Israel-Hamas war latest: 20 killed, 450 wounded in second day of explosions in Lebanon

Lebanon’s health ministry said Wednesday that at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of the country.

The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000.

Associated Press journalists reported multiple explosions at the site of a Beirut funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before.

Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported explosions in multiple areas of Lebanon, and a Hezbollah official told the AP that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded in Beirut. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM — Israel’s highest court said Wednesday that authorities have to follow the law at a shadowy military detention facility where rights groups say Palestinians have been abused, but stopped short of ordering it closed.

The court said that conditions of incarceration at Sde Teiman, the detention facility in Israel’s south, had to comply with Israeli law governing how enemy combatants should be treated during wartime.

Rights groups have alleged that Palestinians at the facility are held handcuffed and blindfolded, made to sit in rows in warehouse-like structures under 24-hour floodlights. They say detainees are not afforded adequate food or water and abuse from Israeli soldiers is common. Israel’s military is investigating several soldiers on suspicion of sexually assaulting a detainee at the facility.

“Protecting the rule of law, even during a difficult war, is the clear expression of the difference between a democratic state, which is fighting for its life, and a terrorist organization which wants to destroy it,” wrote the Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman in the decision Wednesday.

The state has said it has moved the majority of inmates out of the facility since it came under court challenge. It says it is expanding the existing facility to improve conditions there.

Israel has pulled in thousands of Palestinians from Gaza since the start of its offensive there, often detaining them without charge or trial before releasing them back into the strip.

WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. Derek France, the head of U.S. air power in the Middle East, had been scheduled to talk to reporters at a conference in Maryland on Wednesday but canceled to more closely monitor the situation after the pager attack, a military official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing situation.

The official said the attack has prompted the Air Force to reexamine how U.S. forces are positioned in the region in case of retaliation.

It comes after the Navy pulled one of its aircraft carriers out of the region last week following the Pentagon’s decision to keep two carriers in the Middle East for a short time recently.

The Biden administration beefed up the U.S. military presence there to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard U.S. troops. The U.S. has tens of thousands of service members, additional ships and aircraft squadrons based throughout the Middle East to try to keep the conflict from spreading into a wider regional war.

By Tara Copp

Israel’s army chief says Israel has drawn up plans for additional action against Hezbollah and is ready to strike.

“We have many capabilities that we have not yet activated,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said after approving new operational plans at Israel’s Northern Command on Wednesday.

“Every time we work at a certain stage, the next two stages are ready to go forward strongly,” he says. “At each stage, the price for Hezbollah needs to be high.”

UNITED NATIONS — Asked about Tuesday’s pager explosions, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it especially serious not only because of the large number of victims “but because of the indications that exist that this was triggered — I would say, in advance of the normal way to trigger these things — because there was a risk of this being discovered.”

“Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a preemptive strike before a major military operation,” the U.N. chief said. “So as important as the event in itself, is the indication that this event confirms that there is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon.”

“Everything must be done to avoid that escalation,” Guterres said.

Guterres made the comments prior to finding out about Wednesday’s explosions involving walkie-talkies.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister has declared the start of a “new phase” of the war as Israel turns its focus toward the northern front against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Yoav Gallant made no mention of the mysterious explosions of electronic devices in Lebanon in recent days. But he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”

He said that after months of war against Hamas militants in Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”

“We are at the start of a new phase in the war - it requires courage, determination and perseverance,” he said.

Gallant's comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was huddling with top security officials at Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

BEIRUT — Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council said Wednesday that the militant group will respond to Tuesday's pager explosion attack with “special punishment."

The group is in a “new confrontation with the enemy," Safieddine said.

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously Tuesday across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, killing at least 12 people, government and Hezbollah officials said. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack. The Israeli military declined to comment.

GENEVA — The U.N. human rights chief is calling for an independent investigation into mass explosions from detonating pagers in Lebanon and Syria.

Volker Türk said in a statement Wednesday that “the fear and terror unleashed is profound” and urged world leaders to step up “in defense of the rights of all people to live in peace and security.”

Türk said the targeting of thousands of people — whether civilians or members of armed groups — without knowledge of who held the devices or where they were, violates international law.

The statement made no reference to who might be responsible for Tuesday’s explosions.

“The protection of civilians must be the paramount priority,” he said, alluding to the deadly violence in the Middle East in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. “De-escalation is today more crucial than ever.”

