Israeli strike kills 3 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon: Gaza war, day 268

Latest news from the Israel-Lebanon border:

* The Israeli army directed machine-gun fire at farmers in the locality of Maisat near the village of Wazzani (Hasbaya) without causing any casualties, residents told our correspondent in south Lebanon.

* Israeli warplanes raided the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), residents told our correspondent.

* Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya), according to residents.

* Hezbollah announced it had fired rockets at the Israeli site of Ruaissat al-Qorn in the disputed Shebaa Farms at 6 p.m.

* Hezbollah also claimed to have fired rockets at the Israeli Samaka site in the Kfar Shuba hills at 6:30 p.m.

Here's the latest news from south Lebanon: 

* Hezbollah announced that it launched an aerial attack with a squadron of drones on the headquarters of the "armored battalions of the 188th brigade in the Rawiya [Israeli] barracks," targeting its "command building and the positions of its officers and soldiers" and causing it to "burst into flames." The party added that the attack left "confirmed injuries." This is the first time Hezbollah has targeted the Rawiya barracks, which lies 15 km from the Lebanese-Israeli border, according to our correspondent in the south.

* Hezbollah also said that it fired a "Falaq missile" at the "military operator" of the Israeli Beit Hillel barracks at 4:40 p.m. The party added that part of the operator was destroyed.

* In a third statement, Hezbollah said that it fired rockets at artillery emplacements at the Israeli site of Khirbet Maer at 5:30 p.m.

* Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that a drone that originated in Lebanon "exploded in the northern Golan Heights," according to Haaretz. Additionally, the Israeli army said a rocket fell in an open area near Beit Hillel, in northern Israel.

A Palestinian woman bakes bread in a makeshift oven while sitting on the rubble of buildings destroyed in the Israeli bombardment in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on June 30, 2024. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)

Here are the latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:

* In response to the Israeli attack this morning on the village of Houla, Hezbollah announced that it fired a "Falaq missile" at the headquarters of the "Sahel battalion in the Beit Hillel [Israeli] barracks," facing the Lebanese village of Houla. The party added that part of the headquarters was destroyed and that there are "confirmed injuries." Earlier today, Haaretz cited the Israeli army saying that two rockets fell in the area of Beit Hillel following alarms. This is the second attack claimed by Hezbollah in response to the Israeli airstrike that killed three members of the party in Houla.

* In response to "Israeli attacks on southern Lebanese villages and houses … and especially in the village of Taibeh," Hezbollah said that it targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the village of Metula, facing the Lebanese village of Khiam. Citing the head of the Metula council, Haaretz reported that three anti-tank missiles were fired into Metula and one hit a house. Israeli warplanes fired three missiles toward the village of Taibeh last night; no casualties were reported in these strikes.

* Israeli artillery shelling targeted the Dabaka neighborhood, northeast of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district), and the village of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya), residents told our correspondent in the south.

* "Hostile aircraft infiltration sirens" were activated in Metula, Haaretz reported.

In response to the Israeli attack on the Lebanese southern village of Houla, Hezbollah announced that it fired a "heavy Burkan missile" toward the headquarters of the 91st Division in the Baranit [Israeli] barracks," facing the Lebanese village of Rmeish. The party added that part of the headquarters was destroyed and that there are "confirmed injuries."

An Israeli airstrike on a house in the village of Houla this morning killed three Hezbollah members.

A protester throws a molotov cocktail at the police guarding the Israel Embassy during a protest in solidarity with the people of Gaza in Mexico City on June 29, 2024. (Credit: Silvana Flores/AFP)

Mufti Ahmad Kabalan, head of Lebanon's highest Shiite religious council, addressed Arabs in a statement Sunday, asking them to take a position that would "shake Israel."

"What are you waiting for when Gaza is in pieces, its people are massacred and its children and women are undergoing a genocide the like of which the earth has never seen before," the state-run National News Agency quotes Kabalan as saying.

"No more silence, Arabs," he added.

Two rockets fell in the area of Beit Hillel in northern Israel, Haaretz reports, adding that sirens sounded. This locality lies opposite the Lebanese village of Houla in the Marjayoun district.

A mother and son were injured when part of the roof of their home the Qalaa neighborhood of Nabatieh collapsed after Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier when flying above the town on Saturday night, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports. Zainab Shahrour (52) and her son Fadel Bedi were admitted to a local hospital following the incident.

Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier over several Lebanese towns that night. Such flights in Lebanese airspace have become frequent since the start of cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah on Oct. 8.

The Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank says that a Palestinian has been killed and five others wounded in an attack near the city of Tulkarm.

Haaretz earlier reported that the Israeli army had carried out a drone attack in the Nur al-Shams refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm. ➡️ More details here.

In response to "Israeli attacks on Southern Lebanese villages and houses … especially in the village of Kfar Kila" (Marjayoun district), Hezbollah announced that it targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the village of Yir'on in northern Israel.

Hezbollah has announced the death of a third fighter today: Hussein Sweidan from the southern Lebanese village of Adsheet al-Qsair.

According to our correspondent in the south, Sweidan was killed, along with two other Hezbollah fighters, in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the village of Houla (Marjayoun district) this morning.

Hezbollah has announced the deaths of two of its fighters: Nasrat Shqeir from the southern Lebanese village of Souaneh and Jalal Daher from Houla (Marjayoun district).

