Fighters of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah take part in a ceremony to commemorate the party's fallen leaders in the Lebanese village of Jibshit, about 50 kilometers south of the capital Beirut, on Feb. 15, 2024 (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 132 of the Israel-Hamas war here.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to speak today — his second address this week — after another day of unabated Israeli strikes purportedly targeting the party in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah announced the deaths of four fighters yesterday, in addition to three others slain Wednesday which includes a Hezbollah official. The party said it fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel “in an initial response to the massacres in Nabatieh and Souaneh.” During Tuesday’s oration, Nasrallah said today’s speech would cover “the presidential issue and the political exploitation of events at the national level.” Nasrallah, affirming his party would only stop cross-border strikes after a cease-fire in Gaza, dismissed Israel’s threats of war on Lebanon, but vowed his party would not shy away from matching Israeli escalation. Hezbollah has previously targeted northern Israeli buildings and military installations, explicitly labeling the attacks as retaliation for Israel’s drone strike assassinations, which reached as far as Beirut, and its targeting of civilians. Wednesday marked the deadliest day for civilians in southern Lebanon, following air raids Israel claims were in retaliation for the killing of one soldier at a military base in northern Israel.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati requested “a new urgent complaint with the UN Security Council against Israel” after Wednesday’s Israeli air raids killed 10 civilians, including several children. Israel’s nighttime strike on Nabatieh killed seven members of the same family, which is only survived by a boy pulled from the rubble yesterday morning and his father who was seriously injured. A man residing in a neighboring building told AFP the shelled residence belonged to Hussein Berjawi, “a civilian with no political affiliation whatsoever,” killed alongside his wife, three children, sister and niece.
An airstrike on Souaneh earlier the same day killed a mother and her two children, aged two and 13, and injured 10 others. At least three Hezbollah members were killed in the shelling. By Tuesday, according to Lebanese Health Ministry figures released yesterday, Israeli strikes had caused 843 casualties since Oct. 8, including 177 deaths and 171 hospitalizations. By L’Orient Today’s count, 203 Hezbollah members have been killed in Lebanon and Syria since the start of cross-border fighting with Israel.
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesperson Andrea Tenenti called for “intensified diplomatic efforts” in the face of “worrying transformation in the level of hostilities along the Blue Line,” reaffirming that “Strikes that target civilians are considered breaches of international law and constitute war crimes.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as quoted by Israeli media Times of Israel, boasted to fellow officials that Wednesday’s attacks showed only “a mere fraction” of Israeli striking ability.
Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri — chief of the Amal Movement which has lost several fighters to Israeli strikes — condemned the “massacre committed by Israel,” calling for urgent action from, and putting responsibility on, “international envoys, the United Nations and human rights organizations.”
At least 28,663 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry.
Patients remained trapped in the Khan Younis Nasser Hospital as Israeli shelling of the facility killed and injured several people, forcing the evacuation of medical staff and thousands of displaced all the the while Israel said its special forces were operating inside of the hospital where it claims the bodies of some hostages are being held. Amid intensified fighting in southern Gaza, calls to prevent Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah continued. Rafah is the last refuge of more than 1.4 million displaced people driven southward by the Israeli military invasion. Despite international foreboding, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “powerful action at Rafah” while promising to allow “the civilian population to leave the combat zones” — a dubious claim for Palestinians who have found no area safe since the start of the war. Returnees to areas reportedly cleared by Israel in northern Gaza have found nothing but rubble left. Cairo talks for a second cease-fire are set to continue today.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Amid Israeli shelling, southern Lebanon’s fishermen search troubled waters for their daily catch”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
