Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants began a ceasefire Wednesday in a major step toward ending nearly 14 months of fighting as a region on edge wondered whether it will hold. Some celebratory gunshots could be heard in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, battered over the past two months, but no immediate violations of the ceasefire were reported. Israel has said it will attack if Hezbollah breaks the agreement, and an Israeli military spokesman, in an Arabic-language X post in the first half-hour of the ceasefire, warned evacuated residents of southern Lebanon to not head home yet, saying the military remained deployed there. The ceasefire calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troopsand U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance. The ceasefire began at 4 a.m. Wednesday, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of airstrikes in Beirut since the start of the conflict that in recent weeks turned into all-out war. At least 42 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities. The ceasefire does not address the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to strike Hezbollah if it believed the militants had violated the agreement, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted was part of the deal but which Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have rejected. Netanyahu supports ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah Israel's security Cabinet approved the U.S.-France-brokered ceasefire agreement after Netanyahu presented it, his office said. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza but the talks repeatedly sputtered to a halt. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East without saying how, and his team linked the deal to Trump's looming return to office. Any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed accomplishments against Israel’s enemies. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Netanyahu’s office said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but “reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire and described it as a crucial step toward stability and the return of displaced people. Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. Israel cracks down on Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state," he said, referring to Israel's demand for freedom of action. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as ceasefire efforts gained momentum in recent days, Israel continued to strike what it called Hezbollah targets across Lebanon while the militants fired rockets, missiles and drones across the border. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in central Beirut — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously were not targeted. Residents fled. Traffic was gridlocked, with mattresses tied to some cars. Dozens of people, some wearing pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed overhead. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said peacekeepers will not evacuate. Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah is required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have exchanged barrages ever since. Israel escalated its bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.

The European Union’s top diplomat said Tuesday there were “no excuses” for Israel to refuse to accept a ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, saying all its security concerns had been addressed in the U.S.-French-brokered deal. Josep Borrell, the outgoing EU foreign policy chief, called for increased pressure on Israel to blunt extremists in the government who are refusing to accept the deal. Speaking on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting in Italy, Borrell warned that if a ceasefire is not implemented, “Lebanon will fall apart." Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet was set to convene Tuesday to discuss a proposed ceasefire. Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. Borrell said under the proposed agreement, the U.S. would chair a ceasefire implementation committee, with France participating at the request of Lebanon. “On the proposal agreement brokered by the U.S. and France, Israel has all security concerns (addressed),” Borrell told reporters in Fiuggi, Italy. “There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart.” Following the October 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel, months of back-and-forth fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah have erupted into a full-blown war in recent months, with Israel killing Hezbollah’s main leaders and sending ground forces into southern Lebanon. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in the fighting on the ground in Lebanon. The G7 meeting of foreign ministers from the world's leading industrialized nations, the last of the Biden administration, was dominated on Monday by the Mideast wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The G7 ministers were joined by the foreign ministers of the “Arab Quintet”: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries there have been completely impeded. “The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.” It was a reference to the main accusation leveled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister. Israel has angrily denied the charges, calling them antisemitic and a victory for terrorism and said the charges failed to recognize the country’s right to defend itself. Borrell said the signatories to ICC, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions. The U.S. is not a party to the court and has called the arrest warrants “outrageous.” Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the position of the U.S., Israel’s closest ally. Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice.” By Tuesday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani acknowledged Italy's obligations. Italy was one of the first signatories of the ICC and hosted the 1998 Rome conference that gave birth to it. “We are friends of Israel but I think we need to respect international law,” he said as he waited to greet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken heads to last G7 meeting of Biden presidency with Ukraine and Mideast topping the agenda While the G7 meeting was dominated Monday by the Mideast conflicts, the attention turned Tuesday to Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was on hand and briefed the ministers on Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Tajani said. “We want to repeat, visibly, our solidarity from Italy and the G7,” Tajani told the ministers at the start of Tuesday’s session. “Support to Kyiv is a priority.” The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and G7 members are particularly concerned about how a Trump administration will change the U.S. approach. Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Tensions have only heightened since Russia attacked Ukraine last week with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Hezbollah cease-fire deal could come 'within days': Israeli ambassador to US Blinken, at his final G7 before the Biden administration leaves office, thanked Tajani for the collaboration over the years and said Washington was still standing with its allies. “Our countries are standing together, along with other partners, to deal with the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine," Blinken said. "We’re standing together to deal with some of the challenges posed by China. We’re standing together in looking to bring a sustainable, lasting peace in the Middle East.”  

Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants. Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war. Hezbollah fires rockets after strikes on Beirut Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors. Read: UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north. EU envoy calls for pressure to reach a truce The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week. Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military. But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation. The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers. One year since the only hostage-release deal With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal. Read more: US envoy says Israel-Hezbollah truce is 'within our grasp' as Gaza food crisis worsens after looting “It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire. Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive. The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Israel said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a Hezbollah official widely expected to have replaced the militant group's longtime leader, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike last month. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah about the fate of Hashem Safieddine, a powerful cleric who was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders. Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders, according to Israel, whose airstrikes in southern Lebanon in recent months have killed many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, leaving the group in disarray. Last week, Israel killed the top leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, during a battle in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a trip to Israel that leaders there should “capitalize” on Sinwar's death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages taken during the deadly Hamas attack that started the war. Blinken also stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called his meeting with Blinken, which lasted more than two hours, “friendly and productive.” The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by fresh airstrikes Tuesday, including one that leveled a building Israel said housed Hezbollah facilities. The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters (yards) from where a spokesperson for Hezbollah had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged Netanyahu's house. Tuesday's airstrikes came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah news conference nearby was cut short, and an Associated Press photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the Saturday drone attack on Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea. Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time. Blinken's meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders was part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. He landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries. Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel An Israeli airstrike late Monday in Beirut destroyed several buildings across the street from the country’s largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn’t targeted the hospital itself. AP reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis center, which was full of patients at the time. Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence. The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors on Tuesday. AP reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary. The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military's announcement the night before. “We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alame said. “There is nothing under the hospital.” Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 63 people have been killed over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,546. Three Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday, one in Gaza, one in Lebanon, and one in a rocket attack in northern Israel, according to the military. Blinken trying to restart efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza During his meeting with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, Blinken underscored the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, according to U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. The need for more aid in Gaza is something Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week. Miller said Blinken also stressed the importance of ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated earlier this month when Israel began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have brokered months of talks between Israel and Hamas, trying to strike a deal in which the militants would release dozens of hostages in return for an end to the war, a lasting cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners. But both Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands over the summer, and the talks halted in August. Hamas says its demands haven't changed following the killing of Sinwar. Israel said it invaded Lebanon to try to stop near daily rocket attacks from Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has said it plans to strike Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month. War rages in Lebanon and northern Gaza The U.S. has also tried to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but those efforts fell apart as tensions spiked last month with a series of Israeli strikes that killed Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders. Israel has carried out waves of heavy airstrikes across southern Beirut and the country’s south and east, areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel over the past year, including some that have reached the country’s populous center. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Around 100 of the captives are still held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel says more strikes coming against Hezbollah-run financial institution Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands, according to local health authorities, who don't say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children. It has also caused major devastation and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.

