That concludes our live coverage for today. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis of events in Lebanon, Palestine, and the region. Goodnight.
Israel kills 39 Palestinians in Gaza today, with some victims still trapped under the rubble
More Palestinians have succumbed to their burn wounds after an Israeli strike hit their shelter in Gaza City overnight, Al Jazeera reports, raising the death toll there to at least 13, with reports of six people remaining under the rubble.
The school-turned-shelter was one of several sites bombed by Israel in Gaza today. Gaza’s civil defence said four more bodies were pulled from two nearby homes.
Rescue teams know at least six more victims remain trapped beneath the rubble in Gaza City, but they are unable to reach them, reported Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud from the city. “It’s not just their inability to get to the area,” he said. “They lack the heavy equipment needed to remove the rubble and recover the bodies.”
In total, the Israeli army killed 39 people and injured 105 across the territory in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry reported.
Israel 'continues its campaign to prevent the reconstruction of Hezbollah'
The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson posted a statement on X declaring that the army is "continuing its campaign to prevent the rebuilding of Hezbollah, including by striking targets" as well as members of the party who it says are "violating agreements and participating in terrorist activities that pose a threat to the inhabitants of the State of Israel."
According to the spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, 140 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since the cease-fire came into effect. By L'Orient Today's count, Israel has killed148 people in Lebanon since the end of November, more than half of them civilians, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which stated a week ago that at least 71 of those killed were civilians.
Adraee also reports that "over the past week, more than 40 infrastructures and means of combat belonging to Hezbollah have been targeted," and that "nine [party fighters] have been killed."
Hamas releases video of Israeli hostage Omri Miran
The military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, released a video showing Israeli captive Omri Miran walking through dark tunnels and later lighting a candle to mark his second birthday in captivity, Middle East Eye reports.
Speaking directly to the camera, he urges Trump to force Netanyahu to accept a negotiated deal that returns the captives home. "Only a deal can bring us back now," Miran says. "Netanyahu, Dermer, Smotrich, Ben Gvir, you are the reason for Oct. 7," Miran says, where he appears to be sitting on his bed. "Because of you, I am here."
Anti-war protests are swelling in number in Israel as more and more people take to the streets condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's shattering of the February-March cease-fire deal. The Israeli army relaunched a heavy bombing campaign even as 59 hostages remain in the Strip, 35 of whom are believed to have died.
Ben-Gvir dines at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, says senior Republicans support bombing food depots in Gaza
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attended a dinner in his honor at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida yesterday evening during his first official visit to the U.S., Times of Israel reports. Trump himself was not in attendance.
Ben Gvir’s spokesperson says that he met with “dozens of senior businessmen from Miami,” and a post on Ben-Gvir's X account says he met with "senior Republican Party officials," who he claims support Israel bombing aid supplies storage areas in Gaza.
"They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely," Ben Gvir wrote.
The statement from his spokesperson adds that Ben-Gvir met with GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and was “invited to speak to members of Congress and senators from the Republican Party.” Speaking with Emmer, Ben Gvir stated that “we need to bomb Hamas’s food storage facilities.”
Footage from the dinner published online shows Ben Gvir expressing his love for the American people and boasting about changes he instituted to conditions for security prisoners in Israeli prisons.
An Israeli drone fired a missile at a wooded area in the outskirts of Beit Lif, in Bint Jbeil district, according to our correspondent in the South. Israel continues to act against the terms it agreed to when signing the truce deal with Hezbollah in November. The Israeli army has killed more than 180 people in Lebanon since the 'cease-fire' came into effect.
Irish rap group Kneecap under fire for criticizing Israel, faces calls to revoke visas for upcoming U.S. tour
Sharon Osbourne, TV personality and wife of Ozzy, is urging U.S. authorities to revoke work visas for Irish hip hop trio Kneecap after the group from West Belfast used its performance at Coachella to denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 50,000 people, The Guardian reports.
Kneecap has a tour planned for the U.S. in October, with almost entirely sold-out shows. Fox News commentators condemned the band and accused it of bringing “Nazi Germany” sentiments to America. Kneecap scorned the Fox News comments and posted supportive messages from fans, saying it had received thousands of such endorsements as well as “hundreds of violent Zionist threats.”
According to Dazed Magazine, the group — which raps in Gaelic and English on themes of the reunification of Ireland, opposing British rule, and police brutality — is also being investigated by the U.K.'s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for comments made during an earlier performance.
Following the attention gained by its support for Palestine, a video was unearthed from November 2024, during which one apparent Kneecap member shouts, “Free Palestine, Tiocfaidh ár lá [Our day will come], up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” while draped in a flag similar to that flown by the Palestinian al-Qassam Brigades.
Jordan bans Muslim Brotherhood
Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most vocal opposition group, today, Reuters reports, and confiscated its assets after members of the group were found to be linked to a sabotage plot, Interior Minister Mazen Fraya said. There was no immediate comment from the movement, which has operated legally in Jordan for decades and has widespread grassroots support in major urban centres and scores of offices across the country.
Jordan said last week it had arrested 16 Muslim Brotherhood members, saying they were trained and financed in Lebanon and were plotting attacks involving rockets and drones on targets inside the kingdom.
Fraya said all the activities of the group would be banned and anyone promoting its ideology would be held accountable by law. The ban includes publishing anything by the group and closure and confiscation of all its offices and property, he added.
