Thank you for joining our live coverage of the Gaza war and its implications on the region, particularly Lebanon.
We will resume reporting in the morning.
Israeli airstrikes targeted a house in the village of Tayr Harfa (Sour), a security source told our correspondent.
A U.S. ship unloaded today in Israel's Ashdod Port 3,577 humanitarian aid packages containing food, water and medical equipment for Gaza, the Haaretz reported citing the Israeli military spokesperson's unit.
U.S. Vice President and Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris said today that the Gaza deal "needs to get done," reported Reuters.
Sources confirmed to the pan-Arab news channel al-Mayadeen, close to Hezbollah, that "it has been verified from within the Israeli entity that Hezbollah indeed succeeded in reaching and hitting the Israeli intelligence Unit 8200 in the operation known as 'The Day of the Fortieth,' which was carried out last Sunday in response to the assassination of its military commander Fouad Shukur," reported al-Nashra.
The sources indicated that "it has been confirmed that the six drones accurately hit their targets within the 'Gilelot' base, located deep inside Israel near Tel Aviv."
The sources highlighted that "the Israeli occupation established a tight security cordon around the base after the operation, extending several kilometers. The strict security cordon lasted for several hours, preventing both military personnel and civilians from approaching or entering the base."
However, the Israeli army said that the Glilot base had not been hit.
The Israeli military claims to have targeted Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, according to Haaretz.
Yesterday, the Israeli military launched a missile at an aid convoy in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of five individuals in the vehicle belonging to the nonprofit American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), reported the Washington Post.
Anera described the incident as “shocking” in a statement issued to the Washington Post on Friday.
Anera confirmed that the killed individuals were affiliated with a local transportation company and is urgently seeking more information about the event.
The Israeli military claimed that the convoy had been commandeered by militants.
The convoy was on its way to deliver medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah. Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s Country Director for Palestine, stated that the convoy's route had been coordinated with the Israeli military.
This fatal strike in southern Gaza occurred just days after a World Food Program truck was also targeted in the region. The escalating attacks on humanitarian efforts have raised significant concerns about the coordination of aid routes with the Israeli military. According to the United Nations, over 280 humanitarian workers have been killed since the war began.
At 5.45pm, Hezbollah claimed to have successfully targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers at Nazareth mountain, which faces the Lebanese village of Rmeish in the Bint Jbeil district.
Here are the latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
- The Israeli airstrikes targeted the villages of Ziqine and Yater in the Sour district, residents of the villages told L'Orient-Le Jour.
- The Israeli army launched airstrikes on Yaroun in Bint Jbeil district.
- At 4:05 p.m. Hezbollah claimed it targeted a position of Israeli soldiers in the Metulla site with an exploding drone.
- At 4:15 p.m., Hezbollah claimed it attacked Israeli soldiers in the Bir'im forest, opposite the village of Rmeish (Bint Jbeil).
Here are the latest updates from South Lebanon:
- The Israeli army shelled the southwestern outskirts of Khiam and residential areas in Kfar Kila (Marjayoun).
- An Israeli airstrike targeted the village of Zebqine (Sour).
The Civil Defense of Islamic Health Committee, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that it had actively responded to emergency calls, providing medical assistance, firefighting, and road clearing in the districts of Sour, Bint Jbeil, and Marjayoun.
In a statement, the Committee said its teams hospitalized 47 people over the past two days and extinguished 25 fires, including those caused by Israeli shelling and bad weather.
"Our teams have been working tirelessly to manage the fires and provide assistance in the affected villages," said a spokesman for the Islamic Health Committee's Civil Defense.
The Israeli army announced that it had completed an operation in southern and central Gaza, claiming to have killed "more than 250 terrorists" in a month.
The "98th Division has completed its operation in the Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah regions, after about a month of simultaneous ground and underground activities".
The Israeli army regularly announces the discovery and destruction of tunnels belonging to Palestinian armed groups.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a strike, at 2:37 p.m., against the Israeli Zebdine site in the disputed Shebaa farms.
Earlier, a security source had told our correspondent that missiles had been launched from Lebanon towards Israeli army positions in Shebaa.
The party also claimed responsibility for a strike, at 2:47p.m., against the Israeli Ramtha site in the disputed Kfar Shuba hills.
Here are the latest updates on the situation in South Lebanon this afternoon:
- The Israeli army shelled the village of Alma al-Shaab and the outskirts of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), according to our correspondent.
- Israeli heavy machinegun fire targeted Mari, in the Hasbaya district, from a position in the disputed Ghajar village.
- Israeli artillery hit the outskirts of Shebaa (Hasbaya) and Odaisseh (Marjayoun). Israel threw flammable materials over Odaisseh and its surroundings, starting fires in the area, according to witnesses among the volunteers of the al-Rissala Scouts (affliated with the Amal movement).
Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank "are worsening a climate of unprecedented instability and violence," France said on Friday, "deeply concerned" by the deterioration of the situation in general in the Palestinian Territories.
In a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris also reiterated its opposition to colonization in the occupied West Bank, "which must cease immediately."
