Hezbollah announces 3 deaths in its ranks; communications partially restored in Gaza: Israel-Hamas war, day 72

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Hezbollah announces the death of a third fighter from its ranks, Hassan Srour, from Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon. The party did not specify when or where he was killed.

This brings the number of Hezbollah fighters killed by Israel since the start of the crossfire on Oct. 8 to 111, according to the party's count.

BREAKING: Israel and Hamas "are both open to a ceasefire," say Egyptian security sources quoted by Reuters.

These sources added that "disagreement persists over the details."

Hezbollah announces the death of another member, Moussa al-Diqeh, from Hezzine in the Bekaa.

The party does not specify when or where he died.

Our correspondent in southern Lebanon reports that the two people killed by Israel today are these two Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli strikes targeted the area around Haouchine and Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) in southern Lebanon, reports our correspondent in the south, quoting local residents.

A new attack also targeted a house in the village Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district), according to a security source. No casualties have yet been reported.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan asked his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a call today for Washington to use its influence over Israel to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, a Turkish diplomatic source said, according to Reuters.

Fidan told Blinken that the situation in Gaza and the West Bank was worsening due to Israeli attacks, the source said, adding that Israel should be made to sit at the negotiating table to discuss a two-state solution after a full ceasefire is achieved.

The two also discussed Sweden's NATO membership bid, which the Turkish parliament is yet to ratify, and Ankara's request to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States, the source added.

Hezbollah announces in statement the death of one of its fighters, Moussa Moustapha, from the southern Lebanese town of Beit Lif.

The party did not specify the circumstances of his death, but a security source had previously told L'Orient Today that a Hezbollah fighter had been killed by an Israeli attack in Aita al-Shaab.

The Israeli army announced that it attacked a "terrorist cell" in Lebanon that tried to launch anti-tank missiles at Israel, according to Haaretz.

In addition to this, according to the army's statement, "launches were detected a short time ago towards several areas on the Lebanese border, the [Israeli army] attacked the sources of the fire."

Four Israeli shells fell near Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil district) in southern Lebanon, hitting a house but causing no casualties, reports our correspondent in the south, quoting a security source.

Israeli artillery also targeted the area around Wadi Hamoul, Naqoura and Alma Shaab (Sour district), according to local residents.

BREAKING: Two people were killed in two separate Israeli drone attacks on a home in Aita al-Shaab, reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing security sources.

One of them was a Hezbollah fighter, the same sources added.

Israeli forces said they had uncovered an unusually large concrete and iron-girded tunnel, designed to carry carloads of militant fighters from Gaza right up to the border, according to Reuters.

Read more here.

Hezbollah claims responsibility for a new attack on Israel in an area opposite the Lebanese town of Honin, carried out at around 3.30 p.m., and claims to have caused "direct casualties."

Meanwhile, the Civil Defense of the Islamic Mission Scouts Association reported that it had extinguished a fire that was ravaging a home in Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil district), reports our correspondent in the south. No injuries have yet been reported.

Gaza's main telecoms company says that mobile and internet services had gradually been restored in the center and south of the besieged Palestinian territory, after the latest service disruption, according to AFP.

Hezbollah announces that it targeted an Israeli position facing the south Lebanonese border village Ramaya at 2:55 p.m., and said they inflicted human casualties.

The group also says that it targeted an Israeli position facing the south Lebanese border village Aita al-Shaab at 2:50 p.m., and an Israeli position in the Israeli village Avivim at 3:25 p.m. They say they "directly hit the target."

A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on Dec. 17, 2023, amid increasing cross-border tensions as Israel-Hamas war continues. (Credit: AFP)

US CENTCOM Commander Michael Erik Kurilla traveled to Israel with key leaders to meet military, according to Haaretz.

Kurilla and several Israeli leaders discussed strategic matters, the current security situation, humanitarian assistance and civilian harm mitigation efforts.

A humanitarian aid convoy crosses into war-torn Gaza through the Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing today, the first since Israel approved the move, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said, according to AFP.

Read more here.

Egypt's Suez canal authority says that it was closely monitoring the impact of tensions in the Red Sea after recent attacks by Yemen's Houthis on vessels in the southern part of the basin.

Read more here.

The Israeli army responds to launches from Lebanon with artillery fire.

The army's spokesperson says that following a launch from Lebanon to the Mount Dov area in northern Israel, the army tank attacked the source of the fire, Haaretz reported at 2:50 p.m. Additionally, the army said that launches near the northern Israeli city of Rosh Hanikra were identified.

