“We consider the Lebanese state to be responsible”
“On the Lebanese front, we continue to enforce the cease-fire agreement with Lebanon. We consider the Lebanese state to be responsible for what is happening on its territory, and we will continue to protect the inhabitants of northern Israel,” said Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin at a press briefing.
In Egypt, Macron to visit Gaza on Tuesday to express commitment “to a cease-fire.”
During his visit to Egypt on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron will travel to the town of al-Arich, 50 km from the Gaza Strip, to meet humanitarian and security actors and “mark his constant mobilization in favor of a cease-fire,” the Élysée announced on Thursday.
In this port, which serves as a rear base for aid destined to pass through the Rafah point between Egypt and Gaza, the French president will meet with staff from French NGOs, the United Nations and the Egyptian Red Crescent, as well as probably with Palestinian “beneficiaries” of humanitarian action, the same source detailed, according to AFP. He will also hold talks with French gendarmes from the EUBAM mission due to be deployed in Rafah.
“New massacre” at Gaza school targeted by an Israeli strike, at least 29 killed and over 100 wounded
At least 29 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombardment of a school housing displaced persons in the Toufah district of Gaza City, according to medical sources quoted by Al Jazeera, who added that most of the victims were “women and children” and that nearly 100 others were wounded.
A local correspondent of the Qatari media reported that the same school was attacked a second time a few minutes ago, while Gaza Civil Defense rescue workers were on the scene to help the victims.
“The occupation committed a new massacre against displaced persons by bombing the Dar al-Arqam school in Gaza City, killing 29 people, including 18 children, women and elderly people, and wounding more than 100,” said the Gaza government media office in a statement.
This latest Israeli attack in Gaza City brings the number of Palestinians killed today to over 100, reports Al Jazeera.
“A Hezbollah terrorist who was operating in Alma al-Shaab”
The Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, claimed on his X account that “the Israeli air force recently attacked a Hezbollah terrorist operating in Alma al-Shaab.”
The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed that one person was wounded in “the attack carried out by the Israeli enemy in Alma al-Shaab.”
U.N. envoy condemns “repeated and intensified” Israeli attacks in Syria
The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, condemned Israel's “repeated and intensified” attacks in the country, stressing that they are “destabilizing it at a sensitive time.”
Pedersen “calls on Israel to cease these attacks, which could constitute serious violations of international law, to respect Syria's sovereignty and existing agreements, and to put an end to unilateral actions on the ground,” according to a statement.
It “condemns Israel's repeated and intensified military escalations in Syria, including air strikes that have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties.”
“Such actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and destabilize Syria at a sensitive time,” the special envoy continued.
South Lebanon: One wounded by Israeli strike on Alma al-Shaab; new drone overflights
The two people targeted by the Israeli drone strike, which took place on a road near the border village of Alma al-Shaab (district of Sour), were working on a construction site in a house in the village, reports our correspondent in the South.
The missile did not hit their vehicle directly, but wounded one man, who had to be taken to the hospital. His colleague, on the other hand, escaped unhurt.
Israeli drones were also heard flying over the towns of Kfar Sir, Qaaqaiet al- Jisr (Nabatieh) and Froun (Bint Jbeil).
"This unjustified escalation constitutes a premeditated attempt to destabilize Syria and exacerbates the suffering of its people," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement regarding the series of Israeli strikes on several military sites across the country, followed by a ground incursion in the south.
"These repeated attacks are part of a clear Israeli strategy to normalize violence in the country again, undermine recovery efforts, and entrench a culture of impunity," the statement, carried by the state-run SANA news agency, continued. It also called on "the international community to take a firm stance and pressure Israel to end its aggression, respect international law, and honor its commitments under the 1974 disengagement agreement."
Israeli attacks on Syria have left a total of 13 dead and around twenty injured, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), including nine civilians in the province of Daraa.
An Israeli drone targeted a car on the road leading to the village of Alma al-Shaab (Sour), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.
One person was hospitalized following the strike.
