Woman killed in Israeli strike in South Lebanon: Day 334 of the Gaza war

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

We will resume our coverage starting tomorrow morning. 

Hezbollah announced that it launched a salvo of Katyusha missiles at Neot-Mordehai, a settlement in northern Israel targeted for the first time — located around 6 kilometers away from the Lebanese border and opposite the Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun).

Hezbollah said the attack came "in retaliation for Israeli attacks on villages in southern Lebanon, notably Markaba, Talloussa, Qantara and Qabrikha, which led to the martyrdom of one civilian woman and wounded two others."

⚡ "It is possible to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza if we stick to our strategy," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted by Reuters. "We are determined to achieve our war goals ... if we relieve pressure on Hamas by leaving the Philadelphi corridor, we won't get all our hostages back," he said of the strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border, which is a sticking point in the negotiations at this point.

"The conditions for a permanent cease-fire must guarantee a situation where the Philadelphi corridor cannot be used as a smuggling route," Netanyahu added. "As long as this is not the case, we will remain in place."

More updates from South Lebanon: 

- At least four Israeli artillery shells targeted the area around Rashaya al-Foukhar, in the Hasbaya district, our correspondent reported.

- Three Israeli artillery shells hit the area around Houla (Marjayoun), our correspondent added, citing a security source.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack carried out at 7:40 p.m. against Israeli artillery positions in Zaoura, in the occupied Syrian Golan, using Katyusha missiles.

The latest updates in South Lebanon:

- The woman killed in the Israeli strike on Qabrikha (Marjayoun) is Sabah Fahs Oum Zeid, our correspondent reports, citing a medical source. Her husband was also injured and is in critical condition.

- Israeli artillery has again targeted Houla and Qantara, in the Marjayoun district.

- Israeli aircrafts are flying over multiple towns in the south.

The number of Israelis traveling abroad in August dropped by 35% compared with last year's figures, due to the current security situation and the cancellation of flights by many foreign airlines, Haaretz reported.

According to figures released Wednesday by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, cited by Haaretz, 844,400 Israelis traveled abroad in August 2024. This compares with 1.3 million Israelis in August 2023.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has reported the casualty toll from recent Israeli attacks on Qabrikha and Houla, both in the Marjayoun district.

- In Qabrikha, an Israeli artillery strike killed a woman and injured two others, including a twelve-year-old child.

- The Israeli airstrike on Houla resulted in three injuries.

(Credit: Photo sent by al-Rissala Scouts Civil Defense to our correspondent)

Israeli drone strike targeted a home in Qantara, in the Marjayoun, local sources quoted told our correspondent.

The al-Rissala Scouts Civil Defense, affiliated to the Amal movement, also said it had taken part in fire-fighting operations following an earlier airstrike on Qabrikha in the Marjayoun district.

🔴Israeli artillery fire targeted the village of Qabrikha in the Marjayoun district, killing one woman and wounding another, security source told our correspondent.

This afternoon, Talloussa, Qabrikha, and Wadi Slouki, all in the Marjayoun district, were struck by several Israeli artillery shells, with residential areas in Qabrikha hit.

Ambulances were dispatched, and the outskirts of Bani Hayan (Marjayoun) after Israeli artillery shells targeted it. 

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack on the Israeli site of Marj, in the Hounin valley, opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba (Marjayoun), at 4:30 p.m.

Here are the latest developments in South Lebanon:

- An Israeli drone bombed the village of Blida (Marjayoun), according to residents.

- The previously reported Israeli air strike on Houla targeted a house and wounded three people, who were evacuated, according to local residents.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry expressed "total solidarity with Egypt" and condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, describing them as "an obstacle to mediation efforts," Bustros Palace said in a statement.

The ministry also commended "Egypt's considerable efforts to reduce tensions in the region and its role alongside Qatar and the United States in seeking a cease-fire agreement in Gaza."

Netanyahu had stated: "Control of the Philadelphi Corridor ensures that the hostages will not be smuggled out of Gaza. I will not yield to pressure," he added, calling control of the corridor an "existential issue" for Israel.

An Israeli airstrike targeted Houla (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent. Ambulances have been dispatched to the site.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has alleged that the "resurgence of terrorism in the West Bank" is an issue on which the government must "remain focused at all times," adding that "the time will come" to "pull out the roots," Haaretz reported.

Gallant was speaking during an assessment of the situation at an Israeli army base in the West Bank. "Every terrorist must be eliminated; if he surrenders, he must be arrested," added Gallant, asserting that "car bombs and shootings" must be stopped.

Israeli forces have been carrying out military raids in the occupied West Bank for the past week. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health quoted by AFP, more than 30 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since August 28.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Aug. 21, 2024. (Credit: Tobias Schwartz/AFP)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock begins a new visit to the Middle East this evening with the aim of supporting international efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, reported AFP.

During the visit, she will begin her visit in Saudi Arabia then make stops in Jordan, Israel and the occupied West bank. 

"The trip will be Baerbock's ninth to Israel and her 11th to the Middle East since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war," announced one of her spokeswomen, Kathrin Deschauer, at a press conference in Berlin. 

To read more, press here. 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised that Spain would "continue to put pressure" on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the International Criminal Court (ICC), and reaffirmed his full support for the Palestinian cause, reported AFP.

Sanchez confirmed that Madrid intended to maintain its highly critical stance towards Israel in the war in Gaza.

Sanchez — whose government recognized the State of Palestine on May 28, along with Ireland and Norway — also announced that "the first bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine" would take place "by the end of the year."

Switzerland’s government has signed off on a draft law that bans Hamas and classifies it as a “terrorist organization”.

Under the law, which must now be reviewed by parliament, Hamas, its successor groups, and any groups who act on its behalf, would be banned

The Palestinian Health Ministry says 33 people have been killed and 140 wounded since Israel’s large-scale assault in the occupied West Bank started last Wednesday.

Seven of those killed were children, the ministry added.

In its latest war update, the Israel military claimed that it "killed 200 Palestinian fighters and found dozens of weapons in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan area over the last week." They also alleged to have found some of the weapons in “civilian structures.” 

According to Al Jazeera, citing several of its correspondents in Gaza, recent Israeli attacks in and around Rafah have killed numerous civilians, including four women whose bodies were found yesterday in al-Tannour neighborhood.

Here are the latest updates from the Lebanon-Israel border: 

- Hezbollah announced that it targeted the Israeli Rwaisat al-Alam and Samaka sites in the disputed Kfar Shuba hills with missiles at 3:00 pm.

- The party also said its fighters launched artillery shells on the Israeli Hanita site, facing the Lebanese village of Labbouneh (Sour district), at 3:50 p.m.

The World Health Organization has announced the completion of the first phase of its polio vaccination campaign in central Gaza, having administered first doses to 187,000 children.

This effort exceeded its target of 156,000 children for the area, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X.

However, “to ensure no child is missed,” medical teams will continue to offer vaccinations at “four fixed sites” in central Gaza for three more days, he said.

The vaccination campaign will now move to southern Gaza.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Zarit barracks, located across Marwahin in the Sour district, at 2:30 pm with artillery shelling.

Here’s an update on the security situation in southern Lebanon:

*Israeli warplanes targeted the town of Bani Hayyan (Marjayoun district) according to local residents.

*Israeli aircraft carried out airstrikes on the towns of Ainata and Kounin (both in the Bint Jbeil district) and Qabrikha (Marjayoun district) a security source reported.

*A security source reported that an airstrike by warplanes targeted the outskirts of Wadi al-Slouki and Wadi al-Hojeir, both near Houla (Marjayoun district).

Hezbollah said that in retaliation to the Israeli strikes on Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) and Khiam (Marjayoun district,), it shelled the "command headquarters of the second Battalion at the Beit Hillel base," close to Kiryat Shmona, which faces the southern town of Khiam in the Marjayoun district, and Israeli artillery positions in Dishon, a mountain range between Lebanon and Upper Galilee, with Katyusha rockets. The last time Hezbollah targeted Dishon was on March 9.

While Katyusha rockets are not highly accurate, their main advantage lies in their ability to deliver a saturation of fire, which refers to the tactic of using multiple rockets or artillery shells in a concentrated burst to cover a large area with explosive impact.

Haaretz earlier reported that Kiryat Shmona was attacked in Lebanon and that a fire had broken out in an open field as a result of the shelling.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, voiced opposition Wednesday to continuing negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire aimed at freeing hostages, AFP reports.

His remarks came after the United States said Tuesday that it was "time to finalize" a cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This followed Netanyahu's refusal to yield to pressure on the issue during the eleventh month of the war.

"A country where six hostages are murdered in cold blood does not negotiate with the murderers but ends the talks, halts the transfer of fuel and electricity, and crushes them until they collapse," Ben Gvir wrote on the social media platform X.

He was referring to the deaths of six Israeli hostages, who were reportedly shot at close range in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli military.

Sources within Israel’s Justice Ministry told Haaretz that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to decide in the coming days whether to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to Chen Maanit, a reporter for Haaretz, the sources are "cautiously optimistic" that the court will decide against issuing the warrants.

ICC prosecutors have stated that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant, along with Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Deif, and former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Haniyeh was killed in August in Tehran, allegedly by an Israeli strike.

Fires breakout in open fields in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, facing the southern town of Houla in the Marjayoun district, following a rocket barrage fired from Lebanon, according to Haaretz.

Israeli forces have targeted a home in Nuseirat camp, killing at least one person, according to Al Jazeera.

Further south in Khan Younis, Israeli bombardment killed two more people, including a child, who were brought to Nasser Hospital, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Rocket sirens sound in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, facing the southern town of Houla in the Marjayoun district, according to Haaretz. We currently don't have further information about potential strikes from southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions from our correspondent in the south.

Israel’s continued raids in Tulkarem and Jenin in the West Bank. (Credit: Mohammed Torokman/Reuters)

Israeli forces have rounded up 30 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank since last night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Among those apprehended are children and former prisoners, the group said.

Their detentions bring Israel’s total number of arrests in the West Bank since Oct. 7 to more than 10,400, it added.

