UNIFIL offers mediation between Israel and Lebanon as 'deep concern' grows over continued cross-border fire: Day 174 of the Gaza war

We're closing today's live coverage of the Gaza war and its repercussions in Lebanon and the region. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back tomorrow (albeit holiday hours) with more news updates and analysis.

The United Nations said it was "deeply disturbed" by attacks on health care facilities, a day after several Israeli strikes killed 10 emergency rescue workers in southern Lebanon, AFP reports.

"The tragic events of the past 36 hours have resulted in a significant loss of life and injuries in south Lebanon. Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics," said Imran Riza, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon.

👉 Read the full report here.

Hezbollah said that at 5:50 p.m., it targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Israeli "Jal al-Alam" site, located opposite the Lebanese border town of Labbouneh, using missile weapons.

Earlier, Haaretz cited the Israeli army saying that seven missiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel and two were intercepted.

The Biden administration is in early talks to fund a peace keeping force to stabilize Gaza after the war has ended, Politico reports.

Two Defense Department officials and two other US officials told the American news outlet that the force would not involve US troops on the ground. It's thought the Pentagon would also fund reconstruction and humanitarian aid in Gaza, after the war.

However, it's likely it will take time for this force, if approved, to become active, as regional actors will look for a commitment to a two-state solution before engaging seriously, and Israel reportedly will not engage until securing the release of hostages.

👉 Read the article by Politico here.

The UN's high commissioner for human rights told the BBC in a interview published today that there is a plausible case that Israel is employing starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Volker Türk emphasized that if intent were proven, it would constitute a "war crime."

A recent report backed by the UN revealed compelling evidence indicating that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is evolving into a man-made famine. This has intensified pressure on Israel to fulfill its legal obligations in safeguarding Palestinian civilians and ensuring adequate humanitarian aid reaches those in need.

👉 Read more here.

Judges at the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Accompanying its decision, the ICJ warned that Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading. "The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in," the judges said in their order.

The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its ongoing case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza. 

Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Rashaya al-Fakhour and Kfar Hammam, both located in the Hasbaya district, according to local residents.

Here’s an update on Hezbollah's announced attacks against Israel:

• Hezbollah targeted the Israeli "Samaka" site at 4:25 p.m. and the Ramtha site at 4:35 p.m., both located in the disputed hills of Kfar Shuba.

• Hezbollah stated that "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on southern villages and civilian homes, especially the massacre in Naqoura and the assault on the town of Tayr Harfa and its medical teams," its fighters targeted the Israeli towns of Gorn and Shlomi, facing Naqoura (Sour district) with rocket weapons and Katyusha rockets. The attacks were carried out at 6:00 p.m. the party said.

Israel's military intelligence unit is using facial recognition to conduct widespread surveillance and register Palestinian faces without their consent, according to a recent report from the New York Times.

The US newspaper said the program, which was initially intended for locating Israelis held hostage in Gaza, was expanded during Israel's ground offensive in Gaza to "identify individuals associated with militant groups, occasionally leading to misidentifications of civilians."

One such incident occurred at an Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza when Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet, was identified by the facial recognition program, pulled aside, and interrogated — despite having no affiliation with Hamas.

👉 Read more here.

United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) offered to facilitate mediation between Israel and Lebanon in a statement released on its official Telegram channel.

UNIFIL expressed “deep concern” regarding the recent increase in violence along the Blue Line, which has resulted in “significant civilian casualties and extensive damage to homes and livelihoods.”

"Urgent action is necessary to halt this escalation, and we call upon all parties involved to lay down their arms and initiate efforts towards achieving a lasting political and diplomatic resolution," the statement reads.

UNIFIL says it is prepared to "assist in facilitating this process, including through the organization of a Tripartite meeting upon the parties' request."

France will provide over 30 million euros ($32.41 million) to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA this year to support its operations amid Israel's devastating bombardment and blockade of Gaza, said the foreign ministry in Paris, cited by Reuters.

