Lebanon reports deaths after Israeli air strike

Negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza war are set to continue next week. The mediators speak of a constructive atmosphere. Meanwhile, the fighting in the Middle East continues.

While negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza war are to continue with the aim of reaching an agreement next week, fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon continues. According to Lebanese authorities, an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon left at least ten people dead, including a woman and two children. In response, Hezbollah said it fired numerous rockets at the neighboring country.

The Israeli military said it had attacked a weapons depot belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in the Nabataea area during the night. The military also fired artillery fire to eliminate a threat in other areas of southern Lebanon, it said.

According to Lebanese sources, five other people were injured in the incident in the Nabataea area, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Two of the injured are in critical condition. The victims are said to be mostly Syrian citizens.

The Lebanese news agency NNA reported that a factory building was hit in the attack. A Syrian family was said to have lived there. During the night, there was initially talk of an attack on a residential building.

According to the Israeli military, around 55 missiles were fired from the neighboring country in the direction of Israel. Some landed in open areas. There were no reports of injuries in the latest attack. However, several fires broke out.

Since the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas began more than ten months ago, the Hezbollah militia from Lebanon, which is allied with Hamas, has been shelling targets in northern Israel almost every day. The Israeli military, in turn, regularly attacks targets in the neighboring country.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army called on residents of several neighborhoods in the center of the Gaza Strip to flee from a new military operation. They should go to an area designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone, said the appeal, which an Israeli military spokesman published in Arabic.

According to Palestinian sources, at least 17 people were killed in Israeli attacks in neighboring areas. Six people were also killed in an air strike on a house near the refugee district of Nuseirat, which is also in the central Gaza Strip, reported the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The information could not be independently verified at first. When asked, Israel’s army said it was investigating the reports.

According to Palestinian sources, the first case of polio has been reported in the war-torn coastal strip. An unvaccinated, ten-month-old infant in Deir al-Balah in the center of the area has fallen ill, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah said. This was confirmed by tests in the Jordanian capital Amman.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously called for a pause in the fighting in the cordoned-off coastal strip so that hundreds of thousands of children could be vaccinated against polio. The virus is often spread through contaminated water. There is currently no cure for polio.

The mediators in the Qatari capital Doha did not achieve a breakthrough for a ceasefire on Friday – but according to a joint statement, the talks were constructive. According to the statement, there is a proposal that is intended to “reduce the gap” that still exists. It also corresponds to the principles of the peace plan that US President Joe Biden presented in May and whose details Hamas does not want to renegotiate.

Another summit is scheduled to take place in the Egyptian capital Cairo before the end of next week. Until then, negotiators are expected to continue negotiations to close any remaining gaps.

Biden expressed hope. “We are closer than ever,” he said on the sidelines of an event at the White House. “We are much, much closer than we were three days ago.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Israel this weekend to continue “intensive diplomatic efforts” on the ground, a spokesman for his ministry said. The goal is to conclude the agreement. “No one in the region should take action to undermine this process,” Biden warned in a statement.