Supporters and members of the Amal Shiite movement attend the funeral of three fighters killed during clashes with Israeli troops, in the port city of Sour in southern Lebanon on Feb. 7, 2024. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 124 of the Israel-Hamas war here.
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Khiam, Marjayoun district, killed one person and injured two others, confirmed by a medical source and the mayor of the village, Adnan Alya, who said the three returned to the building after it had already been hit earlier in the day. Also yesterday, Hezbollah announced the death of two of its fighters, raising the number of Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon and Syria since Oct. 8 to 184. The Lebanese Health Ministry’s latest report on the fighting tallied 171 deaths and 771 injuries while estimating that 86,665 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon. A large crowd of mourners in Sour accompanied the funeral procession of three Amal Movement fighters killed between Saturday and Monday.
Funding cuts to the United Nations’ Palestinian Refugee agency (UNRWA) threaten to suspend essential services, including healthcare and schooling, for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon next month, an agency report said. In numbers, UNRWA said that suspending its activities means putting 38,000 children out of school, cutting funding for the treatment of 600 cancer patients, and exacerbating access to health care to the approximately 200,000 Palestine refugees who visit the agency’s centers annually. Several major donors cut funding to the agency after reports that members, dismissed in light of the allegation, participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
At least 27,708 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s counterproposal for a hostage deal, insisting on his intention to eradicate the group. Hamas proposed a transition towards a lasting cease-fire through three phases over 135 days during which fighting would stop, hostages would be gradually let go and Israeli forces would withdraw as the reconstruction of Gaza begins. A Hamas delegation is scheduled to travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials, a senior official from the group, Osama Hamdan, said from Beirut.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Rafah, Israel’s next military target: ‘A carnage forcing an exodus’”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz