BEIRUT (AP) – The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate cities and other communities in southern Lebanon north of the United Nations-declared buffer zone, which was launched earlier this week against the militant group Hezbollah. He suggested that there was a possibility of expanding ground operations. .
Israel has called on its citizens to leave the regional capital, Nabatiyeh, and other communities north of the Litani River, which form the northern edge of the border zone established by the United Nations Security Council after the two countries went to war in 2006. accuse the other party of violating resolution.
At least nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and Israel announced the launch of a limited ground invasion earlier this week. Meanwhile, the region is bracing for further Israeli retaliation. Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Strike kills and injures first responders
The World Health Organization warns that 28 health workers have been killed in Lebanon in the past day, 30 health facilities have been closed in the south and five hospitals in Beirut have been partially or fully evacuated. reported that access to the site is being restricted.
Lebanon’s health minister said the Israeli attack, which hit nine hospitals and 45 medical centers, violated international law and treaties.
“International law is clear to protect these people, the emergency workers,” Firas Aviad said. “Who gave Israel the right to be both judge and executioner?”
The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli airstrike injured four Lebanese army paramedics who were evacuating injured people from the south, and killed one Lebanese army soldier. A convoy near the village of Taybeh accompanied by the Lebanese army was targeted on Thursday, it said, despite coordinating actions with UN peacekeepers. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Another Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli artillery fire at a military post in the southern town of Bint Jubeir, the Lebanese army said in a counterattack. A Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said a military post had come under shelling.
An Israeli airstrike late Wednesday on an apartment building in central Beirut killed nine people, including seven civilian first responders linked to Hezbollah. Since late September, Israel has been carrying out attacks in areas of the country where the militants have a strong presence, but rarely in the center of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike, which hit apartment buildings near the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament buildings late Wednesday.
After the airstrike in Beirut, residents reported a sulfur-like smell, and the Lebanese state news agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence, which can cause severe burns. potentially violate international law. human rights organizations in the past Israel accused of using white phosphorus incendiary bombs About the towns and villages of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it had artillery shells containing white phosphorus, which does not violate international law, but did not say whether it was used in the attack. Army officials said the main gun shells used to create the smoke screen do not contain the substance.
Palestinian Ministry of Health says 16 people killed in Israeli attack in West Bank
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Thursday that 16 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank. This was the deadliest attack in the occupied territories since the Israeli-Hamas war broke out in October last year.
The military said the attack was carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security agency, but did not provide details about the targets. Tulkarem is an insurgent stronghold in the northern West Bank. It remains unclear how many people were injured in the explosion.
Since the Israeli-Hamas war broke out last October, violence has escalated across the Israeli-occupied territories. Some of the worst violence has occurred in Tulkarem and other northern Palestinian cities. Palestinian armed groups operate throughout the northern West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has a limited foothold.
Fighting intensifies in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck about 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. The airstrike killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. But if true, the claim would be the latest in a series of assassinations of senior Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli military also announced Thursday that it had killed Mohamed Anisi, a Hezbollah militant leader who was involved in the development of Hezbollah’s precision-guided missiles. The military said Anisi was killed in an airstrike targeting the group’s intelligence wing in Beirut.
Hezbollah said its fighters detonated a roadside bomb, killing and wounding soldiers as Israeli forces entered the Lebanese border village of Maroun el-Ras. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.
So far, ground clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have been confined to a narrow area along the border.
But hundreds of thousands of people ran away from homeIsrael has warned people to evacuate dozens of villages and towns in the south and tell them to move to areas well north of the Litani River, about 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the militants withdrew north of Litani, and the Lebanese army, along with UN peacekeepers, moved through the border area. I was supposed to be on patrol.
Neither the Lebanese army nor its peacekeepers have been able to force Hezbollah into any agreement by force, and Israel claims it has built extensive military infrastructure in towns and villages near the border in defiance of the resolution. Lebanon accused Israel of violating other parts of the resolution.
Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and forced some 60,000 Israelis to flee their northern communities. Israel has carried out retaliatory attacks over the past year, displacing tens of thousands of people on the Lebanese side.
In recent weeks, Israeli military attacks in Lebanon have resulted in deaths. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his executives. Hundreds more airstrikes have killed at least 1,276 people in large parts of Lebanon since mid-September, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed and more than 9,000 injured in Lebanon since fighting began nearly a year ago.
Most recent strikes have taken place in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
Concerns about war escalating rise after Iranian missile attack
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen He said he launched two drones in Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it spotted two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, one of which was shot down and another that fell into the Mediterranean Sea.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes militant groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks against Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, eliciting retaliation in a cycle in which they have repeatedly threatened to provoke a wider war.
The region is seen as once again on the brink of such a conflict after Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack, which was said to be a reaction to the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Nasrallah, who was with him. Announced. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyehwas killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.
Israel and the United States said there would be serious consequences for the missile attack, which left two people lightly injured and one Palestinian killed in the occupied West Bank. US rushed military assets to the area To support Israel.
Israel announces killing of Hamas official in Gaza Strip
Escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iranian-backed extremists that began about a year ago. October 7 surprise attack by Hamas From the Gaza Strip to Israel.
The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip nearly three months ago. An attack on an underground facility in northern Gaza has killed Rawi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
Hamas had no immediate comment. Mushtaha was a close ally of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attack. Mr. Shinwar is believed to be alive and hiding in Gaza.
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Jeffrey reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehaib in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
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