Hamas official killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp

PTI Jerusalem: An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group said Saturday. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli airstrike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road. Israel began a ground incursion Tuesday into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response.

As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. South Korea evacuates 97 people from Lebanon Meanwhile, South Korea A military plane evacuating 97 people from Lebanon arrived in South Korea on Saturday.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the group on the plane includes South Korean nationals and their family members. There are about 30 South Koreans left in Lebanon besides diplomats and embassy workers who are staying. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed officials Wednesday to send military aircraft to conflict areas in the Middle East as he called a meeting to discuss the impact of the intensified fighting in the region. There are about 480 South Korean nationals living in Israel and 110 in Iran. Last flight of British nationals flies out of LebanonThe UK government on Saturday confirmed its final charter plane to fly British nationals out of Lebanon as the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel intensifies and tensions in the region escalate.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer once again urged British nationals still in the country to come forward to be evacuated. “To everybody listening who may be in that position: now is the time to leave, we have got the plans in place. So please come forward and we can make sure that they are evacuated,” Starmer told reporters during a visit to Cheshire on Friday. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said after a chartered flight leaves Beirut on Sunday, there are no more scheduled flights due to a decrease in demand.