Israel has declared a nationwide state of emergency

The Israeli government is imposing a special state of civil defense on the home front throughout the country amid the escalating conflict with Lebanon. This was reported by Kan radio on Monday, September 23.

Under the approved regime, the government and the military are given broad powers to issue instructions to save lives. In particular, they cover staying in shelters, bans on meetings and restrictions on labor activities.

As The Times of Israel specified, the special state of affairs is in effect for 48 hours, with the possibility of extension. It has already been in effect in northern Israel since September 21.

Why Israel needs a full-scale conflict in the Middle East. Parsing

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched massive strikes on the facilities of the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. According to the Lebanese side, at least 100 people were killed and more than 400 wounded. Another strike followed in Beirut. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was acting preemptively against the Hezbollah threat.

Prior to that, on September 17 and 18, two waves of bombings of Hezbollah members' pagers and other communication devices occurred in Lebanon. It was reported that at least 37 people were killed then, about 3 thousand were injured. Lebanese authorities and representatives of the movement blamed Israel for the explosions.

Then Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced that Tel Aviv was shifting forces to the northern front. The IDF began striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, and continued to do so in the following days. The movement itself announced a new phase of confrontation with Israel and also launched rocket attacks on its territory.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected Israel's territory to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded the border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.