Biden and Netanyahu speak for the first time in seven weeks, Israel warns that attack on Iran will be “surprising”: the 369th day of war
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone for the first time in seven weeks. Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call, according to the White Houseand Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the Israeli Prime Minister also recently spoke with Donald Trump, former President and Republican candidate for November’s presidential election.
The United States has warned Israel against any offensive in Lebanon that “resembles” what happened in the Gaza Strip. “I clearly state that there should not be military action in Lebanon that resembles Gaza and where the outcome resembles Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
The Israeli Defense Minister stated that the country’s attack on Iran in response to its recent missile attack on Israeli territory would be “lethal” and “surprising”. Israel’s attack would leave Iran confused, says a statement from Yoav Gallant’s office. “They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” said the far-right Israeli minister. Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel last week, in an escalation of the conflict between the two countries.
A billboard in Tehran’s Enqelab Square shows images of the October 1 attack on Israel. “If you want war, we are masters of war”, it reads in Farsi and Hebrew
FATEMEH BAHRAMI / ANADOLU / GETTY IMAGES
The European Union (EU) created a humanitarian airlift to deliver support material to populations in Lebanon affected by conflicts with Israel. The airlift consists of three flights departing from Dubai and Brindisi (Italy), with the first expected to arrive in Beirut on Friday.
The flights, funded by the European Commission, will transport equipment from the EU stockpile, including hygiene items, blankets and emergency shelter equipment, among other items. This aid is in addition to that already sent, under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, by Belgium, Slovakia, Spain, France and Poland and that from Greece, which will arrive in Lebanon in the coming days.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the support for Lebanon called by President Emmanuel Macron will take place on October 24, aiming to mobilize international assistance to the country where Israel continues attacks against Hezbollah. “This ministerial conference will bring together Lebanon’s partner states, the United Nations, the European Union and international, regional and civil society organizations,” the ministry said in a statement.
Damage to infrastructure in Lebanon, after Israeli attacks overnight.
EPA / WAEL HAMZEH
Other news of the day:
⇒ Hezbollah announced that it is fighting Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, where Israel has been trying to expand the ground offensive it launched at the end of September. The pro-Iranian Shiite movement had previously said it had twice repelled Israeli soldiers trying to enter southern Lebanon.
⇒ At least four people died and ten others were injured in an Israeli bombing of an apartment in a hotel housing families displaced by the war north of the city of Sidon, in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported.
⇒ Two people died in northern Israel, in Kiryat Shmona, victims of gunfire rockets from Lebanon. These are the first people killed in Israel by rockets coming from Lebanon since the intensification of the Israeli military offensive against Hezbollah.
⇒ Israeli bombings against the center and north of the Gaza Strip killed at least 18 people. Two attacks hit tents where displaced people are staying in Nuseirat and Bureij, in central Gaza, and another targeted a refugee camp in al-Yamin al-Sayed hospital, in Jabalia, in northern Gaza. The total number of deaths in the enclave since the start of the conflict has exceeded 42,000, including more than 16,900 children and around 11,500 women.
⇒ Iran’s Foreign Minister traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. “We hope that these talks with Saudi Arabia will lead to an improvement in conditions for the Palestinians in the region and that peace will come to Lebanon”, declared Abbas Araqchi, condemning the “crimes committed by the Zionist regime”.
People who already lived without documents and with precarious jobs are now without any network
JOÃO RELVAS/Lusa
⇒ A total of 39 Iranian deputies called for a change in the doctrine on nuclear energy, to allow its use to go beyond civilian use, at a time when Israel is threatening to retaliate against Iran for last week’s attack. The group “signed a letter, sent to the Supreme National Security Council, asking that the defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran be reconsidered”, said deputy and cleric Hasan Ali Akhlaghi-Amiri, one of the signatories.
⇒ China expressed “opposition to the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East”, referring to the possibility of Israel attacking Iran in retaliation for last week’s Iranian missile offensive. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference that China is “deeply concerned” about “intensifying contradictions” in the region.
⇒ An Israeli bombing killed a police officer and injured another in the Syrian Golan Heights, part of which is occupied by Israel, the official Syrian agency announced. The attack targeted “the eastern entrance to the city of Quneitra” in southern Syria. In the north of the West Bank, at least four Palestinians died following Israeli agents shooting at the vehicle they were traveling in in Nablus, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
⇒ PS, PSD and Bloco de Esquerda approved in Parliament a vote condemning the declaration of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, as “persona non grata” by the Israeli Government, which was rejected by Chega and Initiative Liberal.
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