Hezbollah leader says 'Our battle will be limitless, without rules ... if Israel wages war against Lebanon': Day 89 of the Hamas-Israel war.

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 89 of the Hamas-Israel war.

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

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says, of Hezbollah's position in relation to an escalating conflict with Israel: "The decision is theirs."

In speaking with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour earlier today, Habib said that the Lebanese prime minster is in constant dialogue with Hezbollah. "We hope they don't commit themselves to a larger war, but we are working with them on this."

He emphasized that "all of us Lebanese" do not want to see a broadening of the conflict, with further involvement by Lebanon. "It's not like we can order them, but we can convince them, and I think it's working in this direction."

Hezbollah announces the death of one of its members, Mohammad Hamad from the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh.

Since Hezbollah joined the conflict on Oct. 8, 143 of its members have been killed, according to our count. This is the fifth announcement of a death among Hezbollah's ranks today.

Twelve nations led by the United States jointly warned Yemen's Houthi rebels of unspecified consequences unless they halt attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels, AFP reports.

"Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews," said the statement released by the White House. The statement comes after several reports that President Joe Biden's administration is considering direct strikes on the rebels if the attacks continue.

👉 Read more here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that a "scenario of surrender and deportation" of Gaza Strip residents is being considered, Haaretz reported, citing Israeli news channel 12.

In recordings from Netanyahu's meeting with the families of the Israeli hostages that took place yesterday (Tuesday), the prime minister was heard saying, "we are not rejecting that possibility. There are claims to be made for and against it."

Here are five key points from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech tonight:

1 — Nasrallah denounced what he called "a blatant Israeli attack" against the southern suburbs of Beirut, following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas' political wing last night. He added at the end of this speech that this "will not go unpunished."

2 — He described what happened yesterday as "very dangerous" reminding his audience that it's the "first time something like this has happened since 2006," referring to the 2006 Lebanon War, also known as the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, which lasted 34 days.

3 — He didn’t go as far as declaring any major escalation, but he gave this stark warning: “If a war is waged against Lebanon, Lebanon's interest will be to go to war all the way, without limits.”

4 — Nasrallah reiterated the independence of the regions' various organizations, often referred to as the 'Axis of Resistance,' which includes Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and recently the Yemeni Houthis and Iraqi militants. “The resistance organizations operate independently from each other, each in its own country. We consult with each other, but each one makes decisions based on its interests and those of its population.”

5 — He had this message for Israel's Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant: "You will not succeed in achieving your war objectives, if God wills it."

L'Orient Today's reporter Emmanuel Haddad spoke to people in Beirut's southern suburbs to get their reactions following Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech:

• Abou Ali says he feels a great sense of pride whenever the "Sayyed" speaks. "It's something indescribable," he says. "We feel strength and courage again, and it makes us want to fight until the end, until martyrdom," he adds. "We're looking forward to Friday's speech, where I think there will be announcements about the next developments of the 'Axis of Resistance' that will bring about the downfall of the Israeli army with big surprises," he assures.

• Hussein and Ali, two students from southern Lebanon and supporters of Hezbollah, claim that many young people like themselves, who are not fighters, are "ready to go to their deaths, even to martyrdom, if they were called upon." They also emphasized that "contrary to what people say, the Sayyed does not take his orders from Iran. He is announcing a great victory for the resistance."

(Photo: Emmanuel Haddad)

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who had planned to visit Lebanon tomorrow, said the trip might have to be cancelled.

"What happened yesterday with the death of Hamas leaders is an additional factor that can provoke an escalation of the conflict," he told a press conference after his speech at the Portuguese diplomatic seminar.

He also spoke about the need for international involvement in the Hamas-Israel conflict.

"I believe that we have learned in these 30 years that the solution has to be imposed from outside because the two parties will never be able to reach an agreement," warning also that "if this tragedy doesn't end soon, the entire Middle East might end up in flames."

👉 Read more here.

