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regular-article-logo Monday, 23 December 2024

Israel-Hamas war: Israeli strike killed 2 people in southern Lebanon, Lebanese media say

The report came as Israel mulls its response to a rocket attack from Lebanon over the weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers in a town in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights

AP Jerusalem Published 29.07.24, 03:01 PM
Israeli military officials said only that the military had struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure but did not give more information.

Israeli military officials said only that the military had struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure but did not give more information. File picture

Israeli strikes killed two people and injured three others in southern Lebanon early Monday, Lebanon's state-run news agency said.

The report came as Israel mulls its response to a rocket attack from Lebanon over the weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers in a town in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights. Monday's strikes did not appear to be Israel's response to the deadly weekend attack but more routine fighting.

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Lebanese state media said a Monday morning strike hit a motorcycle travelling close to the Lebanon-Israel border, killing two riders and injuring a child.

No more information about the dead or injured was immediately available.

Also Monday, two were injured in a separate strike in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported.

Israeli military officials said only that the military had struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure but did not give more information.

Since October 8, violence has flared across the border between Israeli troops and Hezbollah. Israel's military says the weekend attack on Majdal Shams marked the deadliest attack on civilians since October 7, raising fears of a broader regional war.

Here's the latest:

Officials from Egypt and Hamas say cease-fire negotiations still face hurdles

CAIRO — Officials from Egypt and Hamas said on Monday that mediators negotiating a Gaza cease-fire deal were still working to iron out sticking points.

The officials, who have direct knowledge of the negotiations, said the contentious points include Israeli demands to maintain a presence in a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as along a highway separating Gaza's south and north.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.

They said Israel refuses to leave the area between Egypt and Gaza during the cease-fire. They said Israel has linked its forces' departure from the border corridor to installing underground sensors and an underground wall to monitor any future efforts by Hamas to build tunnels or smuggle weapons. Officials in Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel says Hamas uses tunnels that pass under the corridor to smuggle weapons, although Egypt denies the allegation and says it destroyed many in an earlier crackdown.

Israel's military seized control of the Philadelphi corridor in early May along with the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza when it began its invasion of Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.

The Egyptian official said no agreement has been reached on the corridor and the reopening of Rafah, adding that direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel were continuing to find a compromise.

The Hamas official, meanwhile, rejected Israel's demands, including its desire to maintain Israeli troops along the highway halving Gaza, which is meant to vet Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza and weed out any militants.

The Hamas official said the group will hand its written response to Qatar and Egypt within the coming days.

Both officials said Hamas still wants “written guarantees” from mediators that negotiations will continue during the first phase of the cease-fire to establish a permanent truce.

CIA director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani and Egypt's head of intelligence Abbas Kamel met Sunday with Mossad chief David Barnea in Rome to discuss Israel's latest demands.

Israel weighs response to Hezbollah after a rocket from Lebanon kills 12 youths on a soccer field

TEL AVIV — The Middle East is bracing for a potential flare-up in violence after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since October 7.

Saturday's strike raised fears of a broader regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied it was responsible.

The White House National Security Council said it was speaking with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts and working on a diplomatic solution to “end all attacks once and for all” in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets inside Lebanon overnight into Sunday, though their intensity was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it also carried out strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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