At least 62 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Thursday morning, local medical sources told Al Jazeera. They said 37 of them were killed in Gaza City, including during an Israeli strike on a vehicle carrying displaced people on Mansoura Street in the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
Meanwhile, at least five people were killed in two separate Israeli attacks targeting tents in the al-Mawassi displacement camp, west of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, according to local Al Jazeera correspondents. The al-Mawassi camp is supposed to be a "safe zone," according to Israeli military reports, yet it is regularly targeted.
The Palestinian Authority called on Hungary to arrest visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in accordance with an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
"The ministry calls on the Hungarian government to comply with the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant by immediately handing Netanyahu over to justice," the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued hours after Netanyahu arrived in Budapest and Hungary announced its withdrawal from the ICC.
Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian met Thursday with Defense Minister Michel Menassa to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon, including the Israeli aggression against south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"We want to normalize our relations with Lebanon," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said after meeting in Paris with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, at a press conference reported by the French daily Le Monde. He also announced the start of negotiations "on certain issues. "
"We have a team negotiating on ... border disputes," he added.
Saar also stated that his country wanted stability in Lebanon, but that it would not allow Hezbollah to "rearm."
The Lebanese army claimed to have removed technical obstacles previously placed by Israeli forces in the Labbouneh region of southern Lebanon and closed a road that these forces had cleared in the same area.
In a statement, the army also said that they were working in continuous coordination with the committee responsible for supervising the cease-fire agreement and UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) to put an end to Israeli violations.
The Ministry of Health condemned "the continued attacks by the Israeli enemy against the health sector, highlighted this morning by the destruction of two ambulances and a fire truck, as well as a temporary health center of the Islamic Health Committee in Naqoura."
In a statement, it said that "this attack comes on top of the repeated attacks carried out by the Israeli enemy against non-military health centers since the beginning of the aggression, until this phase when the cessation of hostilities was announced, without the attacks ceasing."
The ministry finally reiterated its call to the international community not to ignore the seriousness of these attacks, which constitute "a clear violation of international laws, the constitutions of humanitarian organizations and customs."
The two senior senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Jim Risch (R-ID) and Lebanese-born Democrat Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), urged the Lebanese army to "address the security challenges in the south" or face a potential "reassessment" of U.S. military aid to Beirut, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya reported.
"We are at a critical moment in Lebanon. The Lebanese people have an opportunity to break Iran's grip on Beirut," they said.
The senators also called on the Salam government to move forward with implementing the reforms recommended by the IMF while warning against any form of compromise with Hezbollah.
"It is now up to the Lebanese political class to keep its promises regarding economic reforms, eliminating Hezbollah's financial flows, and strengthening the Lebanese army as the legitimate guarantor of the Lebanese people's security," they said.
Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a return to "serious negotiations" to end the conflict in Gaza, where Israel has been expanding its military operations since the cease-fire was broken in mid-March.
"We must now return to a truce and release all Israeli hostages," he said at a press conference alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan, calling for "serious negotiations with the aim of agreeing on a post-war settlement for the Gaza Strip that protects Israel's security."
"The situation in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, can only be stabilized by a political solution," he added, deploring a situation that is deteriorating "day by day" in Gaza where "no humanitarian aid has arrived for a month."
The Israeli strike that targeted a car on the Bint Jbeil-Yaroun road this morning left two people injured, according to the Ministry of Health.
Houthi rebels in Yemen said a man was killed in a new strike blamed on the United States in the south of the country, with their television channel reporting more than 20 strikes before dawn, AFP reported.
"A U.S. attack targeted the communications network in ... Ibb province, resulting in the martyrdom of the ... communications tower guard," Anees Alasbahi, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Houthi-led Yemen, said on social media.
Houthi-affiliated Al-Massirah TV said more than 20 strikes attributed to the United States targeted Saada province, a rebel stronghold in the north of the country.
France and Israel have a "common objective of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a press conference in Paris on Thursday, according to AFP.
Saar, who met his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot in the morning, announced that he had invited the latter to Israel, stating that he had "an ongoing dialogue" with the French authorities.
Gaza's Civil Defense said at least 15 people were killed early today in Israeli airstrikes in the northern part of the Palestinian territory, following a call from the Israeli army to evacuate, AFP reported.