Updates on the Lebanon-Israel border over the past hour:

• Hezbollah announced that it launched four Bukran missiles at a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the site of Ruwaisat al-Alam in the occupied Shebaa farms at 4:44 p.m.

• Hezbollah announced that it hit a group of Israeli soldiers located behind the Israeli site of Jal al-Alam with missile weapons at 5:25 p.m.

• The party also announced the death of two of its fighters: Abbas Thaher and Hassan Daqiq. Since Hezbollah joined the conflict on Oct. 8, 142 Hezbollah members have been killed, according to our count.

• The Israeli army said that a few rockets fell in an open field in northern Israel, according to reports from Haaretz.

The secretary-general of Hezbollah has finished speaking.

Final word from Nasrallah: "Yesterday's crime will not go unpunished."

Nasrallah: "We fight on the front with precise calculations. But if the enemy considers waging a war against Lebanon, our battle will be boundless, without rules. They know what I mean. We are not afraid of war. Those who think of going to war with us will regret it. War with us will come at a very high cost."

"If a war is waged against Lebanon, Lebanon's interest will be to go to war all the way, unrestrained."

Nasrallah:  "What has prevented Israel from waging a war in Lebanon so far is the strength that exists in Lebanon."

"What happened yesterday in the southern suburbs is very dangerous. It's the first time something like this has happened since 2006."

Nasrallah: "Today, Israel fears for its existence. It has called up its reserves and used all its weapons, also calling on the Americans in the region for help. The Israelis think it's an opportunity to put an end to Hezbollah in Lebanon, claiming that the world currently supports them. However, the resistance has deprived Israel of the element of surprise by opening the front."

Nasrallah: "When we opened the front in Lebanon, we did so in support of our oppressed people in Gaza. However, this honest action took into consideration our strategic vision and the need to support Gaza, while also considering the difficulties in Lebanon."

Nasrallah: "What has happened since Oct. 7 until now, and what will happen in the future, has weakened Israel and put it on the path to extinction. No one will be able to defend it. As for the Arab thrones, let them protect themselves first."

Nasrallah: "If you are strong, you command respect from others. It is your strength and your missiles that protect you."

Nasrallah: "What happened in Gaza has shown that the international community and international law cannot protect populations. They cannot protect anyone. Remember this."

Nasrallah: "Israel has failed to achieve its war goals. It has not succeeded in freeing the hostages. It has not succeeded in controlling the Gaza Strip."

"Al-Aqsa Flood has succeeded in destroying the image of the United States."

Nasrallah: "To the Israeli Minister in the war Cabinet [Yoav] Gallant, I say: You will not succeed in achieving your war objectives, if God wills it."

Nasrallah: "The land of Palestine, from the river to the sea, belongs solely to the Palestinian people."

People cheer during Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's third speech since the Hamas-Israel war and following yesterday's assassination of Hamas' deputy political leader in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

More updates to follow...

(Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

Nasrallah: "The resistance in Lebanon, on Oct. 8, when it opened the [southern border] front, was not deterred. Today, it is more prepared than ever."

During the address by the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, a fighter jet, presumably Israeli, can be heard flying over the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Nasrallah: "Hamas has the highest level of support in its history within the Palestinian population, and that is a significant achievement. The image of Israel in the world has also collapsed."

"Israel has utterly failed on the moral front. Israel, the killer of women and children, the one who starves populations and holds the title for the largest genocide in modern history."

"What happened during these three months dealt a blow to the normalization efforts [with Israel] that were underway."

Nasrallah: "The Palestinian issue was forgotten, it has been revived, and Israel has failed to wear out the Palestinians ... Support for the resistance within the Palestinian population has increased, as well as in the region."

Nasrallah: "From three months ago until today, we have had martyrs, sacrifices, displaced individuals, damages, destruction, dangers, and prices to pay. But also resistance, courage, combat, defiance, losses in the enemy's ranks, and a refusal to surrender."

