Thank you for following our live coverage of the Gaza War and its impact on the region, particularly Lebanon.
We will continue reporting on the conflict tomorrow morning.
The deputy leader of Hezbollah said today that the only sure path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full cease-fire in Gaza.
"If there is a cease-fire in Gaza, we will stop without any discussion," Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in an interview with AP at the group's political office in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Hezbollah's participation in the Gaza War has been as a "support front" for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and "if the war stops, this military support will no longer exist." But, he said, if Israel scales back its military operations without a formal cease-fire agreement and full withdrawal from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less clear.
"If what happens in Gaza is a mix between cease-fire and no cease-fire, war and no war, we can't answer [how we would react]," Kassem said during a 40-minute interview.
In recent weeks, with Gaza cease-fire talks faltering, fears have increased of an escalation on the Lebanon-Israel front. Hezbollah has traded near-daily strikes with Israeli forces along their border over the past nine months. The low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Here are the latest updates from South Lebanon:
- Israeli artillery fire targeted houses in Rabb Thalathin and Houla (district of Marjayun), according to residents who spoke to our correspondent.
- An Israeli drone targeted Houla, residents report. The strike targeted a car parked by the roadside that has been out of use for a long time, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that he will not "succumb to the sirens of defeatism," adding that the war in Gaza would end when all objectives are "achieved."
Reacting to statements published in the American newspaper The New York Times — which indicated that Israel would be ready to end the war without achieving its objectives — Netanyahu stated that this "will not happen."
"We will not succumb to the sirens of defeatism," he responded, according to a statement from his office.
"The war will end when Israel has achieved all its objectives, including the destruction of Hamas and the release of all hostages," he added, according to remarks reported by AFP.
Hezbollah announced that it targeted Kiryat Shmouna, facing Houla (Marjayoun) with "tens of Katyusha rockets." The party stated that this attack was "in response to the Israeli attack on Zalloutieh," in Sour district, which led to the death of a civilian.
There are 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza, according to the UN humanitarian coordinator for the territory, Sigrid Kaag, who expressed being "deeply concerned" about the new evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army.
"More than a million people are once again displaced, seeking shelter and safety, bringing the total number of displaced people across Gaza to 1.9 million," Kaag said at the UN headquarters, AFP reported.
Hezbollah announced that it targeted the Israeli Jal al-Alam site, facing the Lebanese town of Naqoura, with artillery shells at 4:45 p.m.
The envoy of U.S. President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, is set to meet with French special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris on Wednesday for ongoing discussions on Lebanon, sources familiar with the meeting told AFP.
"Jean-Yves Le Drian is meeting again with Amos Hochstein, as he regularly does," said those close to Le Drian.
According to two other sources, Hochstein will also meet with an advisor from the Elysée Palace's diplomatic team, which has been working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for months to prevent escalation between Lebanon and Israel. The visit follows France's expression last week of "extreme concern about the seriousness of the situation in Lebanon."
Earlier in mid-June, Hochstein traveled between Israel and Lebanon to facilitate de-escalation between the two parties amid a cease-fire in Gaza.
The funeral of killed Hezbollah member sheikh Youssef al-Hajj Hassan in the town of Hosh al-Nabi in the Bekaa district. (Credit: Sara Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
"There has been no respite in the fighting on the ground," reports Tarek Abou Azzoum, al-Jazeera's correspondent in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
"We continue to receive statements from Hamas's military wing, saying they successfully ambushed multiple Israeli forces who were attempting to carry out a deep military incursion into the central areas of the Shujayea neighborhood," he added
Children and women queue for bread in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Tuesday 2 July 2024 (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
The Israeli forces said in a statement on X that they “will continue to fight Hamas everywhere in the Gaza Strip” and prepare for a war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group in the north.
The army said the Gaza war would continue until all Israeli captives are free, and the residents of northern and southern Israel could return safely to their homes.
The announcement comes hours after a New York Times report, quoting security sources, claimed the army leadership wants a Gaza truce even if it keeps the Palestinian group in power for the time being.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group stated on Telegram that its fighters targeted Israeli troops inside a building in eastern Gaza City.
The statement added a TBG (thermobaric) rocket was used in the attack, killing and wounding soldiers. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli army.
At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the Zeitoun neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, according to Palestinian reports. The reports added that others were injured in the strike, which targeted an area where vendors were present.
Netanyahu's office says the government wasn't aware of the decision to release al-Shifa hospital director, Haaretz reported.
Following the reports of "torture" by al-Shifa hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Israel seeks to prevent similar future incidents, which Haaretz described as "embarrassing."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside Shin Bet and Israel Prison Service chiefs, has distanced himself from the "controversial" release. The political leadership added that they remain reluctant to release "high value" individuals, as they may serve as "bargaining chips" in the negotiation with Hamas.
Amidst the political fallout, a source close to Netanyahu stated, “Netanyahu is not interested in cracking down, as a result, we must ensure events like this don't happen again,” Haaretz reported. According to Haaretz, while awaiting the Shin Bet's investigation findings, Netanyahu has ordered the creation of a task force to oversee and approve future detainee releases
Abu Salmiya, was arrested in late November during the first of two Israeli raids on the facility in Gaza City, and was released along with 50 other Palestinian detainees. Their release has sparked an outcry in Israel and was criticized across the political spectrum, as well as by families of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct.7.
At a news conference Monday, Abu Salmiya alleged Palestinian detainees suffered “severe torture” and had medical treatment denied. “My little finger was broken. I was repeatedly subjected to hitting on the head, causing bleeding multiple times. There was almost daily torture in the Israeli prisons,” he told reporters.
