This photograph taken on January 22, 2024 on the southern outskirts of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, shows Palestinian families fleeing the city on the coastal road leading to Rafah, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 108 of the Israel-Hamas war here.
An Israeli strike on a house in Majdal Selm, Marjayoun district, killed at least one person, a medical source told L’Orient Today. Four people were hospitalized after the strike, with one later pronounced dead. Israeli attacks on Marjayoun also damaged a public school and several other homes, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the area reported. Hezbollah announced the death of three of its members, one of whom was wounded along with several others in the Sunday drone strike by Israel on Kfar Kila. At least 167 Hezbollah members have been killed in Syria and Lebanon since Oct. 8. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “even if Hezbollah ceases fire unilaterally, Israel will not stop fighting” until it can guarantee displaced Israelis’ return to the border region and “a change in the security situation” in the area.
Private school teachers will no longer go on strike today after an agreement mediated by caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi raised their monthly retirement pension payments sixfold, the ministry confirmed to L’Orient Today. Private school administrations will collect LL900,000 (approximately $10 at the parallel market rate) per student to finance the increase. Last Thursday, the union announced its intention to go on strike to demand improved compensation for retirees after five years of economic crisis decimated their salaries.
Lebanon should expect further “hacking attacks,” cybersecurity expert Majd Dhainy told L’Orient Today after the Social Affairs Ministry and Parliament’s websites were hacked yesterday and the day before. Cybersecurity expert Roland Abi Najem explained that government websites are prone to breaches from hackers seeking bragging rights, noting similar attacks in other countries, reassuring that they do not compromise “sensitive information.” A ministry spokesperson confirmed that no personal data was leaked after the attack. Earlier this month, hackers targeted Beirut International Airport, displaying an anti-Hezbollah message on the Flight Information Display System and interrupting the baggage carousel system. Abi Najem noted that the airport cyberattack differs because an internal system was compromised “whereas the ministry and the parliament websites are low-security, public websites that can be hacked easily.”
Akkar residents told L’Orient Today’s correspondent they found landmines in their fields thought to have drifted over from Syria after the al-Kabir river flooded. The anti-personnel mines are believed to have been originally placed by Syrian authorities in their territory to prevent informal crossings into Lebanon. The Lebanese Army has repeatedly announced the interception of hundreds of Syrian nationals attempting clandestine crossings into Lebanon through Akkar. A tripped landmine killed a Syrian teen and maimed another while they were allegedly attempting to cross into Lebanon last December. The UN and Lebanese Authorities have carried out de-mining operations in North and South Lebanon in an attempt to clear the explosives scattered during successive wars. Landmines nonetheless continue to claim civilian lives.
Israeli attacks have killed 25,295 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to figures released yesterday by the enclave’s health ministry. Protesters and relatives of hostages held by Hamas gathered outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence “to sit at the negotiating table.” Netanyahu said Hamas had made “no real proposal,” after a statement Sunday rejecting the group’s demands for an end to hostilities, Israeli withdrawals and the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Approximately 130 hostages remain in Gaza, by Reuters’ estimate.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it was “unable to reach the injured in Khan Younis” due to the Israeli military “targeting anyone who tries to move through the region” after a strike that killed at least 40 people in southern Gaza’s largest city. The Israeli army moved into al-Mawasi district, west of Khan Younis, for the first time and stormed a hospital there.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Have we crossed the threshold of regional conflagration?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz