Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on Wednesday. Gazathe southern city of RefahWitnesses said fears of a wider regional crisis were growing. war Involvement of Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah,
IsraelHowever, a few days after the Prime Minister’s resignation, the bombing on the Gaza Strip seemed to decrease. benjamin netanyahu He said the “acute phase” of the war was close to an end, and that his defense minister was visiting Washington for crisis talks.
As the war in Gaza nears its 10th month, Israel’s top ally, the United States, has warned it of the risk of a major conflict against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Lebanon The incident took place after the firing from across the border increased.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with dire consequences for the Middle East.” “Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent further escalation,” Austin said.
Top Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have suggested they are open to a diplomatic solution to the border tensions, though Galant said Israel should prepare for “every possible scenario.”
The Israeli military said last week that plans for an invasion of Lebanon had been “approved and validated”, following fresh threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
In Beirut on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that any “miscalculation” could lead to all-out war and urged “utmost restraint.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called on her country’s citizens in Lebanon to leave “while safely possible”.
Witnesses in Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, reported clashes during the night, and the Israeli military said its air force attacked a rocket launch site.
UN agencies say 10 Gazan children are losing one or both legs every day, and half a million Palestinians in the besieged territory are suffering from “catastrophic” hunger.
Aid groups ‘outraged’
At least four people, including three children, were killed on Wednesday in an attack targeting a house in Beit Lahiya in the north, the civil protection agency and hospital doctors in Hamas-run Gaza said.
Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that apart from that attack, “there have been almost no attacks” and “the rest of the Gaza Strip is calmer than yesterday”.
An airstrike on Tuesday killed Fadi al-Wadiah, an employee of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), who the Israeli military said was an “important activist” for Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group that fights alongside Hamas.
MSF said on social media platform X that it was “enraged” by the killing of Wadia in the attack in Gaza City.
“The attack killed Fadi along with five other people, including three children, as he cycled to work near the MSF clinic where he was caring for people,” the charity said.
The military said the man killed had “developed and upgraded the terrorist organisation’s rocket system.”
“This is yet another case of terrorists in Gaza exploiting the civilian population as human shields,” MSF said in response to the post.
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that aid workers are not safe in Gaza, hampering their desperately needed efforts to deliver aid to Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
At the start of the war, Israel accused about a dozen workers from UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, of being involved in “terrorist” activities and participating in the October 7 Hamas attack.
Israel’s claims caused several major donors to stop funding UNRWA, which has been critical of humanitarian efforts, although most have since resumed funding. An independent review said Israel had failed to provide evidence to support its allegations.
‘Rolling Operation’
The bloodiest Gaza war to date began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,195 people, most of them civilians, based on Israeli data.
The militants also took about 250 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the military says 42 people have been killed. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 37,658 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s counter-attack.
The dead included 10 family members of Qatar-based Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, including his sister, who Palestinian officials said was killed in the attack on Tuesday.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned of the terrible impact of war on children.
“We have an average of 10 children every day losing one or two legs,” Lazzarini told reporters, and their limbs are often amputated “in quite horrific conditions,” and sometimes without even receiving anesthesia.
“Ten children per day, that means almost 2,000 children after more than 260 days of this brutal war.”
Meanwhile, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Partnership said warnings in March of an impending famine in northern Gaza have not come true, but about 495,000 people still face “catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity”.
“The situation in Gaza remains dire, and the risk of famine continues to persist throughout the Gaza Strip,” the report said.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that “the war in Rafah is in its acute phase and is about to end”, which the Israeli military considers Hamas’ last stronghold, and that some troops would be redeployed to the northern border with Lebanon.
Mairav Zonsezin, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the army would likely launch “ongoing operations” in Gaza and would “always keep some troops on the ground” in strategic areas of the territory.
IsraelHowever, a few days after the Prime Minister’s resignation, the bombing on the Gaza Strip seemed to decrease. benjamin netanyahu He said the “acute phase” of the war was close to an end, and that his defense minister was visiting Washington for crisis talks.
As the war in Gaza nears its 10th month, Israel’s top ally, the United States, has warned it of the risk of a major conflict against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Lebanon The incident took place after the firing from across the border increased.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with dire consequences for the Middle East.” “Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent further escalation,” Austin said.
Top Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have suggested they are open to a diplomatic solution to the border tensions, though Galant said Israel should prepare for “every possible scenario.”
The Israeli military said last week that plans for an invasion of Lebanon had been “approved and validated”, following fresh threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
In Beirut on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that any “miscalculation” could lead to all-out war and urged “utmost restraint.”
Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called on her country’s citizens in Lebanon to leave “while safely possible”.
Witnesses in Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, reported clashes during the night, and the Israeli military said its air force attacked a rocket launch site.
UN agencies say 10 Gazan children are losing one or both legs every day, and half a million Palestinians in the besieged territory are suffering from “catastrophic” hunger.
Aid groups ‘outraged’
At least four people, including three children, were killed on Wednesday in an attack targeting a house in Beit Lahiya in the north, the civil protection agency and hospital doctors in Hamas-run Gaza said.
Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that apart from that attack, “there have been almost no attacks” and “the rest of the Gaza Strip is calmer than yesterday”.
An airstrike on Tuesday killed Fadi al-Wadiah, an employee of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), who the Israeli military said was an “important activist” for Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group that fights alongside Hamas.
MSF said on social media platform X that it was “enraged” by the killing of Wadia in the attack in Gaza City.
“The attack killed Fadi along with five other people, including three children, as he cycled to work near the MSF clinic where he was caring for people,” the charity said.
The military said the man killed had “developed and upgraded the terrorist organisation’s rocket system.”
“This is yet another case of terrorists in Gaza exploiting the civilian population as human shields,” MSF said in response to the post.
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that aid workers are not safe in Gaza, hampering their desperately needed efforts to deliver aid to Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
At the start of the war, Israel accused about a dozen workers from UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, of being involved in “terrorist” activities and participating in the October 7 Hamas attack.
Israel’s claims caused several major donors to stop funding UNRWA, which has been critical of humanitarian efforts, although most have since resumed funding. An independent review said Israel had failed to provide evidence to support its allegations.
‘Rolling Operation’
The bloodiest Gaza war to date began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,195 people, most of them civilians, based on Israeli data.
The militants also took about 250 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the military says 42 people have been killed. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 37,658 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s counter-attack.
The dead included 10 family members of Qatar-based Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, including his sister, who Palestinian officials said was killed in the attack on Tuesday.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned of the terrible impact of war on children.
“We have an average of 10 children every day losing one or two legs,” Lazzarini told reporters, and their limbs are often amputated “in quite horrific conditions,” and sometimes without even receiving anesthesia.
“Ten children per day, that means almost 2,000 children after more than 260 days of this brutal war.”
Meanwhile, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Partnership said warnings in March of an impending famine in northern Gaza have not come true, but about 495,000 people still face “catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity”.
“The situation in Gaza remains dire, and the risk of famine continues to persist throughout the Gaza Strip,” the report said.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that “the war in Rafah is in its acute phase and is about to end”, which the Israeli military considers Hamas’ last stronghold, and that some troops would be redeployed to the northern border with Lebanon.
Mairav Zonsezin, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the army would likely launch “ongoing operations” in Gaza and would “always keep some troops on the ground” in strategic areas of the territory.