In Gaza, where Israel is at war with the Palestinian Hamas, "the intensity of Israeli attacks targeting schools and shelters for displaced persons has led to an unacceptable number of civilian casualties," stated the Foreign Ministry.
"The imperative of respecting international humanitarian law applies to everyone, including Israel," added the ministry, deeming attacks targeting humanitarian personnel "unacceptable."
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the situation in the occupied West Bank, where Israel is conducting a deadly military operation, was "clearly unacceptable."
"There is currently a surge of violence in the West Bank that is clearly unacceptable," he said at a press briefing at the Quai d'Orsay, following a meeting with his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne.
"This does nothing to help restore peace," and "it jeopardizes the two-state solution," he said. He reiterated Madrid's condemnation of colonization and said that "the situation in the West Bank was one of permanent violence."
The British Foreign Office said it was "deeply concerned by the methods employed by Israel" in its operation in the occupied West Bank, which has left at least 19 people dead in the space of 48 hours and called for an "urgent de-escalation."
"We recognize Israel's right to defend itself against threats to its security, but we are deeply concerned by the methods employed by Israel and by reports of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement. "The need for de-escalation is urgent," they added.
Latest from southern Lebanon according to residents in the area:
- The Israeli army shelled the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil)
- The Israeli army opened fire with automatic weapons on the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun)
- Artillery shells struck the vicinity of Naqoura (Sour)
The Israeli army said that it killed three Palestinian fighters on the third day of the operation in the northern occupied West Bank, claiming that they belonged to Hamas.
Witnesses told AFP of an Israeli strike on a car in Zababdeh, southeast of Jenin. They said Israeli soldiers inspected the car after the strike. An AFP journalist at the scene saw human remains being removed from the car by paramedics.
At a meeting of Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet last night, the government approved the Israeli army's continued presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, according to sources present at the meeting cited in Haaretz. The Israeli presence in this corridor is among the obstacles to the signing of a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
According to Haaretz, eight of the ministers present were in favor of the decision, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant opposed it. The ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir abstained from voting.
According to Netanyahu, the deadly attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 was due in particular to the failure of effective surveillance of this area, which would have allowed Hamas to bring in weapons via tunnels under this corridor.
The Forum of Families of Hostages Held by Hamas responded to the cabinet's decision on the Philadelphia Corridor by accusing Netanyahu of "harming the chances of an agreement for the return of the hostages," according to Haaretz.
Israel informed the United States that an initial examination revealed that shots were fired at a clearly marked World Food Program (WFP) vehicle in the Gaza Strip following a "communication error" between Israeli military units, the deputy U.S. envoy to the United Nations was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for "expanding the stated goals of the war in Gaza" to allow residents to return to communities in northern Israel that were evacuated due to Hezbollah attacks in Lebanon.
"Our mission on the northern front is clear: to ensure the safe return of northern communities to their homes. To achieve this goal, we must broaden the aims of the war to include the safe return of residents of northern Israel to their homes," Gallant said, according to Reuters.
"This will in no way diminish our absolute commitment to dismantling Hamas and bringing back the hostages," Gallant added, according to a statement from his office.
The U.N. called for an "immediate" end to Israel's deadly operation in the occupied West Bank, saying the suffering of Gaza residents was "beyond what any human being should bear." The Israeli army said it killed seven Palestinian fighters yesterday, on the second day of a major operation against armed groups that has left at least 16 dead in 48 hours.
Expressing his "deep concern," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday called on the social network X for its "immediate end," condemning "strongly the loss of human life, particularly of minors." The U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, warned of the continuation of "military operations near hospitals" and the "serious damage" inflicted on infrastructure, cutting off electricity and telecommunications in places.
Kamala Harris reiterated her support for Israel's right "to defend itself" and answered "no" to the question of whether, as president, she would suspend American arms deliveries to Israel, while the war in Gaza has continued for nearly eleven months.
In an interview on CNN, the Democrat returned to the attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, condemning this violence, then on the war waged in response by Israel in the Gaza Strip, saying that "far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," and called for "a cease-fire," while rejecting a "change in policy on weapons.".
The United States yesterday called on Israel to "take concrete steps" to stop shooting at U.N. personnel after bullets hit a U.N. vehicle at an Israeli army checkpoint in Gaza.
Washington has called on its Israeli ally to "correct the problems within their system that allowed this to happen," Deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told the U.N. Security Council, noting that after nearly eleven months of war between Israel and Hamas, such events were "all too common."
In southern Lebanon, the night was marked by a series of Israeli airstrikes, after 1 a.m., in the Sour region. More than ten missiles were fired at:
- The Hamoul region, on the outskirts of Naqoura;
- The village of Ain al-Zarka, located on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa;
- Woods located between Jibbain and Yarine;
- The outskirts of Majdal Zoun;
- And the western outskirts of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil).
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack yesterday evening around 10:30 p.m. against the Israeli site of Bayyad Blida (opposite the Lebanese town of Blida).
Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
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