Hizbullah’s media relations chief Muhammad Afif was killed in Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a central Beirut neighbourhood. The strike hit the headquarters of the Baath Party in an area where many people displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs had been seeking refuge.
Afif had become the public face of Hizbullah since Israel’s military escalation in September, following the assassination of veteran Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was also killed in an Israeli air strike.
Israeli air force jets also struck Hizbullah targets in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh quarter again on Sunday after warning residents of several buildings to evacuate to a minimum distance of 500m from their homes. The Israel Defense Forces has ramped up strikes against Hizbullah targets in Beirut with over 50 militant sites hit in the past week.
Unifil, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said on Sunday that a peacekeeping patrol was shot at “about 40 times” a day earlier, with the culprit “likely from non-state actor”. No peacekeepers were hurt.
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Militants fired scores of rockets and drones into northern Israel, including towards the port city of Haifa, Israel’s third largest city.
Israeli troops have destroyed thousands of houses and other buildings in Shia villages across southern Lebanon and are currently operating in an area 4-5km north of the Israeli border. Lebanon says more than 3,400 people have been killed in 13 months of fighting.
Israel hopes the ongoing military pressure will force Lebanon to accept the draft ceasefire agreement drawn up together with Washington, and reportedly supported by US president-elect Donald Trump.
The deal, an upgraded version of United Nations resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Lebanon war, calls for an initial 60-day truce during which Hizbullah fighters will move north of the Litani River, a distance of 30km north of the Israeli border in most areas. Some 8,000 Lebanese army troops will deploy south of the Litani and the Israeli forces will withdraw to the international border. Israel is also seeking assurances from the US that it will be able to respond militarily if Hizbullah violates the terms of the ceasefire.
Israel hopes that a ceasefire will allow some 60,000 evacuees to return to their homes in the Galilee, but many say they will not return unless Hizbullah is disarmed. Hizbullah is expected to respond to the draft agreement proposal in the coming days.
Fighting also continues in Gaza, with contacts on an end to the war effectively frozen since Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October.
Dozens of Palestinians were reportedly killed following three Israeli strikes on central and northern Gaza overnight into Sunday. Sources in Gaza claimed almost 100 people were killed. One attack targeted a residential building in the northern town of Beit Lahia that housed six families. Israel claims that Hamas militants deliberately seek shelter in civilian areas.
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, since the war started on October 7th, 2023. Some 1,200 people were killed when Hamas gunmen invaded southern Israel, according to Israeli figures, and 251 were taken into captivity in Gaza.
Three prominent antigovernment activists were detained in Israel after they fired two flares during a protest on Saturday night outside prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s private villa in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv. The flares landed in the villa’s garden but Mr Netanyahu and his family were not there at the time.
Israeli president Yitzhak Herzog condemned the incident and said: “We must not allow the flames to rise higher.” Politicians across the political spectrum condemned the firing of the flares.