Nasrallah: "From three months ago until today, we have had martyrs, sacrifices, displaced individuals, damages, destruction, dangers, and prices to pay. But also resistance, courage, combat, defiance, losses in the enemy's ranks, and a refusal to surrender."

Nasrallah: "The greatest challenge for the 'Axis of Resistance' in recent months has been the al-Aqsa Flood operation."

Nasrallah: "When I said that the al-Aqsa Flood operation of Oct. 7 was a Palestinian operation of which we were not aware, it was not to distance ourselves from that operation."

Nasrallah: "The resistance organizations operate independently from each other, each in its own country. We consult with each other, but each one makes decisions based on its interests and those of its population."

Nasrallah, paying tribute to the "martyrs" who recently fell, especially the deputy political leader of Hamas, Saleh el-Arouri, says:

"Your blood, your sacrifices ... will have positive consequences on Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the entire region."

Nasrallah denounces "a blatant Israeli attack" against the southern suburbs of Beirut, following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas' political wing, last night.

Nasrallah: "We extend our condolences to our brother, the great leader Sheikh Saleh, Vice President of the Political Bureau of Hamas, who fell as a martyr yesterday in a blatant Israeli aggression against the southern suburbs of Beirut."

Nasrallah: "I will address the brothers and sisters on Friday, God willing, during a commemoration. I will discuss certain current topics on Friday instead of tonight, if God keeps me alive."

Nasrallah: "What happened today in Kerman [Iran], and the attack against those commemorating this event, women, men, children, where there were numerous martyrs, more than 80 according to my information, and 160 injured. We extend our condolences to their families."

Nasrallah: "We extend our condolences today to the martyrs, the great leader Qasem Soleimani and his Iranian companions in Baghdad, and to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the great martyr, and his Iraqi companions."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah starts his speech — broadcast on Lebanese channel al-Manar.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has started speaking, in his third speech since the start of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7.

More LIVE updates to follow...

Young boy holds up a poster of late Iranian military general, Qasem Soleimani, in a large hall in the southern Beirut suburbs of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah will speak shortly.

(Photo: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

Update from our journalist, Emmanuel Haddad, who is on-site in Dahiyeh, in a large hall filled with people watching the speech:

While awaiting the anticipated speech from their leader, a video about the life of the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is being shown to the audience on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of his death in a U.S. strike in Baghdad.

(Photo: Mohamad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

A reminder that Hassan Nasrallah's speech was originally scheduled for today to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of top Iranian military general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed on this day in 2020 by a US strike in Iraq.

But it also comes 24 hours after the killing of Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in a strike in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh yesterday, which also killed six other members of Hamas. Israel has neither confirmed or denied that it was behind the strike, but is widely believed to be.

All eyes are on what Nasrallah will say and to what extent Hezbollah will react.

Hassan Nasrallah is expected to start speaking any minute now.

This picture shows a member of the crowd holding photos of Abou Mahdi al-Mouhandes, Iraqi militia leader killed in the same attack that targeted Qasem Soleimani; Hamas deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, killed yesterday in a strike in Beirut; and Qassem Soleimani — the Iranian military general killed in January 2020 in a US strike in Iraq.

(Photo: Mohamad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

Abou Hadi, 20 years old, pictured far left in a room where a crowd gathers to watch the speech of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah:

"I was at the site of the assassination yesterday; it was us who collected the remains of the martyrs. It's tough work. I've just returned from the scene of the attack... I don't know what the Sayyed is going to say, but he's definitely going to make a strong announcement."

(Photo: Emmanuel Haddad/L'Orient Today)

A gathering of people waiting for Hassan Nasrallah's speech, in Dahiyeh, a suburb of Beirut.

(Photo Emmanuel Haddad/L’Orient Le Jour)

Our journalist, Emmanuel Haddad, is on site in Dahiyeh, a suburb of Beirut:

The room gradually fills up for Hassan Nasrallah's speech in the southern suburbs. The atmosphere is calm, mournful, the waiting silent.

