Trump to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday at Florida residence: Day 291 of the Gaza war

Thank you for joining us for today's coverage of the Gaza war and its regional impacts. Make sure to tune in tomorrow for all the latest updates.

Donald Trump announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet him this week at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, during Netanyahu's official visit to Washington.

Trump initially mentioned a meeting on Wednesday, before later stating it would take place on Thursday, on his Truth Social network.

Update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

* An Israeli missile was fired at a house in the locality of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) without causing any casualties.

* Hezbollah reported its 6th and 7th operations of the day, targeting the Israeli site of Sammaka (disputed Kfar Shuba hills) at 6:45 p.m. and a radar at the Birket Richa site, opposite Houla (Marjayoun district), at 7:40 PM.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the agreement between Hamas and its Palestinian rivals for a shared governance, calling it "an important step toward strengthening Palestinian unity," according to his spokesperson.

"Any steps toward unity are welcomed and encouraged. Palestinian unity is crucial for peace and security, advancing the Palestinian people's aspirations for self-determination, and for a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state," Stephane Dujarric told the press. He added that the Secretary-General urges Palestinian movements to "overcome their differences through dialogue."

The Civil Defense of al-Rissala Scouts (an organization affiliated with the Amal Movement) reported that its members took part in firefighting operations following the Israeli attacks on the town of Qabrikha (Marjayoun district).

Photo of the minaret of the Tallousé mosque which was damaged by Israeli fire. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)

Also in southern Lebanon:

* Hezbollah announced its fifth operation of the day, during which it fired ten Katyusha rockets at the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The party claimed that the attack was launched in retaliation for the Israeli bombardment of Tallousa in the Marjayoun district, which damaged the minaret of the local mosque.

* Israeli artillery bombarded the neighborhoods of Kfar Hamam (Hasbaya district) and the outskirts of Khiam, Kfar Kila and Odaisseh (Marjayoun).

* Israeli drones targeted the Wadi el Assafir area, near Khiam (Marjayoun).

Hezbollah announced the death of one of its fighters, Sadek Atef Atwi, who was born in 1989 and is from Shaqra village (Bint Jbeil district) in southern Lebanon. Atwi was killed in the Israeli airstrike which targeted a vehicle near his hometown earlier today.

His death brings the total number of party members killed in Lebanon and Syria since Oct. 8 to 377.

Israeli drones targeted the outskirts of the towns of Kfar Hamam and Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), according to residents.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before Congress tomorrow. This breaks the usual diplomatic tradition where allied leaders are typically received by the second-highest official in the state.

Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of Qabrikha (Marjayoun district), triggering a major fire, according to residents.

- Hezbollah launched a squadron of assault drones on the base of Mount Neria, “a battalion leadership headquarters currently occupied by forces from the Golani Brigade,” which faces the Lebanese village Rmeich (Bint Jbeil district). Hezbollah said it successfully targeted the locations of its officers and soldiers "and caused confirmed casualties among them."

- The party also said it targeted the headquarters of the Sahel Battalion in the Beit Hillel barracks, which faces the Lebanese village Khiam (Marjayoun district), with "Falaq" missiles, as well as the al-Marj site, facing the Lebanese village Markaba (Marjayoun district), with a "Burkan" missile.

- Hezbollah said it successfully targeted the Ramim Barracks, “a battalion leadership headquarters currently occupied by forces from the Golani Brigade,” which faces the Lebanese village Houla (Marjayoun district), with heavy artillery shells.

Rocket sirens sound in northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, near Margaliot. 

The Israeli army says several interceptor missiles were fired toward "aerial targets" which entered Israeli territory from Lebanon, and that one was likely shot down.

The Civil Defense of al-Rissala Scouts (an organization affiliated with the Amal Movement) reported that its members took part in fire-fighting operations following phosphorus artillery fire on Kfar Kila (Marjayoun district).

Israeli warplanes bombed Tallousa in the Marjayoun district, according to local residents.

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

- Israeli heavy machine-gun fire targeted Blida (Marjayoun). Residents reported that the fire came from the Israeli site of Bayad Blida, adding that olive trees in the area caught fire.

- Israeli artillery shelled Wadi Hamoul, near Naqoura in the Sour district, according to residents.

- Israeli artillery also targeted the areas around Houla and Markaba (Marjeyoun) and  Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).

- One of the two wounded in the Israeli strike on a van near Shaqra succumbed to his injuries, reported our correspondent in the region.

- Haaretz reported that rocket sirens sounded in many localities in northern Israel, signaling a possible “hostile air infiltration” from Lebanon.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it was “extremely worried” about possible epidemics in Gaza, particularly after isolating type 2 Poliovirus derived from a vaccine strain in sewage samples, reported AFP.

"I'm extremely worried about outbreaks happening in Gaza," Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO team leader for health emergencies in the Palestinian territories, said — pointing to the confirmation late last year that hepatitis A was spreading, "and now we may have polio".

"With the crippled health system, lack of water and sanitation, as well as lack of access of the population to health services... this is going to be a very bad situation," he warned.

"We may have more people dying of different communicable diseases than from the injury-related diseases."

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch said today that the upcoming school year will not start in the evacuated communities in Israel's north, reported Haaretz.

“Unfortunately, the school year will open in the north in a [different] format due to the security complexities in the area,” Kisch said.

The headquarters of al-Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. (Credit: AFP archive photo)

The Israeli government announced on Sunday that it had extended the ban on the Qatari channel al-Jazeera for a further 45 days, for the third time since the enactment of the so-called “Al Jazeera” law on May 5.

The law, adopted at the instigation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, accuses the channel of supporting Hamas.

Amid the Gaza war, the Israeli parliament passed a law specifically targeting the Qatari channel, enabling the Israeli government to censor and close down the offices of foreign media outlets it considered “a threat to the security.”  The closure was for an initial period of 45 days and is subject to renewal by a judge before expiry.

More than 39,090 Palestinians have been killed and 90,147 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza Health Ministry of Health reports, according to Reuters. 

Some 84 Palestinians have been killed and 329 wounded in the last 24 hours, it added.

(Credit: Hezbollah Press Office)

“Even if Israel had the latest and most sophisticated weapons, it would not be able to change the equation” imposed by the Islamic Resistance, said Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc. The MP was speaking at a ceremony in tribute to Habib Maatouk, a Hezbollah fighter killed in southern Lebanon by an Israeli attack.

Imad Kreidieh, CEO of Ogero, the company that manages Lebanon's telecoms network, warned that the network is vulnerable to the risk of Israeli spying, adding that insufficient funding was hampering maintenance operations on the “dilapidated and outdated” network, which was preventing the strengthening of cybersecurity.

For more details on what Kreidieh had to say, press here. 

(Credit: Photo sent by residents to our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah)

⚡ Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle near Shaqra, in the southern Lebanese district of Bint Jbeil, injuring two people, locals report to our correspondent. Ambulances have been dispatched to the scene.

The targeted vehicle is a white van, and the two wounded were transferred to hospitals in the area.

Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, has blasted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah for signing a post-war Gaza agreement in China with Hamas.

“Hamas and Fateh signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war. Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face,” Katz said in a statement quoted by AFP. “In reality, this won't happen because Hamas will be crushed and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar,” he added, after more than nine months of war in Gaza.

U.S. President Biden vowed to devote his remaining six months to trying to end the war between Israel and Hamas and bring back the hostages held in Gaza, reported the Axios.

Biden is scheduled to meet later this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss efforts to reach an agreement on the hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza. “We are on the verge of getting that,” Biden said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “the conditions for a hostage deal are ripening,” during a meeting with the hostages' families in Washington on Monday.

One of Netanyahu's aides told reporters that he is not going to meet with Biden on Tuesday. 

Hezbollah announced that it targeted several Israeli positions yesterday night: 

- At around 9 p.m.: Missiles were fired at a building used by the Israeli military in the Metoula region — opposite Lebanese Naqoura, in the Sour district — “in retaliation for fire aimed at the village of Khiam,” according to a party statement.

- At around 11 p.m.: "dozens of Katyusha rockets" were fired at the Israeli region of Tsuriel, in the Galilee — a position targeted for the first time — in retaliation for shelling that targeted the village of Hanine (Bint Jbeil), which ‘wounded an entire civilian family’, according to the party.

- "In retaliation for the bombardment targeting the village of Aita al-Shaab”, Hezbollah targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the Manara region of northern Israel — facing the Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal .

Here are last night's updates on the developments in South Lebanon, according to security sources and our correspondent in the region, Muntasser Abdalla: 

- After 9 p.m.: Two Israeli shells hit the outskirts of Khiam (Marjayoun), followed by two Israeli airstrikes in the same area.

- Israeli shelling left several neighborhoods without electricity in the village of Wazzani (Hasbaya)

- After 10 p.m.: Israeli artillery targeted Wadi Mozlem and the area around Beit Lif and Ramiyeh (Bint Jbeil), and Israeli drones flew over Sour and the surrounding areas. 

- Two Israeli airstrikes targeted houses in Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil). 

- Israeli airstrikes targeted olive groves near the village of Houla (Marjayoun), and ambulances were dispatched to the scene.

*Meanwhile, in a post on X published today, Arabic-speaking Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said the Israeli army had targeted “a Hezbollah weapons depot in the Aita al-Shaab area” and “infrastructures in Houla and AIta al-Shaab.”

⚡ A member of the Hamas political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzook, announced on Tuesday that his movement had signed an agreement with other Palestinian factions including its rival Fateh, following a meeting in China, reported AFP. 

“Today, we sign an agreement of national unity, and we declare that the way to complete this process is national unity. We are committed to national unity, and we are calling for it,” he declared.

Israeli strikes in the north of the Gaza Strip yesterday evening left 12 people dead in Gaza City and four in the Jabalia camp, according to the official spokesman for civil defense in the Gaza Strip quoted by AFP.

Also yesterday, the Hostages Forum announced the deaths of two men held hostage in Gaza. These deaths are a “severe reminder of the urgency” of freeing the hostages, the Forum said, without specifying the circumstances of their deaths.

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in “Israeli occupation attacks in the Khan Younes governorate since this morning and until now,” Gaza's health ministry said yesterday.

Thousands of Palestinians fled southern areas of the territory following the Israeli army's temporary evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis, including the al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone.

Contacted by AFP, the army had no immediate reaction. In a statement, however, it claimed that its air force and tanks "struck and eliminated terrorists in the area."

In front of the Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, where the dead and wounded have been transported, heart-wrenching scenes are taking place under the helpless gaze of the carers: a man holds up the corpse of a baby, screaming, a grief-stricken woman bangs her head, people covered in blood look haggard, reported AFP. 

The latest incident comes days after the Gaza health ministry said 92 people were killed in a strike on al-Mawasi, when Israel said it was targeting a Hamas commander

As Israel's war in Gaza continues unabated, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington yesterday, where he is due to deliver a speech to Congress tomorrow. He is due to meet Joe Biden on Thursday, a senior US official told AFP on Monday.

Yesterday, Biden pledged to “continue to work to end the war in Gaza.” His Vice President Kamala Harris, who is in line to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in November, will also meet Netanyahu “this week” in Washington, according to her office.

Good morning! 

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the Gaza war and its implications on the region, particularly Lebanon.