Israel claims Hezbollah rebuilding military site in Choueifat, Hezbollah denies accusation | LIVE

Calls from an unknown number

According to information from our correspondent in douth Lebanon, at least three families in Yater received calls from an unknown number asking them to evacuate their homes, which were reportedly being targeted. “This is the first time we've received such a call since the end of the war, and I hope it wasn't a real threat,” the chairman of Yater's municipal council told our correspondent moments before the Israeli strike.

An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles, targeting homes in the locality of Yater (Bint Jbeil), reports our correspondent in south Lebanon.

Israeli army takes over 'vast sectors' of Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army was seizing “vast sectors” of the Gaza Strip by integrating them into emptied buffer zones, with the aim of forcing Hamas to release its hostages.

“Vast areas are being seized and integrated into Israeli security zones, reducing Gaza and isolating it further,” said Katz during a visit to the Morag axis, recently created by Israel to separate the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah, in the south of the territory.

Katz also claimed that the population of Gaza was “already evacuating the combat zones” and appealed to Gazans to overthrow Hamas and return the hostages.

“This is the only way to end the war,” he declared, threatening "even more intense fighting throughout the Gaza Strip until the hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated."

Netanyahu meets new CIA chief in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met CIA chief John Ratcliffe in Jerusalem, his office announced in a statement.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday evening with CIA chief John Ratcliffe in the presence of Mossad chief David Barnea,” says the text, just days before scheduled talks between the U.S. and Iran over Iran's nuclear program and as efforts to restore the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip continue.

(Credit: Mountasser Abdallah)

Lebanese Army in Choueifat

According to our information, the Lebanese Army went to Choueifat about 30 minutes ago, to a site identified by the Israeli army as a “Hezbollah military site.” Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, the Lebanese Army spokesperson did not respond to our requests for comment.

⚡France could recognize the Palestinian state “in June,” says President Emmanuel Macron.

'One of the worst heinous acts of genocide'

Hamas condemned the Israeli strike on the Shujaia neighborhood as “one of the worst heinous acts of genocide,” reported AFP.

“The Zionist terrorist army of occupation has committed a massacre by bombing a residential area densely populated by civilians and displaced persons,” it said in a statement.

“These incessant massacres against our defenseless people, with the full support of the U.S. administration, complicit in this aggression, are a stain on the conscience of the international community,” he added.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, condemned a “heinous massacre,” part of “an official Israeli attempt to systematically kill our people en masse and destroy the very foundations of their existence in the Gaza Strip to force them to emigrate.”

Death toll from Israeli strike in Shujaia rises to 23

The death toll from the Israeli strike on the Shujaia neighborhood of Gaza City has now risen to 23 Palestinians, according to local Civil Defense.

“Several missiles” targeted a four-storey building and the surrounding area where tents for displaced people were located, recounted Ayoub Salim, 26, a resident of Shujaia.

“Shrapnel flew in all directions ... You could hear the screams of panicked people”, he added, describing "a terrifying scene" and reporting shredded bodies and others buried under the rubble.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal counted “23 martyrs, including eight children and eight women” and over 60 wounded in the Israeli bombardment.

Rescue workers rushed to the scene and “extracted the bodies of women and children. There are still people buried under the rubble,” one of them, Ibrahim Abou al-Rish, told AFP.

“The building was home to many people who thought they were safe. It exploded over their heads,” he said. Several children were playing inside at the time of the strike, “which targeted the dwelling and destroyed the whole area,” he said.

Israeli drone targets its own aircraft, which fell in Lebanon

According to information from our correspondent in south Lebanon, an Israeli drone carried out a strike against one of Israel's own drones, which fell in Ramaya. Earlier, the Israeli army had announced that one of its drones had fallen on Lebanese territory. In so doing, the Israeli army is probably seeking to prevent the drone from being recovered by Lebanon and the sensitive information from being extracted from it.

Israeli strike in Ramaya

An Israeli drone carried out a strike near the public school in Ramaya, in Bint Jbeil, reports our correspondent in south Lebanon. The day had been calm until then.

