Lebanon witnessed deadly Israeli airstrikes, which also targeted Gaza on Saturday. The US Secretary of State is on his way back to Israel with the aim of finalizing a Gaza truce agreement. Diplomats believe that such an agreement could help prevent a larger regional conflict.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli air strike reportedly killed 10 people, including a Syrian woman and her two children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
This strike is among the most fatal in southern Lebanon since the daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah began following the Gaza war initiation in October.
Israel’s military stated that the strike targeted a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, an Israeli air strike claimed the lives of 15 individuals from a single Palestinian family, as reported by civil defense rescuers. The casualties in Al-Zawaida, central Gaza, have raised the toll, exceeding 40,000 according to the territory’s health ministry.
Omar al-Dreemli, a relative of the deceased, described the scenes in the morgue as horrific, with dismembered limbs, severed heads, and children’s bodies.
The ongoing Gaza war between Israel and Hamas has led to the displacement of a majority of the territory’s population, extensive destruction of housing and infrastructure, and the spread of diseases.
The United Nations has made an appeal for a seven-day ceasefire to facilitate the vaccination of children against polio, following the first reported polio case in Gaza in 25 years by the Palestinian health ministry.
US President Joe Biden expressed his optimism on Friday, stating that a ceasefire in the Gaza war is closer than ever. However, despite previous optimism in months of intermittent negotiations, a lasting resolution remains elusive.
On Saturday, a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissed Biden’s comment as an “illusion.”
The stakes have escalated significantly since the successive killings in late July of Fuad Shukr, a high-ranking Hezbollah operations chief in south Lebanon, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
These deaths have prompted vows of retaliation from Hezbollah, Iran, and other Tehran-backed groups in the region, all pointing fingers at Israel.
• Bridging gaps –
Hezbollah released a video on Friday showing its fighters moving large missiles through tunnels at an underground facility.
Israel claimed responsibility for the killing of Shukr in a strike on south Beirut, but has not directly commented on the death of Haniyeh during his visit to Tehran.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 assault on Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,198 individuals, predominantly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
Militants took 251 hostages, with 111 still held in Gaza, including 39 reportedly deceased, as confirmed by the military. Over 100 hostages were released during a one-week truce in November.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to depart for Israel on Saturday to finalize a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages and detainees, according to the State Department.
With a potential deal on the horizon, President Biden has urged all parties in the region not to take any actions that could hinder the ongoing process.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US are collaborating to finalize the specifics of a framework for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, as initially proposed by Biden in May, which was accepted by Israel.
Following two days of discussions in Qatar, the mediators issued a joint statement presenting a proposal to bridge the remaining gaps between both sides.
Talks to secure a deal are expected to resume in Cairo by the end of next week, as stated by the mediators.
Hamas did not participate in the talks in Doha. An official from the Islamist movement, Osama Hamdan, mentioned that they would attend the meeting if a timetable for implementing their prior agreements is established.
The potential cessation of hostilities is expected to begin with an initial truce, with Hamas reportedly unwilling to accept any new conditions from Israel, as per officials briefed by AFP on Friday.
• Netanyahu was blamed by officials.
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi of Jordan, a Western ally, held Netanyahu responsible for hindering deal finalization and called for pressure on him.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne for discussions on de-escalation and ceasefire efforts, according to Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesperson.
Contrary to the accusations, Netanyahu refuted being the obstacle to a deal and pointed fingers at Hamas.
The Palestinian health ministry reported a distressing case of a 10-month-old unvaccinated child in Gaza diagnosed with polio on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for two temporary pauses in the Gaza war to vaccinate over 640,000 children against poliovirus type 2, a virus initially found in Gaza’s wastewater in June.
Amid ceasefire negotiations, numerous civilians were forced to relocate following fresh evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in anticipation of military actions in central-southern Gaza.
Issa Murad, a displaced Palestinian in Deir el-Balah, mentioned, “During negotiations, pressure is applied through evacuations and atrocities.”
Israeli troops escalated operations in Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, including the elimination of militants who launched munitions towards Nirim, just beyond Gaza, as reported by Israel’s military on Saturday.
AFP.