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world's oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has denied links to the alleged plot but admitted members may have engaged in an individual capacity in arms smuggling to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Lebanon's foreign minister calls on Arab League to pressure Israel to withdraw
Foreign Minister Joe Rajji told his counterparts in the Arab League today that the foundation has been laid for a "clear policy" on the Lebanese state gaining complete sovereignty over all its territory and establishing a monopoly on arms, especially following the formation of the new government under Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in January, during which Rajji was appointed to his post.
Israel continues to occupy five points within Lebanese territory, going against the terms of the cease-fire agreement it signed with Lebanon to bring the 13-month war to an end on Nov. 27.
Lebanese authorities have appealed to various international actors to lay pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal, and Rajji specifically called for compelling Israel to abide by the 1949 Lebanese-Israeli Armistice Agreement, which aimed to reach "permanent peace in Palestine" and called on all parties not to "resort to military force in the settlement of the Palestine question."
Israel insists on undermining [the November 2024] agreement," Rajji said. "It continues to violate Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity on a daily basis, bombing cities and villages, obstructing the return of citizens to their villages, occupying border areas, and refusing to release the Lebanese prisoners held by Israel."
Mahmoud Abbas calls on Hamas to release hostages
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to release the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas has provided the criminal occupation with pretexts to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most blatant of which is the detention of hostages," Abbas said at a meeting in Ramallah. "I am paying the price, our people are paying the price, not Israel ... Free them."
UNIFIL Western Sector Commander meets with Hanieh Municipality President
UNIFIL Western sector Commander General Nicola Mandolesi met with the President of the Hanieh (Sour) Municipal Council, Qassem Mohsen, as part of institutional meetings with local authorities in southern Lebanon.
"The meeting took place in a friendly and constructive atmosphere and provided an important opportunity to establish direct dialogue and better understand the needs and challenges of the local community," a UNIFIL statement said. Mohsen highlighted "the excellent relationship between the municipality and UNIFIL peacekeepers" and expressed his "gratitude for their continued support to the local population."
Mandolesi reiterated "UNIFIL's commitment to Sector West to support the Lebanese Armed Forces in ensuring security conditions that allow citizens to return home safely." The meeting "is part of UNIFIL's broader efforts to strengthen dialogue with local authorities and support stability and security in southern Lebanon," the statement said.
South Lebanon
An Israeli drone dropped three stun grenades in Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south. One person was slightly injured.
Ortagus: Aoun is 'determined to take the bold and necessary decisions' for recovery
U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was determined to take "bold and necessary decisions" for Lebanon's recovery, as the head of state recently insisted on the disarmament of Hezbollah, following the truce reached on Nov. 27 between the party and Israel.
During a meeting on Tuesday with the Lebanese ambassador to the United States during the participation of an official Lebanese delegation in the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Ortagus said she saw courage in President Aoun. “I saw a leader determined to make the bold and necessary decisions to put Lebanon on the path to recovery,” she sated. “Whether we live here or in Lebanon, our goal is the same: it is not to return to 1975 or the so-called ‘glory days,’ but to build a brighter and more prosperous future than Lebanon has ever known in its history, because I know Lebanon has that potential.”
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of carrying out "indiscriminate" airstrikes during its open war with Hezbollah in the fall of 2024, citing the example of a village in eastern Lebanon where 33 civilians were killed.
Gaza
The United Kingdom, France and Germany on Wednesday urged Israel to "cease" its blockade of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, an "intolerable" measure that puts Palestinian civilians at risk of "starvation, epidemics, and death."
In a joint statement, the three foreign ministers called on Israel "to immediately restore a rapid and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza to meet the needs of all civilians."
At least 17 dead in the Gaza Strip this morning
The Palestinian Civil Defense announced that Israeli strikes killed at least 17 people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, leaving "charred bodies" and "missing people under the rubble."
The deadliest strike occurred on a school believed to be housing displaced people in the northern Gaza City, killing 11 people and wounding 17, "including women and children," Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
"The bombing caused a massive fire in the building and several charred bodies were found," he said.
Four people were also killed and "several others are missing under the rubble" after Israeli gunfire targeted homes in eastern Gaza, the Civil Defense said. A strike on a house in Jabalia, in the north, killed a child, and another on a house in Khan Younis (south) left one dead, Mahmoud Bassal said.
Good morning!
Thank you for joining us for our live coverage. Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
Missile fired from Yemen toward Israel, Israeli military says
The Israeli military announced that a missile was fired from Yemen toward Israel and "most likely successfully intercepted." The missile launch triggered air raid sirens in Haifa and several other northern Israeli communities.
"An interceptor was launched toward the missile, which was most likely successfully intercepted," the military said on Telegram.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Houthi rebels have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks against Israel. In the Red Sea, a vital area for global trade, they have also targeted ships they accuse of having ties to Israel.
These attacks had ceased with the truce that came into effect on January 19, but the Houthis launched attacks again after Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18. The United States launched a bombing campaign on March 15 against the Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, to force them to stop their attacks.
Israeli drones fly over South Lebanon
Israeli drones are flying low over South Lebanon, from the border with Israel to the city of Saida and its surroundings, as well as the Palestinian refugee camps of Mieh Mieh and Ain al-Hilweh, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.
At least 10 dead in Israeli attack on Gaza school
Gaza rescue services say 10 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school for displaced people in the eastern part of the Palestinian enclave, according to Haaretz.
Children were among the victims and several others were injured. One person was also killed and five others injured in a drone attack in Khan Younis.
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