Hezbollah announces death of 3 of its fighters; Israel claims civilian killed by Hezbollah fire: Day 62 of the Hamas-Israel war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage of Day 62 of the Hamas-Israel conflict.

We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis, right here at L'Orient Today.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to do more to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and protect civilians in a call to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to a diplomatic source.

Blinken welcomed Israel's minimal additional fuel authorization for Gaza on Wednesday night, a Palestinian territory where the Israeli military is engaged in conflict with Hamas. However, he urged Israel to do more, as stated by a senior State Department official speaking to journalists on condition of anonymity.

Israeli artillery is shelling Khiam, Nabatieh district, a security source told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

A Hezbollah fighter killed in South Lebanon, Hassan Kassem al-Attar, was buried in his hometown of Chaat, North Bekaa, during a ceremony organized by Hezbollah and Islamic Resistance militants," reports L'Orient Today's correspondent in Bekaa.

The 60-year-old man who was killed by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon has been identified as Eyal Ozen, a farmer from a moshav in the Western Galilee

Ozen, who owns orchards in the area, was declared dead by Israel's rescue service Magen David Adom.

The son of Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eizenkot was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, said Thursday.

An Israeli drone carried out two attacks on the surroundings of Aita al-Chaab (Bint Jbeil), in South Lebanon, a security source told L'Orient Today.

Artillery shells also fell east of the village of Yaroun and around Khiam, located in Bint Jbeil and Marjeyoun, respectively.

Residents also told L'Orient Today that an Israeli drone launched a missile at an uninhabited house in Chihine, without causing any injuries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that if Hezbollah starts an all-out war against Israel, "then it will single-handedly turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza [City] and Khan Yunis."

Netanyahu made the remarks during a situation assessment at the Northern Command, in which Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi also participated.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday, a senior State Department official said, and conveyed that Israel needs to do more to protect civilians in its offensive in southern Gaza.

Blinken also urged Dermer to let Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza while welcoming its decision to let more fuel into the densely populated enclave.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi accused the West of supporting "genocide" by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, at the start of talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin.

As part of a burst of meetings focused on the Middle East, Putin greeted Raisi in the Kremlin a day after visiting the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where he discussed oil prices and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

In televised opening remarks, Putin said it was very important to discuss the situation in the Middle East, especially in the Palestinian territories.

Raisi responded via a translator: "What is happening in Palestine and Gaza is of course genocide and a crime against humanity."

The United States issued fresh counterterrorism-related sanctions targeting individuals and entities in Yemen and other countries, a notice on the US Department of Treasury website said Thursday. 

The situation in South Lebanon:

 .   The outskirts of Naqoura were targeted by four Israeli artillery shells, residents told L'Orient Today.

 .   Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Jaradeh site at 3:45 p.m. with "appropriate weapons." The party also said it targeted the Israeli Zarit barracks site at 3:50 p.m.

 .   Israeli warplanes targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab by two rockets, a security source told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) applauded Thursday’s release of reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) into the deadly Oct. 13 strike on journalists in southern Lebanon, and reiterated its call for "an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation that holds the perpetrators to account," CPJ said in a statement.

The investigations by the two human rights groups and the two international wire services found that the attack, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others, was likely a deliberate assault by the Israel army on civilians

"According to international law, journalists are civilians who must be respected and protected by all warring parties and that deliberately targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes a war crime," the statement explained.

Laila Abdallah, the aunt of late Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, cries during a joint press conference by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in Beirut on Dec. 7, 2023. The NGOs conducted independent investigations on the Israeli strike that killed one journalist and injured six others in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13. The strike that killed Abdallah, 37, and injured six others, including two AFP journalists, merits a "war crime" investigation, the rights groups said. (Credit: AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday at a meeting in the Kremlin that it was vital to discuss the issue of Palestine.

Raisi responded by saying that Israel's attacks on the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip amounted to genocide, and that the bombing must stop as soon as possible.

Israel has previously said allegations of genocide are deplorable and that its actions target militants of the Hamas group that rules Gaza, not civilians.

Hezbollah announced the death of a third fighter today, Mustafa Ali Darwich, from the southern town of Majadel who "attained martyrdom on the path to Jerusalem."

The Israel-Hamas war has killed at least 17,177 people in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday, raising an earlier toll.

