The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had carried out several airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, weakening the ceasefire with the Lebanese Islamist movement. In Gaza, it killed several humanitarian workers.
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed by Israeli troops since October 2023, most since the end of September.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense, “at least five martyrs were transferred, including three WCK employees” after an Israeli bombardment on a car traveling on the main Salaheddine road, in the northeast of Khan Yunis. Here, relatives gather near the victims.
Israel says it attacked Hezbollah – humanitarians killed in Gaza – Gallery
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed by Israeli troops since October 2023, most since the end of September.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense, “at least five martyrs were transferred, including three WCK employees” after an Israeli bombardment on a car traveling on the main Salaheddine road, in the northeast of Khan Yunis. Here, relatives gather near the victims.
A truce between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday in Lebanon, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open war between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed movement supported by Iran.
The conflict had forced 60,000 people in Israel and 900,000 others in Lebanon to flee their homes.
Israel wants “complete freedom of action”
On the eve of its entry into force, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would retain “total freedom of military action” in Lebanon, “if Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm”.
The Israeli army announced in a press release that it had carried out four strikes on Saturday, including one targeting “a Hezbollah installation (…) in the Saida region”, the large city in southern Lebanon. She also said she had targeted “a military vehicle operating near a Hezbollah rocket manufacturing site.”
Lebanon’s official ANI news agency reported a “drone strike on a car” in the southern district of Tyre, as well as a shelling of Khiam, a border village, and intermittent artillery fire on the outskirts of the village of Shaqra.
“Hidden weapons”
Still in the south of the country, where its forces are present, the Israeli army claimed to have “located and confiscated weapons hidden in a mosque”.
The Israeli Air Force also said it carried out a raid Saturday in the east of the country on “military infrastructure sites near crossing points between Syria and Lebanon used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
Hezbollah opened a front “in support” of Hamas against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered on October 7, 2023 by the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement, the latest episode of the very long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After months of exchanges of fire on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on the strongholds of the Lebanese movement on September 23, followed by ground operations in southern Lebanon. , claiming to want to secure its northern border and allow the return of displaced people.
Nearly 4,000 dead
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed since October 2023, most since the end of September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians died in 13 months, according to the authorities.
Sponsored by the United States and France, the ceasefire agreement provides for the withdrawal within 60 days of the Israeli army from Lebanon.
Hezbollah must retreat to the north of the Litani River, around 30 km from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south, where only the Lebanese army and the Blue Helmets will be deployed.
The Lebanese army began deploying troops and armor in the south of the country on Wednesday and the leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, pledged on Friday to cooperate with it.
Civilians not convinced
Despite the truce, residents of the Israeli town of Kyriat Shmona, on the Lebanese border, confided that they were not at peace.
“As long as I still hear detonations”, as I see the Israeli army in Lebanon, “I don’t want to come back”, indicates Rakhel Revach, who says she is “passing through” her town, which she had to flee due to the fighting.
In a sign that the situation is unstable, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Saturday extended its recommendations to airlines to avoid flying over Lebanon, as well as Iran, and to apply a “rigorous monitoring process” during the flight over Israel.
Three humanitarian workers killed in Gaza
The Israeli army is also continuing its operations in the Gaza Strip, where it wants to destroy Hamas. The war in the Palestinian territory has resulted in a disastrous humanitarian situation.
The Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday the death of three Palestinians working for the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK), in an Israeli strike in Khan Younes (south). The Israeli military confirmed that one of the killed aid workers worked for WCK and was a “terrorist.”
According to the Civil Defense spokesperson, “at least five martyrs were transferred, including three WCK employees” after an Israeli bombardment on a car traveling on the main Salaheddine road, in the northeast of Khan Younes.
Hamas’ military wing released a new video of an Israeli hostage on Saturday. The young man asks Israelis to put pressure on the government for his release and that of all the hostages still held captive in Gaza.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left at least 44,382 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
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