Violent clash over torture of Palestinian detainees reveals extent of Israeli political polarization

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The Israeli military is holding nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of "substantial abuse" of a detainee at the Sde Teiman military base, where Israel has been holding Palestinian prisoners throughout the war in Gaza. (AP)
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Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teman military base near Beersheba on July 29, 2024, against the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee following the October 7 attack in Israel. (AFP photo)
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Updated 01 August 2024
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Violent clash over torture of Palestinian detainees reveals extent of Israeli political polarization

  • Investigation into maltreatment of a Palestinian in a military detention facility sparks rightwing protests
  • New accusations include use of waterboarding, electrocution, and sleep deprivation on Palestinians in Israeli custody

ATHENS: Southern Israel’s Sde Teiman detention facility was rocked by protests on Monday when dozens of protestors — including several far-right members of the Knesset — clashed with military police.

The protestors, waving Israeli flags and chanting “shame,” were condemning the arrest and detention of nine Israel Defense Forces reservists accused of subjecting a detained Palestinian man to abuse so severe it resulted in his hospitalization.




Protests have been held in support of the detained reservists despite mounting allegations of the maltreatment of Palestinians. (Reuters/AFP)

As domestic political tensions continue to rise and the war in Gaza shows no sign of stopping, many are wondering whether the widely reported torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody will only deepen the political rift in Israel.

The protest at Sde Teiman was expected, especially given the rhetoric of Israeli lawmakers regarding the treatment of detained Palestinians. Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir took to X on Monday to post: “Take your hands off our reservists!”




For Israel's right-wing extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, the military reservists charged with torturing and maltreating Palestinian prisoners are “heroes.” (AFP photo)

Some Israeli politicians’ brazen endorsement of torture is even more shocking. When asked by a fellow member of the Knesset whether there was any justification for sodomizing a detainee, Likud Party MK Hanoch Mildwidsky shouted: “Yes! If he is a Nukhba (Hamas militant), everything is legitimate to do!”

Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of finance, also condemned the arrests on X, demanding the release of the reservists — whom he called “IDF heroes” — and calling for those who ordered their arrest to be sacked.




This undated photo taken in the winter of 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

Videos posted on social media also showed far-right parliamentarian Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit entering the detention facility at Sde Teiman.

The Sde Teiman protest escalated after protestors realized the detained reservists were being held at the Beit Lid military base north of Tel Aviv, where they attempted to break into the detention center to release the soldiers.

Several members of the reservists’ unit also joined in the protest in full military uniform, though their faces were covered.




People lift placards bearing portraits of Palestinians currently detained by Israel during a protest in solidarity with them and with the residents of the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on July 30, 2024. (AFP)

Allegations of the torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces have been mounting for years — even more so since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on Wednesday alleging the death of at least 53 Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody since the war began, as well as the use of waterboarding, electrocution, and sleep deprivation.

 

 

The Israel Prison Service has denied all of the allegations, claiming that Israeli prisons do not violate the rights of prisoners.

The OHCHR report added that more than 9,400 Palestinians had been detained in Israel from October to the end of June, many of whom had not been granted access to a lawyer.

Since Oct. 7, thousands of Palestinians — including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters — have been taken from Gaza to Israel, “usually shackled and blindfolded,” the OHCHR report said.

INNUMBERS

53 Palestinian detainees believed to have died in Israeli custody since Oct.7. 

9,400 Palestinians detained in Israel from October to the end of June.

Source: OHCHR

Thousands more have been detained in the West Bank and Israel. “They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review,” OHCHR added.

Testimonies for the report suggested that Israel had subjected prisoners to “a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report.

Many released Palestinians reported treatment “including severe beatings, electrocution, being forced to remain in stress positions for prolonged periods, or waterboarding.” The report said detainees had been subjected to blackmail, “being burnt with cigarettes, and given hallucinogenic pills.”




Palestinian Faouzi Abdel Aal, 21, lies at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip where he will receive treatment for his injuries, after being reportedly released from an Israeli detention center into Gaza via the Karem Shalom gate, on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

It said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that since Oct. 7, Israel and Palestinian armed groups had “committed gross violations and abuses … of the rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.”