Israel said late Monday it planned to carry out more strikes in Lebanon against a Hezbollah-run financial institution that it targeted the night before and which it says uses customers' deposits to finance attacks against Israel. At least 15 branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan were hit late Sunday in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, and there were no reports of casualties. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Associated Press journalists witnessed strikes late Monday in the coastal region of Ouzai, near Beirut’s airport, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an airstrike near Beirut’s largest public hospital killed four, including a child, and wounded 24. It was the first strike on the Lebanese capital in 10 days. Israeli ground forces invaded Lebanon earlier this month. The military said it aims to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes nearby after more than a year of cross-border rocket and drone attacks. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes. Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel nearly every day since Hamas' deadly raid into Israel last year that sparked the war in Gaza. The United States is hoping to revive diplomatic efforts to resolve both conflicts after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, but so far all sides appear to be digging in. Hezbollah-run lender filled gaps left by Lebanon's troubled banksThe Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said — without providing evidence — that Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan and that the money is used to purchase arms and pay fighters. The strikes were aimed at preventing the group from rearming, he said. The institution, which has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, tried to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas. Many customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah. Al-Qard Al-Hasan, which is sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has long served as an alternative to Lebanon's banks, which have imposed restrictions on customers since a severe financial crisis that began in 2019. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said late Monday that Israel planned more strikes on Al-Qard al-Hasan. Hagari said Iran funds Hezbollah by sending cash and gold to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, though he did not provide any evidence. Hagari also said, without providing evidence, that Israeli intelligence had discovered a bunker belonging to former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that is now being used as a vault under a hospital in southern Beirut. He said it held millions of dollars of gold and cash. A member of Lebanon’s parliament who is the director of the hospital, Fadi Alameh, denied the claim, and said the hospital has underground operation rooms. Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated in anticipation of strikes. Hagari said Israeli strikes in Beirut in early October and in Syria on Monday had also killed people responsible for transferring money between Iran and Hezbollah. Syrian state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the capital of Damascus, killing two people and wounding three. Israeli airstrikes killed 17 people in Lebanon on Monday, including four first responders, according to the country's health ministry. The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired 170 projectiles into Israel on Monday. US envoy says UN resolution that ended past war is ‘no longer enough’U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent much of the past year trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, was back in Lebanon on Monday for talks with senior officials. He said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, was “no longer enough” to ensure peace and a new mechanism was needed to enforce it. The resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the border with Israel and for U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to control southern Lebanon, without any Hezbollah or Israeli presence. Israel says the resolution was never implemented and that Hezbollah built up extensive military infrastructure right up to the border. Lebanon has long accused Israel of violating its airspace and failing to abide by other provisions of the resolution. US tries to revive Gaza cease-fire talks after Sinwar’s deathThe United States has expressed hope that last week's killing of Hamas leader Sinwar could give new impetus for a cease-fire in Gaza, which would give a major boost to parallel efforts to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar, visited Egypt for the second time in less than a week and met with Egyptian officials on Sunday, according to an Egyptian official who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, remains opposed to any Israeli presence along the Gaza-Egypt border, a key sticking point in talks that sputtered to a halt in August. Hamas has said its demands remain unchanged after the killing of Sinwar. The militant group has said it will only release dozens of Israeli hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the captives, and says Israel must maintain an open-ended security presence in Gaza to keep Hamas from rearming. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don’t distinguish combatants from civilians but say most of the dead were women and children. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

Hezbollah’s acting leader declared Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed in a televised speech to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.” It was his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut. The United Nations human rights office meanwhile called for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in Aito in northern Lebanon, killing at least 23 people, including 12 women and two children. Israeli strikes continued in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters. It’s been more than a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people. In solidarity with Hamas, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily for the past year. Israel has escalated its campaign against the group in recent weeks. Israel assures US it won’t strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites, US officials say The Biden administration believes it has won assurances from Israel that it will not hit Iranian nuclear or oil sites as it considers retaliating to Iran’s missile barrage earlier this month, two U.S. officials say. The administration also believes that sending a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel and roughly 100 soldiers to operate it has eased some of Israel’s concerns about more Iranian strikes and general security issues. The Pentagon announced Sunday that the THAAD deployment was to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October, saying it was authorized at the direction of President Joe Biden. However, the U.S. officials who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic discussions, cautioned that the assurance is not iron-clad and that circumstances could change. The officials also noted that Israel’s track record on fulfilling assurances in the past is mixed and has often reflected domestic Israeli politics that have upended Washington’s expectations. Shelter in Syria struggles to help displaced Lebanese A shelter near Damascus established to house Syrians displaced by the country’s civil war is now housing more than 300 Lebanese families who fled the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah in their country. Abdul-Nasser Khatib, the head of the shelter in Herjelleh, said Tuesday that Syria, which was already in the throes of an economic crisis, is struggling to meet the needs of the new arrivals. He says the center doesn’t have enough drinking water, food, baby milk and clothes, and “we are in urgent need of the assistance of international organizations.” A child playing with a make-believe train at the center chanted, “Toot toot, to