Israeli army strikes Gaza following orders from Netanyahu | LIVE

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Vance says US president believes peace will hold despite Israeli strikes

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the cease-fire in Gaza was holding, despite Israeli strikes on Gaza City and mutual accusations of violations between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reports.

"The cease-fire is holding. That doesn't mean there won't be small skirmishes here and there," Vance told reporters. "We know that Hamas, or someone else in Gaza, attacked an [Israeli] soldier. We expect an Israeli response, but I think the peace that the president wants will hold despite that," he added.

French Foreign Ministry deplores resumption of Israeli strikes

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot deplored "the resumption of military operations" in Gaza, calling on all parties to respect the cease-fire that came into effect on Oct. 10.

"I deplore ... the resumption of military operations and call on all parties to respect the cease-fire," said Barrot during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee.

"The reports that Hamas elements opened fire on soldiers and that the terrorist movement lied about the return of a hostage body are obviously unacceptable if proven true," he added, expressing his hope that the ceasefire "can be fully implemented."

He also said that France would co-organize an international conference on humanitarian and reconstruction issues in Gaza "in the coming weeks" with the United States and Egypt.

Gaza: Civil Defense reports five more killed in Israeli air strike

The Gaza Civil Defense reported that five more people were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli strike in the south of the Strip, bringing the death toll from the day's bombings to seven.

An Israeli strike hit a "civilian vehicle ... in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip" and killed "at least five civilians," Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the rescue organization, told AFP. Bassal had earlier reported the deaths of two people in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, in the north of the territory.

Reports of 2 killed, 4 wounded in Israeli strike

The Civil Defense reports two dead and four wounded from an Israeli strike on Gaza City, according to AFP.

Israel says Hamas attacked its troops in Gaza and will 'pay dearly'

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops in Gaza and would pay dearly, according to a statement.

Civil Defense in Gaza reports three Israeli strikes

The Civil Defense in Gaza has stated that the Israeli army has carried out at least three air strikes on the territory.

"The occupation [Israel] is bombing Gaza with at least three air strikes despite the cease-fire" in force since Oct. 10 between Hamas and Israel, Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense, told AFP.

Witnesses told AFP they had heard explosions.

Gaza: Israeli strikes near the largest hospital still operating in the north

Israeli strikes targeted an area near the largest hospital still operating in the north of the Strip.

The number of casualties remains unknown, according to witnesses and Hamas media sources, Reuters reports.

Hamas says it will postpone handover of deceased hostage due to Israel's cease-fire 'violations'

In Gaza, the armed wing of Hamas has announced that it will be postponing the handover of hostage bodies, which it said was scheduled for 8 p.m. local time.

"Today, the Al-Qassam Brigades found the body of one of the occupation's prisoners during search operations in one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip," the group said in a statement, reported by AFP.

"We will postpone today's handover due to violations by the occupation [Israel]," the group added, saying that "any Zionist escalation will hinder the search, excavation and recovery of bodies."

Israeli PM orders air strikes on Gaza

⚡ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders immediate strikes on the Gaza Strip, his office reports.

South Lebanon: Victim succumbs to wounds sustained from Israeli strike two weeks ago

Hussein Ali Tohme, from the village of Aitit (Sour), has succumbed to his wounds sustained from an Israeli airstrike two weeks ago near Wadi Jilo (Sour), reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Hamas set to return another hostage body at 8 p.m.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, announced on Tuesday that it would hand over the body of another hostage held in the Gaza Strip today at 6 p.m. GMT (8 p.m. local time), according to a statement posted on its Telegram channel, reported by AFP.

In the statement, they said the remains "were recently found in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip" and would be handed over "today in the Gaza Strip at 8 p.m."

Hamas says it will return body of Israeli captive this evening

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on Telegram that it will hand over the body of an Israeli captive at 8pm local time (18:00 GMT).

According to the group, the remains were recently discovered in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is still expecting the return of 13 more bodies of captives as part of the US-brokered cease-fire, Al Jazeera reports. Hamas has already handed over 20 living abductees under the agreement.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has accused Israel of committing 125 violations of the cease-fire agreement since it came into effect on Oct. 10, according to Al Jazeera.

The office said in a statement that Israeli attacks in violation of the agreement had killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 344 others.

Syria: Gunmen open fire on bus in Druze-majority Sweida, two killed

Two people were killed when unknown gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province in the south, a region that saw deadly sectarian violence in July, AFP reports.

According to state news agency SANA, the attack left two dead and several injured. Local outlet Suwayda24 said the bus, traveling the Damascus-Sweida route, was targeted “in an area monitored by government checkpoints,” confirming that a man and a woman were killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that all passengers on the bus were Druze.

Remains returned by Hamas identified as Ofir Tzarfati

Israeli forensic analysts have confirmed that the latest remains handed over by Hamas belong to Ofir Tzarfati, who was abducted to Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Partial remains of Tzarfati were recovered in November 2023.

