The site of Israeli strikes in Beirut
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 60 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, medics said, and Israel also shelled Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, as a U.S. diplomatic effort to end end of fighting, difficulty in moving forward.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of “stubbornness” in the negotiations, while his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his priority was security “despite any pressure or coercion.”
Israel continues its offensives against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite Washington's efforts to secure a ceasefire on both fronts before the US presidential election next Tuesday.
Doctors in Gaza said around 60 people were killed and dozens more injured in the past 24 hours after strikes on the towns of Deir Al Balah and Al Zawaida and the Nusseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. central Gaza Strip, as well as in the south.
At least ten people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit the entrance to a school housing displaced people in Nousseirat, doctors told Reuters. Ten other people were killed in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, doctors said.
The Israeli military said its troops had identified and eliminated “several armed terrorists” in central Gaza and eliminated “dozens of terrorists” in targeted raids in Jabalia in the north. She did not comment on the strike outside the school.
Israel also carried out airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon's capital, in the early hours of Friday, Reuters journalists on the scene said.
These are the first Israeli strikes targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut in almost a week.
Just before the strikes, the Israeli army gave orders to evacuate ten different neighborhoods.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities and resources, a statement regularly used to explain its strikes on the area.
DISCUSSIONS
These strikes come after a new, so far unsuccessful, attempt by American diplomats to obtain a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon.
Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's Middle East adviser, and Amos Hochstein, White House special envoy to the region, visited Israel on Thursday to advance discussions.
According to a Lebanese political source and a diplomat, the United States has asked Lebanon to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel in order to restart talks, a claim denied by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
This request, the sources said, was conveyed this week by Amos Hochstein to the Lebanese Prime Minister.
The Lebanese prime minister's office denied in a statement to Reuters that the United States had asked Lebanon to declare a unilateral ceasefire. The government's position is clear, the cabinet said: it wants a ceasefire on both sides and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last cycle of conflicts in 2006.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Clauda Tanios in Dubai, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, written by Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhar; French version Camille Raynaud and Kate Entringer)