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said the strikes targeted several homes in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.
"There are still a number of people trapped under the rubble," he added.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said yesterday's Israeli strikes against Syrian military airports and infrastructure were intended to serve as "a warning for the future."
"Israel will not allow Syria to become a threat to its communities and security interests," Katz said, according to The Times of Israel.
"If you allow forces hostile to Israel to enter Syria and endanger our security interests, you will pay a heavy price," he said, addressing Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The Israeli army issued a new evacuation order to residents of several neighborhoods in the eastern Gaza Strip, following calls in recent days for residents of the entire south and part of the north to evacuate.
"A serious and urgent alert is issued to residents of the Gaza Strip in the Shujaiya neighborhood and the following areas: al-Jadida, al-Turkman, Tawsiat Nafouz, and eastern al-Zaytoun," wrote Arabic-language Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee.
"The IDF is preparing to intervene with intense force in these areas to destroy terrorist infrastructure," he added. "For your safety, you are urged to immediately evacuate these areas and head to known reception centers located in western Gaza City."
An Israeli drone targeted a car on the Bint Jbeil-Yaroun road, reported L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region. No injuries were reported.
The head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Kurilla, is visiting Israel where he is meeting with former Israeli Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi and senior Israeli army officials to discuss "regional operational and strategic issues," according to the Arabic-language Israeli army spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, on his X account. The CENTCOM chief's visits to Israel are regular.
Amnesty International called on the Syrian authorities to ensure that those responsible for the massacres of Alawites in March are held accountable and to investigate the killings as "war crimes."
"The Syrian government must ensure that those responsible for a wave of massacres targeting Alawite civilians in coastal areas are held to account," the NGO said in a statement. Amnesty also called for these massacres to be "investigated as war crimes."
Read the details here.
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Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
The Israeli army this morning targeted a new center of the Islamic Health Committee, affiliated with Hezbollah, in the village of Naqoura, the civil defense said in a statement.
The three Israeli strikes carried out by the army completely destroyed the premises and damaged an ambulance and a fire truck.
"This aggression is part of the daily violations and attacks of the enemy, which continues its crimes started during its recent war against Lebanon, by deliberately targeting ambulance workers, centers and paramedics to discourage them from fulfilling their humanitarian role, without any legal or moral deterrent," the Islamic Health Committee denounced in its statement.
Commenting on the targeting of the Islamic Health Committee center, located in front of the Naqoura municipality, the head of the village council, Abbas Awada, said that the ongoing Israeli aggression against villages in south Lebanon "aims to kill lives and intimidate residents of border villages to prevent them from returning." He also deplored the Israeli army's targeting of the center used by the municipality as an alternative, following the major destruction suffered by the municipal building after the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
"This attack sends a clear message, but we will remain attached to our land," Awada continued, calling on the committee responsible for monitoring the cease-fire and UNIFIL, whose headquarters are located near the targeted center, to follow up on this matter.
Authorities in the southern Syrian province of Daraa announced that nine civilians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the province.
"Nine civilians were killed and others wounded, according to an initial report," following an Israeli airstrike near the town of Nawa, west of Daraa, after an "Israeli incursion," the authorities said in a statement on their Telegram channel.
The Israeli army, for its part, claimed to have responded to gunfire from armed men during an operation in southern Syria, adding that it had shot several fighters who were "eliminated" in ground and air strikes.
"The presence of weapons in southern Syria constitutes a threat to the State of Israel," a military spokesperson said, adding that the army "will not allow the existence of a military threat in Syria and will act against it."
Shortly after rocket warning sirens sounded in the border town of Metula, the Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X that it was a false alarm.
Israeli forces shot at, with automatic weapons, this morning in the vicinity of Ghajar, a village located between the Israeli-occupied part of the Syrian Golan Heights and Lebanon, and whose surroundings are among the 13 disputed points along the Blue Line, reported L'Orient Today's correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.
24 Palestinians were killed in "continuous" Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, an al-Jazeera correspondent reported, as the Israeli army announced it was planning to seize "large areas" of Gaza and called for the evacuation of the entire southern part of the territory and parts of the north.
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