli army base near Tel Aviv, the military said, as demonstrations against call up orders for religious Jews previously exempt from conscription continued to flare.

The military condemned the incident at the Tel Hashomer base, which occurred after protesters managed to break in before being cleared by police. Footage shared by the Israeli police showed dozens of men in clothing traditionally worn by the ultra-Orthodox community confronting lines of police outside the base.

“Breaking into a military base is a serious offence and is against the law. The IDF condemns this violent behavior and insists that the protesters be brought to justice,” the military said in a statement.

Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the government in June to end a longstanding exemption and draft ultra-Orthodox Haredi seminary students into the military. The first call up papers were sent out about two weeks ago and the draftees are due to report to recruitment centres.

Draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews date back to the early days of the state of Israel, when the first prime minister David Ben-Gurion exempted about 400 students so they could devote themselves to religious study. In so doing, he hoped to keep alive sacred knowledge and traditions almost wiped out in the Holocaust.

Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier three times over Beirut in less than 30 minutes on Tuesday, leading to loud booms that sent residents in the Lebanese capital running for cover just ahead of a speech by the head Hezbollah.

A Reuters journalist reported seeing people at a cafe in Beirut’s Badaro district scatter as the sound reverberated through the city.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was set to begin an address at around 5pm local time to mark one week since the killing of the Lebanese armed group’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli warplanes reportedly broke the sound barrier as they flew low over Beirut on Tuesday, with witnesses saying they could see the planes with the naked eye.

The flyovers created one of the largest sonic booms heard by residents in years, and took place minutes before Hezbollah head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was to begin an address to mark the one-week memorial of the Lebanese armed group’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital.

The UK Foreign Office has said it is “appalling” that nine members of the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) may have been involved in the October 7 attacks in southern Israel, and said anyone found to have participated “should face the full force of the law”.

Their statement follows a finding by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services that, of 19 staff allegedly involved in the attacks, evidence suggests nine may have been involved.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “It’s appalling that nine members of UNRWA may have been involved in the October 7th atrocities. We welcome UNRWA’s decisive action and support their decision to terminate the contracts of these individuals.

“Anyone who participated in the horrific October 7 attacks should face the full force of the law.

“UNRWA performs lifesaving work in Gaza and is indispensable to the humanitarian operation. We are confident that UNRWA is strengthening its procedures, including on vetting, which is why, alongside France, Germany, Japan, and the vast majority of donors, we have restored funding to the agency.

“We will continue to work with UNRWA’s leadership to ensure the Colonna Report is implemented and it meets the highest standards of neutrality.”

Seven people have been taken to hospital in Israel – including one in a critial condition, medical officials have said, after Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire across the Lebanese border on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said a number of hostile drones were identified crossing from Lebanon and one was intercepted.

Israeli medical officials said seven people were evacuated to hospital, to the south of the coastal city of Nahariya, one in critical condition.

The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the injuries were caused by an interceptor that “missed the target and hit the ground, injuring several civilians.” It said the incident was still under review.

The UK government is “ready and prepared” should tensions further escalate in the Middle East, foreign secretary David Lammy told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

A cabinet readout said: “Turning to the Middle East, the foreign secretary updated on the rising tensions across the region and said that the government’s focus was around encouraging de-escalation.

“He made clear that the government stood ready and prepared should the situation deteriorate.”

Japan has become the latest country to urge its citizens not to visit Israel, citing rising tensions in the Middle East.

It comes a day after Japan’s foreign ministry urged Japanese nationals in Lebanon to leave the country.

Iran has executed a 34-year-old man accused of killing a security officer during widespread unrest over the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in 2022, state media said – in the first known protest-related execution since president Masoud Pezeshkian took office.

In November 2022, Reza Rasaei joined the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in his hometown of Sahneh, in the western province of Kermanshah, during which security agent Nader Bayrami was fatally stabbed. Bayrami is claimed to have been the intelligence chief for the Revolutionary Guards in Sahneh county.

Rasaei, who according to rights group Hengaw is a Kurdish member of a religious minority, was charged with Bayrami’s murder and sentenced to death in October 2023. He was executed on Tuesday, the official judiciary news agency Mizan reported.

Amnesty International said on its website that Rasaei was sentenced to death after “a grossly unfair trial that relied on his forced confessions obtained under torture”.