In central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a series of Israeli air attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials said.
The latest violence comes against the backdrop of a new diplomatic push by US President Joe Biden’s administration, days before the presidential election, to reach temporary ceasefire agreements.
Israeli emergency services said seven people were injured before dawn on Saturday in an attack in the central town of Tira. Three projectiles entered Israel from Lebanon, the Israeli military said, and some were intercepted.
Magen David Adom said two of the injured were in moderate condition following the attack, and the others had lighter injuries. A photo released by the department shows damage to what appears to be an apartment building.
Israel has intensified its offensive against Hamas fighters remaining in Gaza, pulverizing areas in the north and raising fears of worsening humanitarian conditions for civilians still there.
In Lebanon, Israel has expanded its strikes in recent weeks to larger urban centers, such as the town of Baalbek, home to 80,000 people, after initially targeting smaller border villages in the south, where Hezbollah carries out operations.
Iran-backed Hezbollah is both a major political party and provider of social services in Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon towards Israel in solidarity with Hamas immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. Year-long cross-border fighting escalated into open war on October 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.
In the Bekaa complaint, Lebanon, where small villages, olive groves and vineyards nestled between the country’s mountain ranges had been largely spared from Israeli bombardment until recently, Israel carried out a series of heavy airstrikes Friday, killing at least 52 people, forcing more families to flee with everything they could carry.
Intensified Israeli airstrikes on and around the northeastern town of Baalbek, after Israel issued evacuation warnings, caused 60,000 people to flee, emptying nearby villages, it said. Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese MP representing the region.
In Lebanon, rescuers were searching for survivors after airstrikes killed nine people and destroyed a building that housed 20 people in the town of Younine. New Israeli strikes killed 12 people in the town of Amhaz and 31 others in at least a dozen villages in northeastern Lebanon, bringing the total death toll to 52, the Health Ministry said. The bombings left 72 injured, the ministry added.
Israel had no immediate comment on the deadly strikes.
Strikes on Dahieh
In the Lebanese capital, Israeli planes bombed the southern suburb of Dahieh overnight and early Friday for the first time in four days, spreading panic after a rare lull. The Israeli army, which asked residents to evacuate at least nine locations in Dahieh, said it had struck Hezbollah weapons manufacturing sites and command centers.
No casualties have been reported in Dahieh, where fear of Israeli bombing causes an exodus of residents every night.
Since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023, more than 2,897 people have been killed and 13,150 injured in Lebanon, reports the Ministry of Health, not including Friday’s toll. Health authorities say a quarter of those killed were women and children.
Overall, UN agencies estimate that Israel’s ground invasion and bombing of Lebanon has displaced 1.4 million people. Residents of communities in northern Israel near Lebanon, around 60,000 people, have also been displaced for more than a year.
Hezbollah continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, with projectiles launched from Lebanon on Thursday crashing into agricultural areas and killing seven people, including four Thai farm workers.
Israel also continued its bombardment of Gaza on Friday, where a series of airstrikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including an 18-month-old child and his 10-year-old sister. according to health officials at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
No ceasefire in sight
As U.S. diplomats left the region after a series of meetings with Israeli officials, there was no sign of progress toward a ceasefire in Lebanon or Gaza.
Hamas on Friday reiterated its long-standing demands for a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, saying Israel had only proposed a temporary pause in the war and an increase in supplies of help during the final negotiations. Israel had no immediate comment.
“The proposals do not meet the overall needs of the Palestinian people in terms of security, stability, relief and reconstruction,” said Bassem Naem, a senior Hamas official, speaking first on Al Aqsa TV. , managed by Hamas, before confirming the group’s position to the Associated Press.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel and brought some 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Health officials inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip do not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but say more than half of the deaths in the enclave are women and children.