Beirut,” a line from a popular song about Lebanon’s now-defunct railroad. Nour Murad, a Lebanese citizen from the eastern city of Baalbek, says she fled a “disastrous” situation and has been in Syria for eight days. Read: UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah “The destruction and blood were everywhere around us,” she said. “Displacement is nothing compared to those who have lost loved ones.” Murad said she plans to return to Lebanon “as soon as the situation calms down.” Lebanese border authorities say more than 326,000 Syrians and more than 124,000 Lebanese citizens have crossed into Syria from Lebanon since Sept. 23, when Israel began widespread attacks in Lebanon. US State Department dismisses Iranian claim that communications have broken down The U.S. State Department has dismissed remarks by Iran’s foreign minister who said Tehran shut down an indirect communication route between the two countries in Oman. Responding to a query from The Associated Press, the State Department said Tuesday: “We have direct and open lines of communication with Iran when it is in our interest.” “There is no misunderstanding in our position,” the State Department said. “Thus, there is no need at the current time for indirect talks in Oman or anywhere else.” On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state media in Muscat, Oman, that Iran has stopped indirect talks with the U.S. there. Iran remains braced for a possible retaliatory strike by Israel to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel, its second direct attack on Israel amid the ongoing wars in the Middle East. UN human rights office urges independent probe into deadly airstrike in northern Lebanon The U.N. human rights office is calling for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in northern Lebanon and left at least 23 people dead. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR ), says the agency has received reports that 12 women and two children were among those killed Monday in the airstrike on the village of Aito. “With these factors in mind, we have real concerns with respect to … the laws of war and principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality,” he told reporters in Geneva Tuesday. Laurence is calling for a “prompt, independent and thorough investigation into this incident.” Israel speeds up technology development to counter drone attacks The Israeli Defense Ministry says it is speeding up development of new technologies to counter drone attacks like the Hezbollah strike this week that killed four soldiers. Israel’s air defenses have performed well during a year of war against enemies across the region, particularly against rocket and missile attacks. But at times, they have struggled against drones, with unmanned aerial vehicles responsible for several deadly attacks. Read more: Israel says 4 soldiers killed by Hezbollah drone attack while Israeli strike in Gaza leaves 20 dead The Defense Ministry said it tested a number of technologies being developed by Israeli companies as part of an “expedited process” to find new solutions. It says it will analyze the results and select several technologies for further development with the aim of deploying them within months. US and Canada impose sanctions on a Palestinian organization The U.S. and Canada on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or “Samidoun,” a charity that serves as an alleged fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group. The group operates in Gaza and the West Bank and has been a designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997. Also designated is Khaled Barakat, a member of the group’s leadership. Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said that organizations like Samidoun “masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups.” The penalties aim to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. Hezbollah's acting leader says the group is focused on ‘hurting the enemy’ Hezbollah’s deputy chief and acting leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in a televised speech Tuesday that the group is now focused on “hurting the enemy,” exemplified by targeting the Israeli city of Haifa and areas beyond it, including Tel Aviv. The pre-recorded speech marked his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27. “We will defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands,” Kassem said. He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking a “new Middle East” aligned with Israeli and American interests. He urged Hezbollah supporters to remain steadfast amid Israeli attacks. “Our hope for victory is limitless,” he said. “I give you good news that we are the ones who will hold the enemy’s reins and return it to the fold.” Addressing Israelis, Kassem said that a cease-fire is the only solution to return residents of northern Israel to their homes. “We are not seeking a cease-fire because we are weak,” he said. If Israel continues its bombardment and ground invasion in Lebanon, he said that Hezbollah’s strikes will expand over a geographically wider area and “more than 2 million will be in danger.” Israeli officials have said the operation in Lebanon is intended to push back Hezbollah and return displaced Israelis to their homes. Kassem linked the ongoing conflict in Lebanon to the broader struggle of the Palestinians, and to the ongoing war in Gaza. “We cannot separate Lebanon from Palestine, or Palestine from the world,” he said. A team of US troops supporting a missile defense system arrives in Israel A team of American troops supporting a missile defense system in Israel has arrived in the country, the U.S. military said. A statement from Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced the team’s arrival in Israel on Monday. They’ll operate a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery there to defend against ballistic missile attacks from Iran. Tehran has launched two missile attacks on Israel as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon rage. “Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” Ryder said. “The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines.” Iran has warned U.S. troops would be in harm’s way if Iran launches another attack on Israel. Thousands vaccinated against polio in Gaza as the campaign enters a second phase The U.N. health agency says more than 92,000 children aged under 10 in central Gaza received doses of novel oral polio vaccine as a second phase of a vaccination campaign got underway. World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters Tuesday that the kick-off a day earlier to the second round of polio vaccinations was part of efforts to reach over 179,000 kids in central Gaza – and over 590,000 across the entire strip. Read more:UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah “What we have received from colleagues is that the vaccination went without major issues yesterday,” he told reporters at a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. He expressed hopes that a “humanitarian pause” will be respected in north and south Gaza over the next six-to-eight days. Jasarevic said 92,821 children aged under 10 received the vaccine on Monday, the