US envoy to visit Israel, 17 dead in Gaza

(Beirut) The US President’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein, announced Wednesday after his talks in Beirut that he would visit Israel with the aim of achieving a ceasefire in the war between Hezbollah and Israeli army who clashed again in southern Lebanon.

The United States and France are increasing efforts to obtain a truce in the conflict which intensified at the end of September after more than a year of cross-border exchanges of fire between the pro-Iranian movement and Israel.

Hezbollah opened a front against Israel the day after the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023 which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, saying it was acting in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

The Lebanese Islamist movement and the Israeli army entered into open war on September 23, and the Israeli army has been carrying out incursions into southern Lebanon since September 30.

Arriving in Beirut on Tuesday, Mr. Hochstein continued negotiations on Wednesday to try to reach a truce, after having declared the day before that a solution was “within reach”, but that it was up to the belligerents to “decide” .

At the end of his talks, he said he would go “in a few hours to Israel to try to conclude this if possible.”

The American ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, presented last Thursday to the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, a 13-point plan providing for a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon.

On Wednesday, the Lebanese National News Agency (ANI) reported “violent clashes” in the south of the country, and added that Israeli forces were trying to “advance towards the hills of Kfarchouba” under intense Israeli cover. artillery and aviation.

Hezbollah, for its part, said it had targeted Israeli soldiers near the town of Khiam, about six kilometers from the border, where Israeli forces are trying to advance.

The Lebanese movement also announced that its leader, Naïm Qassem, would speak at 9 a.m. (Eastern time).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that Israel “will lead[it] military operations » against Hezbollah even in the event of a ceasefire agreement.

Lebanese soldier killed

Violence between Israel and Hezbollah has left more than 3,540 dead since October 2023, most since the start of the massive Israeli bombing campaign on September 23. On the Israeli side, 79 soldiers and 46 civilians were killed in 13 months.

Israel says it wants to distance Hezbollah from the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the movement’s fire. In Lebanon, tens of thousands of residents have also been displaced.

Hezbollah announced Wednesday that it had carried out several attacks in northern Israel, including two explosive drone strikes against military bases and a salvo of rockets targeting the town of Safed.

The Lebanese army announced on Wednesday the death of a soldier in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, bringing to 18 the number of its soldiers killed since September 23.

The Israeli army said it was fighting against Hezbollah and “not against the Lebanese Armed Forces”. She added that she had targeted more than 100 “terrorist targets” over the past day and had killed two Hezbollah commanders last Sunday.

“There is no better solution at this stage than to respect Resolution 1701” of the UN Security Council, judged Tuesday the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, on tour in the Gulf.

This resolution, which marked the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers must be deployed on the southern border of Lebanon, implying a withdrawal from the sector of Hezbollah fighters , but also that of Israeli soldiers in Lebanese territory.

Seventeen dead in Gaza

The situation in the Middle East has heated up since the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. , including hostages killed or died in captivity.

That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.

In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a massive bombing campaign followed by a ground offensive in Gaza, which left at least 43,985 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, considered reliable. by the UN.

At least 17 people, including a baby and a 15-year-old girl, were killed Wednesday in new raids by the Israeli army, local Civil Defense announced.

The Israeli army, for its part, reported the death of one of its soldiers in fighting in the north.

The UN Security Council is due to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza, a new attempt to put pressure on the parties to the conflict which risks being blocked by the United States, allies of Israel.