Hezbollah fires 'defensive' strikes at Israeli army after ceasefire violations

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Lebanon's state media agency NNA reported Israeli drones in the skies over the southern coastal city of Tyre on Monday evening.

It said Israeli jets also conducted raids on three towns next to the border: Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras and Hanin in Bint Jbeil district.

Hamas said on Monday that 33 hostages in Gaza had been killed during the almost 14-month-old war between the Palestinian militant group and Israel in the enclave, without giving their nationalities.

Hamas added that other hostages had gone missing.

"With the continuation of your crazy war," it said in a statement addressed to Israel, "you could lose your hostages forever. Do what you have to do before it is too late."

Hamas shortly afterward published a video it said detailed when and how the hostages had been killed, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their fate.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment, which came as Israeli military strikes continued in Gaza.

Israel's defence minister said on Monday it would have a "tough response" to Hezbollah fire after the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group carried out a strike on an Israeli military position, citing repeated Israeli ceasefire violations

A Hezbollah parliamentary source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: "Hezbollah's response is preliminary, and the resistance does not intend to return to the pre-ceasefire situation. However, it will not stand idle in the face of ongoing and blatant Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, including today's attack on the Lebanese Army."

The source added: "We delayed our response to these violations to avoid hasty actions, allowing the relevant parties to address the issue. We waited to verify the nature of the breaches, but it has been confirmed that none of them fall within the terms of the agreement, and all Israeli claims are false."

The source further stated: "More than 54 violations have been recorded since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Parliament Speaker. These violations have resulted in martyrs and injuries, yet Hezbollah refrained from responding until today, choosing a calculated response. We will now see how the Americans and the French act in the face of Israeli breaches."

The source concluded: "Hezbollah has been committed to the agreement from day one, relying on Lebanese official authorities to put an end to these violations. We are waiting to see how matters unfold, and the final word will remain with the field."

Delegations from the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas are meeting in Cairo to "reach a mutual understanding" on the Palestinian Authority's management of the Gaza Strip after the end of Hamas's war with Israel, Egypt's foreign minister said Monday.

"There are indeed two delegations from the Fatah and Hamas movements in Cairo consulting and deliberating to quickly reach a mutual understanding regarding the management of daily affairs in the Gaza Strip under the full control of the Palestinian Authority," Badr Abdelatty told a news conference in Cairo.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group said it fired "defensive strike" on Israeli military position in the disputed border zone in response to Israeli ceasefire violations which saw two Lebanese people killed on Monday.

It marks the first time the group has fired since the ceasefire deal was passed less than one week ago.

Israeli military said Hezbollah fired two projectiles into the Shebaa Farms area which landed in an open space.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected US and French accusations on Monday that Israel was violating the terms of a truce that came into effect in Lebanon last week.

"We hear claims that Israel is violating the ceasefire understandings in Lebanon. On the contrary! Israel is enforcing them in response to Hezbollah's violations, which demand immediate action," Saar said in a statement.

The Gaza health ministry has released its daily report stating that 37 more people were killed in Israeli attacks in the past day, alongside 108 people who were injured and taken to hospitals.

It brings the total toll since 7 October 2023 to 44,466 dead and 105,358 injured. Authorities fear the final toll could be higher considering the number of people unaccounted for and stuck under rubble.

Israeli forces stormed the occupied West Bank village of Madama, located south of Nablus, on Monday afternoon, The New Arab's Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

According to reports, some locals suffocated after Israeli forces used tear gas. Local sources also added that Israeli forces opened fire at people in residential areas.

Reports also stated that Israeli soldiers climbed on top of roofs and used them as positions to target Palestinians with snipers. 

Gaza's government media office announced on Monday that at least 3,700 Palestinians have been killed or are missing due to Israeli attacks in north Gaza, which has been under a full siege for over two months.

The media office clarified that 2,400 of the 3,700 have been "buried" under the rubble, while an additional 1,750 have been detained by Israeli forces. 

"The occupation also targeted and prevented the work of civil defence crews in the governorate, in addition to its destruction of vital sectors," the statement read, highlighting the lack of emergency crews, medical equipment and aid in north Gaza.

France's foreign minister on Monday told his Israeli counterpart that all sides should respect the ceasefire which started last week between Israel and Hezbollah, the French foreign ministry said.

Jean-Noel Barrot stressed to Israeli minister Gideon Saar in a phone call "the need for all sides to respect the ceasefire in Lebanon", the ministry said, after several Israeli strikes hit Lebanon since the ceasefire started Wednesday.

Lebanon's parliament speaker accused Israel of violating a ceasefire, after authorities said one person was killed and another wounded in Israeli strikes on Monday, the sixth day of the truce.

"The aggressive actions carried out by Israeli occupation forces... represent a flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement," Nabih Berri, who helped mediate the ceasefire on behalf of Hezbollah, said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had attacked "military vehicles" operating in the vicinity of military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon's Bekaa valley.

It comes after Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Monday.

In a statement, Israel claimed it struck "terrorist infrastructure sites" which "posed a threat".

It acknowledged that a Lebanese soldier was injured in one of the strikes and said the incident was under investigation.

Both Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of breaching the truce agreed last week.

At least two people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities said, as a ceasefire ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah appeared increasingly fragile.

The truce, which came into effect early on Nov. 27, stipulates that Israel will not carry out offensive military operations against civilian, military or other state targets in Lebanon, while Lebanon will prevent any armed groups, including Hezbollah, from carrying out operations against Israel.