first day of the new phase of the vaccination campaign. “No one wants to see any child paralyzed (because of polio),” Jasarevic said. “But there are so many other problems that people in Gaza are facing, and we need sustained access.” A police officer killed and 4 civilians wounded in a shooting in central Israel Israeli police say one officer was killed and four civilians were wounded in a shooting Tuesday on a highway in central Israel. Police did not immediately provide the identity of the shooter, but police spokeswoman, Mirit Ben Mayor, said that it was a militant attack. Police said the attacker approached the highway and shot the officer before firing on civilians, wounding four. The attacker was then shot by a paramedic arriving on the scene, Israel’s rescue services said, without saying whether the attacker was killed. The shooting occurred on a two-lane highway near the city of Yavne, just south of Tel Aviv. Ohad Yehezkeli, a spokesperson for nearby Assuta Hospital, said the officer died on the way there and another civilian was being treated for moderate injuries. He said two more wounded people were being transported to the hospital. Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Israel has ramped up military operations in the occupied West Bank, killing more than 750 Palestinians. Most have been killed during gunbattles with the army or violent protests, but the dead also include civilian bystanders. Iran's general threatens Israelis at a funeral in Tehran A general in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard directly threatened the lives of Israelis during a funeral service in Tehran for a general slain alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The comment from Gen. Ali Fadavi, a deputy commander in chief of the Guard, comes as Iran awaits a threatened retaliation by Israel over its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack. “That land is a small land. It’s not even as big as one of Iran’s small provinces,” Fadavi said. “If we will, we can obliterate all the Zionists.” Iranian officials routinely refer to Israelis as “Zionists.” The Guard’s leadership attended a funeral service for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed alongside Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut. Guard leaders and others in Iran’s theocracy have threatened to destroy Israel in the past during the more than four decades since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israeli police accuse Hamas operatives in Turkey for August attack in Tel Aviv Israeli police accused Hamas operatives in Turkey of directing a militant attack in August in Tel Aviv in which an explosive went off on a busy street, killing the attacker and wounding a bystander. There was no immediate comment from Turkey. Relations between the two countries have plunged since the start of the war in Gaza. Turkey has long provided political support for Hamas, including welcoming its top leaders on visits, but denies involvement in its military activities. The bomb appeared to have gone off before it was planned to, and it was unclear if the attacker had planned to carry out a suicide bombing or plant the explosives. Both Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the attack. Police said Tuesday that they filed indictments against eight suspects. They said the attacker was a militant from Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who had been directed by an operative in Turkey. They said one of the attack planners had traveled to Turkey several times for explosives training, and that a raid in Nablus uncovered more bombs and funds transferred from Turkey. The police did not provide evidence. “The findings of this investigation clearly indicate the establishment of Hamas headquarters in Turkey and their extensive efforts abroad to incite violence and carry out bombings in Israel,” the police statement said. First responders recover 11 bodies from a destroyed home in northern Gaza Palestinian first responders say they recovered 11 bodies, nearly all women and children, from a home destroyed in an airstrike in northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground operation for over a week. The Gaza Health Ministry’s ambulance service said the dead recovered Tuesday were all from the same family and included seven women and three children. Fares Abu Hamza, head of the emergency service, said ambulances were only able to reach the area in the Jabaliya refugee camp around 12 hours after the airstrike late Monday. He said funeral prayers for the dead, which included a medic killed in Jabaliya, were held Tuesday in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. First responders from the Civil Defense said its teams evacuated three families Tuesday who were stuck inside their homes in Jabaliya for several days because of heavy fighting. Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has carried out several large operations in Jabaliya — a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — only to return months later after saying militants had regrouped there. Israel launched a large operation there on Oct. 6. Top leaders are among those mourning an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general The funeral of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the paramilitary organization together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel. The Guard’s leadership hasn’t been as visible in the two weeks since Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel. The Guard is the main power behind Iran’s theocracy and oversees its arsenal of ballistic missiles — which would be crucial in any future attack on Israel. At the funeral in Tehran for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, the Guard’s chief commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, attended alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the country’s judiciary. Other Guard generals also attended, including Gen. Esmail Qaani of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, about whom rumors had circulated for days regarding his status after the strike that killed Nasrallah. At least two prominent Guard generals were not on hand: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Guard’s aerospace division that oversees its missile program, and Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Guard’s navy, did not attend. Iran offered no explanation for their absence, though Israel has threatened to carry out a serious retaliatory strike against Iran. Israeli strikes on south Gaza kill at least 15 overnight Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. A strike early Tuesday hit a house in the southern town of Beni Suhaila, killing at least 10 people from one extended family, according to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. The dead include three children and one woman, according to hospital records. An Associated Press camera operator at the hospital counted the bodies. In the nearby town of Fakhari, a strike hit a house early Tuesday, killing five people, including three children and a woman, according to the European Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of sheltering in civilian areas. Israeli bombardment around Jabaliya leaves family trapped In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters Tuesday. Adel al-Deqes said his relatives tried to move to another place in Jabaliya in the morning, but the military shelled them. “We don’t know who died and who is still alive,” he said. Ahmed Awda, another Jabaliya resident, said they heard “constant bombing and gunfire” overnight and Tuesday morning. He said the military destroyed many buildings in the eastern and northern parts of the camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. “They bombed many buildings; some of them empty buildings,” he said. Iranian paramilitary leader whose status was in question is shown on state TV The head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television. Rumors circulated for weeks over Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online. Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the airstrike. Australia puts sanctions and travel bans on 5 Iranians  Australia’s government has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranians contributing to the country’s missile defense program, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday. Iran’s launch of at least 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on Oct. 1 was “a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Wong said in a statement. The fresh sanctions target two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The decision brings to 200 the number of Iran-linked individuals and entities now sanctioned by Australia. “Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilizing actions,” Wong said.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” one of its positions on Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded it leave the area. International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions in recent days, most of them blamed on Israeli forces. As Israel escalates its ground invasion against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, the 10,000-strong peacekeeping force is increasingly in the crosshairs. Relations have worsened between Israel and the United Nations over the way Israel has conducted its war in Gaza. In an unprecedented move, Israel earlier this month said the U.N. secretary-general was persona non grata in Israel. The spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called Sunday's events “deeply worrying.” Netanyahu called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah. Read: Heavy Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon hit again Here’s a look at the U.N. force and the latest developments: What is UNIFIL? The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after Israel invaded and occupied southern Lebanon. Israel invaded again in 1982, and it wasn't until 2000 that it withdrew. In the absence of an agreed-upon border, the U.N. drew up a boundary between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line, which UNIFIL monitors and patrols. The United Nations expanded UNIFIL’s mission following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border to monitor the cessation of hostilities and patrol a buffer zone along the border. The force currently has around 10,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon drawn from around 50 countries. They patrol, monitor and report violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 fighting. The force also provides support to local communities. What are the latest developments? Tensions have been mounting since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon earlier this month. Israel asked UNIFIL to move its personnel further north, and the peacekeeping force refused. On Thursday, UNIFIL said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers. It said its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit” and Israel “deliberately” fired on and disabled the headquarters’ monitoring cameras. On Friday, UNIFIL said new explosions hit its headquarters, injuring two peacekeepers, although it did not directly blame Israel. It also said an Israeli army bulldozer hit the perimeter of another position in southern Lebanon while Israeli tanks moved nearby. On Saturday, UNIFIL said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn’t clear who fired. On Sunday, UNIFIL said two Israeli tanks broke into a base and later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers there. It said 15 U.N. peacekeepers had skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions. The Israeli troops stayed for 45 minutes, putting the mission in danger, the statement said. What has Israel said? The Israeli army has expressed deep concern over Thursday's incident and said it is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command. On Friday, it said its soldiers were responding with fire to an immediate threat against them. It didn't respond to questions Saturday. On Sunday, Israel’s military said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a U.N. post while under fire. It said a smoke screen was used to provide cover. Read more: At least 22 killed in airstrikes in central Beirut, with Israel also firing on UN peacekeepers Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, asserted that Israel has only aimed at Hezbollah, and said Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL. The military has asserted that Hezbollah operates in the vicinity of the peacekeepers, without providing evidence. Late Sunday, it asserted that Hezbollah had launched about 25 rockets and missiles from compounds near UNIFIL posts in the past month, with one attack killing two soldiers. “We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury," Netanyahu said Sunday. "But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he added in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general. Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza. On Sunday, Israel's military showed The Associated Press what it said was a pair of tunnel entrances and a small arms cache used by Hezbollah a few hundred meters (yards) from UNIFIL watchtowers along the border. Brig. Gen. Yiftach Norkin said it should have been visible to UNIFIL. The entrances were also within sight of an Israeli military outpost on the border. The entire AP visit was under military escort. How does this affect the mission? Israel's demands for the peacekeepers to evacuate the border area and move north would effectively impede the force from doing its mission. The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that UNIFIL wouldn't evacuate its personnel, but because of air and ground attacks it can't conduct patrols. He said UNIFIL operations have virtually come to a halt since late September, when Israel expanded its campaign against Hezbollah. He added that the security environment has also challenged the resupply of fuel, food and water for U.N. positions. Lacroix later said 300 peacekeepers in front-line positions had been temporarily moved to larger bases. He said UNIFIL had decided to reduce its footprint “at the most affected U.N. positions by 25%.” On Oct. 3, he told reporters that in some places in southern Lebanon, the number of peacekeepers had been reduced by about 20%.

A Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others Sunday, the military said, in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people. It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defense systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones. Israel’s national rescue service said the attack wounded 61. With Israel’s advanced air-defense systems, it’s rare for so many people to be injured by drones or missiles. Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, and fighting has escalated. Israel launched its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this month with the goal of weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militant group away from the border to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes. Inside Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people including children at a school Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The school in Nuseirat was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war. Meanwhile, explosions hit early Monday outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three people and injuring about 50 others, the hospital said. Tents caught fire, and residents of the Central Gaza community carried the injured into the hospital. Hezbollah's deadly strike in Israel came the same day that the United States announced it would send a new air-defense system to Israel to help bolster protection against missiles, along with troops needed to operate it. An Israeli army spokesperson declined to provide a timeline. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — both Iran-backed militant groups — and is expected to strike Iran in retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month. Iran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack. Netanyahu calls UN peacekeepers ‘human shield’ for Hezbollah The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one position early Sunday and destroyed the main gate. They later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers, causing skin irritation. UNIFIL called the incident a “further flagrant violation of international law.” Read: UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions, with most blamed on Israeli forces. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called Sunday's incident “deeply worrying” and said attacks against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime. Israel’s military says Hezbollah operates in the peacekeepers' vicinity, without providing evidence. Military officials said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a U.N. post Sunday while under fire. A smoke screen was used to provide cover, they said. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani asserted that Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL, and any instance of U.N. forces being harmed will be investigated at “the highest level.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah. “We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he said in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general, who has been banned from entering Israel. Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza. Israeli strike in Lebanon destroys Ottoman-era market Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, drawing retaliatory airstrikes. The conflict escalated in September with Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders. Israel launched a ground operation earlier this month. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since September, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were Hezbollah fighters. At least 58 people have been killed in rocket attacks on Israel, nearly half of them soldiers. Read more: Israeli strike on Gaza kills a family of 8 Israeli airstrikes overnight destroyed an Ottoman-era market in Lebanon’s southern city of Nabatiyeh, killing at least one person and wounding four. “Our livelihoods have all been leveled,” said Ahmad Fakih, whose shop was destroyed. Rescuers searched pancaked buildings as Israeli drones buzzed overhead. The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets, without elaborating, and said it continued to target the militants on Sunday. Separately, the Lebanese Red Cross said paramedics were searching for casualties in a house destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon when a second strike left four paramedics with concussions and damaged two ambulances. The Red Cross said the operation had been coordinated with U.N. peacekeepers, who informed the Israeli side. Bodies rot in the streets in northern Gaza Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets in Gaza almost daily. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas and other armed groups because they operate in densely populated areas. In northern Gaza, Israeli air and ground forces have been attacking Jabaliya, where the military says militants have regrouped. Over the past year, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to the built-up refugee camp, which dates to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, and other areas. Israel has ordered the full evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City. An estimated 400,000 people remain in the north after a mass evacuation ordered in the war's opening weeks. Palestinians fear Israel intends to permanently depopulate the north to establish military bases or Jewish settlements there. The United Nations says no food has entered northern Gaza since Oct. 1. The military confirmed that hospitals were included in evacuation orders but said it had not set a timetable and was working with local authorities to facilitate patient transfers. Fares Abu Hamza, an official with the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service, said the bodies of a “large number of martyrs” remain uncollected from the streets and under rubble. “We are unable to reach them,” he said, asserting that dogs are eating some remains. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked a year ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza, a third believed to be dead. Israel's bombardment and its ground invasion of Gaza have killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and left much of the territory in ruins. The ministry doesn't distinguish between militants or civilians, but says women and children make up over half the deaths. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike. Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched about 180 rockets across the border. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's acting leader, said its military capabilities remain intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days. He said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week. Kassem, speaking by video from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.” In a statement addressed to the people of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hezbollah “weaker than it has been for many, many years.” He added: “We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” but without naming them. Israel strikes Gaza and southern Beirut as attacks intensify Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees the group’s political affairs, was generally regarded as the heir apparent. But no announcement has been made on a successor, and Safieddine has not appeared in public or made any public statements since Nasrallah’s death. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said Tuesday night that Israel was still checking the status of Safieddine, and accused Hezbollah of trying to hide details of a recent strike in Beirut on a location where he was believed to have been. The Israeli military said it has dismantled militant infrastructure along the border and killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. There was no way to confirm battlefield claims made by either side. The Israeli military said it deployed a fourth division in southern Lebanon and that operations have expanded to the west, but its focus still appears to be a narrow strip along the border. A day after marking a year of war in Gaza, Israeli forces fought heavy battles Tuesday with Palestinian militants in the north, where residents have been ordered to evacuate. Hezbollah stresses support for Palestinians in Gaza Hezbollah's acting leader said Hezbollah backs efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a cease-fire. Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, has been seen as the main interlocutor between the militant group and the United States, and has been trying to broker a cease-fire. In a follow-up to Kassem’s speech, the group issued a statement saying it will “not abandon our support and backing for our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.” Apparent Israeli airstrike on mosque in central Gaza kills at least 18 people The statement came in apparent response to reports that interpreted Kassem’s speech as suggesting the group would agree to a cease-fire in Lebanon without a cease-fire in Gaza, contrary to Hezbollah’s public stance that the two fronts are linked. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran. Most rockets have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. The Israeli army on Tuesday said about 180 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, with most intercepted. A 70-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel, and Israeli media aired footage of what appeared to be minor damage to buildings near Haifa. The military said late Tuesday that Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours had killed 50 Hezbollah fighters, including six whom it described as senior commanders. Israel says it will keep fighting until tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north. More than 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced since the fighting escalated in mid-September. Israel's response to Iran's missile barrage Last week, Iran launched its own barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, in what it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, along with an Iranian general who was with him at the time, and Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas killed in an explosion in Tehran in July. Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack, without saying when or how. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was to meet in Washington with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Tuesday the meeting, expected for the following day, had been postponed. Asked for the reason, she referred reporters to Israeli officials. Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment. The Biden administration says it is opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, which could further escalate regional tensions. Heavy fighting and evacuation orders in Gaza Heavy fighting raged in northern Gaza, the first target of Israel’s ground offensive in the war. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, and Israeli troops have largely isolated the region — which includes Gaza City — since last October, when up to a million people fled south following Israeli evacuation orders. Gaza's Health Ministry said the Israeli military called for three hospitals in northern Gaza — Kamal Adwan, Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — to evacuate patients and medical staff. Thousands join pro-Palestinian rallies around the globe as Oct. 7 anniversary nears “The military contacted me directly and said in a threatening way, ‘tomorrow all the patients and staff in Kamal Adwan must be removed or they will be exposed to danger.’ Clearly, it’s a clear threat,” said the hospital's director, Hossam Abu Safiya. “We have told all sides that the north is still crowded with people ... and we have the right to provide them services,” Abu Safiya said. "We are staying firm and will continue to provide services no matter what the cost.” Israeli forces are also battling Hamas militants in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Palestinian residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery were pounding Jabaliya as well as Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. Earlier, Kamal Adwan Hospital said at least 15 people, including two women, four children and four people trying to retrieve bodies, were killed Tuesday in the fighting in Jabaliya. “The situation is extremely difficult. The bombing and explosions haven’t stopped,” said Jabaliya resident Mahmoud Abu Shehatah. “It’s like the first days of the war.” The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not say how many were fighters, but say women and children make up more than half of all fatalities.

Lebanese ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib appeared slated to become the crisis-stricken country's next prime minister after securing the major support of senior Sunni politicians on Sunday, reports AP.