Thank you for following our live updates today. We'll be back tomorrow morning. See you then.
Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
* In response to the Israeli raid that targeted the outskirts of the village of Arnoun (Nabatieh district) earlier today, Hezbollah announced that it targeted the Zaoura launch site with Katyusha missiles at 4:15 p.m.
* The party also said that it hit the Israeli site of Ruwaisat al-Alam in the contentious Kfar Shuba hills with a Burkan missile at 4:30 p.m.
* The Israeli army said nine rockets were fired into Israel, some of which were intercepted and some of which fell in open areas, following the sounding of sirens in northern Israel, according to Haaretz.
* Israeli warplanes raided the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), residents told our correspondent in the south.
* According to residents, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Shebaa and Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya).
The head of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Martin Griffiths, has called for "accountability for this betrayal of humanity" — the term he used to describe the war in Gaza.
The departing senior UN official also condemned the fact that, despite "worldwide outrage," "so little has been done to stop it, leaving room for so much impunity."
"For the people of Gaza, the past six months of war have brought nothing but death, devastation and now the imminent prospect of a shameful, man-made famine," he said in a written statement issued from New York on the eve of the date making exactly six months since the war began.
Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
* The outskirts of Tayr Harfa, Jibbayn and Majdal Zoun (Sour district) have been subjected to heavy Israrli artillery shelling, a security source told our correspondent in the south.
* Hezbollah announced that it hit a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Shtoula barracks, facing the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district), with missiles at 2:25 p.m.
* The party also said that it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Shomera barracks, facing Marwahin (Sour district), with artillery shells at 2:40 p.m.
* Rocket sirens have been activated in Eilon, Arab al-Aramshe, Idmit, Goren and the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, according to Haaretz.
Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
* In response to the Israeli airstrike that killed three Amal members in Marjayoun yesterday, Hezbollah announced that it targeted with Burkan missiles the Israeli site of Jal al-Alam, facing the Lebanese village of Naqoura, and a deployment of Israeli soldiers between the same site and the village of Shlomi, with Burkan missiles at 12:40 p.m.
* Hezbollah also announced that it hit the Israeli site of Malikiyah, facing the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, with a Burkan missile at 11:50 a.m.
* Sirens have been activated in several locations in Israel's northern region of the Western Galilee, according to Haaretz.
⚡A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Haya will head to Cairo tomorrow, according to a statement released by the party.
In its statement, Hamas reiterated the demands it submitted on March 14, which include a permanent cease-fire, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their places of residence, freedom of movement, relief and shelter for the Palestinian people, and a prisoner exchange deal.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army and the Shin Bet eliminated Akram Abdel Rahmane Hussein Salame, "a senior Hamas internal security official who was seeking to carry out crucial terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip and was planning attacks in Israel," the army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced on X.
According to Adraee, the victim "held several important positions within Hamas, including that of deputy leader in Khan Younis."
He also "attempted to carry out key terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip aimed at disrupting the activities of the Israeli army and was responsible for planning and carrying out major attacks in Israel," the spokesperson added.
Gaza casualty toll update: The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says that at least 33,137 people have been killed in the territory during nearly six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants, AFP reports.
The toll includes at least 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 75,815 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Here's what's been happening at the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past hour:
* Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the village of Tayr Harfa (Sour district) without causing casualties, according to a security source relayed by our correspondent in the south.
* Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Tayr Harfa and Naqoura (Sour), residents told L'Orient Today.
* Rocket sirens were activated in the village of Shlomi in northern Israel, according to Haaretz.
⚡️ The Amal-affiliated Risala scout association has announced the death of one of its paramedics: Hussein Assaf, aged 18.
Assaf was shot by Israeli gunfire in the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) a few days ago, according to a medical source. Assaf succumbed to his wounds today.
Israel says its troops have recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israeli communities, AFP reports.
"The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, was rescued overnight from Khan Younis and returned to Israeli territory," AFP cites the Israeli army as saying in a statement.
Iran today again threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country's enemies will "regret" the killings, Reuters reports. Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday's airstrike on the Syrian capital, which it blames on its archenemy Israel. ➡️ Click here for more.