They also said that an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon towards the community in northern Israel, Haaretz reported at 3:23 p.m.

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announces in a statement published on its website that it "will cease accepting cargo to and from Israel with immediate effect and until further notice," citing "operational problems."

The Hong Kong-based carrier's decision comes at a time when several other shipping giants have decided to halt the passage of their vessels through the Red Sea, following attacks by the Houthis.

In recent weeks, Yemeni rebels have stepped up their attacks near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa and through which 40 percent of international trade passes.

On the fourth day of a communications blackout, which it describes as the longest since the onset of the war, the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza says it is "encountering significant challenges in reaching the wounded amidst ongoing shelling."

The Israeli army has bombed the south Lebanon border villages of Aita al-Chaab and Aitaroun, local residents tell L'Orient Today.

The Israeli army has bombed the south Lebanon border villages of Aita al-Chaab and Aitaroun, local residents tell L'Orient Today.

The Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza opened today for the first time for aid trucks since the outbreak of the war, a spokesperson from the Israeli prime minister's office said, Reuters reports.

The crossing had been closed to aid trucks since the Oct. 7 onslaught by Hamas militants on Israeli southern communities. Israel agreed to reopen the crossing to aid trucks last week.

Image: Smoke billows over Khan Younis in the southern gaza strip during Israeli bombardment on Dec. 17, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has also urged all parties including Israel to 'deescalate' on the volatile Israel-Lebanon border where tensions have risen amid the Gaza war, AFP reports.

"The risk of escalation remains ... and if things were to spiral out of control, I don't think anyone would benefit, and I say this to Israel too," she said on a visit to the Shura military base in central Israel. "This call for caution and deescalation applies to everyone."

Pope Francis says he deplores the deaths of two women in a Catholic parish in Gaza, where he said "defenseless civilians" were targeted by shootings and bombings, AFP reports.

"I continue to receive very serious and painful news from Gaza," he said at the end of the Angelus prayer today. "A mother and her daughter ... were killed and other people injured by sniper fire."

Hezbollah has announced another attack. This time the party says that at 1:30 p.m. it attacked an Israeli position facing the south Lebanon border town of Naqoura, claiming to have "directly hit the target."

France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who is on a visit to Tel Aviv, says that the attacks in the Red Sea "cannot remain unanswered" after multiple operations perpetrated by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

"These attacks cannot go unanswered" and "we are studying several [defensive] options with our partners" in particular to "prevent this from happening again," she said.

Several global shipping giants have announced that they are interrupting the passage of their ships through the Red Sea, following attacks by the Houthis, perpetrated in support of Palestine amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli army has also targeted a house in Mais al-Jabal, a resident of the village tells L'Orient Today.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army has shelled the outskirts of the south Lebanon border village of Labbouneh near Naqoura with six artillery rounds, a resident of the village says.

Two missiles fired from an Israeli drone have stuck a two-story house in the south Lebanon border village of Taybeh, the head of village's municipality Abbas Diab tells L'Orient-Le Jour. Diad adds that no casualties have been reported in the strike. The Israeli army also earlier today bombed an area between the border villages of Yaroun and Maroun al-Ras.

The Israeli army has bombed the outskirts of the south Lebanon border villages of Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal, residents of the villages tell L'Orient Today.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary group, Mohammad Raad, said during a speech in the locality of Aarmata (Jezzine) that the Israeli army is an "army of killers, not an army of fighters."

The MP, whose son was killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Nov. 22, visited the locality to pay tribute to one of the Shiite party's fighters who died recently in southern Lebanon, according to a statement.

Raad said Hezbollah had not yet invested "all that it had prepared to wage [its] war against the Israeli enemy" and that it was not intimidated by Israeli "propaganda" designed, in his view, to "alienate the people [of south Lebanon] from their region."

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that the Israeli army says its air force has attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.

The news outlet adds that the Israeli army has detected several launches from Lebanon targeting the Israeli community of Arab al-Aramshe and has responded with Israeli artillery fire toward the source of these launches.

In the last 30 minutes, the Israeli army has shelled the outskirts of the south Lebanon border villages of Mais al-Jabal and Houla in the Marjayoun district, local residents tell our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdullah.

Hezbollah has claimed two more attacks against Israel. The first occurred at 9:50 a.m. against "four Israeli soldiers" on the Israeli side of the border facing the south Lebanon village of Rmaish. Hezbollah says it inflicted casualties in this attack. Hezbollah says its second attack took place at 10:30 a.m when it targeted an Israeli brigade facing the south Lebanon border village of Rmaish and "directly hit the target."