These included the use of “rape and other forms of sexual violence,” warning the abuses may amount to war crimes. Besides calling for the abuses to cease, the OHCHR urged all parties to “immediately end all forms of arbitrary detention, including the holding of hostages.”


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A summary of the report referred to a “staggering” number of detainees — including men, women, children, journalists and human rights defenders.

“Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water,” the summary said.




Bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees are transported by Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Dec. 8, 2023. (Haaretz via AP/File)

Some detainees said that “their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling,” while “some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence.”

According to the Prisoners Club, a Palestinian rights watchdog, around 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, including hundreds under administrative detention where they can be kept for long periods without charge.

Not all Israelis have defended the alleged actions of the arrested reservists, nor do they support the use of torture and the violation of the human rights of Palestinian detainees.

 

 

“Are you in favor of rape? Is this part of Judaism?” Israeli human rights activist Yariv Oppenheimer replied to Belal Smotrich’s post on X.

Israeli writer Hen Mazzig condemned the protests, during which he said members of the media were verbally and physically assaulted.

“Israel’s investigation (of the reservists) must be allowed to proceed. This protest and the politicians encouraging it do NOTHING to help Israel. It only gives more material for those who hate us,” he posted on X on Monday.

 

 

Only a handful of Israeli government officials have condemned the protests and the storming of the detention facility, chief among them Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel.

“Even when angry, the laws apply to everyone — do not break into IDF bases and do not violate the laws of the State of Israel,” Gallant posted on X.

“I call on the Israeli Police to act immediately against the violators of the law and on all elected officials to refrain from irresponsible statements that drag the IDF into the political arena,” he said in a separate post.




Israeli soldiers and police clash with right wing protesters after they broke into the Beit Lid army base over the detention for questioning of military reservists who were suspected of abuse of a detainee, following the October 7 attack in Israel, on July 29, 2024 in Kfar Yona. (AFP)

In a statement on Monday, Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the IDF, stated that the break-ins at IDF bases were “extremely serious and against the law.”

However, despite these condemnations, Israeli security forces at the IDF military bases were reportedly apathetic towards the protestors, and there have been no reported detentions or arrests of those involved.

The day after the protests saw a boisterous meeting in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the mob that broke into IDF bases.

Despite attempts by right-wing activists and lawmakers alike to have the arrested reservists released, eight of the original 10 reservists had their detentions extended this morning and will remain in custody until Sunday, according to the IDF.

The suspects may face charges of aggravated sodomy, assault, and conduct unbecoming of a soldier, among other charges.
 

 


Little hope in Gaza that arrest warrants will cool Israeli onslaught

A Palestinian little girl queues for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)
Updated 6 sec ago
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Little hope in Gaza that arrest warrants will cool Israeli onslaught

  • An Israeli strike hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the area, injuring six medical staff, some critically, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement

GAZA: Gazans saw little hope on Friday that International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders would slow down the onslaught on the Palestinian territory, where medics said at least 21 people were killed in fresh Israeli military strikes.
In Gaza City in the north, an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia killed eight people, medics said.
Three others were killed in a strike near a bakery, and a fisherman was killed as he set out to sea. In the central and southern areas, nine people were killed in three separate Israeli air strikes.

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Residents in the three besieged towns on Gaza’s northern edge — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces deepened their incursion and bombardment of the northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month.
The military claims it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from waging attacks and regrouping there; residents say they fear the aim is to permanently depopulate a strip of territory as a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Residents in the three besieged towns on the northern edge — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.
An Israeli strike hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the area, injuring six medical staff, some critically, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.
“The strike also destroyed the hospital’s main generator and punctured the water tanks, leaving the hospital without oxygen or water, which threatens the lives of patients and staff inside the hospital,” it added.
It said 85 wounded people, including children and women, were inside, eight in the ICU.
Gazans saw the ICC’s decision to seek the arrest of Israeli leaders for suspected war crimes as international recognition of the enclave’s plight. But those queuing for bread at a bakery in the southern city of Khan Younis were doubtful it would have any impact.
“The decision will not be implemented because America protects Israel, and it can veto anything. Israel will not be held accountable,” said Saber Abu Ghali as he waited for his turn in the crowd.
Saeed Abu Youssef, 75, said that even if justice arrived, it would be decades late: “We have been hearing decisions for more than 76 years that have not been implemented and haven’t done anything for us.” Israel launched its assault on Gaza after militants stormed across the border fence, killed 1,200 people, and seized more than 250 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, nearly 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, much of which has been laid to waste.
The court’s prosecutors said there were reasonable grounds to believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war, as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum have denounced the ICC arrest warrants as biased and based on false evidence, and Israel says the court has no jurisdiction over the war.
Hamas hailed the arrest warrants as a first step toward justice.
Efforts by Arab mediators backed by the US to conclude a ceasefire deal have stalled.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated.


Turkiye dismisses two opposition mayors over ‘terrorism’

Updated 2 min 41 sec ago
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Turkiye dismisses two opposition mayors over ‘terrorism’

  • The mayors of Tunceli and Ovacik were each sentenced to six years and three months in prison this week for membership of the outlawed PKK
  • Both were replaced by state-appointed administrators

ISTANBUL: Two opposition mayors in eastern Turkiye have been removed from office after being convicted of “terrorism” for belonging to a banned Kurdish militant group, the interior minister said on Friday.
The mayors of Tunceli and Ovacik were each sentenced to six years and three months in prison this week for membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a guerilla insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
Both were replaced by state-appointed administrators, the interior ministry said in a statement, in the latest ousting of politicians associated with Turkiye’s Kurdish minority.
Tunceli’s deposed mayor Cevdet Konak, is a member of Turkiye’s main pro-Kurdish party.
The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy party is regularly targeted by the authorities which accuse it of having links to the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Ovacik’s deposed mayor Mustafa Sarigul is affiliated with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which came out on top in local elections held at the end of March.
Both Konak and Sarigul told local press on Thursday that the accusations against them were unfounded.
Angry protesters gathered Friday evening in front of Tunceli city hall, where some people tried to force their way through a police cordon, according to images published by several local media groups.
In late October and early November, the pro-Kurdish mayors of three towns in Turkiye’s Kurdish-majority southeast, as well the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s most populous district, were likewise dismissed on “terrorism” charges.
Their dismissals sparked protests and were condemned by the Council of Europe and human rights organizations.
Konak’s party condemned late Friday the dismissal of both mayors, saying that “the government is slowly destroying the will of the people.”
Meanwhile, CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel denounced the “theft of the will of the nation.”


4 Italian UN peacekeepers injured by rocket attack in Lebanon

Updated 22 November 2024
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4 Italian UN peacekeepers injured by rocket attack in Lebanon

  • Israeli forces continue to pound targets in southern Lebanon and suburbs of Beirut
  • Paramedics and health facilities among those attacked; women and infants among dead as searches for victims buried in rubble continue

BEIRUT: At least five medical workers were reported dead on Friday as Israeli forces continued to pound targets in southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut.

The attacks intensified after US envoy Amos Hochstein left Tel Aviv on Thursday evening and returned to Washington after discussions with Israeli authorities. This followed his talks with Lebanese officials on Tuesday and Wednesday about a proposed diplomatic solution to the conflict in Lebanon between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which marked its 52nd day on Friday. Hochstein did not disclose the outcome of the discussions.

On Friday, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon’s Italian unit reported that four of its soldiers were injured when two rockets struck their headquarters in the western sector, in Shamaa. Tasked with monitoring the Blue Line that separates Lebanon from Israel, UNIFIL’s 10,000 peacekeepers have repeatedly come under fire during the conflict.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, expressed her “deep indignation and concern” over “new attacks suffered by the Italian headquarters of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon.” She said “these attacks are unacceptable” and called on “the parties on the ground to guarantee, at all times, the safety of UNIFIL soldiers and to collaborate to identify those responsible quickly.”

UNIFIL said “two 122 mm rockets struck the Sector West headquarters” in Shamaa, about 5 kilometers from the Israeli border. The area has been a battleground for about a week. The injuries to the peacekeepers were not life-threatening and they were receiving treatment at the base’s hospital.

“UNIFIL strongly urges combating parties to avoid fighting next to its positions,” the force added.

Hezbollah said its fighters targeted Israeli troops in Shamaa with a salvo of rockets to prevent them from occupying the area. Israeli forces had advanced into the area over the previous two days and attempted further incursions toward the coastal town of Bayada, between Naqoura and Tyre.

Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said he had contacted his Lebanese counterpart “reiterating that the Italian contingent of UNIFIL remains in southern Lebanon to offer a window of opportunity for peace, and cannot become hostage to attacks by militias.”

Also on Friday, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on Beirut’s suburbs, targeting buildings in Ain Al-Remmaneh, a predominantly Christian area adjacent to Chiyah.

Israeli forces also continued their attempts to advance into southern towns. A force entered Deir Mimas, beyond the border town of Kfarkela, where it ordered eight families still residing there to remain in their homes.

Deir Mimas is in the Marjayoun district of Nabatiyeh Governorate, about 90 kilometers from Beirut. Its mayor, George Nakad, confirmed “the incursion” and said soldiers had entered it from Kfarkela, through olive fields.

Photos circulating on social media appeared to show Israeli tanks crossing the Litani road at the Qlayaa-Deir Mimas-Burj Al-Molouk triangle, supported by aerial cover and airstrikes on southern regions.

Elsewhere, Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a guided missile south of the town of Khiam, which the Israeli army entered on Thursday. The tank was destroyed and its crew killed or injured, it added.

Israel on Friday intensified its reconnaissance flights over Lebanese regions exposed to airstrikes. Before 7 a.m., Israeli evacuation warnings circulated on social media ahead of strikes on parts of Hadath, Haret Hreik and Kafaat in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

About 30 minutes later, airstrikes hit residential buildings, one of which was located near the Lebanese University campus. Thick black smoke blanketed the area and the smell of gunpowder and other substances spread through neighborhoods, with reports of breathing problems and eye irritation.

Less than four hours later, Israeli forces issued a warning to residents of the Chiyah and Ain Al-Remaneh areas, and then targeted two residential buildings that also housed a medical laboratory, a gym, hair salons, beauty clinics, and clothes and fishing-tackle shops. One building was destroyed, the other cut in half.

The Israeli warnings sparked mass hysteria and displacement of the local population in Ain Al-Remaneh. Residents of Chiyah joined the exodus. Clashes were reported among the crowds after some blamed Hezbollah for the conflict. Six Israeli raids on the areas had taken place as of noon on Friday. The previous day, parts of the southern suburbs were hit intermittently by more than 10 Israeli air attacks.

In southern Lebanon, meanwhile, Israeli forces once again targeted ambulances belonging to Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Organization, which they said were were being used to “transport militants or weapons.” An attack on one of the organization’s ambulances at Deir Qanun junction, Ras Al-Ain, killed the paramedics inside.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said Israel forces were targeting paramedics and medical facilities in the south in violation of international laws and norms and humanitarian laws.

Israel also targeted villages in the deep south, including Ghaziyeh and areas in the vicinity of Sidon, with heavy attacks that reportedly resulted in casualties and great destruction.

Meanwhile, search operations continued to find bodies under the rubble of houses and other buildings damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks. Raids on southern villages, including Kafr Rumman, have resulted in seven confirmed deaths and one injury.

Four bodies were found under the rubble in Arabsalim. In Bekaa, several members of one family, including women and children, were killed by Israeli attacks on the village of Flawiye on Thursday. One person was reported missing. Eleven people from several families, including infants, were killed in attacks on Nabha.

Attacks on targets in northern Bekaa reached a peak on Thursday night, with 18 raids that killed 17 people in Baalbek, Maqneh, Younine, Beit Mchik, Brital and Hosh Al-Rafika.

Lebanese residents in areas stretching from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley and northern regions were alarmed on Friday morning by suspicious calls urging them to evacuate their homes. The calls sparked panic for a second consecutive day among people in several areas, including hotel guests in Beirut's Raouche district, residents of villages in Zgharta, and people in the village of Bebnine in Akkar, in the far north of the country

Others who received calls included residents of Beirut and its northern and eastern suburbs, including Furn El-Chebbak, Dekwaneh, Mar Roukoz, Burj Abi Haidar, Basta, Ras El-Nabeh, Bchamoun, Choueifat, and as far as Jbeil.

