What is the human cost of Israel’s relentless pursuit of Hamas commanders in Gaza?

Children react after Israeli bombardment as they take refuge at the Jaouni school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on July 6, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Updated 24 July 2024
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What is the human cost of Israel’s relentless pursuit of Hamas commanders in Gaza?

  • Hundreds of Palestinians have died in operations that Israeli forces say targeted Hamas fighters or aimed to free hostages
  • The civilian toll following Israel’s recent bombing of Al-Mawasi and Khan Younis has drawn international condemnation

LONDON: Israel’s military has killed dozens of Palestinian civilians and wounded hundreds more, including children, in its relentless pursuit of Hamas commanders in Gaza, despite designating many of its areas of operation as “safe zones.”

Palestinian health officials said on Monday that 16 civilians were killed in eastern Khan Younis under Israeli shelling, even after Israel issued new orders to evacuate some neighborhoods to keep the civilian population away from areas of combat.

This latest bloodshed followed Israel’s July 13 airstrike on Al-Mawasi camp, another designated safe zone in southern Gaza, which killed at least 90 Palestinians and wounded 300 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel said the target of this strike was Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, as well as Rafa Salama, commander of the group’s Khan Younis Brigade, whom Israel believes was a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

Denying reports of his death, a Hamas official told the AFP news agency following the strike that Deif was “well and directly overseeing” operations, but he provided no proof for the claim.

Meanwhile, Daniel Hagari, the spokesman for the Israeli military, has said “there are increasing signs that we succeeded in the elimination of Mohammed Deif.”




Smoke rises from Gaza, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. (Reuters)

Speaking to Al-Arabiya TV channel on Friday, he said: “Rafa Salama was certainly eliminated; Mohammed Deif and Salama sat side by side during the strike. Hamas is hiding what happened to Deif.”

Herzi Halevi, Israel’s chief of the general staff, has also accused Hamas of “concealing the results” of the strike on a west Khan Younis compound, where both Deif and Salama were purportedly hiding.

Regardless of whether the strike on Al-Mawasi was successful or not, the attack on an area packed with civilians drew global condemnation, with observers accusing the Israeli military of violating international humanitarian law.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, wrote on the social media platform X: “Wars have limits enshrined in international law; end can’t justify all means. We condemn the violation.”

He added: “Once again we call for access to independent investigations and accountability, and for an end to the appalling situation of innocent civilians in Gaza.”

On the day of the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi “to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza.”




Women react after Israeli bombardment as they take refuge at the Jaouni school. (AFP)

The deadly Al-Mawasi strike was not the first incident since the conflict began on Oct. 7 in which the Israeli military has been accused of disregarding the safety of civilians and violating international humanitarian law in the pursuit of Hamas commanders.

In the fighting since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, at least 38,900 Palestinians, including more than 13,000 children, have been killed, according to the UN Human Rights Office. The proportion of the dead who were combatants is a matter of dispute.

The Israeli army’s bombing campaign, which Israeli officials say is aimed at Hamas and not civilian targets, has also destroyed medical, sanitation, and educational infrastructure across the Palestinian enclave.

Last month, in an operation that rescued four hostages, the Israeli military killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Israeli military said there were “under 100” Palestinian casualties but was uncertain how many of them were “terrorists.”

But almost a quarter of the 142 killed in the operation were women and children, Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat told BBC Arabic’s “Gaza Today” show, adding that 250 others were injured.




Children walk past a destroyed classroom in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Expressing “profound shock” at the impact on civilians in Nuseirat, UN spokesman Jeremy Laurence said the Israeli forces’ actions “seriously call into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution … were upheld.”

In March, the Israeli military mounted a raid on Gaza’s largest medical facility, Al-Shifa Hospital, where it claimed Hamas fighters and other Palestinian militants were hiding.

Some 3,000 people were sheltering in Al-Shifa at the time of Israel’s raid, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said. At least 1,500 Palestinians, including 13 children and 21 patients, were killed in the two-week raid, according to the Euro-Med Monitor, a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva.

Israeli officials said that “over 200 terrorists” were killed in and around Al-Shifa, as well as hundreds detained, including several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.

It has been impossible to independently verify the reported numbers due to a lack of reporting access to Gaza.




Israeli soldiers travel in a military vehicle by the Israel-Gaza border. (Reuters)

Between July 8 and 12, Israel attacked six schools operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency, killing dozens of civilians sheltering in the area, before reportedly razing the UN agency’s headquarters in Gaza City on July 15.

Israel has accused local staff at UNRWA of participating in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, prompting the UN agency to launch an internal investigation and several major donors, including the US, to suspend funding for its operation in Gaza and throughout the region.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called Israel’s attack on his agency’s Gaza headquarters “another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law.”

In a post on X, he said: “UN facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes. Every war has rules. Gaza is no exception.”

In a separate post, Lazzarini stressed that “schools must never be used for fighting or military purposes by any party to the conflict.”

NOTABLE CIVILIAN CASUALTY EVENTS

• Oct. 7, 2023: 1,200 Israeli and other nationals killed in southern Israel, hundreds taken hostage, in Hamas-led attack.

• Oct. 31, 2023: 110+ Palestinians killed in Israeli strike targeting ‘senior Hamas commander’ in Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

• Feb. 29, 2024: 112 Palestinians waiting for aid killed, 760 more injured outside Gaza City amid Israeli gunfire and panic.

• April 1: 7 World Central Kitchen workers killed in Israeli strikes in violation of military procedures on convoy delivering aid in Gaza.

• May 27: 45+ Palestinians killed in Israeli strike targeting ‘two senior Hamas commanders’ in Rafah.

• June 9: 274 Palestinians killed in Israeli military raid that freed 4 hostages who were held in Nuseirat refugee camp.

• July 13: 90+ Palestinians killed, 300 wounded in Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in Al-Mawasi.

Source: Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli govt.

Warning that “all rules of war have been broken in Gaza,” he said: “The blatant and constant disregard of international humanitarian law continues unabated.”

Israel has consistently denied accusations that it targets civilian infrastructure, accusing Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups of using tunnels under Gaza’s hospitals to mount attacks and conceal weapons, thereby using the population as human shields.

Commenting on Israel’s conduct, a New York-based international lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arab News that in the Gaza war, “international law remains relevant as a framework for accountability and justice by providing mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable for war crimes, genocide, and other atrocities.”




Palestinians walk on a street flooded with sewage water in Deir El-Balah. (AFP)

The International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals accused of war crimes, has made an attempt to hold “both parties to the conflict” accountable for alleged war crimes.

Israeli officials believe the ICC is likely to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant within the next two weeks, Israeli media reported on July 17.

Karim Khan, ICC chief prosecutor, filed an application in May for arrest warrants against two Israeli and three Palestinian individuals suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hamas commander Deif was among the Palestinians listed in the ICC’s arrest warrant, alongside Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, and Yahya Sinwar, head of the Islamist movement in Gaza.

The arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant accused them of using starvation as a tool of war, extermination, and deliberately attacking civilian populations, alongside other war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Khan said he had “reasonable grounds” to believe the five men bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza.

The decision caused anger among the Hamas leadership, in Israel, and even in the US. US President Joe Biden described the move as “outrageous,” saying there was “no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Hamas said the ICC’s prosecutor was “equating the victim with the executioner” and demanded the withdrawal of the allegations against its leaders.




Israel has consistently denied accusations that it targets civilian infrastructure. (AFP)

The New York-based international lawyer said that although international law and ongoing developments “create a foundation for addressing atrocities and fostering a more just and peaceful world,” its enforcement “can be inconsistent and subject to political influence.”

On July 19, the UN’s International Court of Justice at The Hague declared Israel’s occupation and annexation of the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, the West Banks and East Jerusalem, to be “unlawful” in a landmark ruling.

Stating that Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians violate the prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid, the ICJ also ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible.”

Israel has since Oct. 7 also mounted dozens of raids on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, killing at least 500 Palestinians, 143 of them children, according to UN figures.

The ICJ’s recent ruling, however, is a non-binding advisory opinion that was sought by the UN General Assembly in 2022, preceding the Israeli onslaught on Gaza and not directly linked to it.

Responding to the ruling, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying: “The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land — not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in our ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank).

“No decision of lies in The Hague will distort this historical truth, and similarly, the legality of Israeli settlements in all parts of our homeland cannot be disputed.”

In December last year, South Africa brought a case against Israel before the ICJ, alleging it had committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.




Between July 8 and 12, Israel attacked six schools operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency, killing dozens of civilians sheltering in the area. (Reuters)

The ICJ issued a provisional ruling in January, modified in May, ordering Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive” and urging Hamas to release the hostages immediately and unconditionally.

Regardless, Israel has continued to bomb Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip where well over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltered, while Hamas is believed to still hold 116 hostages.

No amount of legal wrangling has brought the conflict closer to resolution.

Diplomats and region watchers continue to call on both sides to accept an immediate ceasefire, to exchange hostages and prisoners, and to actively pursue a solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

 


Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

Updated 5 sec ago
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Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss insurgency in eastern Congo

  • Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire on Tuesday
  • Peace talks between the two countries were unexpectedly canceled in December

DAKAR: The presidents of Congo and neighboring Rwanda met Tuesday in Qatar for their first direct talks since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this year, the three governments said.
The meeting between Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame to discuss the insurgency was mediated by Qatar, the three governments said in a joint statement.
The summit came as a previous attempt to bring Congo’s government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations on Tuesday failed. The rebels pulled out Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on rebel leaders.
Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire during the meeting in Qatar on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused at the time.
The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.
The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to “summary executions” by both sides.


Families urge Tunisia to release detained pro-migrant activists

Updated 26 min 56 sec ago
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Families urge Tunisia to release detained pro-migrant activists

  • Romdhane Ben Amor, the head of FTDES, an NGO, said the 10 detainees’ organizations “were engaged in humanitarian work, not political advocacy“
  • The authorities, however, “criminalized their actions“

TUNIS: The families of detained Tunisian pro-migrant and anti-racism activists, imprisoned since May, launched an appeal on Tuesday for their release.
Romdhane Ben Amor, the head of FTDES, an NGO, said the 10 detainees’ organizations “were engaged in humanitarian work, not political advocacy.”
The authorities, however, “criminalized their actions,” he said at a press conference.
The aim, Ben Amor said, was to “further weaken migrants and refugees and to push them to accept ‘voluntary returns’ organized by the (UN’s) International Organization for Migration.”
Tunisia is a major transit country for African migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in search of economic opportunities and a better life.
In 2023, Tunisian president Kais Saied denounced what he called “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who threatened to “change the country’s demographic composition.”
That was followed by a crackdown on migrants and last year’s arrest of activists.
Among those at the press conference was Emna Riahi, the mother of Sherifa Riahi, the former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie.
She demanded that her daughter, a parent of two young children, be released and have a trial after charges against her of money laundering and terrorism were dropped.
Also present were the daughters of Mustapha Djemali, the 80-year-old founder of the Tunisian Council for Refugees and former North Africa chief for the UN’s refugee agency.
Yusra and Emna Djemali said their father had lost 35 kilogrammes (77 pounds) while in prison and had been denied medication “for four or five months.”
All these activists “are imprisoned to make it seem as though the president’s racist rhetoric was based on real facts,” said Ben Amor, lamenting what he called the “complicit silence” of the European Union and international organizations.


Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

Updated 17 min 12 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

  • Netanyahu said the attack was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims
  • Senior Hamas official Izzat Al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to save his far-right governing coalition

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing more than 400 Palestinians, local health officials said, and shattering a ceasefire in place since January with its deadliest bombardment in a 17-month war with Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes, which killed mostly women and children, after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. In a statement aired on national television, he said the attack was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims — destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the militant group.
All further ceasefire negotiations will take place “under fire,” he said. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.
The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and head toward the center of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations. The new campaign comes as aid groups warn supplies are running out two weeks after Israel cut off all food, medicine, fuel and other goods to Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could signal the full resumption of a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised concerns about the fate of the roughly two dozen hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.
The renewal of the campaign against Hamas, which receives support from Iran, came as the US and Israel stepped up attacks this week across the region. The US launched deadly strikes against Iran-allied rebels in Yemen, while Israel has targeted Iran-backed militants in Lebanon and Syria.
A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat Al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to save his far-right governing coalition.
Hamas said at least six senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes. Israel said they included the head of Hamas’ civilian government, a justice ministry official and two security agency chiefs. There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment.
But Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired rockets toward Israel for the first time since the ceasefire began. The volley set off sirens in Israel’s southern Negev desert but was intercepted before it reached the country’s territory, the military said.
The strikes came as Netanyahu faces mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.
The strikes appeared to give Netanyahu a political boost. A far-right party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir that had bolted the government over the ceasefire announced Tuesday it was rejoining.
The main group representing families of the hostages accused the government of backing out of the ceasefire. “We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
Wounded stream into Gaza hospitals
Strikes across Gaza pounded homes, sparked fires in a tent camp outside the southern city of Khan Younis and hit at least one school-turned-shelter.
After two months of relative calm during the ceasefire, stunned Palestinians found themselves once again digging loved ones out of rubble and holding funeral prayers over the dead at hospital morgues.
“Nobody wants to fight,” Nidal Alzaanin, a resident of Gaza City, said. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months.”
A hit on a home in Rafah killed 17 members of one family, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children. Another in Gaza City killed 27 members of a family, half of them women and children, including a 1-year-old, according to a list of the dead put out by Palestinian medics.
At Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged. Wounded children overwhelmed the pediatric ward, said Dr. Tanya Hajj-Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians aid group.
She said she helped treat a 6-year-old girl with internal bleeding. When they pulled away her curly hair, they realized shrapnel had also penetrated the left side of her brain, leaving her paralyzed on the right side. She was brought in with no ID, and “we don’t know if her family survived,” Hajj-Hassan said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the strikes killed at least 404 people and wounded more than 560. Zaher Al-Waheidi, head of the ministry’s records department, said at least 263 of those killed were women or children under 18. He described it as the deadliest day in Gaza since the start of the war.
In his statement Tuesday, Netanyahu blamed Hamas for civilian casualties, saying it operates among the population.
The war has killed over 48,500 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s population. The Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants but says over half of the dead have been women and children.
The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with Israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.
US backs Israel and blames Hamas
The White House blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”
The ceasefire deal that the US helped broker, however, did not require Hamas to release more hostages to extend the halt in fighting beyond its first phase.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks.
The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect. Hamas on Tuesday denied planning new attacks.
Israel had sought to change the ceasefire deal
Under the ceasefire that began in mid-January, Hamas released 25 hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners as agreed in the first phase.
But Israel balked at entering negotiations over a second phase. Under the agreement, phase two was meant to bring the freeing of the remaining 24 living hostages, an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says Hamas also holds the remains of 35 captives.
Instead, Israel demanded Hamas release half of the remaining hostages in return for a ceasefire extension and a vague promise to eventually negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas refused, demanding the two sides follow the original deal, which called for the halt in fighting to continue during negotiations over the second phase.
The deal had largely held, though Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps.
Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages — two goals that could be incompatible.
A full resumption of the war would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called for in the second phase and the thorny question of who would govern Gaza.
It would also shore up his coalition, which depends on far-right lawmakers who want to depopulate Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
Released hostages have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have joined protests calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.


China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

Updated 18 March 2025
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China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

  • China to oversee expansion of Al-Shagaya, Al-Abdiliya plants
  • Shagaya part of Kuwait’s plan to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030

LONDON: Kuwait and China signed a framework agreement this week which included a commitment to cooperate in renewable energy and solar plants technology.

The framework agreement was reached after six months of negotiations, according to Adel Al-Zamel, the undersecretary at the Ministry of Electricity and Water and Renewable Energy, who signed the agreement in Kuwait with Ren Jingdong, the deputy director of the Chinese National Energy Administration.

The agreement outlines a plan, overseen by the Chinese side, for the third and fourth zones of the Al-Shagaya and Al-Abdiliya solar plants projects. Each project will have a joint production capacity of 3,500 megawatts, with the potential to increase to 5,000 megawatts, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Shagaya Renewable Energy Park, which is in a desert zone near the Kuwait-Saudi border, plays an integral part in Kuwait’s plan to generate 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Kuwait and China last month signed an agreement to develop the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and will have a capacity to handle more than 8 million containers.

On March 22 the two countries will celebrate the 54th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to China Jassem Al-Najem and other Kuwaiti and Chinese officials were present during the agreement’s signing ceremony.


In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

Updated 18 March 2025
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In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

  • The war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war
  • The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15

BEIRUT: As Israel resumes heavy strikes in the Gaza Strip, escalating Israeli attacks in south Lebanon have killed five Hezbollah members in the last few days, according to security sources in Lebanon, underlining the fragility of a US-backed ceasefire.
The war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the frontier for months before escalating into a devastating Israeli offensive that wiped out the group’s command and many of its fighters, along with much of its arsenal.
While the ceasefire brought about a big reduction in the violence, each side accuses the other of failing to fully implement it. Israel says Hezbollah still has infrastructure in the south, while Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel is occupying Lebanese soil by not withdrawing from five hilltop positions.
The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15. In one of the incidents on Sunday, the Israeli military said it struck two Hezbollah militants “who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities.” Security sources in Lebanon said five Hezbollah members were killed.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that a gunshot hit a parked car in the Israeli community of Avivim, and that the shot most likely came from Lebanon. No one claimed responsibility.

STRIKES DESTROY PREFAB HOUSES
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes in two towns on Monday destroyed prefabricated houses brought to the area for people whose homes were destroyed in the war, security sources said.
Noting an increase in Israeli strikes in recent days, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon “urges all actors to avoid any action that could upset the current delicate calm,” spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
“We continue to urge Israeli forces to fully withdraw south of the Blue Line, and we continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces in their deployment in the south of Lebanon,” he added.
The Blue Line was drawn by the United Nations in 2000, when Israeli forces withdrew from south Lebanon, and separates the country from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The ceasefire agreed in November required Hezbollah to have no weapons in the south and Israeli troops to withdraw as the US-backed Lebanese army deployed into the region.
Israel said earlier this month it had agreed to US-backed talks with Lebanon aimed at demarcating the border. It also released five Lebanese held by the Israeli military in what it called a “gesture to the Lebanese president.”
Hezbollah officials have put the onus on the Lebanese state to liberate the remaining land still occupied by Israel. Still, leading Hezbollah official Ali Damoush said on Friday the group would not give up its arms while there was an occupation.
Analysts say Hezbollah would have to think very hard before taking any decision to escalate against Israel, noting that its overland resupply route to Iran was severed by the fall of its ally Bashar Assad in Syria and that many of its supporters are homeless because of the devastation caused by the war.
“So far, Hezbollah is keen not to respond and to leave the decision to the government and the Lebanese army,” said Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah.