Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and negotiations aimed at achieving a ceasefire during a meeting, Hezbollah said on Friday.
Nasrallah received Hamas deputy head Hayya for a meeting that reviewed “the latest security and political developments” in the Gaza Strip, Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement. The statement said:
“They also discussed the latest developments in the ongoing talks these days, their atmosphere and the proposals presented to end the treacherous aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
A senior US administration official said on Thursday that Hamas had made fairly significant adjustments to its position on a potential hostage release agreement with Israel, expressing hope that it would lead to a pact that would be a step toward a permanent ceasefire. He said:
“Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire on the Lebanon-Israel border since October in a conflict that runs parallel to the Gaza war, raising fears of a wider conflict between the heavily armed adversaries.”
Massive Hezbollah attack
Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets and attack drones on Thursday into northern Israel in response to the assassination of one of its top commanders.
The shelling, which followed the launch of 100 rockets Wednesday afternoon, was one of the largest escalations of violence in nine months in areas bordering Lebanon that have raised fears of full-scale war. Hezbollah commander Mohammed Nimah Nasser, killed in an Israeli airstrike near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, was one of the most senior figures in the group to die in the conflict.
Israeli attacks continue
Meanwhile, at least four Palestinians were killed and one was wounded on Friday when Israeli forces stormed the northern West Bank town of Jenin.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that “four martyrs and one seriously wounded person arrived at the Jenin government hospital as a result of the Israeli occupiers’ aggression against the town.”
Eyewitnesses told the media that the deaths were caused by the Israeli bombardment of Al-Awda Square in Jenin, which coincided with the Israeli army’s storming of the city.
Witnesses revealed that the Israeli army stormed the town from several entrances, surrounded a house and bombed it amid erupting clashes with Palestinians.
At dawn on Friday, the Israeli army carried out raids targeting the towns of Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem amid clashes with dozens of Palestinians, during which several Palestinians were arrested.
The Israeli military has carried out regular raids in the West Bank over the past few years, which intensified with the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7 last year. Palestinians have also been brutally attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
Since then, at least 565 Palestinians, including 136 children, have been killed and another 5,351 injured by Israeli army shelling in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