Tzarfati’s family said the return has retraumatized them. “We went to sleep tonight expecting and hoping that another family would close a two-year torturous circle and have their loved one returned for burial,” they said in a statement cited by The Times of Israel.

“But once again, there was a deception at the expense of our family as we try to recover.”

Hamas has not issued a formal statement on the latest dispute over the remains, though a source told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israel is deliberately complicating the search process and “fabricating lies.”

Netanyahu to consider actions after issue with Hamas captive transfer

Israel’s Arutz Sheva media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting later today to weigh possible responses to what the government considers cease-fire violations by Hamas, amid reports that the most recent remains handed to Israel do not match any of the 13 remaining captives.

It is unclear what time the meeting will take place or what responses are on the table.

Israel itself has been accused of repeatedly breaching the cease-fire conditions, including by carrying out deadly attacks in Gaza and not allowing enough aid into the enclave.

Top U.S. military official to visit Israel to oversee cease-fire monitoring

The top U.S. military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, is set to visit Israel by early next week to meet with officials and tour the recently established cease-fire monitoring center, created to oversee compliance with the truce and manage humanitarian aid and reconstruction logistics.

According to Al-Monitor, General Caine is expected to visit the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), set up by CENTCOM in Israel, and hold discussions with Israeli officials.

The visit aims, in part, to give a “formal military dimension” to last week’s high-level political contacts and meetings in Israel, which sought to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to uphold the cease-fire.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir: Hamas ‘playing games,’ must be ‘destroyed completely’

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reacted to reports questioning the identity of the latest remains handed over by Hamas, saying the group “continues to play games” and must be eliminated entirely, Al Jazeera reports.

“We no longer need to ‘exact a price from Hamas’ for the violations,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. “We need to exact from its very existence and destroy it completely. Mr Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!”

More than 70,000 people with hepatitis C in Gaza need urgent treatment 

The spokesperson for al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Khalil al-Daqran told Al Jazeera Arabic that over 70,000 people in Gaza are infected with hepatitis C and require urgent treatment outside the Strip.

“We demand the immediate opening of the crossings to limit the spread of epidemic diseases in Gaza,” Daqran said.

Israel believes Hamas handed over the remains of a previously returned hostage

Israel indicated, based on preliminary assessments, that Hamas reportedly handed over on Monday evening the remains of a deceased hostage whose body had already been returned in previous exchanges, according to Haaretz.

According to the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine, analyses revealed no match between the remains handed over and any of the thirteen deceased hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

Southern Lebanon: Israeli machine-gun fire on Kfar Shuba, drone overflights in the Nabatieh region

In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army continues to violate the cease-fire, sweeping the outskirts of Kfar Shuba in the Hasbaya district (eastern border area) with machine-gun fire on Monday evening.

This morning, drones flew over villages in the Iklim al-Touffah area in the Nabatieh district, according to our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah.

Israel announces that the Red Cross has handed over the body of a hostage in Gaza

Israel announced last night that the Red Cross had delivered to its forces in the Gaza Strip the body of a hostage, returned as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

“Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffin of a deceased hostage, which was handed over to the army and the Shin Bet [the internal security service] inside the Gaza Strip,” said the Prime Minister’s office in a statement, adding that the body would be transferred to Israel for identification.

Israeli attack in the West Bank: Islamic Jihad denounces 'systematic persecution'

After the deadly “operation” in Kfar Kud, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad denounced a “murder” carried out with “snipers and airstrikes,” calling it “a new episode in the ongoing series of war crimes and systematic persecution” by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces “surrounded the house and prevented rescue teams from accessing the site to save the wounded, in blatant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions and norms,” the Islamic Jihad condemned, describing it as a “dangerous escalation.”

The PIJ emphasized that in recent months, the Israeli army has destroyed more than 1,000 homes in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nour Shams camps, forcing over 25,000 Palestinians to move.

This constitutes “collective punishment” against the Palestinian people. These attacks, along with those carried out in the Negev, “will only strengthen our determination to continue resistance to defend our people and our land,” the movement added.

Three Palestinians killed by Israeli army and police in the occupied West Bank

The Israeli police announced that they killed three Palestinians, described as members of a “terrorist cell,” during a raid conducted with the army in the village of Kfar Kud, west of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.

“During an offensive operation carried out by Yamam forces,” the elite counter-terrorism police unit, in Kfar Kud, “the fighters [...] acted to neutralize a terrorist cell planning to carry out an attack and which was part of an active terrorist organization in the Jenin camp,” said a police statement.

“The forces spotted the cell members emerging from a cave. The snipers of the unit then opened fire with precision, eliminating the three terrorists,” the statement added.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of news from Middle East, focusing on Gaza, the occupied West Bank and southern Lebanon, which continue to be regularly attacked by the Israeli army despite the cease-fires in place.

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