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli police said an explosion in a park in Tel Aviv last September was intended to target former military chief of staff and defense minister Moshe Yaalon. No one was injured in the September 15, 2023 attack, which authorities have attributed to Hezbollah, based on the type of explosive used, without providing additional information.

Police said investigations of the people involved in placing the explosive revealed that Yaalon was the intended target. The explosive was equipped with cameras allowing the attackers to trigger it remotely when they saw their target approaching.

The announcement comes after police said they and Israel’s Shin Bet security agency had thwarted a similar attack using the same type of explosive on Tuesday. The Shin Bet said in a statement that it had found an explosive device fitted with a camera and a mechanism that would allow it to be activated by Hezbollah from Lebanon. It said the attack was to be carried out in the coming days.

The Shin Bet did not provide evidence linking the device to Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the Lebanese border since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Authorities did not say where the device was found or identify the target of the foiled attack, but said the official had been notified.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the U.S. and its allies of backing the exploding pagers attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.

“Using devices, made for welfare of human beings, as a tool for assassination and annihilation” of those who don’t hold the same views of the U.S., Israel and the West is “an indication of the collapse of humanity as well domination of savagery and barbarism,” the website of the president quoted him as saying Wednesday.

“The incident once again showed that western nations and Americans fully support crime, killings and blind assassinations by the Zionist regime, in practice,” Pezeshkian added.

Iran is the chief supporter of Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group that Israel sees it as its most direct threat. Many of the group’s fighters were killed and injured in Tuesday’s explosions.

Iran has already sent a group of Iranian medics to Lebanon to help victims of the explosions.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health minister says the death toll from the exploding pager attack on Hezbollah has increased to 12 people, including two children and an unspecified number of healthcare workers..

Health Minister Firas Abiad said that two-thirds of the wounded needed hospitalization, adding that the scale of the incident was far greater than the thousands wounded in the massive Beirut Port explosion in 2020.

Most of the wounded were in Beirut and its southern suburbs, he said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military said they had intercepted two suspicious drones that approached Israel from Lebanon and Iraq on Wednesday morning, the day after pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding nearly 3,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said they intercepted a drone launched from Lebanon over the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of northern Israel. Another drone launched from Iraq was intercepted by Israeli air force fighter jets. There were no injuries or damage reported.

Israel also began moving more troops to the northern border with Lebanon in preparation for a possible retaliation.

As a precautionary measure, the Israeli military moved its 98th Division to the northern border, an official said. The division, which includes infantry, artillery and commando units, has until recently been fighting in Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel on Oct. 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led attack in southern Israel triggered a massive Israeli counteroffensive and the ongoing war in Gaza. Since then, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged strikes near-daily, killing hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displacing tens of thousands on each side of the border.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says four soldiers were killed in southern Gaza and five others were wounded, with three of them in serious condition.

The deaths on Tuesday came nearly a year into the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The army did not describe the circumstances, but Israeli media reported that the soldiers were killed by a hidden bomb that exploded inside a building.

One of the four, Staff Sgt. Agam Naim, an army paramedic, was the first female soldier to have been killed in combat in Gaza, according to Israeli media.

Hamas and other armed groups remain active across the territory despite months of heavy Israeli bombardment and ground operations that have destroyed vast areas and displaced most of the population.

Israel says 346 of its soldiers have been killed since the start of ground operations last October. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

The AR-924 pagers used by the militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive text messages of up to 100 characters and claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That’s something that would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common as the tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea has faced years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

A poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is placed next to bouquets of flowers and Lebanese flag in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This video grab shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)

This video grab, shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)

A poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is placed on flowers in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

CORRECTS DAY TO TUESDAY WHEN INJURED Lebanese Red Cross ambulance passes next of the families of victims who were injured on Tuesday by their exploding handheld pagers, at the emergency entrance of the American University hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

CORRECTS DAY TO TUESDAY WHEN KILLED Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of fallen four comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese soldiers and firefighters gather outside a mobile shop after what is believed to be the result of a walkie-talkie exploding inside it, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanese security officers stand next of a partly damaged car after what is believed to be the result of a walkie-talkie exploding inside it, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

FILE - Israeli soldiers move next to destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.(AP Photo)

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several people who were wounded by exploding handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinians in Lebanon wave their national flags during a protest in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People gather around an ambulance carrying wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, at the emergency entrance of the American University hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The supermoon rises behind the houses in Mas'ade, a village in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A Lebanese Red Cross volunteer collects blood donations for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, at a Red Cross center in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is providing its long-awaited assessment on one of the more contested aspects of Roman Catholicism in recent years: the reported “apparitions” of the Virgin Mary in an otherwise unremarkable village in southern Bosnia.

