Gaza's humanitarian conditions deteriorate in winter weather, as Israel to debate Lebanon ceasefire

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The Israeli army said some ten projectiles from Lebanon crossed into Israeli territory at around 11:30pm local time on Monday night.

It said "some of the projectiles were intercepted" and "fallen projectiles" were also identified in the Western Galilee area.

Following the sirens that sounded in the Western Galilee area, approximately ten projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the projectiles were intercepted, fallen projectiles were identified in the area.

Unverified footage shared on Telegram showed the impact of the fallen rockets hitting the north coastal city of Nahariya in Israel.

US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will be in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss using a potential Lebanon ceasefire as a catalyst for a deal ending hostilities in Gaza, the White House said on Monday. 

(Reuters)

Our sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that four people were killed and several wounded in an Israeli bombing of a house in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City on Monday night.

Several areas in north Gaza have been under attack throughout the day, including battles between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces in Jabalia.

Israeli's extremist right-wing finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called again for the occupation of Gaza in a meeting on Monday.

In comments reported by The Times of Israel, Smotrich said Israel "can and must occupy the Gaza Strip".

He called for the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians to leave Gaza which could serve as a "model" for the West Bank.

"It’s possible to create a situation in which Gaza will have less than half its current population within two years," Smotrich said.

Gaza is recognised as Palestinian territory under international law, though Israeli settlers and the military illegally occupied parts of the territory until 2005.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people across the war-battered country on Monday.

A ministry statement listed "the casualty toll of Israeli enemy strikes on a number of Lebanese cities and towns" in Lebanon's east, south and near Beirut, with most of them killed in the south and four killed in the east.

Israeli media is reporting details of the proposed Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal which the Israeli government is set to debate on Tuesday. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have already expressed their support.

Details of the deal reportedly include:

• A mutual ceasefire;
• Israeli military would take 60 days to withdraw from Lebanon
• The Lebanese Army would re-deploy to southern Lebanon;
• No border buffer zone in southern Lebanon, and residents of south Lebanon can return to villages;
• The Lebanese government to oversee all arms purchases and arms production in Lebanon;
• The US to head the international committee monitoring the deal, with France also involved

Read more in our report earlier here.

At least four people have been killed and others injured in the airstrike on a building in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, according to local reports.

It comes as Lebanon's National News Agency reported that separate air strikes have hit Haret Hreik and Chiyah neighbourhoods in Beirut's suburbs, known locally as Dahiyeh.

Syrian state television reported Israeli strikes on several bridges in the Qusayr region, near the Lebanese border on Monday.

"An Israeli aggression targeted the bridges of Al-Jubaniyeh, Al-Daf, Arjoun, and the Al-Nizariyeh Gate in the Qusayr area," state television said, with official news agency SANA reporting damage following the attacks.

The attacks come after a statement from the Israeli military on Monday evening revealing their operations throughout the war to target alleged Hezbollah weapons smuggling routes to Lebanon from Iran via Syria.

"In this series of strikes, which were made possible due to precise intelligence gathered and developed over many years, the IDF targeted Hezbollah's ability to expand its weapons arsenal, thereby preventing the terrorist organization from launching further attacks against Israeli civilians," the Israeli army statement read.

Lebanon's southern city of Tyre was hit by an airstrike on Monday evening, according to early reports from local media.

The strike reportedly hit Carthage Street near al-Baytar station, according to Lebanon's state news agency NNA.

Civil defense rescue teams are attending to the site.

The United States believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah is "close" but negotiations are still ongoing, the White House said on Monday.

"We believe we've reached this point where we're close," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding, however, that "we're not there yet."

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies are seeking a common position on the arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued last week by the International Criminal Court, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.

"We need to be united on this," Tajani said at the start of a meeting of foreign ministers from G7 nations. The United States, part of the G7, has rejected the ICC decision.

(Reuters)

Israel's security cabinet is expected to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon at the Israeli army's HQ in Tel Aviv tomorrow at 5:30pm Jerusalem time, according to the Times of Israel, which added that the meeting is set last until 9pm.

An Israeli official also told AFP on condition of anonymity that the security cabinet "will decide on Tuesday evening on the ceasefire deal" in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,768 and wounded 15,699 since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday.

(Reuters)

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon Monday expressed worry over deadly strikes on Lebanese soldiers, which Beirut blames on Israel, despite the army staying away from fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

"UNIFIL is seriously concerned by numerous strikes on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) inside the Lebanese territories," the peacekeepers said in a statement. The army has reported 19 members killed while on active duty.

A senior UN official on Monday called on all parties involved in the conflict in Lebanon to "accept a ceasefire," as new Israeli strikes targeted Beirut's southern suburbs.

The violence follows top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell calling for an immediate ceasefire on Sunday and after a US envoy said last week that a deal was within grasp.

"The situation remains grave across the region," senior envoy Muhannad Hadi told the Security Council on behalf of UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland.

"Israeli military operations continued across the Blue Line with Lebanon, as did the firing of rockets by Hezbollah toward Israel, including a barrage this weekend," he said.

"I welcome the ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities and urge the parties to accept a ceasefire anchored in the full implementation of UNSCR 1701," Hadi said in the remarks.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and stipulates that only UN peacekeeping forces and the Lebanese army can be deployed in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has maintained a presence in the region, however, and Israel has been conducting ground operations against the the group since 30 September.

The Israeli military on Monday said it had struck around 25 targets belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah across Lebanon over a one-hour period.

"Among the targets struck were the Executive Council's command centres, and intelligence control and collection centres, where Hezbollah commanders and operatives were located," the army said in a statement. The strikes took place in Nabatiyeh, Baalbek, Bekaa Valley, southern Beirut and the city's outskirts, it said.

Lebanon's deputy speaker of parliament Elias Bou Saab told Reuters on Monday that there were "no serious obstacles" left to beginning the implementation of a US-proposed 60-day truce to end fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

"There appear to be no serious obstacles in the way of starting to implement the US proposed ceasefire agreement," Bou Saab told Reuters.

The US has pushed for a truce deal to end more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which began in parallel with the Gaza war but drastically intensified over the last two months.

Bou Saab said the proposal included a 60-day timeline for Israeli forces to withdraw from Lebanese territory, giving time for the Lebanese army to deploy to southern Lebanon.

He said one sticking point on who would monitor the ceasefire had been resolved in the last 24 hours by agreeing to set up a five-country committee, including France and chaired by the United States.

A Lebanese official and Western diplomat told Reuters that the US had informed Lebanese officials a ceasefire could be announced "within hours".

The Western diplomat said another main sticking point had been the sequencing of Israel's withdrawal, the Lebanese army's deployment and the return of displaced Lebanese to their homes in southern Lebanon. 

(Reuters)

The Israeli cabinet will convene on Tuesday to approve a Lebanon ceasefire deal, a senior Israeli official told Reuters on Monday.

Another Israeli official told Reuters the cabinet would convene to discuss a deal that could be cemented in the coming days.

US news website Axios reported earlier that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal to end the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military has reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it is time for a ceasefire in Netanyahu, the Times of Israel has reported citing Israel's Channel 12.

According to the Channel 12 report, which cited a close Netanyahu aid, the Israeli army has destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure along the Lebanon-Israel border, stopped the possibility of cross border raids and reduced Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.

If efforts collapse however, the army has plans to expand operations, the report noted.

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Axios reported on Monday citing an unnamed senior US official.

Israel's government on Monday said it was moving towards a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah but there were still outstanding issues.

Lebanon's health ministry said 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two locations in south Lebanon's Tyre district on Monday.

The ministry, in separate statements, reported a strike on a road near the city of Tyre that left "six dead and body parts" requiring identification, as well as four wounded, while another left "six dead and four wounded" in the town of Maaraka.

