Situation in Gaza has become 'inhumane,' according to WHO: Day 138 of the Hamas-Israel war

This concludes our live coverage for today. We will be back tomorrow with more live coverage of the war in Gaza.

Goodnight!

An airstrike by the Israeli military targeted the outskirts of the town of Zibqin (Sour) according to local residents.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met with Senators from the US Congress, Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Coons, in the presence of a delegation from the US Embassy led by the US ambassador to Lebanon, Liza Johnson.

The meeting covered discussions on the presidential election, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the increasingly emphasized role of the military for a stricter implementation of Resolution 1701. After the meeting, the US delegation also met with the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, who stated, "We demand that Israel give peace a chance instead of persisting in a policy of war that perpetuates from one generation to another, increasing animosity and only giving rise to tragedies."

Here is the latest update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

- Israeli jets targeted the southern town of Khiam (Marjayoun).

- Hezbollah announced that it had targeted the Israeli town of Matzuva in northern Israel at 5:22 pm in response to "Israeli attacks on villages and civilian homes, especially the assault on civilians in Majdal Zoun (Sour)" that killed a woman and a young girl.

The former Chief of Staff of the Israeli army has sent a letter to members of the war Cabinet warning that their military operations in Gaza were failing, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli Channel 12 news outlet reported on Monday that the letter, sent last week and leaked by Gadi Eisenkot himself, outlined "an increasing difficulty in achieving the goals of the war."

Eisenkot wrote that "the strategic outline of the war has stalled" and the lack of progress in its military operations in Gaza "is threatening ... the strategic situation of the State of Israel."

The letter represents a broadening schism in the war-time coalition between Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and Minister Benny Gantz's National Unity party, of which Eisenkot is also a member. Times of Israel reports that Gantz's reputation has soared in public opinion polls, while Netanyahu's has sunk dramatically.

Read the full report here.

Here are the latest updates on the situation in southern Lebanon:

- Hezbollah stated that it targeted the Israeli military site Rwaisat al-Alam in the occupied Shebaa Farms with rocket weapons at 4:25 pm.

- Israeli jets carried out two airstrikes on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), as reported by residents to our correspondent.

- Residents reported seeing and hearing of several interceptor missiles in the airspace near Lebanon's southern border with Israel.

The director-general of the World Health Organization said that the "health and humanitarian" situation in the Gaza Strip is "inhumane," reports AFP.

"What kind of world do we live in when people can't get food and water, or when people who can't even walk can't get health care?" said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a regular press conference in Geneva.

US-owned, Greek-flagged ship Sea Champion is pictured in the southern port city of Aden, which lies in the areas under the control of Yemen's internationally recognized government, on Feb. 21, 2024. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Feb. 20, 2024 said they targeted two American ships in the Gulf of Aden, after maritime agencies reported a US-owned vessel was attacked twice in those waters. The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been harassing shipping in the region since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. (Credit: Saleh al-Obeidi/AFP)

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon after a security meeting held in Saida, southern Lebanon. He expressed the "government's full support for the people in the south," emphasizing their "resilience in the face of Israeli aggression."

During the security meeting attended by the governor, security leaders, and the mayor of Saida, Mawlawi affirmed "solidarity with the innocent residents of the south and their determination to defend their land."

Mawlawi emphasized the "Lebanese government's commitment to assisting those displaced by the attacks, working closely with the Lebanese Army and security agencies," without providing further information.

Lebanon responded to threats by Israel that it would use force to implement UNSC Resolution 1701, saying that Israel has been the one "consistently violating Resolution 1701 since 2006, with documented land, sea, and air violations, exceeding 30,000 incidents."

On Tuesday, Israeli government spokesperson Elon Levy said "We repeat the warning that Hezbollah must back off … or else we will be forced to push it away."

Read the full story here.

Here's an update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

- Hezbollah targeted the Israeli village of Metula, facing Kfar Kila in the Marjayoun district. Additionally, a security source informed L'Orient Today that Metula was hit again shortly after the initial strike claimed by Hezbollah.

- Israel fired three shells at Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district, as reported by residents to L'Orient Today.

- Artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Mais al Jabal and Wadi Slouqi, located near Houla, both situated in the Marjayoun district.

Lebanese MP Abdel Rahman Bizri felt that "the latest Israeli aggression on Ghazieh confirms Israel's desire to widen the scope of its aggressions." "We must remain vigilant and use all available means to prevent this," he added to the Voice of All Lebanon radio station, as reported by the National News Agency, two days after the strike on warehouses in the village five km south of Saida.

Commenting on the presidential dossier and the meeting of the quintet's ambassadors in Beirut, Bizri felt that this was "extremely linked to developments in the South."

The quintet is made up of the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar. The ambassadors in Beirut of these countries met on Tuesday.

The majority of Israelis do not believe their army will achieve a "total victory" over Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to a poll released on Wednesday, cited by AFP.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated in recent days that he is aiming for a "total," or "absolute," victory against Hamas, as Israeli forces are engaged in fighting in Khan Younis and prepare for an offensive against Rafah, a city at the southern tip of the territory that is home to over 1.4 million Palestinians.

According to a barometer by the Israel Democratic Institute (IDI), a Jerusalem-based analysis center, just 38.3 percent of Israelis consider such a victory "very" or "moderately" likely, and 55.3 percent consider it "not very" or "very unlikely." Some 6.4 percent of those polled had no opinion.

The child Amal Hussein Al Dorr who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area between Majdal Zoun and Mansouri, in Sour district. (Photo sent by a family member to L'Orient Today)

The Gazan Ministry of Health announced that since Israel's war on Gaza began, 29,313 people have been killed by the Israeli army's offensive on the besieged enclave.

In a statement, it also reported a total of 118 people killed in the last 24 hours, and 69,333 wounded since Oct. 7.

A woman and child were killed by an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon today, bringing the total of civilians killed since the start of the conflict to 40, and the total death toll in Lebanon to 264, according to our count.

Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today

Updates from southern Lebanon:

• The Israeli army bombed the villages of Kfar Hammam and the outskirts of Rashaya Fawqar, in Hasbaya district, and the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, Bint Jbeil district, residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South.

• Israeli drones struck the outskirts of Wadi al-Sluqi and Ghandourieh in the Sour district, according to residents.

• Hezbollah announced four attacks on Israeli military positions: one at 12:05 p.m. on an army post facing the southern Lebanese village of Markaba, another one at 1:35 p.m. on an Israeli position in the disputed Shebaa farms, a third one at 1:45 p.m. on an Israeli position facing the southern Lebanese village of Ramieh, and a fourth one at an Israeli position in Metula. In the four attacks, the party said they "directly hit" the target.

Lebanese MP Abderrahmane Bizri, representing Saida, says that "the latest Israeli aggression on Ghazieh confirms Israel's desire to widen the scope of its aggressions."

Ghazieh, located only five kilometers south of the major coastal city of Saida, was hit several times on Monday by Israeli airstrikes.

"We must remain vigilant and use all available means to prevent this," he said in an interview on the "Voice of All Lebanon" radio channel, cited by the state-run National News Agency.

Commenting on the presidential dossier and yesterday's meeting of the Group of Five ambassadors in Beirut, Bizri felt that this diplomatic event was "extremely linked to developments in the South."

The Group of Five is made up of the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, who have all come forward to offer international support in helping Lebanon elect a president.

👉 Read more about their meeting here.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the villages of Mansouri and Majdal Zoun near Lebanon’s southern border on Feb. 21, 2024. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)

🔴 BREAKING: A five-year-old girl who was seriously injured in an Israeli strike near Majdal Zoun this morning has succumbed to her wounds and died in hospital, a medical source told L'Orient Today.

According to information from the hospital and from her relatives, the girl was in a house close to the site of the airstrike. The force of the explosion caused the glass in the house to shatter, and the flying shards caused serious injuries. She was declared to be in critical condition when she arrived at the hospital. A woman, Khadeeja Salman, was also killed in the bombardment.

This brings the total number of civilians killed in southern Lebanon since the beginning of the conflict to 40, not including three journalists who have also been killed while reporting on the situation in the South.

Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's Middle East adviser, is visiting the region this week — Egypt today and Israel tomorrow —  to discuss the offensive with Israel and try to push forward with negotiations toward a hostage agreement, according to a statement from the White House.

In the first months of the war, the Biden administration consistently avoided using the word "cease-fire," opting instead for terms such as "pause" or "cessation of hostilities." However, the US has started using "cease-fire" in its diplomatic rhetoric and even devised a UN Security Council proposal that calls for one.

🔴 BREAKING: A woman in her 40s named Khadeeja Salman was killed in the Israeli strike on Majdal Zoun reported this morning, and a girl and another woman were taken to Najim Hospital, according to residents of the village and a source at the hospital who spoke with L'Orient Today.

The five-year-old girl is in critical condition while the injured woman is suffering a minor injury. A resident told our correspondent that the girl was inside the house and was injured by shards of glass shattered by the strike.

This brings the total number of civilians killed in southern Lebanon since the beginning of the conflict to 39, not including three journalists who have also been killed while reporting on the situation in the South.

People check the damage on a building hit in an Israeli air strike in the Kafr Sousa district of the Syrian capital Damascus this morning. At least two people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrian state media. (

The situation in southern Lebanon over the last hour:

• The Israeli army bombed a house in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam, in Marjayoun, residents of the village told L'Orient Today. The house is destroyed, but no information is available yet regarding casualties.

• The Israeli army bombed an area between the villages of Mansouri and Majdil Zoun, both in Sour district, residents of the village told our correspondent in the South. First responders from al-Rissala Scouts Association (affiliated with the Amal Movement) are headed to the location of the strike.

• The Israeli army bombed an area between the southern Lebanese villages of Marwahine and Ramieh in Sour district, according to residents there.

Several Israeli missiles hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria's capital Damascus this morning, Syrian state media reported, cited by Reuters. Shortly after, AFP reported that two people were killed in the attack.

The neighborhood hosts residential buildings, schools and Iranian cultural centers, and lies near a large, heavily-guarded complex used by security agencies. The district was targeted in an Israeli attack in February 2023 that killed Iranian military experts.

Syrian state news agency SANA said an "Israeli attack" had targeted a residential building and published an image of the charred side of a multi-story building.

Witnesses heard several back-to-back explosions. The blasts scared children at a nearby school and ambulances rushed to the area, the witnesses told Reuters.

👉 Read the full report here.

This handout photograph taken on Feb. 20, 2024 by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows a patient being evacuated during a mission by WHO, UN humanitarian agency OCHA and the Palestinian Red Crescent, to move patients from Nasser Hospital in Kha

More from yesterday:

• The World Health Organization completed its second evacuation from Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, helping 32 critical patients to escape the fighting that has engulfed southern Gaza's most important medical facility. Nasser Hospital was forced to cease operations last week after being besieged and then raided by the Israeli army. WHO says around 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in the hospital, which has no running water or electricity.

Some key points from yesterday to remember going into today:

• The US vetoed Algeria's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire yesterday, advocating instead for its own alternate draft. The US proposal calls for a temporary cease-fire "as soon as practicable," and for a reversal of plans to invade Rafah, and — a must for the Biden administration — condemns Hamas.

The US draft signals a significant uptick in American pressure on Israel, it's most important relationship in the region. The Security Council has yet to schedule a vote.

• Israeli government spokesperson Elon Levy told reporters that Israel is not against the US draft proposal to the Security Council. Israel continues to refuse to agree to a cease-fire without having accomplished first its stated goal of dismantling Hamas, but Levy said a temporary pause in order to facilitate the release of hostages was in line with Israeli policy.

👉 You can catch up on yesterday's live blog here.

👉 And you can read the Morning Brief here.

Here are updates from overnight in southern Lebanon:

• The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of Marwahine in Sour district around 9 p.m. and later in the evening an Israeli drone struck the same area.

• The Israeli army opened fire on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese border village of Hula in the Marjayoun district, shortly after 10 p.m.

• Residents of Iqlim al-Tuffah in Nabatieh district said they heard sounds of explosions around 2 a.m., but could not determine the source.

• The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of Majdil Zoun, Jibbayn, Tayr Harfa, and Dhaira in Sour district around 7 a.m.

Good morning, welcome to L'Orient Today's live blog covering day 138 of Israel's war on Gaza and its repercussions — in the Red Sea, in southern Lebanon, in the occupied West Bank and in the region in general.