The ministry said 350 were killed in the past 24 hours as intense Israeli bombardments continued in Gaza two months since the war erupted after a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel.

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the "crimes committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and their alarming increase in recent weeks ... leading to the death of nearly 1,000 Palestinian martyrs among the inhabitants this year."

In a Thursday statement, the minitsry also denounced Israel's decision to "build new settlements in East Jerusalem, expand settlements, forcibly confiscate Palestinian lands, and destroy Palestinian homes."

Furthermore, the statement highlighted the "blatant violations of international laws, notably UN Resolution 2334, which deems the colonization in the occupied Palestinian territories illegitimate."

Saudi state news agency SPA reports that the kingdom's crown prince and the Russian president shared their "deep concern" about the humanitarian situation in Gaza during their meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday.

Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) and Vladimir Putin “stressed the need to stop military operations in the Palestinian territories, and the need to protect civilians in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law,” said a joint statement. Both leaders insisted that the only way to achieve stability was through a two-state solution.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health Tlaleng Mofokeng says, in a press release, that “the practice of medicine is under attack” in Gaza.

“As a practicing doctor, I cannot imagine what my colleagues in Gaza are going through. They work while their colleagues and loved ones are attacked. Many were killed while treating their patients,” Mofokeng said.

The UN expert also reiterated her calls for an immediate cease-fire and an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory. “We are witnessing a shameful war against health workers. This war is raging because of a lack of political leadership. End the war on Gaza now.”

France is considering implementing sanctions against Israeli settlers responsible for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the foreign minister will raise this subject at the European level on Monday during a meeting in Brussels, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

“This violence must stop and it is the responsibility of the Israeli authorities to ensure this and prosecute their perpetrators,” declared foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre in a press conference.

On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the American State Department announced in a press release “a new visa restriction policy” targeting individuals suspected of having acted “against the peace, security or stability in the West Bank, in particular by committing acts of violence or by acting to unduly reduce civilian access to essential services or essential needs.”

The Gazan health ministry says the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7 is now 17,177, with more than 46,000 others wounded, Wafa, the Palestinian state-run news agency reported.

In the past 24 hours, 350 Palestinians have been killed, the ministry added, Wafa reported.

Hezbollah said it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers at the "Metat Barracks" at 2:15 pm.

Hundreds of shells hit the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday, as Israeli operations appeared to be focused on the south of the enclave, according to the British broadcaster BBC.

The situation in the largest refugee camp is difficult, with Israeli tanks surrounding the densely populated area, explains the BBC. Hamas-led local authorities said around 100,000 people remained in the camp, with no functioning hospital, and were at risk of starvation.

No aid has reached the northern Gaza Strip since the collapse of the humanitarian truce. Very little food and fuel were allowed during the truce, recalls the BBC.

An Israeli government spokesperson has responded to two investigations by Reuters and AFP accusing an Israeli tank shell as being responsible for the killing of Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon.

Eylon Levy says that Israel does "not target civilians," in a comment reported by Reuters, adding that "We've been doing everything possible to get civilians out of harm's way."

Over 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, according to Gaza's health ministry, with the vast majority of those killed being civilians. Al-Mayadeen journalists Farah Omar and Rabih al-Maamari were also killed in southern Lebanon by an Israeli strike on Nov. 21.

An Al Jazeera journalist says he has lost 22 members of his family in an Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The house in which Momen Al-Sharafi's family was sheltering was hit yesterday, killing his mother, father, three of his siblings and some of their children according to a statement shared by the Qatari news company.

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon plans to include Reuters and AFP reports, which point to Israel's responsibility for the Oct. 13 death of photographer Issam Abdallah, in the complaint that the country presented to the UN on this subject.

“Israeli crimes have no limits...Targeting the media aims to silence any voice that denounces Israeli aggression,” Mikati said in a statement.

The head of government claims to have contacted the ministers of foreign affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, and information, Ziad Makary, to do what is necessary.

Hezbollah says that it attacked the Marj site along the border at 12:40 p.m. using "suitable weapons." The Marj site was targeted by Hezbollah earlier this morning.

Israeli artillery fire targeted, at the beginning of the afternoon, the northern outskirts of Aita Shaab as well as the outskirts of Markaba and Halta, our correspondent reports, citing residents of the region.

