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U.S. President Joe Biden praised the mobilization of an Israeli team to negotiate on Gaza, the White House reported, as cited by AFP.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Biden during a phone call that Israel had decided to send a delegation to negotiate the release of hostages with Hamas but would only end the war in Gaza after "achieving all its objectives," according to a statement from Netanyahu's office cited by Reuters.
Saudi Arabia's main humanitarian agency stated on Thursday that the Israeli closure of Rafah and other crossings into Gaza was hindering its efforts to deliver lifesaving food, with some supplies at risk of spoiling, reported Reuters.
"We have hundreds of trucks now piling up in Rafah due to the closure of Rafah and other corridors. We are facing significant restrictions in reaching the people of Gaza," said Abdullah al Rabeeah, head of the state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief).
Rabeeah, whose agency has provided over $6 billion in aid globally in recent years, warned that food on hundreds of trucks waiting to enter Gaza and stored in warehouses could be nearing expiry due to the closure of the crossing since May 7, when Israel intensified its offensive.
Here are the latest developments from South Lebanon:
- An Israeli drone targeted a neighborhood in the eastern part of the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), according to residents.
- An Israeli airstrike bombed Aita el-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).
- Israeli artillery fire "heavily shelled" Naqoura and its surroundings, resulting in intense fires, according to security sources and residents. The sources counted 40 heavy-caliber shells that fell within 50 minutes on a space no more than 600 meters long.
- Israeli artillery fire also targeted the vicinity of Dhaira (Sour district), according to residents.
⚡The Israeli army announced the death of a Major killed today "by a projectile launched from Lebanon onto the Golan Heights," as reported by Haaretz.
He was the deputy company commander in Unit 8679 of the Yiftach formation in the Israeli army.
Hezbollah announced that it targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in Adamit, across the Lebanese village of Alma Shaab (Sour). The announcement added the attack "caused a fire resulting in casualties among those present."
Hezbollah fighters and supporters reach to touch the coffin of Hezbollah Military Commander Mohammed Naameh Nasser, also known as "Hajj Abu Naameh", during his funeral in the southern Beirut suburb on July 4, 2024. Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launche
Norway condemned Israel's decision to "legalize" five settlement outposts in occupied Palestinian territory, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said today, Reuters reported.
He added that Norway found it "totally unacceptable" that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of 6,016 housing units for settlements in the West Bank, according to Reuters.
Norway, which recognized Palestine as a state in May, has been a vocal supporter of a two-state solution. Interim peace accords were brokered in Norway in the 1990s.
Here are the latest updates from the Lebanon-Israel border:
- Hezbollah targeted Israeli spying equipment in the Israeli town of Metula, facing Khiam (Marjayoun) at 4:30 p.m.
- Israeli artillery targeted Kfar Kila and Odaisseh, both in the Marjayoun district, residents reported.
The Belgian embassy in Beirut has reiterated its call for its citizens to "leave Lebanon" or avoid traveling to the country, citing the "intensification of hostilities at the border with Israel."
In its message, the Belgian chancery reminded citizens that these recommendations have been in place since October 20.
It emphasized that "the risk of the conflict extending to other regions of Lebanon remains present" and warned that in the event of a deterioration in the situation, it might be unable to provide consular services.
To read more about what came in the statement, press here.👈
Israel has struck two UNRWA schools, sheltering displaced Gazans, and claimed that they were being used as "Hamas headquarters," Haaretz reported, citing the Israeli army.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves the departure of a negotiating team for hostage release talks, Haaretz reported
Civil defense personnel from the Islamic Mission Scouts participated in firefighting operations following the Israeli airstrike on the town of Bani Haiyyan in the Marjayoun district. (Credit: Islamic Mission Scouts)
⚡ Hezbollah has vowed to continue its response to the assassination of one of its military commanders, Mohammad Nasser, also known as "Hajj Abou Nehmé," in South Lebanon. Following two initial attacks, the group has indicated that future actions will target "unexpected places."
The warning to Israel was issued by Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah's executive council, during the funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs for the senior officer killed yesterday in a drone strike in al-Hosh, near Sour.
To read more about what came in Sadieddine's speech, press here.👈
Here is an update on the situation in southern Lebanon and northern Israel:
- An Israeli strike targeted a poultry farm in Al-Qantara (Marjayoun), local residents reported.
- An Israeli drone strike targeted the town of Deir Seryan (Marjayoun), local residents reported.
- Hezbollah targeted the Israeli Bayyad Blida site at 12:15 PM, facing the southern Lebanese town of Blida (Marjayoun).
Al Jazeera's photojournalist, Ahmed Ghanem, from the town of Kfar Shouba (Hasbaya) was injured an hour ago when his house was targeted by an Israeli artillery shell, according to residents of the town. A medical source stated that Ghanem was wounded by shrapnel in the head and is currently being treated at a hospital.
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip has given its daily update on the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza, saying that 38,011 people have been killed and 87,445 injured since hostilities began last October.
It added that 58 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, and 179 injured.
The "martyr" poster for Hezbollah member Hadi Ahmad Shreim. (Credit: Hezbollah Media Office)
Hezbollah announced the death of its member Hadi Shreim, born in 1996 in the town of Houla (Marjayoun). According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, he is the victim of this morning's Israeli strike on Houla.
By L'Orient Today's count, 365 Hezbollah members have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon since Oct. 8.
The situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel:
- After the series of Hezbollah strikes, the Israeli army said it had launched attacks "on rocket launching sites in southern Lebanon," according to its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, on X. He specified that rockets sent by Hezbollah had been intercepted, but that the fall of some shells and interceptor missiles caused "fires in several areas, which were brought under control."
- Israeli artillery targeted Naqoura (Sour), according to residents.
- Continuous overflights were observed in several regions, as well as the Israeli air force breaking the sound barrier on several occasions.
- Hezbollah claimed responsibility for two new strikes, which are not related to the response to the death of military commander "Hajj Abou Naame." These shots targeted the sites of "al-Baghdadi," opposite Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), and "Marj," opposite Markaba (Marjayoun). This second attack was carried out using Burkan missiles.
Hezbollah stated that, in response to the "aggression and assassination” carried out by Israel in the al-Hosh area of Sour yesterday, it launched an aerial attack using a squadron of drones on the following Israeli sites:
- The headquarters of the newly established 91st Brigade in Ayyelait barracks, close to the Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras in the Marjayoun district.
- The headquarters of the 7th Armored Brigade in Katsavia barracks, in the occupied Golan heights.
- The headquarters of the Northern Region in Dado base, near Bint Jbeil.
- The intelligence base of the Northern Region Michar, near Maroun al-Ras.
- The headquarters of the 810th Harmoun Brigade in Ma'aleh Golan barracks, in the occupied Golan heights.
- The main permanent base of the 146th Elania Brigade, in northern Israel, some 30 km from the Lebanese border.
- The Golan Brigade headquarters, in the occupied Golan Heights.
- The Egoz unit in Shraga barracks, in northern Israel, a few km from the Lebanese border.
Two people were injured in a strike on northern Israel, Haaretz reported, shortly after Hezbollah claimed to have responded to "the assassination in al-Housh" of a senior party official by launching "more than 200 missiles of different types" against barracks located on the occupied Golan Heights.
Hezbollah responded to the "assassination in al-Housh" of a military leader of the party, by launching "more than 200 missiles of different types" against several barracks located on the occupied Golan Heights. The following were targeted in particular: The barracks of Eylet, Katsavia, Gamla, Nafah and Yarden.
This morning's strike on Houla left one person dead, according to a security source. The identity of the victim was not immediately clear.
Update on Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon:
- Local residents reported artillery fire on Odaisseh (Marjayoun).
- The outskirts of Kfar Shouba, Kfar Hammam, Shebaa (Hasbaya) and Khiam (Marjayoun) were targeted by artillery shells.
The Israeli military issued warnings of rockets and airstrikes throughout northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, AFP reported. The sirens sounded from 10:00 a.m. along the border with Lebanon, from Nahariya in the west to the occupied Golan Heights in the east, the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah claimed to have struck with Katyusha rockets "a new position of Israeli enemy soldiers in Kfar Blum," a town in northern Israel located opposite the Lebanese village of Meis el-Jabal (Marjayoun) this morning. This strike was carried out in response to an Israeli strike on Shebaa (Hasbaya), where "a civilian woman was injured." Shortly before, a security source had reported that rockets had been fired from southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions.
In Israel, Haaretz reports that warning sirens sounded repeatedly and "ten rockets" were launched, some of which were intercepted.
The conflict in Gaza has had repercussions as far away as Australia, where pro-Palestinian activists have unfurled banners reading "Palestine will be free" and "No peace on stolen land" on the facade of the National Parliament in Canberra.
The protest comes amid divisions within the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who suspended a Muslim senator who voted in favor of Australia recognizing a Palestinian state, contrary to her party's policy. Senator Fatima Payman said she was "banned" after supporting the parliamentary motion, put forward by the Greens.
The activist group Renegade Activists told Australian media it would not forget or forgive Albanese, whom it accuses of complicity in the Gaza war.
An update on the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border:
- At 11 p.m., a fighter plane bombed Berghoz twice in the Hasbaya district.
- Around midnight, artillery fire intermittently targeted the valley near Hasbaya.
- At 8:30 a.m., an Israeli drone fired two missiles near the Houla stadium (Marjayoun).
- A fighter plane bombed Ramieh (Marjayoun).
- A little before 9 a.m., two drone strikes targeted Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil): The first targeted an empty plot of land on the outskirts and the other a district of the village, according to local residents.
As the Gaza Strip is ravaged by nearly nine months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, the group announced yesterday that it had sent mediators new "ideas" to end the war.
Israel confirmed that it was "evaluating" the proposed ideas from Hamas on a deal to release hostages held in Gaza and would respond to mediators, in a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
Hamas said it had "exchanged some ideas with the mediating brothers with the aim of ending the aggression against [its] Palestinian people." Hamas said last night that it had discussed the issue with officials from Qatar and Egypt and had contacts with Turkey.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh "contacted the mediating brothers in Qatar and Egypt about the ideas that the movement is discussing with them" with a view to an agreement to end the war in Gaza, the movement said in a statement. The Hamas leader also discussed with "Turkish officials ... the latest developments," the statement said.
Hamas insists that any agreement must include a permanent cease-fire.
Make sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
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