Hezbollah on Friday reaffirmed its ability to maintain its attacking threat and said it had targeted several locations in northern Israel. They included the settlement of Kiryat Shmona, the Haifa technical base about 35 kilometers from the border, and an Israeli early-warning and intelligence center linked to the 210th Golan Division on the summit of Mount Hermon in the occupied Syrian Golan. The Dovev barracks and a gathering of Israeli forces in the Manara settlement were also attacked.

Across Lebanon on Friday, national flags were raised at official institutions to mark the 81st anniversary of the country’s independence. In hundreds of shelters, children from displaced families sang the Lebanese national anthem, and some young people symbolically hoisted flags over the rubble in areas ravaged by recent attacks.

The speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Nabih Berri, described this year’s anniversary of independence as “a somber occasion, yet a reminder of the daily challenge to persevere, to uphold national unity, and to protect every inch of our homeland — south, north, east and sea — without surrender or despair.”

 


UN warns some who fled to Syria risking lives to return to Lebanon

Updated 22 November 2024
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UN warns some who fled to Syria risking lives to return to Lebanon

  • Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the UN refugee agency’s representative in Syria, said: “These are very, very small numbers, but for us, even small numbers are worrying signals“
  • The UNHCR estimates that around 560,000 people have fled into Syria from neighboring Lebanon since late September

GENEVA: The UN voiced concern Friday that conditions were so dire in Syria that some Lebanese residents who had fled there seeking refuge from the Israel-Hezbollah war were opting to return to Lebanon.
There are “Lebanese families who are beginning to take the very difficult and potentially life-threatening decision to return to Lebanon,” said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the United Nations refugee agency’s representative in Syria.
“These are very, very small numbers, but for us, even small numbers are worrying signals,” he told reporters in Geneva via video link from the Syrian-Lebanese border.
The UNHCR estimates that around 560,000 people have fled into Syria from neighboring Lebanon since late September, when months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the war in Gaza escalated into all-out war.
Lebanese authorities put the number even higher, at more than 610,000.
Vargas Llosa said that around 65 percent of those crossing into Syria — itself torn apart by 13 years of civil war — were Syrian nationals who had sought refuge in Lebanon from that conflict.
He pointed out that from 2017 up to September 23 this year, around 400,000 Syrians had returned to their country from Lebanon.
“We have had more or less the same number... in a period of seven to eight weeks,” he said, adding that some 150,000 Lebanese had also arrived in Syria during that period.
He hailed the “exemplary” and “extraordinary display of generosity” shown toward those arriving by communities across Syria, “whose infrastructure is destroyed, whose economy is destroyed.”
But he warned that given Syria’s own “catastrophic economic situation... it is unclear for how long this generosity will last.”
Worrying signs were already emerging, he said, pointing to the admittedly small numbers of people who were opting to return to Lebanon despite the risks.
UNHCR said that “on average up to 50 Lebanese individuals per day” were crossing back into Lebanon.
They were leaving because they thought “the conditions in Syria are appalling, and that they may be better off in Lebanon, in spite of the bombings,” Vargas Llosa said.
Back in Lebanon, they might have better support systems, easier access to services and even the ability to generate a little income, he said.
He warned that “unless there is a real injection of international support... this number of Lebanese choosing to return home to these extraordinarily difficult circumstances may grow in the coming weeks and months.”
“This would be extremely worrying.”
There were even some Syrian returnees who were opting to once again cross back into Lebanon, “primarily because of the extraordinarily dire economic conditions here in Syria,” Vargas Llosa said.
In the meantime, he said that there had recently been “an important decrease in the pace of arrivals” into Syria, from a peak of 10,000-15,000 per day to an average now of about 2,000.
Vargas Llosa charged that this was likely linked to Israel’s repeated bombings of border crossings.
“Syrians and Lebanese are very scared of using these escape routes,” he said, appealing to the Israeli military to “immediately stop these unacceptable attacks.”


Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Updated 22 November 2024
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Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

  • Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire
  • Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.
Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire.
US mediator Amos Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was “within our grasp.” He traveled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to the news outlet Axios.
His trip aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns all along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town.
Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel’s north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation orders on the social media platform X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-story building, sending the whole structure toppling in a massive cloud of smoke.