“What happened yesterday was a big blow for the Resistance, so yes we are waiting,” said Ali Ramadan, 19, a student who came to attend the speech.

"Ten years ago the Sayyed said that if Israel hit Beirut, it would hit Tel Aviv, but today we are on the verge of war. I don't think the response will be immediate. That would be falling into the trap of 'Israel, which no longer has any limits today. I think the response will be patient and calculated,' he said, adding that he never knows 'what the Sayyed is preparing'.

The Israeli army says that around four rockets were launched from Lebanon into northern Israel and exploded near the village of Dovev, according to reports from Haaretz. No casualties were reported, although damage was caused to several hen houses.

L'Orient Today reporter Emmanuel Haddad is in Dahiyeh, in Beirut's southern suburbs, for the speech, bringing you LIVE reactions. And our co-head of LIVE News, Matthieu Karam, will be translating Nasrallah's speech in real time, in English — right here.

More updates to follow...

Hezbollah announces that it hit a gathering of Israeli soldiers with a Burkan missile at the site of Bayad Blida at 03:50 p.m.

The party also announced that it launched a large missile attack at gatherings of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Doviev barracks, located opposite the border from the Lebanese town of Yaroun at 4:30 p.m.

We are 30 minutes away from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech.

Speaking for the third time since the start of the Hamas-Israel war, the secretary-general is expected to define, in tonight's highly anticipated speech, the nature of Hezbollah's response to the killing of Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut’s southern suburbs last night.

He is due to speak at 6 p.m. Beirut time. 

Hezbollah announces that it hit a gathering of Israeli soldiers with a Burkan missile in the vicinity of the Zibdin barracks and another gathering with missile weapons in the vicinity of the site of Ruwaisat al-Alam in the occupied Shebaa farms at 4 p.m.

Israeli war Cabinet minister Benny Gantz posted on X that he discussed the "imperative of an international diplomatic effort in Lebanon" and "the future stages of the war in Gaza" with French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday.

"I expressed my appreciation to President Macron for his commitment to Israel’s security, regional stability, and France’s important efforts to release the hostages held in Gaza," he wrote.

Israeli warplanes carried out four airstrikes on the area of the southern Lebanese town of Labouneh, Sour district, and its outskirts, a security source told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

Picture taken from the coast of the city of Sour. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah)

Hezbollah announced that it hit a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the al-Malikiyah site, which is located opposite of the Lebanese border town of Aitaroun, with a Burkan missile at 3:40 p.m.

A Burkan missile is significant for being a locally-made missile that can carry an explosive charge between 300 and 500 kilograms, which is higher than the missiles typically used by Hezbollah.

Israeli artillery shells targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura, Sour district, eyewitnesses there told our correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah. According to the eyewitnesses, the sounds of three shells were heard.

Naqoura is where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has its headquarters.

Residents in the southern Lebanese town of Markaba, Marjayoun district, told our correspondent in the south that three people were killed in the Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town, which we reported on earlier today.

At 6:00 p.m. tonight, Beirut time, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah will deliver his third speech since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7.

Nasrallah is expected to define the nature of the response to the assassination of Hamas' deputy political leader on Lebanese soil, which occurred last night.

👉 Here are the details on how to follow the speech LIVE on L'Orient Today.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X that Israeli forces recently attacked "a cell of terrorists" in Lebanon. He also said that an Israeli warplane attacked "terrorist infrastructure" belonging to Hezbollah.

"During the last hours, several firing operations were monitored from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory, and the [army] attacked the sources of the fire with artillery."

Update on the explosion in Iran:

The death toll in Kerman has risen to 73 according to the semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency with another 170 wounded.

An Israeli drone fired three missiles at a house in Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), eyewitnesses reported to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

According to residents, emergency services rushed to the scene.

