Nasrallah threatens to strike new towns if Israel 'continues to target civilians': Day 285 of the Gaza war

Thank you for joining us for today's coverage of the Gaza war.

The Knesset has rejected a bill to establish a commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 incident, Haaretz reports. Some 53 coalition deputies opposed the proposal, submitted separately by Orit Farkash (National Unity) and Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid), while 51 supported it.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid reacted to the bill's rejection by declaring that government members “are afraid of a commission of inquiry because they are responsible for the most serious catastrophe in the state's history - and they know it”.

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz declared that “everything will be revealed when the protocols and testimonies are heard by the state commission of inquiry”.

Four shells fired from Israeli artillery targeted the town of Kfar Kila and the outskirts of Burj al-Muluk (Marjayoun district), breaking the calm that had prevailed since this morning.

Israeli forces have bombarded areas of the central Gaza Strip, killing at least nine Palestinians, Reuters reports.

An Israeli air strike around midnight on a house in al-Zawida, in the center of the Palestinian enclave, killed eight people, according to health officials.

In Rafah, where two people were killed in an air strike, tanks raided the northern part of the city before withdrawing, a tactic Israeli forces have used in other areas before undertaking deeper incursions. The Israeli army said troops were “pursuing precise intelligence-led operational activity in the Rafah area.” It said it had eliminated what it called a terrorist cell and a launcher that had been used to fire at the troops.

National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz replied to Prime Minister Netanyahu's Knesset speech saying that Netanyahu had delayed entry to Khan Yunis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Haaretz.

For his part, opposition leader Yair Lapid told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he did not intend to tell the U.S. Congress that he was in favor of a hostage agreement, he should cancel his visit to the United States.

Israeli artillery bombarded the Shebaa forests with flares, residents told our correspondent in South Lebanon.

Gaza's Health Ministry has announced a new death toll of 38,794 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war.

At least 81 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, it said in a statement, adding that 89,364 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah asserted that if Israeli attacks stopped in southern Lebanon, the party concerned by negotiations would be the Lebanese state, not Hezbollah.

He also threatened to attack new towns on Israeli territory if Israel continues to kill civilians in Lebanon.

Read more here. 

- Hezbollah said it bombed yesterday the settlements of Kfar Hoshen, facing Yaroun, Or HaGanuz, “Bar Yohai and Meron with dozens of Katyusha rockets. All settlements are close to each other and face Yaroun village in south Lebanon (Bint Jbeil district).

- After 11:30 p.m., Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district).

- Israeli drones targeted the town of Umm al-Tout (Sour district).

- At 12 a.m., a guided surface-to-surface missile targeted a house in the town of Yarin, without recording any casualties.

- After 2 a.m., Hezbollah bombed the settlements of Sa’ar and Gesher Haziv in northern Israel with dozens of Katyusha rockets.

The situation along the Lebanese southern border:

- Yesterday at 9 p.m., Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the town of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil district), destroying it.

- Israeli warplanes targeted a building containing residential apartments and shops in the center of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun district), destroying it.

- Hezbollah said it targeted yesterday the headquarters of the Sahel Battalion in the Beit Hillel barracks, which faces Khiam (Nabatieh district) in south Lebanon, with a squadron of Katyusha rockets.

- After 10 p.m., Israeli warplanes targeted the town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) twice.

- Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of the towns of Beit Lif and Ramya (Bint Jbeil district).

- Hezbollah said it bombed yesterday the Kabri settlement, which faces Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon (Sour district), with Katyusha rockets.

- After 11 p.m., Israeli artillery shelled Wadi Hassan area and the outskirts of Tayr Harf (Sour district).

In Lebanon, two Syrian nationals were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle in Arnoun, in the Nabatiyeh district.

Another strike killed three Syrian Kurdish children in Umm al-Tout (Sour), while they were playing in front of their house, located near a farm where their parents work, according to local sources quoted by our correspondent.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement today claiming that Palestinian armed groups in Gaza committed “hundreds” of war crimes during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“It's impossible for us to put a precise figure on the cases,” Belkis Wille, associate director of the human rights organization, told a press conference, adding that "there [were] obviously hundreds that day."

These war crimes “include deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian property, intentional killings of detainees, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, mutilation and theft of remains, the use of human shields, and acts of looting and pillaging,” says the detailed report. 

On Tuesday, French diplomats denounced “the strikes of recent days,” which “have added to the catastrophic human toll among the civilian population.”

Several NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde, denounced the “massacres” in “security zones.”

Israel stepped up its strikes on the Gaza Strip, where five bombings, including on a school housing displaced persons, left 57 dead, according to local authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the army must “further increase the pressure on Hamas.” The Palestinian Islamist movement “is under increasing pressure because we are hurting it, eliminating its top commanders and thousands of its terrorists. This is exactly the time to step up the pressure,” he added.

Good morning! Thank you for joining us for today's live coverage of the Gaza war and its regional implications.