Caretaker Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said on Thursday, on X, that Lebanon will add the results of investigations carried out by Reuters and AFP to the complaint it filed against Israel, after an attack by Lebanon's southern neighbor killed videographer Issam Abdallah on Oct. 13, 2023, in South Lebanon, and injured six other journalists who were there.

•⁠ ⁠Reuters video journalist, Issam Abdallah, was described as a “brother” who “made us better journalists” Maya Gbeily added.

•⁠ ⁠AFP journalist, Dylan Collins, who was one of the six journalists injured said “Israel knew we were there” and that “just before 6 p.m., they were hit by a strike from nowhere.” He said he discovered his AFP colleague, Cristina Assi, injured, and used two tourniquets to stop the bleeding. He then said another strike came and that Issam's body was almost unrecognizable when they found it.

•⁠ ⁠Ramzi Kaiss from Human Rights Watch says that the Israeli army "knew that the targeted group consisted of civilians." and that his organization believes the attack constitutes a "war crime." He also added that "contrary to what they announced on Oct. 14, Israel has still not investigated this attack.”

(Credit: Joao Souza/L'Orient Today)

A round-up of the press conference in Beirut on Reuters and AFP's investigations into the October 13 Israeli strikes that killed one Lebanese journalist, and injured six others in southern Lebanon:

•⁠ ⁠Both Reuters and AFP have concluded that an “Israeli tank crew” killed Lebanese Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah, and wounded six reporters in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13.

•⁠ ⁠The Reuters report, which took 7 weeks to write, found that two shells were fired in “quick succession from Israel” while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling.

•⁠ ⁠Reuters Bureau Chief for the Middle East and North Africa, Maya Gbeily, said that analysis of the shell debris conducted by several experts led to the conclusion that “an Israeli tank killed Issam and injured our colleagues in two strikes, with weapons supplied by an Israeli arms manufacturer, IMI (Israeli Military Industries).”

(Photo: Joao Souza/L'Orient Today)

Maya Gebeily, head of Reuters's MENA bureau, said via Zoom:

"We investigated for 7 weeks. Who killed Issam and with what weapon? We wanted to have irrefutable evidence."

"An Israeli tank killed Issam and injured our colleagues in two strikes, with weapons supplied by an Israeli arms manufacturer, IMI (Israeli Military Industries). Analysis of the shell debris conducted by several experts led to the same conclusion."

“Issam was a brother, a colleague. He made us proud and made us better journalists. We want to honor his memory every day”

(Photo: Joao Souza/L'Orient Today)

Ramzi Kaiss from the NGO Human Rights Watch speaks:

“The Israeli army knew that the targeted group consisted of civilians. Contrary to what they announced on Oct. 14, Israel has still not investigated this attack.”

Carmen Joukhadar, an al-Jazeera journalist who was injured on Oct. 13, speaks:

“We were targeted on Oct. 13 to silence us and we live Oct. 13 every day because journalists are targeted every day in Gaza by Israel.”

“There must be an investigation to pursue those responsible for crimes against journalists and punish them,” she said.

AFP journalist Dylan Collins speaks as a witness:

He recalls that the day was calm, the seven journalists clearly identified as such, working for three international agencies, felt safe. Israel knew we were there. We were filming the smoke coming from the strikes on the other side of the border.

Just before 6 p.m., they were hit by a strike from nowhere. He discovered Cristina Assi's injuries and used two tourniquets to stop the bleeding. Then another strike came. Issam's body was almost unrecognizable when they found it.

BREAKING: Our journalist Emmanuel Haddad is at a press conference in Beirut on the results of the investigation conducted by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch into the death of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, which also wounded six reporters in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13.

Numerous journalists are present to hear the findings. Dylan Collins, an AFP journalist who was present on Oct. 13, is speaking. He expresses gratitude for the investigation that sheds light on the facts surrounding the Israeli strike that killed Issam Abdallah, led to the amputation of his colleague Cristina Assi's leg from AFP, and caused injuries to several other journalists.

BREAKING: An investigation by Reuters has concluded that "an Israeli tank crew" killed its journalist, Issam Abdallah, and wounded six reporters in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13.

The tank fired "two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling," the Reuters investigation found.

It follows a separate investigation by AFP which also attributed his death to an Israeli tank shell.

More details to follow.

BREAKING: An AFP investigation into the strike that killed Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13 points to an Israeli tank shell.