Lebanon and Israel have already traded accusations of breaches, and on Monday Lebanon said the violations had turned deadly.

One person was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 km (six miles) from the border with Israel, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Lebanon's state security said an Israeli drone strike had killed a member of its force while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 km from the border. State security called it a "flagrant violation" of the truce.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

Public broadcaster Kan and other Israeli media outlets said on Monday that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered the ceasefire after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, had warned Israel against alleged violations.

(Reuters)

A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence officials, two officials from the Palestinian Islamist group told AFP on Monday.

The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials, and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening.

A second Hamas official also present in Cairo told AFP that "Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are making great efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange".

"Our Palestinian people are waiting for American and international pressure on (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop the war and reach an agreement as happened in Lebanon," the official said.

An Israeli air strike on a motorbike in the southern village of Jdeidet Marjayoun killed one person, Lebanon's health ministry and national news agency reported.

The strike is an apparent violation of the ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hezbollah last week.

"An Israeli enemy strike on Jdeidet Marjayoun killed one person," the ministry said in a statement, with the official National News Agency reporting the person was killed in "a strike launched by an enemy drone... on a motorcycle".

Lebanon's army said an Israeli drone strike wounded one of its soldiers in the eastern region of Hermel on Monday, the latest such raid since Hezbollah and Israel agreed on a ceasefire five days ago.

"An enemy drone struck an army bulldozer at a position, injuring one soldier," the army said.

Lebanese media reported dozens of Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that went into effect early on Wednesday, ending more than one year of cross-border hostilities between the Lebanese group and Israel.

Intensified ground and aerial attacks were reported in the south, with at least 62 violations by Israel recorded by the Lebanese Megaphone news platform, with a focus on the border town of Khiam, and reports of multiple strikes and detonations of homes and buildings there.

Read more here.

Israel continued to heavily pound areas across Gaza on Monday, with at least 10 Palestinians killed in an attack on Beit Lahia in the north of the Strip as well as buildings blown up in Jabalia refugee camp, which has been besieged for over a month.

Another Palestinian was killed in an Israeli strike on the central Gaza village of Al-Musaddar early on Monday.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency said there was indiscriminate shelling in Absan al-Kabira in southern Khan Younis, with witnesses stating there was widespread fear among residents that this could be a prelude to a new ground incursion in the area.

On Sunday, three separate Israeli attacks killed at least 47 Palestinians and wounded over 108 others, Wafa reported.

The strikes across the enclave come as the director of the health ministry in Gaza, Dr Munir Al-Bursh, announced that medical staff have noted Israeli forces using "internationally prohibited weapons" that are causing bodies to "vaporise" in Gaza.

Read more here.

The United Nations said Monday that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, after more than a year of war.

"Gaza now has the highest number of children amputees per capita anywhere in the world -- many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in remarks read out by his deputy at a Cairo conference aimed to accelerate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces bombarded houses in overnight attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people in one of the buildings in the town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics said on Monday.

Several others were wounded in the attack and others were missing after a house providing shelter to displaced people was struck, with rescue workers unable immediately to reach them, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.

The three barely operational hospitals in the area were unable to cope with the number of wounded, they added.

Clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in Jabalia and in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has been operating for several weeks, residents said.

They said Israeli drones had dropped bombs outside a school sheltering displaced families, suggesting this was intended to scare them into leaving.

Lebanon's army said an Israeli drone strike wounded one of its soldiers in the eastern region of Hermel on Monday, the latest such raid since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire last week.

"An enemy drone struck an army bulldozer at a position, injuring one soldier," the army said, five days after a ceasefire ended more than a year of war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group.

The Israeli military said on Monday that Omer Maxim Neutra a "lone soldier from New York" was killed during the 7 October Hamas attacks and subsequently taken into Gaza.

He had served as a tank platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, according to the military statement.

Israeli media reported that Neutra was killed on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza.

Lebanese media reported on Israeli violations of the landmark ceasefire agreement struck last week between Hezbollah and Israel.

"Intensified attacks" were reported in the south, with at least 62 perceived violations by Israel recorded by Megaphone news platform, with a focus on the border town of Khiam, and reports of multiple strikes and detonations of homes and buildings there. 

It also reported artillery and gunfire in and around the frontier villages of Maroun al-Ras, Aitaroun, Yaroun and Rachaya al-Foukhar.

It comes as France has warned Israel over the possible collapse of the ceasefire after it recorded 52 violations by Israel over a 24-hour period.

Yemen's Houthi rebels announced late on Sunday that they had targeted a US destroyer and three supply ships belonging to the US army. 

In a statement published on X, military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea said the group had launched sixteen ballistic and winged missiles at the ships, claiming the hits were "accurate and direct". 

Sarea said they would continue military operations at "an escalating pace" against Israel and the US and that the group would not stop until "the siege on Gaza lifts". 

The US Central Command (Centcom) said it had "defeated" the attacks. 

Britain will provide an additional 19 million pounds ($24 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the international development minister said Monday, calling for Israel to give greater access ahead of a key conference on the conflict.

"Gazans are in desperate need of food, and shelter with the onset of winter," the minister, Anneliese Dodds, said in a statement as she headed for a three-day visit to the region, including an international conference in Cairo Monday on the Gaza Strip's aid needs.

"The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis," she added.

"Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza."

The new UK funding will be split into 12 million pounds for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and seven million pounds for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the statement said.