Gaza: Israel recalls lead negotiators, keeps team in Doha
Israel has announced the recall "for consultations" of its senior negotiators from Doha, who have been working on a potential deal for the release of hostages in exchange for a cease-fire in Gaza. A working team will remain in the Qatari capital.
Israel accepted a "U.S. proposal for the return of hostages" that was "passed on to Hamas by the mediators" (Egypt and Qatar), but "Hamas remains firm in its refusal," said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. "After about a week of intense talks in Doha, the lead negotiators will return home for consultations, leaving a working team in Doha."
Israel expands offensive and captures more territory in Gaza
Israeli military will intensify its operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and seize more territory, according to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
“We are following a structured plan and moving to the next phase. Hamas will pay the price for its defiance... We will expand our operations, capture more territory, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure until its defeat,” he stated during a visit to Gaza.
South Lebanon
Israeli drone dropped three stun grenades at the entrances of the town of Yarine, in the Sour district, according to our correspondent.
Israel says 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday
Israel announced Tuesday that 93 U.N. humanitarian aid trucks entered the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip.
“93 UN trucks carrying aid — including flour for bakeries, baby food, medical supplies, and medicine — crossed through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza today,” said COGAT, a unit of the Israeli Defense Ministry, in a statement.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the issue of weapons in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon during his visit to Beirut starting Wednesday, a member of his delegation said on Tuesday.
Abbas to discuss weapons in Palestinian camps during Beirut visit
“The issue of Palestinian weapons in the camps will be one of the topics discussed between President Abbas and the Lebanese authorities,” Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) who will be part of the delegation, told AFP.
⚡Gaza: EU to review association agreement with Israel
European Union will launch a review of its association agreement with Israel in light of recent events in Gaza, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on Tuesday, according to AFP.
“There is a strong majority in favor of reviewing Article 2 (on respect for human rights) of our association agreement with Israel. We will therefore begin this process,” she said following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
UK suspends trade talks with Israel
The United Kingdom announced on Tuesday that it is suspending negotiations for a free trade agreement with Israel and has summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, in response to the intensification of Israel's offensive in Gaza.
Rubio warns Syria may be weeks away from 'full-scale civil war'
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that Syria could be just weeks away from a "full-scale civil war," just days after meeting with transitional authorities, AFP reports.
"In fact, we believe that, frankly, the transitional authority—given the challenges it faces—is only weeks, or perhaps months, away from a potential collapse and a full-scale civil war, essentially the fragmentation of the country," he stated before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Gaza: Israel rejects 'external pressures'
Israel has denounced "external pressures" following the United Kingdom's announcement that it is suspending free trade agreement negotiations with the Israeli government, in response to the intensification of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to AFP.
"External pressures will not divert Israel from its path, which is to defend its existence and security against enemies seeking its destruction," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "If, due to its anti-Israel obsession and internal political considerations, the British government is willing to harm its own economy, that is its right," it added.
Lebanon still has "a lot to do" to disarm Hezbollah, as stipulated in the truce agreement between the party and Israel, said the deputy U.S. envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, in Doha.
The Lebanese authorities "have done more in the last six months than they have probably done in the last 15 years," she said in response to a question about disarming the group at the Qatar Economic Forum. "But there is still a lot to do," she added.
"The United States has called for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah. And that doesn't just mean south of the Litani River. It means across the entire country," the American official continued, calling on Lebanese leaders to "make a decision."
The Syrian foreign minister said the lifting of sanctions reflected an "international will" to support his country, at a time when the European Union has declared itself ready to lift all existing sanctions.
"The lifting of sanctions expresses the regional and international will to support Syria," Assaad al-Shaibani said at a press conference in Damascus with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, adding that "the Syrian people today have a historic and very important opportunity to rebuild their country."
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon, the motorcyclist targeted in Mansouri (Sour) was seriously injured and hospitalized. Rescuers previously told L'Orient Today that the man had succumbed to his injuries.
An Israeli drone dropped a second bomb on fishermen in Ras al-Naqoura, causing no injuries, and another in Kfar Kila.
Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Kfar Shouba (Hasbaya), causing fires.
Meanwhile, an Israeli drone dropped a bomb on fishermen off Ras al-Naqoura (Sour), causing no injuries.
The European Union is ready to lift all economic sanctions still in force against Syria, several European diplomats said on Tuesday.
These sanctions mainly concern the Syrian banking system, which has been banned from international capital markets until now, according to these diplomats, who noted that this agreement in principle by EU ambassadors still needs to be formally approved on Tuesday by the foreign ministers of the 27 EU countries meeting in Brussels.
"There are 14,000 babies who will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them," Tom Fletcher, the U.N.'s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I want to save as many of those 14,000 babies as possible in the next 48 hours," he said, in comments reported by British media.
Asked how this figure was established, Fletcher explained that he had "strong teams on the ground."
"Of course, many of them have been killed ... but we still have many people on the ground, in medical centers, in schools ... who are trying to assess the needs," the U.N. official said.
