United News of Bangladesh

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of heavy fire over the weekend that briefly raised fears of an all-out war. But their decades-long conflict is far from over, regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza are still high, and it’s probably only a matter of time before another escalation. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah did not rule out another retaliatory strike over the killing of a top commander in an Israeli airstrike last month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “this is not the end of the story.” The near-daily strikes and counterstrikes along the border, which began shortly after the outbreak of the Gaza war, resumed Monday. Israel struck a Lebanese border village and a car, and Hezbollah said it had targeted military surveillance equipment in northern Israel with an exploding drone. Here’s a look at what happened over the weekend: What happened early Sunday?Israel said around 100 warplanes launched airstrikes targeting thousands of rocket launchers across southern Lebanon to thwart an imminent Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah said it launched hundreds of rockets and drones aimed at military bases and missile defense positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The Israeli strikes killed three militants in Lebanon, and Israel’s military said a soldier was killed by either an interceptor of incoming fire or shrapnel from one. It was all over by mid-morning Sunday, and the rest of the day and night passed without incident. Hezbollah called the attack an initial response to the targeted killing of one of its top commanders, Fouad Shukur, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. Nasrallah said Hezbollah would “reserve the right to respond at a later time” if the results of Sunday’s attack aimed at a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv aren’t sufficient. Israel’s military said its intelligence base near Tel Aviv wasn’t hit. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said an initial assessment showed “very little damage” in Israel. How likely is an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah?Sunday’s exchange of fire did not set off a long-feared war, and the heavy firepower and lack of civilian casualties might allow both sides to claim a sort of victory and step back. But tensions remain high. Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies, each backed by Iran. Israel has responded with airstrikes. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the tense border. Israel has vowed to bring quiet to the border to allow its citizens to return to their homes. It says it prefers to resolve the issue diplomatically through U.S. and other mediators but will use force if necessary. Hezbollah officials have said the group does not seek a wider war but is prepared for one. What would a war between Israel and Hezbollah look like?Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that left much of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon in ruins, and drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes on both sides. Everyone expects any future war to be far worse. Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting all parts of Israel. It has also developed an increasingly sophisticated fleet of drones and has been experimenting with precision-guided missiles. A full-scale war could force hundreds of thousands of Israelis to flee, paralyze the Israeli economy and force the army, which is still engaged in Gaza, to fight on two fronts. Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major Hezbollah attack that would likely devastate Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure and economy, which has been mired in crisis for years. Beirut’s southern suburbs, and towns and villages across southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s main strongholds are located, would likely be flattened. An Israeli ground invasion to root out Hezbollah could drag on for years. The militant group is far more advanced and better-armed than Hamas in Gaza, which is still putting up a fight after 10 months of intense Israeli bombardment and ground maneuvers. Would a war draw in the United States, Iran and others?An all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah could spiral into a region-wide conflict. Iran is a patron of Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Iran has vowed to carry out its own retaliatory strike over the killing of Hamas’ top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a blast in its capital last month that was widely blamed on Israel. Israel has not said whether it was involved. Iran-backed groups across the region have repeatedly attacked Israeli, U.S. and international targets since the start of the war in Gaza and could ramp them up in a bid to take pressure off Hezbollah. The United States, meanwhile, has pledged ironclad support for Israel and moved a vast array of military assets to the Middle East in recent weeks to try and deter any retaliatory strike by Iran or Hezbollah. The USS Abraham Lincoln recently joined another aircraft carrier strike group in the region. A U.S.-led coalition helped shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired by Iran toward Israel in April in response to an apparent Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Both sides downplayed an apparent Israeli counterstrike on Iran, and tensions gradually subsided. What does this mean for Gaza cease-fire efforts?The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas. Those efforts have gained urgency in recent weeks, as diplomats view such a deal as the best hope for lowering regional tensions. An all-out war might have derailed the process, and Nasrallah said the attack had been delayed in part to give the negotiations a chance to succeed. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. It’s unclear whether Iran would halt or scale back its own threatened retaliatory strike over the killing of Haniyeh, but Tehran probably does not want to be seen as the spoiler of any cease-fire deal. Despite the intense diplomacy, major gaps remain, including Israel’s demand for a lasting presence along two strategic corridors in Gaza, a demand rejected by Hamas and Egypt. High-level talks were held in Egypt on Sunday with no sign of a breakthrough.