BREAKING: At least 20 people have been killed in IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani's hometown of Kerman in Iran after duel explosions occurred near the cemetery housing the slain leader in what Iranian state media has described as a "terrorist attack," reports AFP

The two explosions occurred near the cemetery where a ceremony was taking place to commemorate the assassination of Soleimani, who was killed by a US air strike in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2020.

Update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

Hezbollah, in two separate statements, claimed attacks on Israeli positions along the border. The first attack targeted and hit the Zar'it barracks at 1:15 p.m. and the second targeted the Jal al-Alam site, also at 1:15 p.m.

In another statement, Hezbollah announced the deaths of two of its members, Mohammed Hadi Malek Abid from Baalbek in the Bekaa and Abbas Hassan Jamoul from Deir Zahrani in South Lebanon. 140 Hezbollah members have been killed since the start of the fighting according to our count.

Israel, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, hit Wadi Hassan and Wadi Hamoul (Sour) with artillery fire while Markaba (Marjayoun) was also bombed.

According to the Reuters agency, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, stated that the "solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be imposed by the international community because the two parties will never reach an agreement."

Iran's foreign minister and defense minister responded to Israel's assassination of Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut's southern suburbs with the foreign minister calling Israel's offensive in Gaza a failure while Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani blamed the US for the killing and said that there would be retaliation, according to Haaretz.

"Such a cowardly terrorist operation proves that the Zionist regime has not achieved any of its goals after weeks of war crimes, genocide and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine, despite the direct support of the White House," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on X.

Recap of Israeli press reaction to the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut’s southern suburbs:

•⁠ ⁠The Jerusalem Post said that Hamas’s slain deputy leader outside of Gaza, Saleh al-Arouri, was the number one target of a special Shin Bet unit established to target Hamas operatives abroad, Walla! military correspondent Amir Bohbot reported Wednesday morning. However, Bohbot wrote, this is not the first allegedly Shin Bet-led assassination of a Hamas official in Lebanon. Earlier in November, Khalil Hamed al-Kharraz, the deputy head of Hamas's Qassam Brigades in Lebanon, was killed Israeli strike in November 2023.

•⁠ ⁠Haaretz said that he was considered very influential within Hamas, due mainly to his efforts to develop a military network in the West Bank and his residence in Lebanon, where he was in close contact with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. He and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip, were thought to share the same strategic worldview.

•⁠ ⁠The Times of Israel described al-Arouri as the “mastermind of Hamas terrorism in West Bank, hostage deal negotiator" and claimed he was long in Israeli crosshairs before being assassinated in Beirut, where he played a key role in cementing ties with Hezbollah and Iran.

US intelligence officials continue to maintain that Shifa Hospital was used as a Hamas command and control center, according to an intelligence assessment, The New York Times reports.

The assessment says that Shifa was used by Hamas to command its forces along with tunnels underneath the facility and to hold hostages.

Prior to Israel's storming of the hospital, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which also utilized the hospital, left, taking the hostages with them.

According to reporting done by The Washington Post, Israel had so far failed to provide any significant evidence that Hamas had been using the hospital since the war began on Oct. 7.

Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel said that he "rejects the Israeli aggression on [Beirut's] southern suburbs as an attack on Lebanese sovereignty."

Gemayel, a fierce rival for Hezbollah said that the political and military authorities should "avoid endangering human lives at least" and "giving an excuse to Israel just because Hezbollah decided to connect the fronts and to host several organizations."

Gaza's health ministry reported that 22,313 people have been killed in the embattled enclave since Oct. 7, according to AFP.

The ministry added that 57,296 others had been injured in the fighting with 128 being killed in the last 24 hours.

Palestinians in the West Bank called for confrontations with the Israeli army at noon following the assassination of Hamas's deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The message was distributed in the West Bank Wednesday morning and called for demonstrations and confrontations with the Israeli army, according to a flyer of the protest shared on Palestinian activists' Telegram groups.

