BEIRUT (AP) As mediators continued their cease-fire efforts to avert the full-scale conflict, Hezbollah responded to deadly Israeli attacks in Beirut with roughly 250 rockets and other projectiles fired into Israel on Sunday, wounded seven people in one of the terrorist group’s biggest barrages in months.
A portion of the missiles made it to the central Israeli region of Tel Aviv.
According to Lebanon’s military, an Israeli strike on an army center in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura killed one Lebanese soldier and injured eighteen more. The Israeli military apologized, stating that the strike took place in a Hezbollah-fighting area and that the force’s activities are only focused on the militants.
Since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have killed more than 40 Lebanese soldiers, despite the fact that Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fray.
Najib Mikati, the acting prime minister of Lebanon, denounced the most recent strike as an attack on cease-fire efforts spearheaded by the United States and described it as a clear and brutal statement that rejected all attempts and ongoing negotiations to resolve the conflict.
After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, onslaught from the Gaza Strip sparked the war in Israel, Hezbollah started launching rockets, missiles, and drones into the country. The strikes have been presented by Hezbollah as a show of support for Hamas and the Palestinians. Iran backs both armed factions.
Israel murdered Hassan Nasrallah, the main leader of Hezbollah, in September after launching retaliatory airstrikes on the group. This caused the low-level conflict to escalate into a full-scale war.
About 250 projectiles were fired on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, some of which were intercepted.
Seven people were treated by Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, including a 70-year-old woman who inhaled smoke from a burning car in the central city of Petah Tikva, close to Tel Aviv; a 60-year-old man who was seriously injured by rocket fire in northern Israel; and a 23-year-old man who was only slightly hurt by a blast. A residential structure in Haifa was struck by a rocket and authorities warned that it might collapse.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent, an interceptor missile that hit multiple residences in Tulkarem, West Bank, inflicted 13 injuries. It was unclear if the damage and injuries were from interceptors or rockets.
Hours later, sirens screamed once more in northern and central Israel.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, Israeli airstrikes struck central Beirut without notice on Saturday, killing at least 29 people and injuring 67 more.
With further strikes on Sunday, smoke billowed above Beirut once more. According to Israel’s military, it targeted Hezbollah command headquarters in the Dahiyeh suburbs to the south, where the militant group is heavily represented.
According to the Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed over 3,700 civilians in Lebanon. Approximately 1.2 million people, or 25% of Lebanon’s population, have been displaced by the conflict.
Following Israel’s ground invasion in early October, over 90 Israeli soldiers and close to 50 civilians have been killed in battle and by shelling in northern Israel. Approximately 60,000 Israelis have been forced to leave the northern part of the country.
The top diplomat for the European Union said on Sunday that a deal between Israel and Hezbollah was still pending a final agreement from the Israeli government and urged for more pressure to secure an accord. Last week, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein visited the area.
Josep Borrell remarked following a meeting with Mikati and Hezbollah ally and mediator Nabih Berri of the Lebanese Parliament. According to Borrell, the EU is prepared to provide the Lebanese military with 200 million euros ($208 million).
However, Borrell later stated that he did not believe the Israeli administration was genuinely interested in coming to a cease-fire deal and that it appeared Israel was looking for different terms. He cited Israel’s denial of France’s request to join the international committee tasked with monitoring the cease-fire’s execution.
According to the U.N. Security Council resolution that put an end to the month-long 2006 war, the emerging deal would allow Israeli troops and Hezbollah terrorists to withdraw from southern Lebanon below the Litani River. U.N. forces would accompany Lebanese troops on patrol.
The only hostage-release agreement was one year ago.
Freed hostages and the relatives of those detained marked a year since the war’s sole hostage-release agreement, as negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement in Gaza stagnated.
Yifat Zailer, Shiri Bibas’ cousin, who is detained with her husband and two young sons, said it’s difficult to maintain hope, especially after all this time and with another winter on the horizon.
At least one-third of the approximately 100 hostages who remain in Gaza are thought to be dead. The majority of the remaining 250 people who were kidnapped during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, were set free at the cease-fire last year.
The dismissal of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to halt its mediation were two recent setbacks in negotiations for another agreement. Israel should stop the battle and remove all of its forces from Gaza, according to Hamas. Israel’s offer is limited to halting its onslaught.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its calculation, the number of Palestinian deaths from the conflict topped 44,000 this week.
AP journalists at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah reported that six Palestinians were killed in strikes in central Gaza on Sunday.
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