Thank you for following our live coverage of the war in Gaza and its repercussions, particularly in Lebanon.
We will continue our coverage of the conflict from 11 a.m. tomorrow.
The Saudi Embassy in Beirut has added its voice to the countries who in recent days have restated or revised their travel advisories for Lebanon. The embassy posted on X that it is "closely following developments in southern Lebanon, and reiterates its previous call to all Saudi citizens to respect the decision to ban travel to Lebanon."
This Saudi travel ban predates Oct. 7, 2023.
In southern Lebanon, Israel has targeted the center and outskirts of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) with four artillery shells, according to local residents.
Another Israeli drone strike targeted a car in Khirbet Selm, in the Bint Jbeil district. According to information obtained from local residents, the missile fired by the drone did not hit the car, but its explosion near the vehicle slightly injured a man passing by on a motorcycle.
In addition, artillery fire targeted Talloussa and Markaba, in the Marjayoun district, causing fires in the area.
Hezbollah has announced the death of another of its fighters: Abbas Atweh, born in 1986 and originally from Chakra, south Lebanon. According to our correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah, the victim was killed in one of the strikes on Houla, in the Marjayoun district.
The Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, commenting on the strikes on Houla, said that they had targeted "a Hezbollah military building in which saboteurs were present" as well as a "terrorist" in the same locality.
More security updates from south Lebanon:
* Hezbollah says it attacked "with guided missiles" at 3:40 p.m. a Merkava tank and a Nemera armored vehicle in the Rweisat al-Alam Israeli position in the disputed Kfar Shuba Hills area. The party claimed it destroyed its targets.
* The Israeli army shelled the village of Kfar Shuba and the nearby area of Jabal al-Sadana (Hasbaya) as well as Rab al-Thalathine (Marjayoun), residents of the villages told L'Orient-Le Jour.
The latest developments in south Lebanon:
* Israeli artillery fired two shells at Dhaira (Sour) during a funeral, according to local residents. There were no casualties.
* The Israeli army reported, according to Haaretz, that anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon fell near Misgav Am and Tel-Hai, without causing any casualties. Earlier in the day, Hezbollah had announced a strike on "spy equipment" in Misgav Am. The Israeli army said it had "retaliated" by striking the area in southern Lebanon from which the attacks were launched.
Here's the latest from the border between Lebanon and Israel:
* Israel hit Houla (Marjayoun) with a drone strike for the second time today, residents of the village told L'Orient-Le Jour. The strike targeted a house and a shop in the village. A security source told L'Orient-Le Jour that several people were injured in the attack, one of whom is in critical condition.
* Hezbollah claimed its first attack of the day, against "spying equipment in Misgav Am," an Israeli town facing Odaisseh (Marjayoun district).
A Serbian police officer has killed an "attacker" who wounded him using a crossbow in front of the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, the Serbian interior minister said, AFP reports.
Around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) an "unknown person, whose identity is being determined, shot a member of the gendarmerie, who was on duty securing the Israeli Embassy, from a crossbow and hit him in the neck," said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, adding that the officer had "used a weapon in self-defense and defeated the attacker, who died as a result of his injuries."
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced overnight the death of one of its fighters: Oday Saleh, aged 19, was killed "on the border with occupied Palestine, in southern Lebanon."
According to information from our correspondent in the south, Saleh was killed in a bombardment on Kfar Kila, in the Marjayoun district.
In Gaza, people are living in the ruins of buildings or in tents around a gigantic pile of garbage, said a representative of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Louise Wateridge described living conditions in the Gaza Strip as "disastrous." "It's really unbearable," Wateridge told reporters in Geneva, via video link from the center of the Gaza Strip.
Wateridge, who returned to Khan Younis in central Gaza on Wednesday after four weeks outside the Palestinian territory, stressed that during this time the situation had "deteriorated considerably."
"It's worse than it's ever been. And I have no doubt that tomorrow it will be even worse," she declared.
The United States has proposed new language for parts of the proposed hostage and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, Axios reports, citing “three sources with direct knowledge.”
The sources reportedly said the Americans' suggested new language relates to Article 8 and is designed to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, while the U.S. pushes Qatar and Egypt to press Hamas to accept the new proposal. ➡️ More details here.
Gaza casualty toll update: Israel has killed 37,834 people in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war almost nine months ago, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reports.
At least 69 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, it said in a statement, adding that 86,858 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
U.S. forces announced last night that they had destroyed seven drones and a checkpoint belonging to Yemeni Houthi rebels, after the latter claimed responsibility for new attacks targeting traffic in the Red Sea.
"Over the past 24 hours, the Middle East Military Command (CENTCOM) has destroyed seven Iranian-backed Houthi drones and a command station" for drones in an area of Yemen "controlled by the Houthis," it said in a statement. A few hours before CENTCOM's announcement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed responsibility on behalf of the rebels for attacks on two ships in the Red Sea, including the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Delonix.
➡️ More details here.
On the front between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, an Israeli drone strike this morning targeted a motorcycle in Houla (Marjayoun district), according to local residents. An ambulance dispatched to the scene transported one wounded man to a local hospital;
As fears of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah persist, the Iranian mission to the U.N. stated on X overnight that if Israel were to embark on "full-scale military aggression" in Lebanon, "an obliterating war" would follow. In its post, the Iranian mission warned that in the event of such a scenario, "all options, including the full involvement of all resistance fronts" are on the table — a reference to various pro-Iranian groups and militias, such as Hamas, the Yemeni Houthi rebels and Iraqi militias.
Hello,
Today marks the 267th day of the war in the Gaza Strip. It is also the 266th day since the opening of a front in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Follow our live coverage of the conflict and its repercussions in the region here.
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