Middle East updates: Israel marks one year since October 7

The Israeli military says it struck more than 120 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon within a 60-minute period as part of wider extensive strikes on Monday.

"The IAF [air force] conducted an extensive aerial operation and struck over 120 terror targets in southern Lebanon within an hour," the military said in a statement.

It added the targets belonged to the group's elite Radwan forces and other units.

Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah says it has targeted Israeli troops in two southern Lebanon border villages.

Hezbollah fighters "bombed... a gathering of Israeli forces" in Maroun al-Ras with "a rocket salvo, the group said in a statement. 

The group has reported several clashes in that area in recent days.

It later said its fighters had  "bombed... a gathering of Israeli enemy forces" in the nearby village of Blida "with a barrage of rockets and artillery shells."

The Iran-backed group also said it had fired rockets at areas north of the Israeli city of Haifa for a second time on Monday.

It said it launched a "large rocket salvo" in the afternoon.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

The Israeli military says a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen at central Israel has been successfully intercepted.

The projectile set off air raid sirens across large parts of central Israel,  sending residents running for cover.

"Following the sirens that sounded in a number of areas in central Israel, the surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen was successfully intercepted," the military said in a statement.

It said the Israeli Air Force had carried out the interception. The statement omitted to say who had fired the missile.

However, the Iran-backed Houthi movement which is in control of northern Yemen, has frequently attacked Israel over the past year. 

The group says it is doing so in solidarity with the Palestinians.

On the early morning of October 7, 2023, Yarin Ilovich — stage name Artifex — was behind the turntables at the Supernova festival in Israel, watching the crowd dance.

A year later, he recalls the moment when he abruptly stopped the music.

The Israeli army says it has sent more ground troops from its 91st Division into the south of Lebanon.

The army released a video apparently showing its soldiers on Lebanese territory.

Israel does not provide the exact numbers of its troops in Lebanon, nor of those participating in its ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip.

However, an Israeli army division can comprise several thousand soldiers.

The Israeli army appears to be concentrating on an area near the towns of Udaissa and Kafr Kila in the southeast of Lebanon and around Bint Jubayl in the south.

Further skirmishes have been reported between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers in these areas. 

Hezbollah said on Monday that it had launched a missile attack on a group of soldiers in the border town of Maroun al-Ras.

 

The Israeli army said its forces were launching a "targeted" strike in a southern Beirut suburb.

"The IDF [Israeli army] is currently conducting a targeted strike in the area of Dahiyeh, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold," the army said in a statement.

A Lebanese security source told AFP that an Israeli strike hit near Lebanon's only commerical airport in Beirut, close to Hezbollah'sstronghold in the south of the capital.

"Israel conducted an air strike near the airport," the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Lebanon's official National News Agency had earlier said Israel launched "a series of strikes targeting more than 30 towns and villages in the Tyre district," after earlier saying "series of strikes" hit other south Lebanon locations.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that the October 7 terror attacks on Israel perpatrated by Hamas was also a "dark day" for Palestinians.

"I believe that history will also remember October 7 as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day," Biden said in a statement.

"Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict," He added.

Biden also said the US remains "fully committed" to Israel's security, and that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas, Iran and others.

"One year later, Vice President (Kamala) Harris and I remain fully committed to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist," he added.

For her part, Kamala Harris, who is the current Democratic nominee in this year's presidential election, released her own statement, echoing Biden's sentiment.

"What Hamas did that day was pure evil -- it was brutal and sickening," Harris said. "I am heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year," she added, saying also that it is "far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people."

Pope Francis has acknowledged the anniversary of the war in Gaza by criticizing the "shameful inability" of world powers to end the conflict.

"A year ago, the fuse of hatred was lit; it did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence, in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war," he said in an open letter to Catholics in the Middle East.

"Blood is still being shed, as are tears. Anger is growing, along with the desire for revenge, while it seems that few people care about what is most needed and what is most desired: dialogue and peace."

While the pope's letter was meant for Catholics in the region, he also addressed "the men and women of every confession and religion who in the Middle East are suffering from the insanity of war: I am close to you, I am with you".

"I am with you, who have no voice, for despite all the talk of plans and strategies, there is little concern for those who suffer the devastation of war, which the powerful impose on others; yet they will be subject to the inflexible judgment of God," Francis added.

The leaders of Italy, the UK and France have all expressed their solidarity with Israel, remembering the October 7 attacks.

"Let us not forget the inhumane aggression perpetrated a year ago by Hamas," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a speech at the Great Synagogue in central Rome.

