'Three killed' after airstrike on car in Lebanon - official claims

Three people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car, according to a Lebanese official and local media.

State-owned National News Agency and Ali Safieddine, the head of the civil defence in the Tyre district, reported an Israeli strike targeted a car in southern Lebanon, between the villages of Aynata and Aitaroun.

Four security sources told Reuters news agency three people were killed during the strike, although Sky News has not been able to verify the report.

Follow live: Internet services ‘completely cut off again’ across Gaza

Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah described the alleged attack as a “dangerous development”, warning Israel would pay a price.

Lebanon will submit a complaint to the United Nations over the killings, the country’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said.

Mr Bou Habib told Reuters Lebanon was collecting information and pictures and will likely submit its complaint on Monday.

Israel’s military also claimed on Sunday evening an Israeli was killed in an attack by Hezbollah.

Israel’s army spokesperson gave no details about the reported attack but said the military operates based on intelligence information and examines every event in Lebanon thoroughly.

Israel’s forces have been exchanging with Iran-backed Hezbollah across the border in the north of the country since Hamas’s attack on 7 October.

Other key developments:
• Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s parents-in-law have arrived in Scotland after fleeing Gaza;
• Israeli minister reportedly suspended after suggesting atomic bomb on Gaza is an option;
• Boris Johnson meets Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem to “express solidarity”;
• Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK claims Israel has used white phosphorus in southern Lebanon.

To the south of Israel, a telecommunications company has said internet has once again been cut in Gaza as Israel continues its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his warning that there will be no ceasefire until hostages held by Hamas are returned, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the West Bank on Sunday.

In the offensive’s attest developments, the Israeli military claimed it has exposed a network of Hamas tunnels and rocket launchers beneath and next to hospitals in northern Gaza.

By Sunday evening, Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said all communications and internet services are down again within the Gaza Strip.

“The main routes that were previously reconnected (were) cut off again from the Israeli side,” it said.

Mr Blinken later held a news conference in Baghdad in which he said he had a productive meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani and also made “very clear” the attacks coming from militia aligned with Iran are “unacceptable”.

“We had a good candid conversation and more broadly we are working hard to make sure the conflict in Gaza does not escalate to other places,” he said.

Earlier in the day Mr Blinken met the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the city of Ramallah on Sunday, as he continued his tour of the region.

Mr Abbas demanded an “immediate ceasefire” to allow humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which Israel continues to bombard in response to Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians on 7 October.

“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Mr Abbas told Mr Blinken, according to a spokesperson.

Earlier on Sunday, Hamas, which has run Gaza independently of the Palestinian Authority since 2007, claimed on Sunday that an Israeli airstrike killed at least 47 people in the Maghazi refugee camp.

Mr Blinken said the US is committed to getting aid into Gaza and restoring essential services there, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a readout of the meeting.

“The secretary also expressed the commitment of the United States to working toward the realisation of the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he added.

Violence has continued in the West Bank, with 121 Palestinians killed there since the war in Gaza began, according to UN figures.

About 200 people gathered in Ramallah on Sunday to protest Mr Blinken’s arrival, which follows visits to Israel and Jordan.

Mr Blinken and Mr Abbas “discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and hold those accountable responsible”, Mr Miller said.

Mr Blinken has already suggested an “effective and revitalised Palestinian Authority” would make the most sense to ultimately run Gaza.

He repeated his belief on Sunday, telling Mr Abbas the Palestinian Authority should play a central role in what comes next in the Gaza Strip, according to a senior State Department official.

The official added: “[The] future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting but the Palestinian Authority seemed willing to play a role.”

Mr Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has seen its popularity drop amid allegations of incompetence and unpopular security arrangements with Israel.

It is unclear who would succeed Mr Abbas, 87, who is a staunch opponent of Hamas.

Demonstration in Turkey after global protests

As Mr Blinken headed to Turkey for talks over Gaza on Sunday afternoon, police fired tear gas and water cannon at pro-Palestine protesters near a US air base, according to Turkish media.

According to the Karar newspaper and other outlets, the intervention came as demonstrators tried to cross fields to enter the base at Incirlik, in southern Turkey.

Protesters were seen hurling plastic chairs, rocks, and other items at police, who fired smoke bombs at crowds as scuffles broke out.

Hundreds of vehicles arrived in Incirlik on Sunday afternoon for the protest, which was the culmination of a convoy that set off on a 940-kilometre (585-mile) journey from Istanbul on Friday.

The demonstration was organised by the IHH aid group, which Israel has accused of links to Hamas, and came just hours before Mr Blinken was due to arrive in the country.

Israel’s siege of Gaza has also stirred global alarm at humanitarian conditions, with pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting around the world on Saturday.

Demonstrations were held in cities including London, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul and Jakarta, with hundreds of thousands calling for a ceasefire.

There was also a protest in Washington to denounce President Biden’s war policy and demand a ceasefire.

The Hamas-run health ministry has said 21 Palestinians from the same family were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight.

It said in a post on its Facebook page that they belonged to the family of Abu Hasira and that the strike targeted a house that was “full of women and children”.

Sky News has not independently verified the claim.

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