Israel's ongoing war in Gaza has "damaged or destroyed around 62 percent of homes" in the enclave, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on X.
Infrastructure, including UN buildings housing displaced families, have been attacked, UNRWA added, and "more than 75 percent of the population of Gaza has been displaced," sometimes "several times."
Here's what's been happening at the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past 45 minutes:
* Israeli warplanes targeted an uninhabited house in an area between Arnoun and Yohmor al-Shaqif (Nabatieh district), our correspondent in the south reports, citing a security source. No casualties have been recorded so far, he added. According to residents, the Hotel Arnoun, which is housing displaced people from the border village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) is located near the targeted area. The raid reportedly caused terror among those sheltering there.
* Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab (Sour district) and Rmeish (Bint Jbeil), residents told our correspondent in the South.
At 2 a.m., Hezbollah announced it had fired artillery shells at a group of Israeli soldiers deployed near the Ramiya site, opposite the Lebanese town of Ramyeh in the Bint Jbeil district.
Hezbollah announced during the night that two of its fighters had been killed in an attack on Mais al-Jabal, our correspondent in south Lebanon reports.
The two fighters killed were Ahmad Ali Hamad, born in 1992 and originally from Tawra in southern Lebanon, and Abbas Dib Deaibes, born in 1994 and originally from Mais al-Jabal.
According to our count, 271 Hezbollah members have been killed in Lebanon and Syria since the start of hostilities between Israel and the party on Oct. 8.
There was an uptick in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon overnight, following a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah yesterday evening:
* At around 11 p.m., Israeli artillery fire targeted Dhairah and Alma al-Shaab (Sour district).
* At approximately 3 a.m., artillery fire targeted Tallet Hamames and the plain of Khiam (Marjayoun).
* At 5 a.m., artillery fire and white phosphorus bombs targeted the south of Khiam. The village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) came under machine-gun fire from Metulla.
* At 6.30 a.m., an air raid targeted Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).
WCK, based in the United States, has called for an "independent" commission of inquiry into the strike.
Today, Australia said the information provided by Israel on the death of an Australian aid worker in the strike was "insufficient." ➡️ More details here.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, the head of the NGO Save the Children-USA, Janti Soeripto, said that "the next mass deaths of children in Gaza will not come from bullets and bombs, but from starvation and malnutrition."
A number of countries are parachuting food into Palestinian territory on a daily basis. But this is far from enough to meet the immense needs of the population.
Several international NGOs have warned that it is almost impossible for them to work safely in the Gaza Strip, where some have suspended their operations following the death on Monday of seven aid workers — one Palestinian and six foreigners — from World Center Kitchen (WCK) in an Israeli drone strike. The Israeli army admitted making a series of "serious mistakes" in targeting the WCK convoy, claiming that it had believed it was targeting "Hamas operatives" in three vehicles.
To date, nearly 33,100 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, since the war began on Oct. 7, according to the enclave's Health Ministry, quoted by AFP.
CIA head Bill Burns will travel to Cairo for talks scheduled for this weekend, according to US media reports. The director of the US intelligence agency will meet his Israeli Mossad counterpart, David Barnea, as well as Egyptian and Qatari officials, according to The New York Times.
The announcement of this new American attempt comes after the United States urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to conclude a cease-fire agreement "without delay," against a backdrop of growing pressure from the international community in the face of the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
As the Israeli offensive on Gaza is on the cusp of entering its seventh month, talks for a truce are due to resume this weekend in Cairo, with US President Joe Biden urging negotiators to convince Hamas to accept an agreement.
Biden "wrote today to the Egyptian president and the emir of Qatar to inform them of the progress of the talks and to ask them to obtain from Hamas a commitment to accept and respect an agreement," a senior American official told AFP on Friday evening on condition of anonymity.
Good morning,
Today is the 183rd day of the war in the Gaza Strip. It is also the 182nd day of clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army across Lebanon's southern border.
We'll be with you all day with live updates on these conflicts and related incidents across the wider region.
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