The U.N. has been authorized to bring "around 100" aid trucks into the besieged and starving Palestinian territory of Gaza, a spokesperson in Geneva announced.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs, also explained that the United Nations had been authorized on Tuesday to recover the first five trucks that had entered the Gaza Strip the day before, after weeks of total blockade by Israel, during a press briefing.
"We are entering a new phase, different in its scope and intensity, in order to achieve the objectives of the war: to free the hostages and defeat Hamas," the Israeli army said in a statement on X from its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee.
He also announced the return of Division 162 – which withdrew from Gaza in February, the Times of Israel reported – to "operate" in the north of the Palestinian territory, alongside the 401st Armored Brigade and the Givati Infantry Brigade.
"As is its daily habit, the Zionist enemy (Israel) committed a new madness by attacking Lebanon through a drone that targeted a citizen near the Mansouri school, causing a situation of panic, fear and fainting among teachers and students," according to a statement from primary school teachers, following the Israeli drone strike that killed a motorcyclist in Mansouri (Sour), and injured nine people, including two children and three in critical condition, according to the Ministry of Health.
"A climate of fear reigned in the school, creating such disorder that the school administration was forced to organize the return of the students to their families," it said. The teachers also "condemned and denounced this barbaric aggression in the strongest terms," and called on "the international community to put pressure on the Zionist entity (Israel) to spare the schools the consequences of these attacks."
The Israeli drone strike that killed a motorcyclist in Mansouri (Sour) left nine people injured, including two children, and three in critical condition, according to the Health Ministry.
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called on the West, which is "terribly powerless," to "economically and strategically isolate" Israel to oppose the goal of "deporting" the population of Gaza.
"We are facing an Israeli plan ... After the reoccupation of Gaza, the second step will be deportation. The political objective of Benjamin Netanyahu and his government is the deportation of the population of Gaza, which is the hallmark of ethnic cleansing, of territorial cleansing," de Villepin stated on Franceinfo radio. "The Europeans know this perfectly well and they are there with wooden swords when there are three things that must be done immediately."
Qatar said that the intensification of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip undermines "any chance of peace" in the Palestinian territory.
"When Israeli-American Edan Alexander was released, we thought it would pave the way for an end to this tragedy, but the response was a wave of even more violent bombings that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people. This aggressive and irresponsible behavior undermines any chance of peace," said Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at the opening of the Qatar Economic Forum.
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The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip reported the deaths of 44 people in new bombings in the small Palestinian territory at war, where the Israeli army is intensifying its military offensive.
"Civil Defense teams have transferred [to hospitals] at least 44 dead, mostly children and women, as well as dozens of wounded, following new massacres committed by the occupation ... in several areas of the Gaza Strip" since 1:00 a.m., Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for this first aid organization, told AFP.
Bassal reported that eight people were killed in a strike targeting a school serving as a shelter for displaced people in Gaza City, 12 people were killed in a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah 15 people were killed in a bombing of a gas station on the edge of the Palestinian refugee camp of Nousseirat, and nine people were killed in a strike on a home in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded last night to the British, Canadian, and French leaders' condemnation of his country's military offensive in Gaza, saying they were offering Hamas a "huge reward."
"By demanding that Israel end a defensive war for our survival before the Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed, and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders of London, Ottawa, and Paris are offering a huge reward for the genocidal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, while encouraging further atrocities of this kind," Netanyahu said in a statement.
The Israeli army eliminated "a member of the Radwan Force," Hezbollah's elite unit, during an attack in Houla, the Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said on X.
Yesterday afternoon, L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon reported that a person was killed in this village after being targeted by a drone missile in front of his home.
The Israeli army intercepted a drone carrying an illegal shipment of weapons and ammunition from Egypt, the army said in a statement this morning, Haaretz reports.
According to the report, the drone entered Israeli territory while carrying 19 handguns, three machine guns, and ammunition. It was then shot down by the army.
Yemen's Houthi rebels announced yesterday that they would implement a "naval blockade" of Haifa, Israel's main port, warning that ships sailing there would now be "targets."
"All companies whose ships are present or heading to this port are informed that as of this announcement, the port ... has been included in our list of targets," said Houthi spokesperson Yehya Saree.
This decision "is a response to the escalation of the brutal Israeli aggression against our people and in Gaza," he said, adding that their attacks against Israel "will cease once the aggression against Gaza ends and the blockade [of the enclave] is lifted."
Yair Golan, leader of Israel's Labor Party, denounced the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, saying Israel was killing children in Gaza for "hobby."
"Israel is becoming a pariah state, like South Africa once was, if we don't start behaving like a sane country again," said the man who sees himself as the Israeli left's providential man, in an interview with Kan TV, quoted by the Times of Israel. "A sane country doesn't wage war on civilians, doesn't kill children for fun, and doesn't set itself the goal of expelling populations."
"This government is made up of vindictive people, without morals or the ability to govern in times of crisis. This endangers our existence," stated Golan, who, the day after Oct. 7, advocated starving the Palestinians in Gaza until the hostages returned, before radically changing his speech.
An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the village of Mansouri (Sour), injuring several people, one of whom is in critical condition, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.
Ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
The motorcyclist targeted by the Israeli drone strike in the village of Mansouri (Sour) succumbed to his injuries, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.
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