Several injured in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon: Gaza war, day 239

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Fires have broken out in several locations in the town of Kiryat Shmona and the Ramim Bridge area in northern Israel following attacks from Lebanon, Haaretz reported, citing the northern district fire and rescue service.

The fires began at around midday, and "six firefighting reams are operating in the area intermittently, due to fears of further shooting [stikes]."

According to fires and rescue services, "most of the firefighting efforts are focused on the Ramim Bridge area, where one of the fires is spreading in several directions and endangering communities and factories."

Earlier today, Hezbollah announced that it fired "heavy Burkan rockets" on the Israeli 769th Brigade in the Kiryat Shmona barracks, causing it to "burst into flames and destroying part of it" in response to an Israeli attack on Lebanese village of Ain Qana last night.

Israeli warplanes targeted an uninhabited house in the village of Qantara (Marjayoun caza), a security source told our correspondent in the south.

The strike slightly injured two people and started a fire in the targeted area.

The Israeli airstrike on a house in Siddiqine injured six people moderately, a security source told our correspondent in the south. The wounded have been taken to hospitals in the region. An unspecified number of other people were lightly injured.

Here are the latest updates from southern Lebanon and northern Israel:

* Israeli warplanes have targeted a house in Siddiqine (Sour district), residents told our correspondent in the south. Ambulances headed to the targeted area.

* Sirens have sounded in Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and surrounding areas in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Haaretz reports.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has assured the Israeli prime minister of his support for Israel's roadmap for the release of hostages in Gaza, a plan previously rejected by the Netanyahu government's far-right partners.

"The Israeli government cannot ignore President Biden's important speech," wrote centrist Yair Lapid on X, referring to the American president's speech yesterday in which he unveiled an Israeli roadmap for a cease-fire in Gaza.

"There is an agreement on the table" and the Israeli government "should seize it", continued Lapid, who is former prime minister of Israel, assuring Netanyahu of his support "for an agreement for the hostages if [Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich leave the government." 

Ben Gvir, national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister, two figures from the Israeli far right, have in the past opposed any agreement for the release of the hostages.

Residents tell our correspondent in the south that the pickup targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Touairi was carrying pieces of the Israeli drone shot down by Hezbollah earlier today. No casualties have been reported in this strike.

More than an hour ago, Hezbollah announced that it shot down a "Hermez 900" Israeli drone today after monitoring and surveilling it carefully.

An Israeli drone has targeted a pickup truck in the village of Touairi (Sour district), a security source told our correspondent in the south. Ambulances headed to the targeted area.

Image: A man walks through the rubble of a house destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in the village of Adloun near the southern Lebanese coastal city of Saida on June 1, 2024. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

Egypt will hold a meeting with Israel and the United States tomorrow about the Rafah crossing, according to an Egyptian media outlet, AFP reports.

The Israeli army is continuing its ground and air offensive on Rafah.

Operations are concentrated in the western part of the city, in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, where residents have reported shelling, tank fire and the movement of military vehicles. "All night and into the morning, aerial and artillery bombardment continued in the western sectors of Rafah, preventing any movement of civilians," a resident who did not give his name told AFP. He added that Israeli snipers had taken up positions "on buildings overlooking the entire Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, making the situation very dangerous". Witnesses also reported intense artillery fire in eastern and central Rafah.

In central Gaza, the Palestinian camp of Nusseirat was hit by airstrikes. In the north, artillery fire targeted the Zeytoun neighborhood, according to an AFP correspondent.

⚡ Hezbollah says it has shot down a "Hermez 900" Israeli drone. The party did not specify the location or time of the incident. However, earlier today we reported, based on local residents' testimonies, that an Israeli drone had been shot down over villages east of the city of Sour.

Hezbollah also said that it fired rockets at 11:25 a.m. at Israeli artillery launching positions in "Khirbet Maar," facing the Lebanese border town of Boustan (Sour district), and a deployment of Israeli soldiers in its vicinity.

Here are the latest updates from southern Lebanon and northern Israel:

* Three missiles fired from an Israeli drone at a car in the Baydar area of Harouf (Nabatieh) wounded four people, residents of the area told our correspondent in the south. The wounded have been taken to hospitals. The village of Harouf is around 15 kilometers from the border.

* Israeli warplanes targeted the area of Hmaileh between the villages of Roumin and Houmin, according to a security source. Ambulances headed to the targeted area. This area was also targeted by an Israeli airstrike last night. It is located around 20 km from the border.