Both were killed in the Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the village of Houla this morning, according to our correspondent in the south. Security sources told L'Orient Today earlier that a third person was also killed in the same strike.

To date, 360 Hezbollah members have been killed in Lebanon and Syria since the beginning of the hostilities in October.

Gaza casualty toll update: At least 37,877 Palestinians have been killed and 86,969 have been wounded in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, Reuters reports, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry. 

The Israeli army says it targeted "terrorist cells" in a strike on "a Hezbollah military building" in Houla (Marjayoun district) this morning, its Arabic-speaking spokesman Avichay Adraee reported in a post on X. Three people have been reported killed in the strike.

"Brigade 91 identified a saboteur who penetrated a military building where two other saboteurs were" in Houla, Adraee said, adding, "Warplanes then attacked the building" in question.

In addition, Adraee reports that Israeli forces "spotted a terrorist working in a Hezbollah military building in the Kafr Kila village area." Kafr Kila is also in Marjayoun district. The Israeli army also struck this building.

Last night, the Israeli army  "attacked infrastructure and a military building belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah" in Taibeh and Rabb Thalathin (Marjayoun) Adraee adds in a separate post.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has cautioned the Knesset about the potential risks he associates with "the Israeli Arab home front," Haaretz reports. The Israeli news outlet quotes Smotrich as saying Israel's government "cannot ignore the inner front of Israeli Arabs,"  before adding, "the Iranians are counting on their alliance, and we are far from doing what we need to do to neutralize this chance in advance." 

Smotrich also reportedly also commented that "another proxy of Iran within our borders is Hezbollah." According to him, "there is no escape from a sharp and quick war to take [Hezbollah] out of the game and take away their ability to be part of the plan in coming years. A war in Lebanon will have its prices, and I don't take them lightly. But any price we pay today will be way less than what we would have to pay in the future if we don't act."

Al-Risala Scouts, the medical association affiliated with the Amal Movement, announced in a statement that it participated in rescue operations and debris removal after the Israeli airstrike on the village of Houla (Marjayoun district). (Credit: Al-Risala Scouts)

Here's what happened yesterday evening and overnight as hostilities continued between Israel and Hezbollah:

* Hezbollah announced that it had destroyed "spying equipment" in the Israeli town of Metula, opposite the Lebanese village of Khiam, at 6:40 p.m.

* At around 8:45 p.m.: Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district), security sources told our correspondent in the south.

* Around 10 p.m.: The Amal-affiliated medical association, al-Risala Scouts, announced in a statement that it had taken part in "firefighting operations" after Israel earlier shelled the villages of Markaba (Marjayoun) and Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil).

* At around 11:30 p.m.: Israeli warplanes flew over several areas in Lebanon, including the south, the Chouf district, Beirut and Mount Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier several times, according to our correspondents in the south and Bekaa, and local media outlets. Israel also carried out a series of low-level mock raids in the south and the Bekaa.

* After 1 a.m.: Israeli warplanes fired three missiles at the village of Taibeh (Marjayoun) without causing any casualties. One of the rockets did not explode.

* Israel combed the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) with machine-gun fire from the village of Metula.

⚡ At around 8:30 a.m., an Israeli drone fired a missile at a home in the village of Houla (Marjayoun) in southern Lebanon, killing three people, according to security sources quoted by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah. Prior to the strike, the village had been hit by Israeli artillery fire.

In Tel Aviv, thousands of demonstrators gathered again yesterday to demand the return of the hostages and protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been widely criticized for his handling of the war.

A 26-year-old former hostage, Noa Argamani, freed on June 8 along with three other captives in an Israeli army operation, appealed for their release in a video message. "Although I have returned home, we cannot forget the hostages who are still in captivity at the hands of Hamas, and we must do everything in our power to bring them home," she said.

A senior Hamas official based in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, said yesterday that negotiations for an agreement with Israel on a cease-fire and the release of hostages had led to no progress. He said that his movement had received the latest American proposal on June 24, but that it brought "nothing new."

The Israeli army also announced this morning that it was continuing its operations in Rafah and the central Gaza Strip.

A strike on a house in north-west Rafah left six people dead, according to rescue workers and doctors. Artillery fire, according to witnesses, also targeted several areas in the south of the city.

The Israeli army continues to bombard the Gaza Strip, particularly the north of the territory where it is continuing its operations after several days of fierce fighting against Hamas.

According to an AFP correspondent, numerous airstrikes targeted various areas during the night, including Gaza City in the north, as well as Rafah and Khan Younis in the south.

Since Thursday, Israeli forces have been conducting a ground operation in Shujaia, an eastern district of Gaza City, where fighting is raging between soldiers and Palestinian fighters. The operation continued this morning, according to witnesses and medics.

The Israeli army announced that the previous day it had "eliminated several terrorists, discovered weapons, carried out targeted raids on booby-trapped fighting positions" and had "struck dozens of terrorist infrastructures in the area."

⚡ Israel is "not seeking war" with Hezbollah but "remains prepared" for such an eventuality, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted by Haaretz as saying yesterday. Speaking during a tour of northern Israel and in the wake of a stormy Cabinet meeting, Gallant said that "the diplomatic solution is always preferable."

"If Hezbollah chooses to go to war, we know what to do. But if it chooses the path of agreement, we'll respond to that," he reportedly added.

Good morning, 

We'll be here all day, bringing you live updates from the war in Gaza, the cross-border conflict in south Lebanon and the repercussions of both across the wider region.