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Israel continues attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Biden holds phone conversation with Netanyahu

Israel continues attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Biden holds phone conversation

United States President Joe Biden held a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as Israel continues military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and considers a response to recent missile attacks by Iran. This was their first conversation since August 21. The White House said Vice President Kamala Harris also joined the conversation.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is considering ways to respond to Iran's October 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles. President Biden has said he would not support an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said Wednesday that at least 18 people were killed in overnight Israeli attacks in northern and central Gaza.

The attacks hit the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it carried out air and ground strikes in Gaza against Hamas militants. Fighting and repeated orders from Israel to evacuate have left Palestinian civilians with nowhere to go, the United Nations said.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, wrote on the X Network that at least 400,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza. Lazzarini said many people are refusing to follow evacuation orders "because they know very well that no place in Gaza is safe." Israel's military said it carried out new air and ground operations on Wednesday against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon and said three of its soldiers were wounded in fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Israel's prime minister said on Tuesday that his country's military had killed a suspected descendant of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on September 27. Hashem Safieddine was Nasrallah's cousin and a senior official in the organization and was expected to replace him. There has been no news of him since last week, when Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes on the outskirts of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah.

There has been no response from Hezbollah, which usually confirms the death of its top leaders. A year ago, Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250 others. About 100 hostages remain in the hands of the militants, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Meanwhile, the total number of dead since the start of the war has exceeded 42,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been declared terrorist organizations by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Israel and other countries./ VOA

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