Israeli drone crashes into Lebanese territory

An Israeli army spokesperson announced that a drone had fallen earlier today “into Lebanese territory due to a technical failure.” “There is no fear of a security incident or leakage of information,” he added. He also said that the incident is under investigation. The spokesperson did not specify where the drone fell.

New US sanctions against Iran

The United States has imposed new sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program just days before an unprecedented meeting between Americans and Iranians in Oman on Saturday, reports AFP.

The sanctions target five Iran-based entities and one individual for “their support of entities that manage or oversee Iran's nuclear program,” according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department.

“The Iranian regime's irresponsible pursuit of nuclear weapons remains a serious threat to the United States, regional stability and global security,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, quoted in the statement.

Houthis say 10 killed in Hodeida strikes

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said that 10 people were killed in U.S.-attributed strikes carried out overnight in the western coastal province of Hodeida.

“The death toll from the massacre committed by the American enemy in the inhabited area of the Al-Hawk district has risen to 10,” claimed the rebel television station, Al-Massirah.

The channel had reported on Tuesday evening that a U.S. strike had hit a populated area of Hodeida's Al-Hawk district.

Houthi Health Ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi had given an initial death toll of four and 13 wounded, then claimed early on Wednesday that four children and two women had been killed.

Images broadcast by Al-Massirah on Tuesday evening showed people running in all directions, others extracting the wounded from the rubble and transporting them to ambulances amid widespread destruction.

An AFP correspondent nearby reported hearing three successive loud explosions.

Hezbollah denies Israeli accusations of rebuilding military site in Choueifat

Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour about Israeli accusations that Hezbollah was “rebuilding a military site” in Choueifat, the party's spokesperson denounced the “lies.”

“This place has already been hit and tractors are clearing away,” he said. “The photos are clear and show tractors and nothing else.” In this context, he accused the Israeli army of “playing with people's nerves.”

Israel accuses Hezbollah of rebuilding military site in Beirut's southern suburbs

Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee released satellite images showing, in his words, “how Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild a production site in the southern suburbs while concealing its activity from monitoring mechanisms and lying to the Lebanese.”

“During a surprise inspection, the construction machinery disappeared, then resumed its activity once the inspection was over, in violation of the cease-fire agreement,” he said.

The spokesperson claimed that “Hezbollah has been trying for several months to rebuild an underground weapons production site in the heart of the Choueifat district, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, near a school and under residential buildings, after the site was targeted in November 2024.”

This information was reportedly passed on to the monitoring mechanism in early January, leading to a surprise inspection. “But aerial images revealed that Hezbollah, having been informed in advance of the inspection date, had removed the construction machinery from the site on the same day, before bringing it back once the inspection was complete,” he added.

Israel

Israeli security cabinet set to meet on Wednesday evening, but without defense officials, who were not summoned to the meeting, according to a source familiar with the matter, speaking to Haaretz. The meeting had originally been scheduled for Monday.

Gaza

The Israeli military claimed on Wednesday to have targeted a Hamas commander in an airstrike on Gaza City, which, according to local civil defense, hit a residential building, killing at least 22 people.

In response to AFP's inquiry about the strike in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, the military stated that it had targeted a senior Hamas operative responsible for planning and executing terrorist attacks in the area. The military added that "measures were taken to minimize civilian damage."

South Lebanon

Several Israeli drones are flying at low altitude over Saida, according to our correspondent.

'Scholasticide' in Gaza says OAH

The Organization of American Historians (OAH), the largest professional society for the teaching and study of American history, has passed a resolution condemning Israel's "scholasticide" in Gaza. The resolution was overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday, April 8, during an OAH business meeting in Chicago, with 104 members voting in favor and just 25 opposing it.

The Israeli military has bombed and largely destroyed all 12 universities in Gaza, along with hundreds of primary and secondary schools. Additionally, more than 200 heritage sites, including mosques, churches, and libraries, have been destroyed.

Iran/Russia

The Kremlin asked on Wednesday about tensions between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. Calling for a focus on diplomatic contacts rather than actions that could lead to escalation, according to Reuters.

