Hamas agrees to cease-fire, more deadly airstrikes, trafficking ring foiled: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

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Catch up on our LIVE coverage of Day 209, Day 210, Day 211, Day 212 and Day 213 the Gaza war.

Israeli airstrikes Sunday on Mais al-Jabal killed a family of four, including a 12-year-old child as Israel continued its bombardment of southern Lebanon, striking homes, businesses and civilian infrastructure. Israel’s attack killed both parents and two of their children in a convenience store as they transited through their village from a relative’s funeral after having been displaced to Beirut by monthslong border clashes. Others in the area were wounded, Mais al-Jabal municipality chief Abdelmoneim Choucair told L’Orient Today. Hezbollah fired rockets towards northern Israel after the attack and yesterday retaliated with another barrage in response to the Israeli bombardment that injured three people in the Bekaa earlier the same day – adding to the series of strikes announced by the party since Thursday.

The European Union on Thursday pledged $1 billion in aid for Lebanon over the next three years to strengthen basic services and “combat migrant smuggling,” iring political and religious chiefs who saw it as an incentive to continue hosting displaced Syrians. The EU, expressing concern over Lebanon’s “socio-economic stability,” counts on the country’s cooperation “to prevent illegal migration,” European Commission President Ursula Van Der Leyen told caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a visit to Beirut with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides – who was in Beirut last month after criticizing Lebanese sea border controls amid an influx of informal migrants in Cyprus allegedly departed from Lebanon. The announcement followed weeks of ramped-up government crackdowns, including preparations and plans for deportation, targeting Syrians in Lebanon – most of whom the Lebanese state considers to be displaced by “economic” reasons. Responding to what he described as “populist one-upmanship,” Mikati said there were “absolutely no conditions attached to the donation” and reaffirmed the government’s determination in pursuing its repatriation of Syrians – actively ongoing for at least the past two years, when mass deportations and government-organized return trips sparked international concern over grave dangers faced by returnees to Syria. Critics included Free Patriotic Movement chief Gebran Bassil and Forces of Change MPs, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai and top Shiite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan who, in various terms, depicted the aid as a bribe intended to keep Syrians in Lebanon. The EU last year allocated hundreds of millions of euros in aid to Lebanon, destined to help the country’s most vulnerable populations facing another year of economic crisis and border controls.

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) is pursuing a gang of alleged “drug traffickers and child rapists” who lured their victims through social media platform TikTok, according to a Wednesday evening statement announcing the arrest of six purported members. The ISF estimates the gang is composed of 30 people and that it has raped no fewer than 30 minors, adding in its statement that the investigation follows complaints filed by a number of children and their parents “concerning sexual assaults, compromising photos and incitement to take drugs by members of a gang.” Three of the suspects arrested so far are minors, the ISF said. Local TV station Al-Jadeed claimed the gang preyed on children through social media via a TikTok influencer who offered to cut their hair and feature them in videos, ultimately inciting them to go to a location where the gang sexually assaulted them.

At least 34,735 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s Health Ministry. Hours before Hamas greenlit a cease-fire agreement proposed by Egypt, with “softened” terms according to a senior Israeli official speaking to Reuters, Israel ordered mass evacuations from from Rafah – signaling the start of a planned ground invasion of the southernmost city, which has loomed for weeks despite international fear for the more than one million Palestinians displaced there by Israel’s onslaught through Gaza. Israeli police on Sunday raided Al Jazeera’s hotel room-turned-office in Jerusalem after the Israeli government banned it from operating in Israel and backed access to its website and television broadcasts. Student protests against the war in Gaza and in support of Palestinians continued globally, while, as of Friday, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the US across 43 campuses, Axios reported.

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “South Lebanon family of four were 'the best of neighbors.' Then, an Israeli strike killed them”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz