Analysts are divided on whether Hezbollah extremists in Lebanon will enter the conflict between Israel and Hamas beyond firing rockets across the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Iranian-backed militia poses a potentially greater threat to Israel than Hamas, but if Hezbollah were to enter the war, it would likely drag a weakened Lebanon into it, writes Voice of America.
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The US has intelligence that the Russian paramilitary group Wagner could supply Lebanon's Hezbollah with an advanced anti-aircraft defense system, the Wall Street Journal claims.
The US intelligence service is monitoring the talks between Wagner and Hezbollah and believes that a self-propelled Russian SA-22 (Tank-S1) system that operates from a truck could be sent to Lebanon.
The American newspaper announced this at the time of escalation of the conflict along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Both members of Wagner and Hezbollah fighters are in Syria.
The pro-Iranian Shiite Hezbollah claims that it attacked 19 Israeli military positions today, and that the simultaneous attacks were carried out this afternoon with rockets, mortar missiles and other weapons.
The Israeli army has not announced the consequences of those attacks, but that it is attacking Hezbollah positions in the south of Lebanon from the air in retaliation.
Fighter jets, tanks and artillery hit military headquarters, rocket launch sites, weapons depots, military complexes and other infrastructure and extremist organizations, the Israeli military said and released footage of the attack.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) said it held Hezbollah responsible for all attacks on Israel from Lebanon, as the Palestinian Hamas in that country claimed responsibility for firing 12 rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. Two people were wounded in that attack.
(BETA)
Israeli soldiers battled Hamas extremists on the approaches to the capital of Gaza today as diplomatic efforts to at least briefly halt the conflict in the deadliest war in the densely populated Palestinian enclave are intensifying.
After nearly four weeks of war sparked by Hamas attacks on southern Israeli territory, the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza has surpassed 9.000 and the US and Arab leaders are pressing for an easing of the siege and an end to the fighting to help civilians.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is coming to the region tomorrow following US President Joseph Biden's call for a "humanitarian pause" in Gaza to deliver aid to the Palestinians and allow foreigners and others with foreign passports to leave the war-torn territory.
About 800 people, including hundreds of Palestinians with dual citizenship and dozens of wounded, have left Gaza in the past two days under a deal negotiated by the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which is negotiating with Hamas.
An aerial attack today demolished a residential building in the Bureij refugee camp, a few kilometers south of Gaza City.
At least 15 people were killed, a Gaza Civil Defense spokesman said, and residents said dozens more were under the rubble.
The strike was carried out in the southern zone, where, by order of Israel, the residents of the north were to be moved for their safety.
However, Israel did not immediately respond to Biden's suggestion of a humanitarian pause.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously ruled out a ceasefire, vowing to destroy Hamas after the killing of more than 1.400 people, mostly civilians, on October 7, in the Islamic extremist organization's initial attacks, according to the AP.
Israeli military spokesman, Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, said tonight that Gaza City is completely surrounded and that it is the center of Hamas activities, and when asked about a potential cease-fire, he said that "it is not on the table at the moment", Israeli media reported.
Arab countries, including US allies and those that have made peace with Israel, are expressing increasing concern about the war.
Jordan has recalled its ambassador, and Israel has been told not to be in Amman until the war and humanitarian disaster his country is causing is stopped.
Clouds of smoke from explosions are rising over Gaza City, areas near Al-Quds Hospital are being targeted, and Israel claims it is targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure, which puts civilians at risk as it operates in residential areas under which tunnels used by Hamas for operations are located.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said tonight that the army has "unique solutions" to disable the network of tunnels under the Gaza capital. He told the members of the elite combat engineering unit that they could reach all those underground tunnels and destroy them and that they were ready for it.
Galant warned that "terrorists will have two options: to die in the tunnel or to come out and surrender unconditionally", and that there is no third option.
(BETA)
The White House is exploring the idea of pauses in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to help civilians in Gaza and is working with Israel to minimize casualties, national security spokesman John Kirby said today, Reuters reports.
"What we're trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as possible that might be necessary to continue to get help and to continue to work to get people out safely, including the hostages," he told reporters at a briefing.
State television HRT announced today that 22 Croatian citizens left the besieged Gaza Strip, where the pro-Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel are at war, via the Rafa border crossing towards Egypt.
Twenty-three people initially applied to cross the border, but one woman changed her mind and stayed.
Those who crossed over underwent medical examinations and will soon leave for Croatia.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said earlier that there are 47 Croatian citizens in Gaza, but that not all of them want to leave.
(BETA)
Israel's military government has not approved the delivery of fuel to the Gaza Strip, Minister without portfolio Beni Gantz said today in Tel Aviv, after hinting that it could do so with certain guarantees.
Gantz said that there will be no fuel deliveries after the statement of the Chief of General Staff that the Israeli army could approve it with guarantees that the fuel will be delivered exclusively to hospitals in the Gaza Strip and that it will not reach Hamas extremists.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the extremists launched an attack on southern Israeli territory on October 7 and established a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, cutting off the Palestinian enclave's supply of water, electricity, food, medicine and fuel.
Humanitarian aid has since started arriving in the densely populated enclave via Egypt, but fuel deliveries are not allowed.
Gantz, the former defense minister and chief of the Israeli General Staff, said today that the current war against the Palestinian extremist Hamas in the Gaza Strip is the "most complicated" ever waged and that the toll is heavy.
"This is the most complicated warfare so far. As in any battle, there are challenges and a high price," Gantz, who was in the opposition before the war that began on October 7, told reporters at military headquarters.