"Remembering and strongly condemning what happened a year ago is not a mere ritual, but the prerequisite for any political action to restore peace in the Middle East," she said.

"The reticence that is increasingly encountered in doing so betrays a latent and rampant antisemitism that must concern everyone," she added.

"We reiterate Israel's legitimate right to defend itself... in accordance with international humanitarian law," Meloni said, saying Italy "cannot remain insensitive to the enormous toll of innocent civilian victims in Gaza." 

For his part, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that Britain "will not falter in our pursuit of peace."

In a statement, he paid tribute to the victims killed a year ago, saying: "We stand together to remember the lives so cruelly taken."

Starmer added that Britain "must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community and unite as a country." 

He also repeated his calls for immediate cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon "and for the removal of all restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza."

French President Emmanuel Macron sent "fraternal thoughts" to the victims and their families, commemorating the anniversary with a post on the social media platform X.

"The pain remains, as vivid as it was a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Ours. The pain of wounded humanity. We do not forget the victims, the hostages, or the families with broken hearts from absence or waiting," Macron wrote.

Hezbollah has said it attacked areas north of Israel's Haifa with a barrage of missiles. It was the second assault on Monday
after the group had earlier launched rockets on the northern Israeli port city.

The Lebanese Shiite militia said on Monday, in the context of the anniversary of the war in Gaza, that there is no place for Israel "in our region and in our social, cultural and human structure."

Hezbollah said the attack on October 7, 2023, by the Islamist group Hamas was a "heroic operation" that will have "historical implications and strategic consequences" for the Middle East.

The militant group also said it had attacked Israel on October 8, 2023, as an act of solidarity with Hamas, adding that it was standing on the "side of truth, justice and complete humanity" and was defending Lebanon.

The October 7, 2023 attacks resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with some 250 more being taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory operations have killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, according to UN figures.

Michael Levy, the brother of hostage Or Levy, told DW that his family has not had any news of his brother since October 7. The army believes he is still alive, but "other than that, we don't have any more information."

Asked what he thought had to happen to secure his brother's relase, Levy said: "It's very simple, Israel and Hamas have to seal a deal. I believe that the international community has an obligation to make sure that happens."

Levy said it was not just an Israeli issue, because Hamas promised that they would carry out attacks "again and again and again, but next time in Berlin, next time in New York, and in London."

Speaking at an international conference in Hamburg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his country's sympathy with the people of Israel.

"We feel with you the horror, the pain, the uncertainty and the sadness. We stand by your side," he said. "The Hamas terrorists must be fought."

At the same time, he highlighted the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, saying "people need hope and perspectives if they are to renounce terror."

"That's why the federal government is calling for a cease-fire, for the hostages to be freed, and for a political process, even if that seems more distant today than ever," he added.

He also shared an image on social media of a yellow ribbon in front of his office in Berlin, with the message "We share your grief."

Later on Monday, Scholz is set to attend a commemorative ceremony organized by the Jewish community of Hamburg.

The armed wing of Hamas has said it fired a barrage of rockets at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, as the country marked the one-year anniversary of the war in Gaza. 

AFP reported that the interception of several rockets were heard in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub. 

The group, known as the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that it had "struck deep into the occupation's territory, targeting the city of Tel Aviv with a barrage of M90 missiles as part of the ongoing war of attrition."

Israel's army said air raid sirens were activated in central Israel on Monday, after many rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.

"Sirens sounded in central Israel due to projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip," said the army statement. A map posted by the Israeli army on X, formerly Twitter, showed areas in southern Tel Aviv where the sirens had been triggered.

Arwa Damon, who runs the International Network for Air, Relief, and Assistance (INARA) in Lebanon, spoke to DW about the situation in Beirut amid Israeli bombardment.

She spoke of the "deep, prevalent fear" that people have after a year of seeing the humanitarian cost of the war in Gaza.

People gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital early on Monday to hold a commemoration event for the October 7 attacks. 

The event began at 5:29 a.m. local time (0329 GMT), marking the moment the Hamas assault started one year earlier. Participants read out the names of the 1,170 people who were killed and the 255 who were kidnapped.

Similar events took place simultaneously around the world in cities like Düsseldorf, Warsaw, Belfast, Lima and New York.

Organizers said the point of the event was to "share the grief of the Jewish people, stand in solidarity with the Jewish state regardless of current politics, and raise voices against antisemitism and antizionism."

The commemoration came a day after protests in Berlin and several other cities in Germany called for an end to fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.