- Hezbollah has promised to continue “its blessed operations to support Gaza, its people, and its resistance”, despite the pager explosions that killed at least 11 people and wounded 2,750 others across Lebanon and Syria.
- The Lebanese armed group vowed retaliation as it held Israel “fully responsible” for the attacks that left at least 200 people in critical condition. Israel has declined to comment on the detonations.
- In the Gaza Strip, at least eight Palestinians were killed and 80 more were feared dead under the rubble following an Israeli attack on the Bureij refugee camp. Medics said at least 22 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the enclave on Tuesday.
- At least 41,252 people have been killed and 95,497 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. In Israel, the number of those killed in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 was at least 1,139 while more than 200 people were taken captive.
- Israel killed 20 Palestinians in Gaza in past 24 hours: MinistryAt least 20 people have been killed and 54 others injured in the Israeli attacks in Gaza during the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian enclave’s Health Ministry.The latest deaths brought the total toll in Israel’s war on Gaza to 41,272. At least 95,551 people have also been injured since October 7 last year.
- What is BAC, the firm behind the pagers which exploded in Lebanon?
- The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, said Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo.BAC used Gold Apollo’s brand trademark for the pagers, but the design and manufacturing of the products was “entirely handled by BAC”, the Taiwanese company said.According to the company’s LinkedIn, BAC Consulting “animates environmental, political, and development projects of broad scope and complexity”.The company website lists Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono as its CEO and founder, and makes no reference to manufacturing.“We offer in-depth consulting guiding our client’s journey toward innovation, sustainability, and equity while ensuring connection, and authenticity. Our main services are business development, management consultancy, strategy and partnership planning,” Barsony-Arcidiacono states on her LinkedIn profile.Its company size ranges from 2-10 employees, also according to BAC’s LinkedIn page.According to the Reuters news agency, the stated address for BAC Consulting in Budapest is a peach building on a mostly residential street in an outer suburb, with the company name posted on its glass door on an A4 sheet of paper.Reuters spoke to an anonymous person at the building, who said BAC Consulting was registered at the address but did not have a physical presence there.BAC did not answer phone calls made by Al Jazeera.
- Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions: Foreign ministryIran has accused Israel of “mass murder” after paging devices belonging to the Hezbollah group in Lebanon exploded, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others.Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder”.
- Belgium’s deputy PM denounces ‘terror attack’ in Lebanon and Syria“I strongly condemn the massive terror attack in Lebanon and Syria, which injured thousands of people. A brutal escalation of violence,” said Belgium’s deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter in a post on X.“Silence is not an option. An international investigation is called for. The bloodshed must end,” she said.
- )Four bodies recovered from Rafah: Gaza’s civil defenceGaza’s civil defence is reporting the recovery of four bodies in the Khirbet al-Adas area in Rafah, in southern Gaza.The civil defence stated the bodies found were from the al-Yazouri, Sheikh al-Eid, al-Jamal and Abu Hilal families.
- Israel’s strategy unclear after pager blastsThe deadly en masse explosion of pagers in Lebanon and Syria that has widely been attributed to Israel raises questions about what the end game may be, amid rising tensions in the region, analysts have said.Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israeli analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the attack was something that Israel had in the works for several months and risked losing if Hezbollah became suspicious.This concern may have led the Israeli army to trigger the blasts, but Israel’s strategy overall remains unclear. “Where is Israel going to go from here? This question still hasn’t been answered,” Zonszein said.“Without a ceasefire in Gaza, it’s unclear how Israel plans to de-escalate, or if Netanyahu is in fact trying to spark a broader war,” the analyst added, noting that more Israeli troops were now stationed in the West Bank and along the northern border than in the Strip.While many security officials in Israel believe a war with Lebanon would be unwise, “much of the military believe that Hezbollah’s build-up of power cannot be tolerated”.
Israel’s war on Gaza live: Hezbollah blames Israel for Lebanon pager blasts
