image source, EPA
An Israeli fighter carries out an attack on the border with Lebanon (archive photo).
Israel launched air strikes on Monday near the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, resulting in one person being killed, according to two security sources and the official Lebanese news agency.
This is the second attack since the start of the cross-border shelling against the backdrop of the outbreak of war in Gaza.
A security official told Agence France-Presse that “Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hezbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital,” adding that the Israeli army “raid a second time” on a warehouse in the western city of Baalbek.
The official Lebanese National News Agency also announced that “Israeli aircraft carried out a raid on Monday evening targeting a residential building in the town of Ansar in the Bekaa, south of the city of Baalbek,” in addition to the outbreak of fire and plumes of smoke rising from the targeted place.
She added that an Israeli air strike “targeted a warehouse west of Baalbek, between the towns of Shamstar and Taria.”
The Israeli army confirmed that its “fighter planes” launched raids on “two sites” of the “Hezbollah Air Forces” in the Bekaa, the plain in which the city of Baalbek is located.
The Israeli army stated that “these strikes were carried out in response to air attacks launched by Hezbollah in recent days towards the Golan,” the Syrian plateau that was annexed by Israel and bordering Lebanon. The Israeli army broadcast pictures of a site that was bombed and said it belonged to Hezbollah in the Bekaa.
On February 26, the Israeli army targeted Baalbek with air strikes about 100 kilometers from the border, killing two Hezbollah members in raids that were the deepest in Lebanese territory since the outbreak of fighting.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced that it will not stop its attacks against Israel until after the ceasefire in Gaza, but Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant recently stressed that any truce in Gaza will not deviate Israel from its goal of removing Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. He warned that if it was not possible to find a diplomatic solution to the situation, “we will do so by force.”
The exchange of bombing between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has so far resulted in the killing of about 316 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, in addition to the death of 53 civilians in Lebanon, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse, according to party statements and official Lebanese sources.
Ten soldiers and seven civilians were also killed on the Israeli side, according to official figures.
The strikes launched by the Israeli army have remained largely confined to the border area between the two countries, although Israel sometimes launches strikes in other parts of Lebanon.
“We are still studying the results of the strike.”
image source, EPA
Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip (archive photo).
Regarding the development of the situation in Gaza, Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli army, announced on Monday that his forces launched an air strike in the Gaza Strip targeting the second official in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, without clarifying whether the strike resulted in his death.
Hagari said: “Fighters attacked an underground base belonging to Hamas leaders in the central Gaza Strip near Nusseirat… It was used by two senior officials in the organization, one of whom was Marwan Issa,” the second official in the Al-Qassam Brigades, according to him.
He added: “We are still studying the results of the strike,” stressing at the same time that “when we confirm our information, we will say what we have.”
Hagari said, citing Israeli intelligence services, that the targeting area was not one of the areas containing hostages.
This comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video clip on Monday, vowed to “defeat” all senior Hamas leaders.
Last December, Palestinian media reported that Muhammad, Marwan Issa’s son, was killed in an Israeli strike.
Negotiations with Hamas
image source, Getty Images
Palestinian women carry photos of their relatives detained in Israeli occupation prisons (archive photo).
Israeli political sources reported that the War Council decided on Sunday not to expand the powers of the negotiating delegation.
He explained that the leaders of the Israeli security establishment recommended waiting several days “for the possibility of a new response from Hamas regarding the exchange deal,” according to the Israeli Walla website.
An Israeli political source said, “The possibility of reaching an exchange deal during the month of Ramadan is not ruled out,” according to the Israel Hayom website.
Israeli Channel 13 also reported that Gadi Eisenkot, the minister in the war council, called for expanding the powers of the negotiating delegation.
Eisenkot pointed out that Israel must “show more flexibility in the negotiations.”
Israel accuses Hamas of “clinging to its positions, not showing interest in reaching an agreement, and of seeking to ignite the region during Ramadan.”
On the other hand, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, held Israel responsible for the failure of the negotiations, and said: “Any agreement must be comprehensive, with international guarantees… If we receive from the mediators a clear position from the occupation regarding its commitment to withdrawal, stopping the aggression, and the return of the displaced, then we are ready to complete “We must show flexibility in the exchange issue.”
This comes at a time when a source familiar with the negotiations in which the United States, Egypt and Qatar are participating, as mediators, announced that “diplomatic efforts will be accelerated in the next ten days” with the aim of trying to reach an agreement during the first half of Ramadan.
Aid and humanitarian conditions in Gaza
image source, EPA
The United Nations believes that airdrops cannot replace the delivery of aid by land.
For weeks, Arab and Western countries have been participating, on an almost daily basis, in dropping food parcels and medical aid into the Gaza Strip by parachute.
However, the United Nations believes that airdrops and sending aid by sea cannot replace the delivery of aid by land, according to Agence France-Presse.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who had previously announced the resignation of his government, said on Monday: “The severity of starvation is intensifying, which is not treated only by dropping meals. Some of them fall into the sea, and others become a tool for killing the hungry due to errors in dropping them off.”
He added: “The easiest and most generous solution for the hungry is to stop crime first, and deliver aid through the crossings and ports under the supervision of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees. If the goal is to provide aid, there are five crossings that reach Gaza through which aid can be delivered within hours, instead of waiting three days at sea.” .
Scenes captured by Agence France-Presse showed some food parcels breaking when they hit the ground, prompting residents to search through the dirt for suitable ones.
A package falling on a house after an umbrella broke last week also killed five people.
The United Nations warns that 2.2 million people out of the Strip’s 2.4 million population are at risk of famine.
As for the humanitarian sea corridor, which the European Union is working to prepare with the support of some Arab countries, the first ship loaded with aid is still waiting in Cyprus to sail towards Gaza.
Open Arms, the non-governmental organization supervising the operation, said that its ship would tow a barge carrying 200 tons of food, but a spokeswoman could not confirm the date of its departure.
ظهرت في الأصل على www.bbc.com