Relative calm has reigned in southern Lebanon since Hezbollah's last attack on Israel, which took place at dawn today, the day after several Hamas members were killed in a drone strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is still scheduled to speak today at 6 p.m. to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. This would be Nasrallah's third speech since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded to American criticism of his comments advocating a mass departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, AFP reports.

“I admire the United States of America very much, but with all due respect, we are not one more star on the American flag,” said Ben Gvir, who heads the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, in a press release relayed by several media including the Times of Israel.

“The United States is our good friend, but above all, we will do what is good for the State of Israel: Encouraging the emigration of hundreds of thousands of people from Gaza will allow [Israeli] residents to return home [on the edge of Gaza] and to live in security while protecting our soldiers,” wrote Itamar Ben Gvir on the social network X in response to American criticism.

Hezbollah’s main political ally, the Amal Movement, considered yesterday's drone attack, which took place in Beirut’s southern suburbs (a stronghold of Hezbollah and Amal), “an attack on all of Lebanon and its sovereignty, and it is a crime that is added to the long list of continuous Israeli crimes and massacres since its creation.” The party also said that the attack should be looked over by the international community which should act quickly to “stop the Israeli aggression.”

Following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the vice director of the press office of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Candice Ardell, told the state-run National News Agency that she was "deeply [concerned] by any possibility of escalation which could have devastating consequences for the populations on both sides of the Blue Line. “We continue to call on all parties to cease fire,” she added.

Palestinian women talk under an umbrella at a makeshift camp housing displaced Palestinians, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas, on Jan. 2, 2024. (Credit: AFP)

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday evening that his government was talking to Hezbollah to "impress on them that they should not respond themselves" but that "We don't tell them, we dialogue with them in this regard."

Over the next 24 hours it will become clear "whether they respond or not," he said, adding: "We are very concerned, [the] Lebanese don't want to be dragged, even Hezbollah does not want to be dragged into a regional war."

And he called on the West to "pressure Israel to stop also all its violence and all of its actions, not only on Lebanon, not only on Beirut, but also in Gaza".

The Israeli army announced this morning the death of another of its soldiers in Gaza, several Israeli media reported. According to the Jerusalem Post, this is the 175 soldier killed since the launch on Oct. 27 of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In an interview given to Israeli television, the content of which was relayed by Haaretz, Likud MP Moshe Saada declared that the hostility by some Israelis towards the inhabitants of Gaza had reached a level unequaled until now.

“My friends working for the prosecutor's office...tell me: Moshe, it is clear that all Gazans must be destroyed. These are statements that I had not heard before,” he said.

During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Houthis fired two missiles toward merchant ships circulating in the Red Sea, near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, the American army confirmed after initial indications from the security agency British Maritime Administration (UKMTO).

According to Haaretz, citing "Arab diplomatic sources," the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut interrupted negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the establishment of a truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages, and that talks now focus on preventing an escalation, particularly in northern Israel. 

According to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing reports from security sources and testimonies from residents, there is currently no fighting taking place along the border area, however, several towns have reported drones flying above the area.

The night was more eventful, with Israeli bombardments in Houla and Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun).

Hezbollah also claimed several strikes on Israeli territory on Tuesday, including two at 10:25 p.m. and 11 p.m., which targeted Israeli soldiers at the al-Marj site.

The Israeli army, on Wednesday, said that it is preparing for "any scenario" the day after the assassination of Hamas's deputy political head, Saleh al-Arouri, in the suburbs of Beirut.

Despite pressing demands for a cease-fire from the international community, the Israeli army is preparing for "protracted fighting," which is expected to last "throughout the year" in the Gaza Strip.

Read more here.

Make sure to read the latest Morning Brief so that you are caught up with what has been happening.

Morning Brief

Hamas leader assassinated in Beirut, Nasrallah speaks, France providing medical supplies: Everything you need to know to start your Wednesday

Good morning! 

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of day 89 of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.