A ceasefire agreement with Lebanon would hinge on enforcement that would keep Hezbollah disarmed and away from the border, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday.

"The test for any agreement will be one, not in words or phrasing, but in enforcement only of the two main points. The first is preventing Hezbollah from moving southward beyond the Litani (River), and the second, preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its force and rearming in all of Lebanon," Saar said in the Israeli parliament, in broadcast remarks.

(Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "in principle" approves a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to a new report by CNN.

According to a source speaking to CNN, Israel has some reservations over parts of the agreement however, and these will be sent to the Lebanese government. 

Sources also told the agency that a ceasefire will not be final until issues surrounding a ceasefire are resolved.

Britain would follow due process if Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UK, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday, when asked if London would fulfil the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.

"We are signatories to the Rome Statute, we have always been committed to our obligations under international law and international humanitarian law," Lammy told reporters at a G7 meeting in Italy.

"Of course, if there were to be such a visit to the UK, there would be a court process and due process would be followed in relation to those issues." 

(Reuters)

Gaza's Ministry of Health has said that Israeli attacks on the enclave in the last 24 hours have killed 24 people and wounded 71 others.

The ministry also revised the death toll from Israel's war on the enclave to 44,235 killed and 104,638 wounded.

Seven people have been injured in Israeli drone strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The NNA also reported heavy Israeli shelling in the town of Khiam, which is currently fought over by the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

The Palestinian Authority said two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night, leading to clashes during which soldiers shot dead two Palestinians.

The two dead were identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhammad Rabie Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Mahmud Zaid, 20.

"Overnight, during an (Israeli army) counterterrorism activity in the area of Yabad, two terrorists hurled explosives at IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and hits were identified," an Israeli military source told AFP.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has hit out against the prospect of a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon, with Haaretz quoting him as saying in a post on X that an agreement would be "a big mistake" and is a "historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah".

He was also quoted as saying on X that "now, when Hezbollah is weakened and desperate for a ceasefire we must not stop."

The Israeli army on Monday said it had struck a Hezbollah command centre in the downtown Beirut neighbourhood of Basta in a deadly air strike at the weekend.

"The (Israeli military) struck a Hezbollah command centre," the army told AFP regarding the strike that the Lebanese health ministry said killed 26 people and wounded 67 on Saturday.

Lebanon on Monday condemned a recent attack on the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) base in the south of the country, in which four Italian peacekeepers were lightly injured.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib called on all sides to respect the safety of all the troops, speaking at a conference in Rome

Save the Children estimates that 130,000 children are trapped in north Gaza since Israeli forces besieged the area on 6 October.

Jeremy Stoner, the charities regional director, said that "The situation in northern Gaza is not fit for human survival and yet we know there are about 130,000 children under 10 trapped in those conditions, not to mention the thousands of older children and their families."

"The war in Gaza is a war on children. There is no plainer way to illustrate this then to look at the people who make up the death figures – over 4 in every 10 people verified killed in Gaza is a child. Of these children, most are 5–9-year-olds. These are children who should be learning to read and ride bikes. They should not be ending up in mortuaries.

"Without access and a ceasefire, we are condemning children to perish in hell on earth," he added.

Renewed Israeli strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, state media reported and AFPTV images showed, after an Israeli army evacuation warning and following heavy raids on the Hezbollah bastion the previous night.

The official National News Agency reported "two consecutive strikes in the vicinity of the Haret Hreik area", as AFPTV images showed heavy smoke rising from two locations. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on social media platform X said the military would target Hezbollah "facilities and interests" in the southern suburbs, pinpointing several locations.

The supreme leader of Iran, which backs the Hamas and Hezbollah militants fighting Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, said on Monday that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was commenting on a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri.

"They issued an arrest warrant, that's not enough... Death sentence must be issued for these criminal leaders", Khamenei said, referring to the Israeli leaders.

(Reuters)