He said that Israel "can no longer live next to the terrorist organization Hamas" and added that this "reality must change".
(BETA)
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched simultaneous attacks today on 19 different positions in northern Israel along the border with Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah source told Reuters.
The source said the positions included military sites, but did not provide details.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Lebanon today fired 12 rockets across the border at the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, Hamas announced in Telegram, Reuters reports.
Today, Jewish settlers burned Palestinian shops, vehicles, olive groves and other property in the village of Deir Sharf in the north of the occupied West Bank after the killing of an Israeli in an armed attack in the area.
Videos posted on social media by the Israeli human rights organization Bezelem and Israeli and Palestinian activists show plumes of smoke in many places in the settlement.
Activists also published a video showing Jewish settlers allegedly setting fire to olive groves near an intersection, a few kilometers away from the site of today's attack.
Jewish settlers also blocked the main road leading to the Palestinian city of Nablus to protest the army's refusal to close it after the attack, Israeli media reported.
Among them were several rabbis who clashed with border policemen when they came to disperse them. Three people were arrested on suspicion of causing a fire and disturbing public order.
In the meantime, the name of the murdered Israeli was published, who, as it was said, was returning from duty as a reservist.
His vehicle overturned after being shot by Palestinian extremists and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Israeli media.
The Israeli army launched a manhunt for the suspected attackers.
(BETA)
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced today that at least 27 people were killed in an Israeli strike near a UN school in a refugee camp.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said that 27 dead bodies were pulled from the ruins and that there were many injured. The number of victims could not immediately be independently confirmed.
On the footage of the TV agency France Presse, bloodied bodies can be seen lying on the ground in front of the school where many people displaced by the war took refuge.
Israel's Chief of General Staff, Herzi Halevi, meanwhile confirmed that the army is operating in the capital of Gaza and is encircling it from several directions.
"The forces are in the heart of northern Gaza, operating in Gaza City, encircling it, deepening (the ground offensive)," said Halevi from the military base, adding that the soldiers are fighting in a densely populated and complex urban area that requires professional combat and courage, as he said.
The ground forces advance with the support of air and sea fire.
The Israeli army chief said that the war had paid a heavy price and that 18 soldiers had been killed so far in the ground operation.
Diplomatic efforts have been intensified today to achieve even a brief pause in the clashes in the deadliest war in Gaza.
(BETA)
United Nations experts called today for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying that the Palestinian people there are at "serious risk of genocide", reports Reuters.
"We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide," experts, including several UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.
"We are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces have gone beyond the outskirts of Gaza City in their assault on Hamas militants in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
"We are at the peak of the battle. We had impressive successes and passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are making progress," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office. She gave no further details.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the forced evacuation of hospitals in the Gaza Strip threatened the lives of hundreds of patients, reports Reuters.
"The evacuation of 23 hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza has been ordered, and a forced evacuation under these circumstances would put the lives of hundreds of patients at risk," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Gebrejesus said.
Bahrain has recalled its ambassador to Israel, Khaled al-Jalahma, while the Israeli ambassador is leaving the country, Beirut-based Al Majadin reports.
Economic ties are also said to have been halted, the Bahraini parliament said.
The ministries of foreign affairs of those countries did not confirm the report, according to Israeli media.
Manama openly criticized Israel during the war against Hamas. In Bahrain, Shiites are the majority, and the country is ruled by a Sunni pro-Western royal family.
The House of Representatives of the Bahraini Parliament issued a statement on the recall of the ambassador from Israel.
Israeli media comment that the announcement was not made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that the move is more aimed at appeasing the Bahraini public than showing a real change in relations.
Israel said it had not been informed of the Bahraini government's decision to recall the ambassador.
In the official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, it was assessed that relations with Bahrain are stable.
Neighboring Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel on Wednesday in protest over the "slaughter" of Palestinians in the war with Hamas.
Previously, Colombia and Chile also recalled their ambassadors, and Bolivia suspended diplomatic relations with Israel.
(BETA)
Lebanon's Hezbollah said it used two explosive-laden drones today to attack an Israeli army command post in the disputed Sheba Farm area on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the Iran-backed group said the drones were loaded with "a large amount of explosives" and had hit their targets.
The US Senate will not take up an aid package for Israel proposed by House Republicans, but will instead work on its own bipartisan emergency package that includes aid to Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
He called the Republican proposal, which provides funding for Israel but also includes severe cuts to IRS funding, "deeply flawed."
Emergency services in the besieged Gaza Strip announced today that 15 people were found dead in the rubble after the Israeli attack on the Bureij refugee camp, reports Reuters.
The United States remains focused on the Indo-Pacific despite other global challenges, senior US diplomats said today as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken prepared to leave for Asia after a trip to the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas standoff.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres agreed on the need to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Prime Minister's Office announced today, Reuters reports.
"Leaders discussed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and agreed on the importance of urgently increasing the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid," a Downing Street spokesman said.
"The Prime Minister and the Secretary General agreed on the need to strengthen international efforts to achieve a lasting solution to the conflict and progress in the work towards a two-state solution.
The two leaders met while attending talks on the final day of the inaugural AI Security Summit in Bletchley Park, England.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the need to strengthen regional stability with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, the State Department announced today, reports Reuters.
"The secretary confirmed the importance of addressing the humanitarian needs in Gaza, preventing the further spread of the conflict and strengthening regional stability and security, including in Yemen," at the meeting on Wednesday, according to the ministry's statement.
"He also emphasized the importance of working towards a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, which is a shared priority of both the United States and Saudi Arabia."
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