To find out more about Dr. Salmiya and other prisoners went through in Israeli detention, press here.
Gaza's health ministry said Tuesday that at least 25 people had been killed in 24 hours, bringing the death toll in nearly nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants to 37,925.
A statement from the ministry added that 87,141 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
Following the strike in the vicinity of Boustan (Sour) in southern Lebanon:
A farmer, Mohieddine Abou Delleh, died in hospital from his injuries after the Israeli strike on the surroundings of a mosque between the villages of Zalloutieh and Boustan around 1:45 p.m.
According to the village mukhtar, as reported by L'Orient Today's correspondent, the victim was returning from the field where they had harvested wheat in the company of Syrian workers. They were targeted by a bomb dropped by Israeli planes in front of her home in Boustan. Two of the workers were also injured in the same attack.
An update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
Israeli jets carried out an airstrike targeting the border town of Boustan (Sour), according to local residents. The strike specifically targeted an area near the mosque built between Zallutieh and Boustan. Ambulances were immediately dispatched to the scene.
The UN refugee agency (UNRWA) condemned the latest Israeli evacuation order, saying that around 250,000 people will have to flee Khan Younis "even though no place in Gaza is safe."
“Just weeks after residents were forced to return to a devastated camp in Khan Younis, Israeli authorities have issued new evacuation orders from the area. Once again, families are facing forced displacement,” Gaza’s main humanitarian agency said on X.
At least 8,572 Palestinian students have been killed in Gaza and 100 in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, the state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing the Education Ministry.
A security source told L'Orient that the Taybeh electrical relay (Marjayoun) had not ultimately been targeted by a missile fired by an Israeli drone this morning, as we had reported earlier, citing an EDL source in Marjayoun as well as residents.
The explosions heard at the station were caused by a malfunction, resulting in an explosion noise and a short circuit in the high-voltage lines, which caused a fire, the security source explained.
They added that some people thought it was an airstrike due to the presence of several drones flying over the Taybeh region at that time.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the Israeli government's decision to supply electricity to a sewage and water desalination plant in Gaza.
“We are restoring Gaza with our own hands … I call on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to stop this folly,” Smotrich said on X.
In southern Lebanon, the electrical relay next to which a missile fired by an Israeli drone exploded in Taybeh (Marjayoun) in the morning ultimately suffered no damage, according to a source at Electricité du Liban.
The Israeli army estimates that an additional four weeks are needed to complete its military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster, cited by Al Jazeera.
The report claims the military needs several more weeks in order to eliminate the remaining tunnels in the city.
An adviser to Iran's supreme leader warned in an interview with the Financial Times published on Tuesday that if Israel launched a general offensive against Hezbollah, it would risk triggering a regional war in which Tehran and the "Axis of Resistance" would support the Lebanese militant movement by "all means."
Kamal Kharrazi, foreign affairs adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the Islamic Republic was "not interested" in a regional war and urged the United States to pressure Israel to avoid further escalation.
On the night of Saturday to Sunday, several residents of South Lebanon repeatedly heard Israeli fighter jets breaking the sound barrier above their heads. A noise also heard in Beirut, in the Chouf and Mount Lebanon.
So what is this technique and why does the Israeli air force frequently do it? Your answers here.
New update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
- An Israeli drone bombed the town of Taybeh (Marjayoun) with three missiles, according to reports from residents. One of them exploded near an electrical relay that was damaged by the shock, according to a source within Electricité du Liban contacted by L'Orient Today's correspondent.
- Israeli planes flew over South Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier several times. They did the same over the Bekaa, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region.
The Israeli army claimed in a statement relayed on Telegram to have destroyed a one-kilometer-long tunnel in the center of the Gaza Strip, more precisely in the area of the Netzarim corridor (5 km southeast of Gaza City).
The Israeli army also claimed responsibility for destroying "the largest rocket manufacturing site of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Rafah." It also claims to have discovered an "underground facility for manufacturing long-range rocket parts" at the same site.
Israel "could launch an offensive against Lebanon in July, " the German newspaper Bild wrote on Monday. Citing Western diplomatic sources, the newspaper said that "Israel could attack South Lebanon as early as the third or fourth week of July."
The situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border last night:
At around midnight, Israeli artillery fire on Rab al-Thalathine (Marjayoun) according to a security source quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent in South Lebanon.
There have been no other attacks up to this point.
On Monday, dozens of Palestinian prisoners, including the director of Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, were released by Israel and transferred to hospitals in Gaza, according to a medical source.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Salmiya said he was subjected to "severe torture" during his seven months in detention.
The domestic security agency, Shin Bet, has suggested a way "to free up space in detention centers." But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "grave mistake."
Israeli soldiers are continuing their operations launched on June 27 in Shujaiya, a neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.
An AFP correspondent saw helicopters firing on Shujaiya, where Hamas reported fighting.
Between 60,000 and 80,000 people have fled the east and northeast of Gaza City in recent days, according to the U.N.
The Israeli army ordered a new evacuation of sectors of the governorates of Khan Younis and Rafah on Monday, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had already had to flee the fighting several weeks ago.
Witnesses said that many residents had left these areas and that displaced people from eastern Khan Younis, including children and elderly people, were sleeping on the ground in the streets.
AFP footage showed displaced families fleeing once again amid the ruins in Khan Younis, on foot or crammed onto trailers.
An AFP journalist and witnesses reported a multitude of Israeli strikes Tuesday morning against Khan Younis, in the south of the besieged Palestinian enclave, and its surroundings.
In addition, eight people died and more than thirty wounded arrived at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after bombings on this city as well as on Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, according to testimonies from Palestinian Red Crescent caregivers and a medical source within the health establishment.
Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
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