"We will make our contributions while ensuring that the conditions are met for UNRWA to fulfill its missions in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told journalists.

He did not say when the next payment to the agency would be made. According to the usual quarterly schedule, the next tranche is due in April.

The White House called on Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm following the most deadly day in south Lebanon since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began on Oct. 8.

"Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and for the administration," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, cited by Reuters. "It has to be of utmost importance, we believe, as well for both Lebanon and Israel."

(Photo provided by a resident of Naqoura to our correspondent in the South, Mountasser Abdallah)

A coffin draped in the Hezbollah flag, flanked by two covered by the green Amal Movement flag, and one with the Lebanese flag. It was under these colors that four victims of the Israeli strike on a Naqoura cafe were given a final farewell.

At the well-attended funeral, a crowd of Amal and Hezbollah officials and representatives, the Mufti of Sour and Jabal Amel Hassan Abdallah declared that "whenever the enemy attacks our side, he will see that men are present to defend it and fall as martyrs for it."

Mourners and members of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya take part in the funeral of commander Mohammed Jamal Ibrahim, killed the previous day in an Israeli air strike, in the village of al-Habbariye in southern Lebanon on March 11, 2024. (Credit: Rabih Daher/AF

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya announced that it would "continue to repel Israeli aggression and defend the national partnership" following the recent expansion of its activities on the southern Lebanon front.

On Wednesday, seven young rescue workers were killed in an Israeli air strike that demolished a medical center affiliated with al-Jamaa al-Islamiya in the village of Hebbarieh, Hasbaya district.

In today's statement, the party said its role "complements the responsibility of the Lebanese state” in the face of Israel’s territorial ambitions. Similar to Hezbollah, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya accuses Israel of wanting to "annex several parts of the region after completing the liquidation of the Palestinian question." Among the disputed areas are Shebaa Farms, the Golan Heights, and the hills of Kfar Shuba.

👉 Read the full report here.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that the alliance between the United States and Israel is "stronger than ever and irreplaceable," at a meeting with Democratic members of the US Congress. He spoke of the common goals, he said, between Tel Aviv and Washington, which are to "eradicate terrorism and bring the [Israeli] hostages home."

The alliance between the two countries has been strained in recent weeks, with Washington warning the Israeli authorities against an offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, without the evacuation of civilians, and the USA abstaining from voting on a resolution for a cease-fire in the enclave.

"With only 10 hospitals out of 36 partially functional, the health system in Gaza is barely surviving," warned the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"On March 26, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society's Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis ceased to function due to hostilities in and around the facility," he said, recalling that WHO "calls for an immediate halt to attacks on Gaza's hospitals and for the protection of health workers, patients and civilians."

Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:

- ⁠An interceptor missile exploded over Khiam (Marjayoun), residents of the village told our correspondent in the South. Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that it launched an interceptor missile at a "suspicious aerial target in northern Israel," according to Haaretz.

-⁠ ⁠Rocket sirens sounded in some villages in Northern Israel, according to Haaretz.

In response to the Israeli attacks that killed nine people in Tayr Harfa and Naqoura (Sour district) yesterday evening, Hezbollah announced that it targeted this morning the Israeli villages of Shlomi and Goren with rockets and artillery shells. Shlomi is located in front of the Lebanese village of Labouneh, while Goren faces Dhaira, both in Sour district.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reported that ten rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Israel this morning, adding that nine were intercepted while the other fell in an open area. The Israeli newspaper added that the Israeli army attacked launch sites.

In a second statement, Hezbollah said that it fired artillery shells this morning on the "new headquarters of the [Israeli] Liman Battalion." Liman is an Israeli village facing the Lebanese southern village of Naqoura (Sour district).

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alerted to the disappearance of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan, who was last seen on March 19 among those sequestered in the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which had been stormed by the Israeli army. RSF demands that the Israeli army immediately shed light on the disappearance of Abusultan, followed by almost 300,000 people on its social networks.