The French Foreign Ministry says that one of its workers has died as a result of injuries sustained in an Israeli attack in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports. Click here for more.

The head of Hezbollah's political council, Ibrahim Amine al-Sayed, has visited Hermel in the Bekaa to meet the families of three of the party's fighters killed recently in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been engaged in exchanges of fire with the Israeli army since Oct. 8.

During his visit, Sayed said he "hoped" that the "blood" shed by the "martyrs" would eventually "mark the beginning of the end of regional conflicts," according to a statement relayed by our correspondent in the Bekaa, Sarah Abdallah.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen says France could play a key role in preventing a war in Lebanon, AFP reports.

"France could play a positive and significant role to prevent a war in Lebanon," Cohen said at a joint media briefing with visiting French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

France calls for an "immediate and durable" truce in the Gaza war, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna says, stressing Paris is "deeply concerned" over the situation in the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.

"Too many civilians are being killed," the top diplomat said today in remarks alongside her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv, while stressing that the victims of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack should not be forgotten.

Hezbollah earlier this morning announced in separate statements that it had successfully launched two attacks on the border between Lebanon and Israel: a first at 8:30 a.m. against an Israeli brigade located opposite the Lebanese village of Marwahin (Sour) and a second at 9 a.m. against an Israeli brigade at Hanita in northern Israel.

An anti-tank missile from Lebanon has hit a building in a northern Israeli kibbutz, Haaretz reports.

According to the Israeli news outlet, the Upper Galilee Regional Council has said that an anti-tank missile hit a public building in Kibbutz Sasa but that no casualties have been reported.

The Palestinian death toll resulting from an Israeli army raid this morning at the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has risen to five. More details here.

Five Palestinians were killed this morning in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli army raid, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced. The death toll rose to five after two men, aged 19 and 21, were pronounced dead in hospital early Sunday morning, the Palestinian Ministry said.

The emergency department at the al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza is "a blood bath" and is "in need of resuscitation," the WHO says. Click here for more.

Israel has shelled the south Lebanon border village of Blida in the Marjayoun district with three artillery rounds, residents from the village tell L'Orient Today.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock believe there is "an urgent need" for a "lasting cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip, but oppose a "general and immediate cease-fire."

"We must do all we can to pave the way for a lasting cease-fire, leading to a lasting peace. The sooner it comes, the better — the need is urgent," the two ministers write in a joint op-ed published in the Sunday Times. "Too many civilians have been killed," they add.

They add, however, that they "do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate cease-fire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward."

The Israeli army is currently bombing the village of Tayr Harfa (Marjayoun) in southern Lebanon, the head of the local municipality tells L'Orient Today.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has arrived in Israel, where she will call for an "immediate and lasting" truce in the Gaza Strip.

Colonna is due to meet her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv as Israel launches new strikes on Gaza, which have killed at least 12 people in the town of Deir al-Balah today, and as the war continues to heighten tensions in the region. Click here for more details.

The Israeli army has bombed the outskirts of the border villages of Kafr Kila and of Khiam (Marjayoun) in south Lebanon, residents of these localities tell L'Orient Today.

Three more Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

Two Palestinians from Tulkarm were shot dead by Israeli forces this morning, while a third from Jenin died from injuries sustained a few days ago, Reuters reports, citing the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Two more Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, Israel's military said this morning, Reuters reports.

According to the Israeli army's latest toll, 121 soldiers have died since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27.

Southern Lebanon update

The Israeli army has carried out several strikes since yesterday evening, according to security sources cited by our correspondent in south Lebanon, Muntasser Abdallah.

At around 9 a.m., an Israeli drone fired a rocket at a house near a school in the locality of Houmine al-Tahta (Nabatieh). A local clinic was damaged by the impact, but no injuries were reported. Houmine al-Tahta is more than 20 km from the Lebanon-Israel border.

At around midnight, Israeli artillery fired on an area located between the localities of Mais al-Jabal and Mhaibib (Marjayoun).

At around 5 a.m., three shells targeted the surroundings of the town of Taibeh, according to residents in the area.

Israel has this morning carried out fresh strikes on Gaza as pressure on its leaders mounts to secure the release of hostages still held in the enclave. Click here for more.

Image: Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on Dec. 17, 2023. (Credit: Israeli army /handout via Reuters)

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Thanks for joining our live coverage on day 72 of the Israel-Hamas war. We'll be here throughout the day bringing you the latest in relation to the conflict from Gaza, Israel, south Lebanon and the wider region.