A rocket fired from Lebanon injured at least six people and caused a fire in Tel Aviv on Monday night. Israeli authorities were divided over whether the attack was intercepted or not.
Hezbollah fires missiles at central Israel
Hezbollah shelled central Israel and the Sharon Plains on Tuesday, leaving six people lightly wounded when a rocket landed near Netanya. The IDF said at least five projectiles fired from Lebanon were detected, some of which were intercepted, while others fell inside the country. The attack came after a rocket landed in the Tel Aviv neighbourhood on Monday, causing damage and injuries.
US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Tuesday to push for ceasefire talks to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Hochstein is expected to receive Lebanon’s final response to the proposed agreement and hand it over to Israel.
The Hezbollah-affiliated al Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday that Hochstein’s visit is the latest attempt to reach an agreement, but obstacles remain.
According to the newspaper, the two issues to be resolved are Israel’s “self-defence” and the composition of the international commission that will monitor compliance with the terms of the agreement.
Ceasefire talks
Lebanon argues that self-defence is already recognised by international law and therefore should not be part of the ceasefire agreement, and that Israel’s insistence on including it in the agreement is an attempt to legitimise any future military action. Lebanon therefore rejects this proposal.
Beirut also opposes the participation of Britain and Germany in an international commission to monitor the agreement, but sources told the publication that the issue could be resolved more simply.
Saudi TV channel Al Hadath, in a report on Tuesday, quoted sources as saying that the US wants Lebanon’s consent for American oversight of Beirut’s international airport and seaports, as well as border controls, to prevent the flow of weapons for Hezbollah coming from Syria.
According to the TV station, Hochstein was negotiating an agreement that would cover all of Lebanon, not just the south.
The success of the talks would open the way to finalising the international border between Israel and Lebanon. But the envoy’s success was not guaranteed, Al Hadath said. Nabih Berry, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament who led the negotiations on Hezbollah’s side, wanted to pressure the Iranian-backed group to agree to the American-proposed terms.
50 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza
At least 50 Palestinians were killed, including women and children, and many others were injured on Monday in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said.
The Civil Defence said in a press statement that the Israeli bombardment targeted homes and shelters for displaced people in Beit Lahiya and Jabalia in northern Gaza, Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.
The organisation said its work remains suspended in northern Gaza due to “continued Israeli shelling and aggression,” leaving thousands of citizens without humanitarian aid, medical care and assistance.
Meanwhile, Raed Al-Namas, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, told reporters in Gaza that the health system in the north is deteriorating due to a lack of medicine and staff.
Al-Namas said the services provided are at a minimal level and 12,000 wounded need treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
Israel has been waging a major offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to avenge the Hamas rampage on Israel’s southern border on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage. The number of Palestinians killed in ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 43,922, Gaza’s health authorities said in a statement on Monday.