Following nearly 15 years of study, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, is headlining a news conference Thursday on what the Vatican called “the spiritual experience of Medjugorje.”

In 1981, six children and teenagers reported seeing visions of the Madonna on a hill in the village of Medjugorje, located in the wine-making region of southern Bosnia. Some of those original “seers” have claimed the visions have occurred regularly since then, even daily, and that Mary sends them messages.

As a result, Medjugorje has become a major European pilgrimage destination for Christian believers, attracting millions of people over the years. Last year alone, 1.7 million Eucharistic wafers were distributed during Masses there, according to statistics published on the shrine’s website, a rough estimate of the numbers of Catholics who visited.

However, unlike at the more well-known and established Catholic sanctuaries in Fatima, Portugal or Lourdes, France, the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje have never been declared authentic by the Vatican.

And over the years, local bishops and Vatican officials have cast doubt on the reliability and motivations of the “seers,” because of concerns that economic interests may have been driving their reports of continued visions.

Religious tourism has become an important part of the local economy, with an entire industry catering to pilgrims – hotels, private accommodations, family-run farm businesses, even sports complexes and camping sites -- and popping up around Medjugorje. Their growth has contributed to the surrounding municipality's financial well-being after the Bosnian war in the 1990s devastated the economy.

All of which has led to intense speculation about what, exactly, the Vatican will say Thursday, with journalists parsing the significance of the fact that the Vatican didn’t refer to “apparitions” or “visions” in its announcement of the briefing, but merely “the spiritual experience of Medjugorje.”

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed an international commission of theologians and bishops to formally investigate the reported apparitions, tapping his vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to head it.

Pope Francis received Ruini’s report in 2013 or early 2014. In a sneak-preview, Francis in 2017 said the key of the Vatican investigation was to distinguish between the original reported visions in 1981, and the current claims of continuous apparitions, on which Francis cast doubt.

“I prefer Our Lady to be a mother, our mother, and not a telegraph operator who sends out a message every day at a certain time,” he said at the time. “This is not the mother of Jesus and these alleged apparitions have no great value.”

But in an airborne press conference returning home from Fatima, Francis added that it was undeniable that people go to Medjugorje and are converted from sin. “This isn’t a magic wand. You can’t deny this spiritual and pastoral fact,” he said.

Francis went on to appoint two personal envoys to oversee the shrine and the needs of the faithful there, and in 2019 explicitly allowed official church pilgrimages, while making clear that such permission didn’t amount to a decision about the authenticity of the reported visions.

Whatever is announced Thursday, it is unlikely to be a point-blank declaration of authenticity about the Medjugorje phenomena. That is because Fernández earlier this year announced the Vatican was no longer in the business of declaring alleged visions, weeping statues and stigmata as authentic or not.

He released a new criteria for examining such reports and said the Vatican would not make definitive declarations unless the reported event is clearly a hoax. The aim is to prevent the faithful from being harmed by people trying to make money off of their beliefs, he said.

The new criteria envisages six main outcomes, with the most favorable being that the church issues a noncommittal doctrinal green light, a so-called “nihil obstat.” Such a declaration means there is nothing about the event that is contrary to the faith, and therefore Catholics can express devotion to it.

Whatever the outcome, it will surely impact Medjugorje, which lies in the municipality of Citluk, one of the smallest in Bosnia with some 18,000 residents but economically well-off. The municipality has declared that tourism is key for its development, largely thanks to Medjugorje, and hosts various festivals and gatherings each year organized by Christian humanitarian organizations drawn to the place.

Municipal workers say 2024 could be a record year, because Christian pilgrims are tending to stay away from Israel because of the war, and are opting for Medjugorje instead.

“Medjugorje means a lot, all economic sectors lean on Medjugorje,” said Ante Kozina, the tourism association chief. “It is a growth generator for the entire municipality.”

Gec contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers next to the statue of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Pilgrims say their prayers inside the St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

FILE - Pilgrims walk on a rocky terrain to say their prayers on the Hill Of Appearance in Medjugorje, 100 kilometers south of Sarajevo, June 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File)

FILE - Pilgrims prays at the "Hill of Apparitions" in the southern-Bosnian town of Medjugorje, 100 kilometers south of Sarajevo, June 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File)

FILE - Bosnian Roman Catholic women pray on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption in Medjugorje, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, on Aug. 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic, File)