The ferocious exchange of fire by Hezbollah and the Israeli military is raising fears of a regional war beyond the tense border. The risks for Lebanon are far greater than in 2006, when a monthlong war with Israel ended in a draw. Lebanon has struggled with years of political and economic crises that left it indebted, without a stable electricity supply, a proper banking system and with rampant poverty. And with Hezbollah’s military power significantly greater, there are concerns that a new war would be far more destructive and prolonged. Can Lebanon afford any of it? Planning for a 2006 war repeat — or worse Since Hezbollah and Israel began firing rockets and drones at each other a day after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, the conflict has been mostly limited to border towns. But with the threat of a wider war, Lebanon has scrambled to equip hospitals with supplies and prepare public schools to open up to people seeking shelter. A rare Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander set off a flurry of meetings between humanitarian organizations and the Lebanese government, said Laila Al Amine, who heads the Beirut office of international relief organization Mercy Corps. It's one of some 60 organizations helping the government with its relief efforts. The government and U.N. agencies prepared a comprehensive response plan this month outlining two possible scenarios: a limited escalation that would resemble the 2006 war, with an estimated 250,000 people displaced, and a worst-case scenario of “uncontrolled conflict” that would displaced at least 1 million people. The U.N.-drafted plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, projects a monthly cost of $50 million in case of a limited escalation and $100 million if an all-out war breaks out. The Lebanese government said that funding for the emergency will come from creditors and humanitarian aid organizations. But the authorities have struggled to find money to care for 100,000 currently displaced and an estimated 60,000 people living in conflict areas, which is costing about $24 million a month. Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is spearheading relief operations, told reporters after an emergency government meeting Sunday that the morning attacks won't change the plan. “It already presents scenarios of all the possibilities that could happen, among them is an expansion of the hostilities,” said Yassin. Indebted and cash-strapped Lebanon desperate for aid money Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanon’s banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. Public service institutions rely on aid groups and international donors to function at a barebones level. Lebanese who once lived in relative comfort are receiving food and financial aid to survive. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion flattened several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. Lebanon’s banks and the ruling elite have resisted painful reforms as a condition for an International Monetary Fund bailout while the infrastructure continued to wither and living conditions worsened. Tourism, which officials had relied on to help rebuild the economy, has also taken a hit since the border conflict with Israel. And unlike in 2006, Lebanon is hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their country. Health Minister Firas Abiad told the AP earlier this month that the Lebanese health system is ill-equipped to treat the additional population in the event of an all-out war, as international funding for Syrian refugees continues to decline. In April, Yassin said the country had only half the money needed to respond to the conflict and ensuing humanitarian needs. Lebanon faces tougher logistics In 2006, Israel bombed the runways of Lebanon’s only airport, putting it largely out of commission, and imposed an air and sea blockade. Its bombardment crippled critical infrastructure and flattened neighborhoods, with damage and losses worth $3.1 billion, according to the World Bank. But aid groups eventually were able to send supplies through the country’s ports and at times through the airport using the remaining limited runway space. In their assessment of the war, the U.N. said that their relief efforts was not in response to a humanitarian crisis. “People did not die from poor sanitation, hunger or disease. They died from bombs and shells,” U.N. OCHA said in a report a month after the war. Many Lebanese were able to flee to neighboring Syria, where an uprising in 2011 plunged the country into a civil war. It's unclear how easy crossing the border would be this time, both for civilians and aid groups. It is also unclear whether the Beirut port, still not fully rebuilt after the devastating blast in 2020, would have sufficient capacity in case of a wider war. Its damaged grain silos collapsed in 2022, and the country relies on minimal food storage due to the financial crisis. “Lebanon apparently has stocks of food and fuel for two-three months, but what happens beyond this duration?” Al Amine said. “We only have one airport and we can’t transport things through our land borders. It would be difficult to bring items into the country.” An empowered Hezbollah In 2006, Hezbollah reportedly had some 15,000 rockets in its arsenal, “but more recent unofficial estimates suggest this number has multiplied by almost 10 times,” said Dina Arakji, associate analyst at U.K.-based risk consultancy firm Control Risks. The group has also “acquired more advanced weaponry, including precision missiles and variants of Iranian arms, as well as Chinese and Russian weaponry,” she said. Hezbollah, which relies on a network of Iran-backed allied groups that could enter the conflict, has also substantially expanded its drone arsenal and capabilities, against which Israeli air defenses are less effective. Lebanese officials and international diplomats hope that an elusive cease-fire agreement in Gaza will bring to calm in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Polio vaccines for more than 1 million people have been delivered to Gaza, Israel's military said Sunday, after the first confirmed case of the disease in the territory in a quarter-century. It was not immediately clear how, or how quickly, the more than 25,000 vials of vaccine would be distributed in Gaza, where ongoing fighting and unrest have challenged humanitarian efforts during more than 10 months of war. Other polio cases are suspected across the largely devastated territory after the virus was detected in wastewater in six different locations in July. Aid groups plan to vaccinate more than 600,000 children under age 10 and have called for an urgent pause in the war to increase vaccinations. The World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency have said that, at a minimum, a seven-day pause is needed. The U.N. has aimed to bring 1.6 million doses of polio vaccine into Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into tent camps lacking clean water or proper disposal of sewage and garbage. Families sometimes use wastewater to drink or clean dishes. Polio is highly contagious and transmits mainly through contact with contaminated feces, water or food. It can cause difficulty breathing and irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. It strikes young children in particular and is sometimes fatal. The new statement by the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs said five trucks with special refrigeration equipment for vaccine storage were brought into Gaza on Friday in coordination with the U.N. The vaccines arrived Sunday. The statement said vaccinations will be conducted by international and local medical teams at “various locations” in Gaza, in coordination with Israel's military as part of “routine humanitarian pauses” to allow people to reach health centers. The statement said more than 282,000 vials of the polio vaccine have been brought into Gaza since the war began in early October. The territory’s health care system has been devastated, and workers are overwhelmed. Only about a third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 40% of its primary health care facilities are functioning, according to the U.N. But the WHO and UNICEF say their vaccination campaign will be carried out in every municipality in Gaza, with help from 2,700 workers. Before the war, 99% of Gaza’s population was vaccinated against polio. That figure is now 86%, according to the WHO.

A round of high-level talks in Cairo meant to bring about a cease-fire and hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ended Sunday without a final agreement, a U.S. official said. But talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days in an effort to bridge remaining gaps. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, said lower level “working teams” will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in hopes to addressing remaining disagreements. The official called the recent conversations, which began Thursday in Cairo and continued through Sunday, as “constructive” and said all parties were working to “reach a final and implementable agreement.” The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations. The development came after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signaled their most intense exchange in months was over. Hezbollah claimed to hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, and Israel claimed its dozens of strikes had been preemptive to avert a larger attack. Neither offered evidence. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attack, a response to Israel’s killing of a top militant commander in Beirut last month, had been delayed to give the Gaza cease-fire talks a chance, and so fellow Iran-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether to attack Israel all at once. Israeli and U.S. military deployment also played a role. “We will now reserve the right to respond at a later time” if the results of Sunday’s attack aren’t sufficient, Nasrallah said, adding that allied Houthi rebels in Yemen -- and Iran itself -- had yet to respond. But he told the Lebanese people: “At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax.” Israel and Hezbollah said they aimed only at military targets. Israel said no military target was hit by Hezbollah but that one soldier with its navy was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor for incoming fire, or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the center of the country. “I repeat — this is not the end of the story," he added. Flights diverted as air raid sirens wail Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel's international airport closed and diverted flights for about an hour. Israel’s military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said about 100 Israeli planes struck 270 targets, 90% of them rocket launchers aimed at northern Israel. He said they were investigating the percentage of incoming rockets and drones intercepted but said the “vast majority” were thwarted. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones. Some Israelis were shaken. In the northern city of Acre, retired teacher Saadia Even Tsur, 76, said he was at the synagogue and arrived home five minutes after his bedroom was damaged. “I went up and saw the size of the miracle that happened to me,” he said. A window was broken and debris was on the bed. Lebanon’s caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam, after an emergency government meeting, said officials were “feeling a bit more optimistic” about a de-escalation after both sides confirmed that the operations had ended. President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon," according to Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council. The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and ordered both U.S. carrier strike groups in the region to stay. The U.S. military has been building up its forces across the region in recent weeks. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown, arrived in Israel late Sunday for meetings on what the Israeli military called “joint preparations in the region as part of the response to threats in the Middle East.” All-out war apparently averted for now Danny Citrinowicz, an expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Hezbollah might be trying to “balance the equation without escalating into war.” Each side hopes their narrative will be sufficient for them to declare victory and avoid a wider confrontation, he said. Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006, is believed to be far more powerful now. The United States and Israel estimate it has some 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel. The group has also developed drones capable of evading Israel's defenses, as well as precision-guided munitions. Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major Hezbollah attack. It has an extensive multi-tiered missile defense system, and it is backed by a U.S.-led coalition that helped it shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired from Iran earlier this year. Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which has also threatened to retaliate against Israel for the killing of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not said whether it was involved. Iranian state media played up the Hezbollah attack, calling it a success, but there was no immediate comment from Iranian officials. The U.S. and other mediators see a cease-fire in Gaza as key to averting a wider Mideast war. Hezbollah has said it will halt its strikes on Israel if there is a cease-fire. The talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at bridging gaps in a proposal for a truce and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas. The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. The Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations. In the occupied West Bank, Israel's military said it killed two people who allegedly tried to run over soldiers in Ariel, slightly hurting one.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said Saturday, as officials including a Hamas delegation gathered for high-level cease-fire talks in neighboring Egypt. Eleven members of a family, including two children, were among the dead after an airstrike hit their home in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received a total of 33 bodies from three strikes in and around the city that also hit tuk-tuks and passersby. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received three bodies from another strike. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. First responders also recovered 16 bodies from the Hamad City area of Khan Younis after a partial pullout of Israeli forces, 10 bodies from a residential building west of Khan Younis and two farther south in Rafah. The circumstances of their deaths weren't immediately clear, but the areas were repeatedly bombed by the Israeli military over the past week. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies. Some residents returned to Hamad City, crunching on rubble as they walked between destroyed apartment buildings. One multistory building's entire wall was gone, its rooms framing residents picking through debris. “There is nothing, no apartment, no furniture, no homes, only destruction,” Neveen Kheder said. “We are dying slowly. You know what, if they gave a mercy bullet, it would be better than what is happening to us.” The war in Gaza began when Hamas and other militants staged a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, primarily civilians. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 110 hostages. Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry said Saturday a total of 69 dead and 212 wounded had been brought to hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours. Israel’s military announced the deaths of four more soldiers in combat in central Gaza on Friday. The conflict has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, with many cramming into shrinking “humanitarian zones.” In Egypt, the U.S. delegation led by CIA Director William Burns and White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk held talks with senior Egyptian officials and then with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, according to a person familiar with the ongoing talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment publicly. The Egyptian and Qatari negotiators were expected to meet with Hamas officials on Saturday evening. Hamas won't take part directly in Sunday's talks but will be briefed by Egypt and Qatar, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawy told the AP. Merdawy said Hamas’ position hadn't changed from accepting an earlier draft that would include the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. An Israeli delegation that arrived Thursday included the heads of the Mossad foreign intelligence service and Shin Bet security service and Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano. The U.S. has been pushing a proposal that aims at closing the gaps between Israel and Hamas as fears grow over a wider regional war after the recent killings of leaders of the militant Hamas and Hezbollah groups, both blamed on Israel. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr., was visiting Egypt, Jordan and Israel over the next few days to “stress the importance of deterring further escalation of hostilities,” a statement said. U.S. President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to stress the urgency of reaching a deal and discussed developments with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt on Friday. Major differences remain between Israel and Hamas over Israel’s insistence that it maintain forces in two strategic corridors in Gaza. Netanyahu wants Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory to prevent smuggling and catch militants. In the latest protest in Tel Aviv, some Israelis again expressed anger with Netanyahu as they pressed for a deal to bring hostages home. “Remove him from his position and appoint a person who is able to return them,” said Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, whose body was recovered in Gaza last week. ___ David Rising reported from Bangkok. Wafaa Shurfa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Aamer Madhani in Buellton, California, contributed to this report.

Young girls screamed and elbowed each other in a crush of bodies in southern Gaza, trying desperately to reach the front of the food line. Men doled out rice and chicken as fast as they could, platefuls of the nourishment falling to the ground in the tumult. Nearby, boys waited to fill plastic containers with water, standing for hours among tents packed so tightly they nearly touched. Hunger and desperation were palpable Friday in the tent camp along the Deir al-Balah beachfront, after a month of successive evacuation orders that have pressed thousands of Palestinians into the area that the Israeli military calls a “humanitarian zone.” The zone has long been crowded by Palestinians seeking refuge from bombardment, but the situation grows more dire by the day, as waves of evacuees arrive and food and water grow scarce. Over the last month, the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for southern Gaza at an unprecedented pace. At least 84% of Gaza now falls within the evacuation zone, according to the U.N., which also estimates that 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents have been displaced over the course of the war. Thirteen evacuation orders have been issued since July 22, according to an Associated Press count, significantly reducing the size of the humanitarian zone declared by Israel at the start of the war while pushing more Palestinians into it than ever before. The increased crowding of evacuees can be seen in satellite photos. “The food that reaches us from the charity is sufficient for the people in our camp,” said Muhammad Al-Qayed, who was displaced from Gaza City and now lives along the beach. “Where do the people who were recently displaced get food from? From where do we provide them?” Another displaced Palestinian, Adham Hijazi, said: “I have started thinking that if there is no food, I will go and drink seawater to endure it. I am talking seriously. I will drink water and salt.” The military says the evacuations are necessary because Hamas has launched rockets from within the humanitarian zone. In posts on X, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has instructed Palestinians to flee immediately, saying the military will soon operate “with force” against Hamas militants in the area. Yasser Felfel, originally displaced from northern Gaza, has watched his camp swell with waves of evacuees. “There were 32 people in my tent. Now there are almost 50 people, people I don’t know,” he said. “A week ago, there was a lot of food left over. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today, because of the number of people who came here, it is barely enough for lunch.” In August alone, the evacuation orders have been issued roughly every two days and displaced nearly 250,000 people, the U.N. said. “Many people here have been displaced more than 10 times. They’re exhausted and broke," said Georgios Petropoulos, the head of the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. A pair of satellite photos taken over the last month shows the impact of the orders. The imagery, obtained from PlanetLabs and reviewed by the AP, shows that tent camps along the coast grew more densely packed from July 19 to Aug. 19. On Aug. 19, tents covered nearly every available sandy patch and were pitched closer to the ocean. Even Palestinians living in the humanitarian zone Israel declared at the start of the war have been forced to move. On July 22, the military ordered the evacuation of most of the eastern edge of the zone, saying that Hamas had launched rockets at Israel. Then on Aug. 16, the military again shrank the zone, calling on Palestinians living in the center to flee. The evacuations come as international mediators struggle to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas over a cease-fire agreement that would stop the fighting in Gaza and exchange scores of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants blew past Israel's border, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has now killed over 40,000 people in Gaza and razed the strip's buildings and infrastructure. Water has been another casualty of the evacuations. The U.N. says the water supply in Deir al-Balah has decreased by at least 70% since the recent wave of evacuations began, as pumps and desalination plants are caught within evacuation zones. The lack of clean water is causing skin diseases and other outbreaks. The U.N.'s main health agency has confirmed Gaza's first case of polio in a 10-month-old baby in Deir al-Balah who is now paralyzed in the lower left leg. Meanwhile, aid groups say it is only growing more difficult to offer help. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that the U.N. World Food Program lost access to its warehouse in central Deir al-Balah because of a recent evacuation order. Standing in the water line Friday, Abu Mohammad observed the scarcity around him and prayed it would end soon. “There is no water, there is no food, there is no money, there is no work, there is nothing,” said Mohammad, who has now been displaced seven times. “We ask God, not the people, for it to end. We no longer have the capacity. Oh world, we no longer have the capacity.”

The Palestinians said Thursday they are planning to introduce a U.N. General Assembly resolution in September enshrining the recent sweeping ruling by the U.N.’s top court that declared Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful — and setting a time frame for it to end. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council that the resolution, which would not be legally binding, is essential to spur the end of Israel’s occupation. “We are sick and tired of waiting,” he said. “The time for waiting is over.” The International Court of Justice on July 19 issued an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule o ver the lands it captured 57 years ago. It called for the occupation to end and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who spoke to the council after Mansour, made no mention of the Palestinians’ plan or the court ruling. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the nonbinding opinion by the court’s 15 judges, saying the territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic homeland. Netanyahu stressed in a statement that “the Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land” — not in their capital Jerusalem or West Bank lands. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested,” he said. The court said the General Assembly and Security Council — staunch Israeli ally the United States holds a veto in the latter — should consider “precise modalities” to end Israel’s presence in the territories. Mansour did not disclose the time frame the Palestinians are planning to include in the General Assembly resolution. He said the resolution will be “a significant step” toward a two-state solution in which independent states of Israel and Palestine live side-by-side in peace. Netanyahu, who leads a far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood, has repeatedly stated his longstanding opposition to a two-state solution, which the United States supports. He has said a Palestinian state would become a launching pad for attacks on Israel. Mansour also told the council that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared his intention to visit Gaza and has called for world leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and leaders of the 15 Security Council nations to join him. He wants them “to see first-hand the horrors our people are enduring” and to demand a halt to the nearly 11-month war between Israel and Hamas, Mansour said. The war was sparked by the Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 people taken hostage. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel controls access to the Gaza Strip, and Mansour called on the council and U.N. chief to push to secure Abbas’ ability to reach Gaza. Danon said that “Gaza stands at a crossroads” and unless Hamas is ousted the territory has no future. “The defeat of Hamas will enable Gaza civilians to chart their own destiny in partnership with the most successful countries in the region,” he said.

Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes have killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received the bodies, including the remains of a woman and three children, after strikes overnight and into Thursday. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies. A man held the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud as a woman next to him wept, saying: “My love, my soul.” The Israeli offensive launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants or civilians. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. Around 110 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire deal and hostage release but major gaps remain.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has launched more than 50 rockets, hitting a number of private homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The attack on Wednesday came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar as he pressed ahead with the latest diplomatic mission to secure a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain. Hamas in a new statement called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously and accused the U.S. of acquiescing to what it called “new conditions” from Israel. There was no immediate U.S. response. First responders in Golan Heights said they treated a 30-year-old man who was moderately wounded with shrapnel injuries in Wednesday’s attack. One house was engulfed in flames, and firefighters said they prevented a bigger tragedy by stopping a gas leak. Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19. On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles toward Israel, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border, a significant increase in the daily skirmishes. Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily strikes for more than 10 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah’s ally, Hamas, in Gaza. The exchanges have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon — mostly militants but also including around 100 civilians and non-combatants — and 23 soldiers and 26 civilians in Israel. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, saying it needs the strategic plateau for its security. The United States is the only country to recognize Israel’s annexation, while the rest of the international community considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory. Here’s the latest: Commercial ship ‘not under command’ after repeated attacks target it in Red Sea, British say DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A commercial ship traveling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” in an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the British military said. Details remained few about the attack, though it comes during the Houthis’ monthslong campaign targeting ships over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attack saw men on small boats first open fire with small arms, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The ship also was hit by three projectiles, it added. “The vessel reports being not under command,” the UKMTO said, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.” The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days before their acknowledge one of their assaults. Israel says military is shifting its attention to the border with Lebanon TEL AVIV, Israel — Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel’s military is shifting its attention from Gaza to the border with Lebanon. Touring northern Israel on Tuesday, Gallant said Israel has scaled back its activities in Gaza, where it has been fighting a war against Hamas for nearly a year, and turned its focus to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. “Our strongholds are moving from the south to the north, we are gradually changing, we still have a number of missions in the south,” Gallant told troops. Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The sides have been engaged in almost daily fighting since then, raising fears of a broader regionwide war. Those fears have grown as Hezbollah has vowed retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut last month that killed a top Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah launched more than 120 projectiles towards northern Israel on Tuesday, causing damage to a home and sparking a number of fires. Israel said it was striking the source of the launches. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 100 civilians. In Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed.

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 19 people overnight, including a woman and her six children, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region on Sunday to try to seal a cease-fire deal after months of contentious negotiations. The U.S. and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar appeared to be closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signaled resistance to what it says are new demands by Israel, and the long-running talks have repeatedly stalled. The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners. The mediators hope to end a war that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Experts have warned of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. Of those, some 110 are still believed to be inside Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying around a third are deceased. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire. The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike early Sunday on a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies. A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments in a residential building, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Another strike in central Gaza killed four people, according to the Awda Hospital. Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel says it only targetes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group conceals fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas. But the monthslong Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children. The mediators have spent months trying to halt the fighting, efforts that gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war across the Middle East. An American official said Friday that mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the latest cease-fire proposal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office expressed “cautious optimism” a deal could be reached. An Israeli delegation is set to travel to Cairo on Sunday for further talks, and Blinken is expected to meet with Netanyahu on Monday. Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement is near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration they had accepted in principle. Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands for a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. Israel says both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north. Israel showed flexibility on retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials was scheduled for next week to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private negotiations.