While diplomatic efforts continue to find a solution to the conflict in the Middle East, deadly attacks continue on the ground. Five Palestinians were killed Tuesday, November 19 in Israeli operations in the Jenin sector, in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority announced. For its part, the Israeli army accused the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah of having fired during the day on two positions of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in two separate episodes. Here's what to remember from the day on the war front.
Five Palestinians killed in Israeli operations in West Bank
Five Palestinians were killed in Israeli operations in the Jenin sector, in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority announced, with the Israeli army confirming having killed three men. During a nighttime operation to arrest a wanted man in Qabatiyah, near Jenin, “three terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire”the Israeli army, border police and Shin Bet (internal security service) said in a joint statement.
Violence in the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has worsened since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel.
Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv
Lebanese Hezbollah said it fired missiles at a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv in central Israel and opened fire on Israeli soldiers near four border towns. In separate statements, the pro-Iranian movement said it had fired “a salvo of missiles (…) on the Glilot base of Unit 8200 of Military Intelligence in the suburbs of Tel Aviv”. He added that he had fired on Israeli forces who were carrying out ground incursions near four border towns in southern Lebanon, using rockets and missiles in particular.
The Israeli army, for its part, accused Hezbollah of having fired on two positions of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on the same day. The Lebanese army announced that three of its soldiers were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike targeting their position in Sarafand in the south of the country.
Solution to stop Israel-Hezbollah war 'within reach', US envoy says
The American president's special envoy, Amos Hochstein, was in Beirut to negotiate an American truce proposal between Israel and Hezbollah.“It is the parties who must decide” the end of hostilities, he said after meeting Nabih Berri, ally of Hezbollah and responsible for leading the negotiations. “It’s now within reach”added this official. “The situation is in principle good”for his part affirmed Nabih Berri to the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsatbased in London.
The American ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, presented last Thursday to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Nabih Berri a 13-point plan providing for a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon . The Israeli Prime Minister, however, warned Monday evening that Israel “will carry out operations” military forces against Hezbollah even in the event of a ceasefire agreement.
WHO expresses serious concern for hospitals in northern Gaza Strip
The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed serious concern for hospitals still partially functioning in the northern Gaza Strip. “We are very, very worried and it is more and more difficult to deliver aid (and) specialized personnel, while the needs are more and more important”declared Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the WHO, to journalists in Geneva.
This concern, she added, is “particularly” acute for the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, an area where the Israeli army launched a major offensive in early October against fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and other armed groups. “The situation in northern Gaza is one of extreme disaster”testified Hossam Abou Safiyeh, director of this establishment, contacted by telephone by AFP. “We are starting to lose patients due to lack of medical supplies and personnel”he continued.
Benjamin Netanyahu offers $5 million bounty per freed hostage
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced from the shores of the Gaza Strip a reward of five million dollars offered to anyone who brings back a hostage held in Gaza. “Anyone who brings a hostage back to us will find a safe way out for them and their family.” of Gaza, he said in a video released by his office, in what Israelis call the Netzarim corridor.
The Netzarim corridor is a buffer zone set up by the Israeli army which cuts off the north of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the small Palestinian territory. This is the fourth time since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that Benjamin Netanyahu's services have broadcast videos of the Israeli Prime Minister filmed inside the Gaza Strip. But never before had the images been filmed so deep inside the coastal territory devastated by more than a year of war.