* An Israeli drone was shot down over villages east of the city of Sour, residents and eyewitnesses told our correspondent in the south.

* An Israeli drone targeted the vicinity of a mosque in the village of Yarin (Sour district), according to a security source.

* Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on the village of Markaba (Marjayoun), a security source told L'Orient Today .

* Hezbollah said that it this morning destroyed "new spy equipment" at the Israeli site of "Marj," opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba.

Lebanon has welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden's statements on "the need to stop the war in Gaza, Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave and the exchange of prisoners."

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry also said it views the plan as "an opportunity to implement the two-state solution." In a statement, it went on to call for "initiatives aimed at restoring calm to the south Lebanon border to include full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701."

➡️ More details here.

Updated Gaza casualty toll: The Health Ministry in Gaza has announced a new death toll of 36,379 killed since the start of the war, according to AFP.

At least 95 people have died in the last 24 hours, according to a statement from the ministry, and 82,407 have been injured in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has announced five attacks against Israel so far today:

* In response to the Israeli airstrike on a motorcycle in the southern Lebanese village of Majdal Selm, Hezbollah said that it launched an aerial attack with drones on the new positioning of the Israeli "armored faction north of the Yiftah barracks," facing Blida (Marjayoun). The party added that the drones targeted the positions of Israeli officers and soldiers at this barracks.

* In response to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanese villages and houses, the party said that it fired rockets at two buildings where Israeli soldiers "are stationed" in the villages of Shomera and Natua in northern Israel.

* In response to the Israeli attack on Ain Qana last night which killed a Hezbollah member, the party said that it fired "heavy Burkan rockets" on the Israeli 769th Brigade in the Kiryat Shmona barracks, causing it to "burst into flames and destroying part of it." In the same statement, the party said that civilians were injured in the Ain Qana airstrike. L'Orient Today could not yet independently confirm this claim.

* Finally, Hezbollah said that it fired rockets on the Israeli site of Baghdadi, facing Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), at 7:45 a.m.

Here's what's been happening so far today in southern Lebanon:

* An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the village of Majdal Selm (Marjayoun district) this morning, injuring two people, a security source told our correspondent in the south.

* An Israeli drone targeted the area of Jabal Warda in the village of Markaba (Marjayoun), according to residents' testimonies relayed by our correspondent in the south. No casualties have been reported so far.

* Israeli artillery shelling targeted houses in the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), prompting members of the Risala Scout Association and the Islamic Health Organization to extinguish fires that broke out as a result of the shelling, according to the same security source speaking to our correspondent.

* Residents also reported that five Israeli artillery shells fell on houses in the western neighborhood of Khiam (Marjayoun).

* An Israeli interceptor missile exploded over the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent in the south.

Israel has warned that the "conditions" for achieving a "permanent cease-fire" in Gaza have not changed in the Israeli plan and include the "destruction" of Hamas as well as the "release of all hostages," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said today.

"Under the proposal, Israel will continue to insist that these conditions be met before a permanent cease-fire is put in place. The idea that Israel will agree to a permanent cease-fire before these conditions are met is doomed to failure," the statement reads. 

Indonesia is ready, if requested by the United Nations, to send "a significant number of peacekeepers" and medical personnel to Gaza if Hamas accepts Joe Biden's recent cease-fire proposal, its Defense Minister, and future president, Prabowo Subianto has said, according to a report from AFP.

"We are also ready to immediately send medical personnel to operate field hospitals in Gaza with the consent of all parties," Prabowo said, adding, Indonesia is also ready to "evacuate, receive and treat" up to 1,000 patients in its hospitals "in the immediate future. In the interests of all parties, we must do our best to achieve a real and lasting solution."

Strikes continued in south Lebanon throughout the night, according to security sources relayed by our correspondent in the region:

* Between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. an Israeli attack targeted a house in the area of Hamila, located between the villages of Roumin and Houmin Fawqa (Nabatieh district). This area is not far from the village of Ain Qana, which was subjected to a deadly Israeli airstrike yesterday evening, as L'Orient Today reported earlier. Israeli warplanes also launched strikes on the villages of Tayr Harfa and Jibbayn (Sour district), and an Israeli drone targeted the village of Marwahine (Sour).

* Between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m., Israeli warplanes fired three missiles at a supermarket in the village of Khiam (Marjayoun). The supermarket and several cars were completely destroyed, and neighboring houses were heavily damaged.

* At around 12 a.m., an Israeli drone targeted the outskirts of Shihine (Sour); the outskirts of Zibqine (Sour) and Rashaya al-Foukhar and Freidis (Hasbaya) were subjected to Israeli artillery shelling; and Israeli artillery fired flares over the village of Naqoura (Sour).

Here's what happened in south Lebanon yesterday evening:

Israel carried out two deadly airstrikes on villages relatively far from the border, according to security sources relayed by our correspondent in the south:

* An Israeli drone targeted a house in Adloun (Saida district), killing a woman, whose last name is Abboud, and injuring four others. The airstrike happened near the shrine of Prophet Sari, facing the Saida-Sour highway. The targeted location is more than 25 km from the Lebanese-Israeli border.

* Israeli warplanes twice targeted a house located near a school in Ain Qana (Nabatieh district), killing a Hezbollah member and injuring another person. The village of Ain Qana is more than 20 km from the southern Lebanese border. After the attack, Hezbollah announced the death of one of its fighters: Ahmad Taboush from the village of Kfar Melki (Saida district). According to our correspondent in the south, Taboush was killed in the Ain Qana strike. Some 325 Hezbollah members have been killed in Lebanon and Syria since October.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah yesterday described the southern front as "part of the battle that is shaping the destiny of Palestine, Lebanon and the region." ➡️ More details here.

Meanwhile, cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel continues on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Yesterday, an Israeli strike in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, on an ambulance belonging to the Islamic Health Committee, Hezbollah's first-aid organization, killed one person.

Biden's announcement came as Israeli forces advanced into the center of Rafah, the southern-most city in the Gaza Strip, which has become the epicenter of the conflict, and took control of the "Philadelphia Corridor," a strategic buffer zone on the border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt.

Witnesses yesterday reported continued Israeli strikes on Rafah. Last Sunday, an Israeli strike killed 45 people in a displaced persons camp in the city.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday that his movement had informed mediators that its "demands" — above all a permanent cease-fire and total Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — are "non-negotiable".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also voiced enthusiasm for the new Gaza roadmap unveiled by Biden.

"We can't let this opportunity slip away," he said, calling on civil society to mobilize to push political leaders to accept and implement the proposal.

These developments prompted a chorus of international reactions:

* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hamas to "seize the opportunity" to achieve "lasting peace in the Middle East."

* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that this latest proposal is "realistic" and "offers a real opportunity to move towards an end to the war and the suffering of civilians in Gaza."

* German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the proposal "offers a glimmer of hope and possibly a way out of the conflict." 

These developments prompted a chorus of international reactions:

* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hamas to "seize the opportunity" to achieve "lasting peace in the Middle East."

* European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that this latest proposal is "realistic" and "offers a real opportunity to move towards an end to the war and the suffering of civilians in Gaza."

* German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the proposal "offers a glimmer of hope and possibly a way out of the conflict." 

Without referring to Biden's speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that his government was "united in its desire to bring back" the hostages "as quickly as possible" and that the prime minister had "authorized the negotiating team to present a plan to achieve this goal."

However, Netanyahu also stressed that the war will not end "until all its goals have been achieved," citing the "return" of all hostages and the "elimination of Hamas's military and governmental capabilities." The roadmap proposed by Israel makes it possible to "maintain these principles," he added.

According to Biden, the cessation of fighting would be accompanied by the release of some Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack, notably women and the sick, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

This temporary cease-fire could become "permanent" if Hamas "respects its commitments," the American president added. The next phase of the plan would include the release of all remaining hostages.

"Once a cease-fire and hostage agreement have been reached, it will be possible to make many other advances, including restoring calm along Israel's northern border with Lebanon," the US president added.

Speaking from the White House, Biden yesterday called on Hamas to accept the plan, which he said had been submitted to the group via a Qatari mediator.

"We can't let this opportunity for an agreement in Gaza pass us by," the US president said, adding, "It's time for this war to end." According to Biden, the first phase would be a total cease-fire, with a six-week withdrawal of Israeli troops from "populated areas of Gaza."

Hamas described as "positive" Israel's new roadmap for a cease-fire and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, which was unveiled by US President Joe Biden yesterday and hailed today as a "ray of hope" after months of war.

"Hamas views positively what was included in US President Joe Biden's speech regarding a permanent cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners," the Palestinian Islamist movement said in a statement.

Good morning, 

We'll be with you all day with live updates from the ongoing war in Gaza and southern Lebanon, as well as related news from the wider region.