The last message sent by the journalist on her X account was published on March 18, the day before her disappearance, in which she spoke of the murder of her brother "before (her)eyes" by Israeli forces.

The Gaza Ministry of Health has announced a new death toll of 32,552 in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on Oct. 7.

In the space of 24 hours, a further 62 deaths have been recorded, according to a statement from the ministry, which reports that 74,980 people have been wounded in more than five and a half months of war.

In his speech, Sheikh Daamoush also referred to the resolution adopted on Monday by the UN Security Council, which called for a cease-fire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, but which has so far been ignored by Israel. He said he did not expect Israel to comply with the resolution. "The enemy doesn't understand this language, it only understands the logic of force and resistance," he stated. Speaking at the ceremony in Ansarieh, southern Lebanon, the leader stressed that, in his view, the American abstention on this vote at the Security Council and the differences between Washington and Tel Aviv on this issue are "linked to the progress of the battle" of Rafah and "the future of the Gaza Strip," and not to the "fundamental objectives" of the Israeli offensive. He accused the Biden administration of insisting on these differences "primarily for electoral purposes."

Hezbollah Executive Council Vice President Ali Daamouche at a tribute ceremony in Ansariyé, South Lebanon, March 28, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Hezbollah)

Sheikh Ali Daamoush, Vice-Chairman of Hezbollah's Executive Council, told a ceremony in honor of a Hezbollah member killed in an Israeli strike that the party would "continue the confrontation" with Israel "to defend Lebanon and support Gaza," and that it would respond "swiftly and decisively to every Israeli attack." He stressed that the strikes launched the previous day against the Israeli military base at Meron, as well as on the town of Kiryat Shmona and the occupied Golan Heights, were intended as "direct responses to the Hebbarieh massacre," in which seven young rescue workers lost their lives, and, to the strikes in the Bekaa, "any expansion of the aggression against Lebanon will lead to an expansion of the response," he warned. 

Here is what has been happening on the Lebanese-Israeli border this morning:

- According to a security source relayed by our correspondent in the South, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Dhaira, Zibqine, Alma al-Shaab, Naqoura, Majdal Zoun, Tayr Harfa and Wadi Hamoul (Sour).

- Sirens sounded in northern Israel three times, according to Haaretz.

In the occupied West Bank, an assailant fired shots this morning at vehicles including, according to the Israeli media, a school bus near Jericho, an incident which left three people injured, according to the Israeli army and emergency services.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army, which accuses Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals, is continuing its operation launched on March 18 in Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital complex. In Khan Younis, soldiers are carrying out operations in the area of the Nasser and al-Amal hospitals, around one kilometer apart. The Amal hospital "has ceased to function completely," said the Palestinian Red Crescent earlier this week, following the evacuation of civilians from the hospital.

On the diplomatic front, a senior US official said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had "said that they would like to find a new date for the Rafah meeting" with Joe Biden's administration.

This about-turn comes after Netanyahu's cabinet canceled plans to send a delegation to Washington to discuss the proposed ground offensive at Rafah, in response to the US abstention on a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for an "immediate cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip.

After Gaza City and Khan Younis, Israel intends to continue its ground offensive in this city at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, considered to be the last major Hamas stronghold, and home to 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority of whom have been displaced by violence elsewhere in the territory. Israel's main ally, the United States fears the human toll of such an operation and prefers other options such as targeted measures against local Hamas leaders.

In parallel with the strikes on Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported clashes in various towns in the occupied West Bank.

Early this morning, the enclave's Ministry of Health reported that at least 66 people had died in Gaza overnight, mainly in air strikes, while a senior local official reported fighting near Gaza City and in Khan Younis. 

As has been the case almost daily for the past six months, the Gaza Strip is today the scene of fierce airstrikes and clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas fighters, at a time when Benjamin Netanyahu's government is reopening the door to talks with its American ally on a possible operation at Rafah, in the south of the enclave.

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

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and global impact.