During a press conference, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Iranian authorities were taking preventive measures in light of harsh rhetoric regarding the nuclear issue.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that bombing Iran would not lead to peace with the country, and that Moscow hoped U.S.-Iran negotiations would help avoid a crisis.

In response to a Reuters question, Zakharova remarked that the world was increasingly tired of the "endless" threats against Iran, and that Russia advocated for a reasonable approach to the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran and the U.S. are set to hold talks in Oman this week.

The Israeli army said that last night in the West Bank, Israeli forces demolished a house belonging to Majhad Mansur, who "killed an Israeli soldier" last year and was himself killed in the same incident, according to Haaretz.

According to an Israeli newspaper, in March 2024, Mansur opened fire at a bus near the West Bank settlement of Dolev, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding seven. He was later killed by the Israeli army.

Yemen’s Houthis shot down a US drone

According to the state-run National News Agency Houthis shot down a U.S. drone in the airspace of Al-Jawf province, marking the third time in 10 days, the group announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, the group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said that a locally made missile downed a US MQ-9 drone that was carrying out "hostile missions" in the airspace of Al-Jawf province, noting that this marks the 18th drone since the start of their support for Gaza.

Israel closed six schools operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)

UNRWA stated that Israeli police forcefully entered schools in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, including Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher, and Wadi al-Joz, on Monday. Additionally, Israeli Ministry of Education officials have ordered the schools to be shut down within 30 days, reports Al-Jazeera.

In response, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini emphasized that around 800 children are directly affected by these closures and may miss the remainder of the school year.

Israel has accused UNRWA staff of being involved in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, though the U.N. has denied these claims.

Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East. South Lebanon continues to be bombarded daily by the Israeli army. In Gaza, Israel is intensifying its aerial and ground offensive. Follow for updates on Israel, the occupied West Bank, Yemen, and Syria.

Guterres condemns suspension of aid to Gaza

In Gaza, where no aid has entered due to the Israeli blockade, is now a "death field," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared last night, a charge rejected by the Israeli government, which insists that there is "no shortage" of aid.

"For over a month, not a single drop of aid has entered Gaza — no food, no fuel, no medicine, no commercial goods. As aid dwindles, the gates of horror have reopened," Guterres told the press, directly criticizing Israel. "Gaza is a death field, and civilians are trapped in an endless cycle of death."

Israel denies UN accusations

"There is no humanitarian aid shortage in the Gaza Strip," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on X. "Over 25,000 aid trucks" have entered Gaza during the cease-fire, and "Hamas has used this aid to rebuild its war machine," he added, accusing Antonio Guterres of "spreading slander against Israel."

Israeli overflights of South Lebanon

While the situation remains relatively calm in South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, after two days of Israeli strikes and fire on Monday and Tuesday, which resulted in four deaths and several injuries, Israeli drones continue to fly over the South, according to our correspondent. Since last night, regions including Bint Jbeil, Saida, and Zahrani have been overflown by these drones.

Hezbollah ready to discuss disarmament if Israel withdraws from South Lebanon

As calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament grow, a senior Hezbollah official told Reuters that the Iran-backed group is willing to discuss its weapons with the Lebanese president, should Israel withdraw from South Lebanon and halt its airstrikes.

Discussions about disarmament have intensified since the balance of power shifted following the war between Hezbollah and Israel, which lasted from Oct. 8, 2023, to Nov. 27, 2024, and the ousting of Hezbollah's Syrian ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah emerged significantly weakened from the 2024 conflict, losing key leaders, thousands of fighters, and a large portion of its rocket arsenal.

Firefighters extinguish a car burning after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 28, 2025. (Credit:AFP.)

With continued Israeli airstrikes in South Lebanon and more recently in Beirut, many Lebanese still feel that the war persists, albeit with reduced intensity. One recurring question is what the cease-fire, agreed on Nov.27, 2024, has achieved, and what role the "International Monitoring Committee," designed to oversee the agreement and ensure Hezbollah's weapons are dismantled south of the Litani River, has played so far.