Here’s an update on the security situation in southern Lebanon:

*Two people were injured in the town of Khiam (Marjayoun district) due to an Israeli airstrike, the Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health announced, noting that the two individuals required admission to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital for further treatment.

*Israeli artillery shelling targeted the town of Shebaa (Hasbaya district) with several shells, local residents reported.

According to residents, Israeli drones attacked the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district).

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of pro-Iranian militias, announced that it targeted the Israeli port of Haifa (in the north) with drones early Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the Israeli army stated that it intercepted one of these drones "coming from the East" before it entered Israeli territory.

Read more here.

The Israeli army announced this morning that it has launched overnight attacks against various "targets" in South Lebanon.

"During the last night, our forces targeted locations inside Lebanon. The air force struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in the Zibqin area in South Lebanon (Bint Jbeil district), which was used to fire rockets into Israeli territory. Hezbollah military buildings in Khiam (Marjayoun) and Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district) were also attacked," stated Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, on X.

The Israeli army also reported artillery fire in Shebaa (Hasbaya), Alma al-Shaab (Marjayoun), and Kfar Kila (Marjayoun).

The Israeli military is continuing its "counterterrorism" operation in the north of the occupied West Bank for the seventh consecutive day. During this operation, three people were killed yesterday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry cited by AFP, bringing the total number of Palestinian deaths since Aug. 28 to 30.

In the meantime, the Israeli offensive in Gaza shows no signs of letting up. In the south, two Palestinians were killed when a shell hit a displaced persons' tent in Khan Younis, according to civil defense sources cited by AFP. In the center, an airstrike targeted a house near Al-Bureij, and artillery fire hit Nuseirat.

In the north, two people were killed and about 30 others were injured, some critically, in an Israeli bombardment of a school in Gaza City, according to civil defense. The Israeli military reported that the strike targeted a Hamas command center located at a site that previously housed a school.

Taking advantage of three-day "humanitarian pauses," an anti-polio campaign was launched on Sunday in central Gaza with the goal of vaccinating more than 640,000 children under ten across the territory.

The campaign is progressing "well," according to Rik Peeperkorn, a representative of the World Health Organization. So far, a total of 161,000 children under ten have been vaccinated. The campaign is set to move south on Thursday, aiming to vaccinate approximately 340,000 children, and then north to reach an additional 150,000.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently reaffirmed the necessity for Israel to maintain control of the "Philadelphi Corridor," a strip of land along the border between Gaza and Egypt that has been a sticking point in negotiations, Saudi Arabia has "strongly condemned and denounced" his statements on the corridor, according to a statement.

On Tuesday, the United States stated that it was "time to finalize" a truce agreement in Gaza.

"There are still dozens of hostages in Gaza awaiting an agreement to bring them home. It is time to finalize this agreement," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. He added that "in the coming days, the United States will continue to engage with its partners in the region to secure a final agreement," referring to ongoing negotiations led by mediators from the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt aimed at a truce deal associated with hostage releases.

A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that the initial decision not to publicly disclose these charges was intended to "allow the United States to be prepared to detain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other accused individuals." He added, "Following the death of Haniyeh and other recent events in the region, it was no longer necessary to keep these charges confidential."

"As soon as Hamas launched its horrific attack on Oct. 7, the FBI worked to identify and prosecute those responsible for these heinous crimes," said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. "The FBI has been relentlessly investigating these attacks on civilians, including Americans, and will continue to do so," he added.

Yesterday, U.S. authorities publicly announced charges against six high-ranking Hamas officials, including Yahya Sinwar, who is considered the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack, on counts of "terrorism."

The charges, issued on Feb. 1 by a federal court in New York, target six Hamas leaders, including the group's former political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31 in an operation attributed to Israel, as well as his successor, Yahya Sinwar, who was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip at the time. Since then, in addition to Ismail Haniyeh, two other Hamas leaders, including the head of its armed wing, have been killed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

The situation in southern Lebanon overnight:

Around 9 p.m., Israeli artillery fired a series of shells at the town of Khiam (Marjayoun district), according to our correspondent, who was informed by security sources. Fires broke out in Alma al-Shaab (Sour district) following Israeli shelling, requiring firefighters to intervene late into the night.

Around midnight, Israeli warplanes targeted and destroyed a two-story house in Khiam. The explosion was heard as far as the city of Nabatieh (in the district of the same name). One person was injured by glass shards in a building adjacent to the targeted house and was treated at the hospital.

At around 12:30 a.m., Israeli warplanes launched an attack on the El-Rajm neighborhood in the town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district). The aircraft also fired missiles at the wooded area between Yater and Zibqin, also in the same district.

Additionally, drones launched an attack on the Sawan area on the outskirts of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), causing fires.

The situation in southern Lebanon this morning:

Starting at 7:30 a.m., Israeli artillery fired on the town of Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), according to our correspondent in the region.

Earlier, the Al Rissala Scouts Civil Defense, affiliated with the Amal movement, announced that they had dispatched teams to Dhaira (Marjayoun district) to extinguish fires following Israeli shelling the previous day.

Make sure to read today's Morning Brief to stay up to date with yesterday's key events and today's upcoming ones.

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