On Oct. 13, Issam Abdallah was killed in strikes in southern Lebanon that also injured six journalists - two from Reuters, two from the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, and two from Agence France-Presse, including photographer Christina Assi, who was seriously injured and remains hospitalized.

The Jordanian Air Force delivered additional aid to a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera reports.

Using parachutes, the Jordanian army dropped boxes containing medical supplies to the private Jordanian field hospital helping the wounded.

Over the past 24 hours, numerous agencies have warned of shortages of medical supplies in the besieged enclave as aid convoys enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, having been limited.

Palestinians gather near a building hit during Israeli bombardment overnight in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 7, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)

The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling on Thursday for the Rafah border crossing in Gaza to be opened to journalists, where the Israeli army has extended its ground operations to the entire territory.

This crossing point between Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and Egypt, is controlled by Palestinian and Egyptian authorities. However, underlines the RSF press release, taken up by AFP, "Israel monitors all activities on the southern border and bombed this border gate four times at the start of the war."

In this press release, the organization calls on the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to “open the doors” of the border crossing “so that journalists can finally come and go on both sides of the border.”

The Israeli government is going to allow the "minimal" amount of fuel into Gaza following international pressure, particularly from its key ally, the United States, according to AFP.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the "minimal supplement of fuel – necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics" will be allowed to enter the southern part of Gaza. He made no mention of the North but Israel has mostly prevented aid and supplies from getting into the Israeli-occupied area.

Netanyahu added that the "minimal amount" will be determined from "time to time" and depends on the severity and how dire the humanitarian situation is in the enclave.

You can read the full report here.

Israeli authorities approved the creation of a new settlement in East Jerusalem as the war in Gaza continues to rage on, AFP reports.

The settlement will consist of around 1,700 homes that will be built in an area that is situated along and over the Green Line, crossing into the internationally recognized Palestinian eastern half of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said that Israel was capitalizing on the ongoing war in Gaza and was trying to "flood Jerusalem with settlements and settlers."

Read the full story here.

In a statement, Hezbollah took credit for an attack at 7 a.m. on Israeli military positions at the al-Marj site and on the outskirts of Ramim using "suitable weapons."

Earlier, Israel said that it detected six mortars that were launched from Lebanon and responded by targeting their supposed launch sites.

There is relative calm in southern Lebanon this morning, despite Israeli bombardments at around 7 a.m. on the outskirts of Kfar Kila, Markaba and Wadi Slouki, according to information from our correspondent in the region, Mountasser Abdallah.

Wednesday night was relatively quiet compared with other evenings. According to security sources quoted by our correspondent, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew over several localities on Wednesday at around 10 pm. Gunfire was also heard in Bayyad and Malikieh, not far from the towns of Blida and Aitaroun. Later on Wednesday, sounds of explosions, the causes of which were not identified, were reported in the villages of Bint Jbeil. According to some reports, these could have been drone raids or the explosion of a missile of unknown origin.

UN Chief Antonio Guterres has warned of an "imminent total collapse of public order" in Gaza, pounded by Israel, in an unprecedented letter to the Security Council criticized by Israeli diplomacy. Guterres wrote, "With the constant bombardment by the Israeli armed forces and the absence of shelters or minimum survival conditions, I expect a total collapse of public order soon due to desperate conditions, making even limited humanitarian aid impossible." For the first time since taking office in 2017, he invoked Article 99 of the Charter, allowing him to "draw the attention of the Council" to a matter that "could endanger the maintenance of international peace and security."

Guterres also lamented insufficient humanitarian aid passing through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, warning that the situation is "rapidly deteriorating towards a catastrophe that could have irreversible consequences for the Palestinians."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the Israeli army is "encircling the home of (Yahya) Sinwar," the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, in Khan Younis. Yahya Sinwar, 61, with 23 years spent in Israeli prisons, is considered the architect of the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack. On that day, hundreds of Hamas commandos infiltrated Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians according to Israeli authorities, and taking around 240 people hostage. Daniel Hagari, an army spokesperson, later claimed that Yahya Sinwar is hiding underground, referring to Hamas's underground tunnels in the enclave.

Make sure that you read today's edition of the Morning Brief so that you are caught up with everything that has been happening.

Morning Brief

Deadly Israeli airstrike, hospital employees to strike, win for manousheh lovers: Everything you need to know to start your Thursday

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our coverage of day 62 of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.