US, Israel at standoff over Lebanon cease-fire proposal. What happened?
US President Joe Biden (L), sits with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the Israeli war cabinet meeting, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. (Photo by Miriam Alster / POOL / AFP/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A 21-day cease-fire proposal aimed at pausing the conflict in Lebanon has become the latest flashpoint in the strained relationship between the Biden administration and Israel after the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, roundly rejected the terms of the proposal on Thursday.
As the prime minister flew to New York ahead of his Friday address to the annual high-level gathering of the United Nations, his office issued a statement saying he “did not even respond” to the proposal put forth by the U.S. and France, and that he had instructed the Israeli military to continue fighting against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “with full force.”
Netanyahu’s rejection came just hours after White House officials lauded a joint statement issued by the U.S., the European Union and six other countries endorsing the plan for a 21-day truce, a step heralded as an “important breakthrough.”
Washington said Israel had been consulted before the joint statement was released, but struggled to explain the apparent disconnect.
“We wouldn’t have worked on that statement the way we did. We wouldn’t have issued it when and how we did if it wasn’t supported by the conversations that we were having with top Israeli officials yesterday,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.
But behind the scenes, several U.S. officials familiar with the negotiations told ABC News they have consistently seen getting Israel to sign off on a truce as an uphill battle.
Israel views a pause as beneficial to Hezbollah because it could allow it to regroup and strike back at Israel following attacks on the militant group’s communication system last week widely attributed to Israel, according to the officials.
They say that the Israeli government also views a truce of any length as running counter to its main aim of allowing people displaced from areas near its northern border to return to their homes as soon as possible.
Israel’s permanent representative to the U.N., Danny Danon, told reporters on Wednesday that Israel would prefer to end its conflict with Hezbollah via diplomacy, but that “if it fails to return our residents to the homes, then we will use all means at our disposal.”
“We are very honest about it,” Danon said, adding that he believed the mediators “know exactly what we want.”
The latest disconnect between the U.S. and Israel appears poised to add additional strain to what was already expected to be a contentious address to the U.N. by Netanyahu on Friday.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the body’s Security Council on Wednesday that “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon.”
The U.N. Refugee Agency added on Thursday that in just 72 hours, more than 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon.
Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Hezbollah — a U.S.-designated terrorist organization — began firing rockets across the Lebanese border with Israel. The low-level conflict continued for nearly a year, repeatedly threatening to escalate before Israel stepped up its military campaign earlier this month.
(LONDON) — Israel is marking the first anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as its Lebanon operation continues and leaders consider their response to Iran’s latest long-range missile attack.
Hundreds of Iranian missiles were fired into the country last week, according to Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Iran said the unprecedented attack was retaliation for a wave of assassinations carried out by Israel over the last several weeks targeting Hezbollah, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Most of the missiles were intercepted, but “several hits were identified, and the damage is being assessed,” an Israeli security official said.
Israel intercepts missile fired from Yemen, IDF says
Air alert sirens sounded across central Israel on Monday due to a missile launch from Yemen, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“The air force successfully intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen,” the force wrote on X.
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly targeted Israel using missiles and drones. Israel has launched airstrikes on Houthi military and infrastructure sites in response.
Airstrike hits close to Beirut airport
Two more powerful strikes hit Beirut on Monday morning as Israel’s air campaign continued, including one that impacted close to the city’s international airport.
The strikes sent towering pillars of smoke and dust rising above the capital and Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.
The airport is located south of the city center close to the Dahiya suburb, which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold and has borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks on the city.
Beirut’s airport is still functioning despite nearby airstrikes, though major international carriers have frozen operations there due to the deteriorating security situation.
Lebanon-based Middle East Airlines now accounts for most flights landing at and departing the airport, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes in 2006 during the last major cross-border conflict.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Morgan Winsor
World must condemn Iran on Oct. 7 anniversary, Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the first anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack by calling on the international community to “condemn Iran’s support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region that are responsible for so much death, destruction and instability.”
“Today, we mark a devastating and tragic anniversary,” Blinken said in a statement published by the State Department. “The depravity of Hamas’ crimes is almost unspeakable.”
The Oct. 7 attack “unleashed a year of conflict, with tragic consequences for the Palestinian people,” Blinken said.
“The United States mourns the death of every innocent who died on Oct. 7 and in the year since. It is time to reach a ceasefire agreement that brings the hostages home, alleviates the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people and ultimately brings an end to this war.”
Blinken called on other nations to “stand steadfast in the face of terrorism and violent extremism, including the sources of support for groups like Hamas,” specifically Iran.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to lasting peace and stability across the region and for a common future for Israelis and Palestinians with equal measures of security, dignity, opportunity and freedom,” Blinken added.
Netanyahu attends Oct. 7 Jerusalem memorial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a ceremony at the “Iron Swords” monument in Jerusalem to commemorate Israelis killed since Oct. 7, 2023.
The monument was unveiled in September to remember those from Jerusalem killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and in the subsequent fighting.
“On this day, in this place, and in many places in our country, we remember our fallen, our abductees — whom we are obliged to return — and our heroes who fell for the defense of the homeland and the country,” Netanyahu said.
“We went through a terrible massacre a year ago and we stood up as a people, as lions.”
“A nation of wolves will rise and a lion will soar,” Netanyahu said.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
US will help deter Iran, Austin tells Gallant
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday to reiterate U.S. support ahead of Monday’s Oct. 7 one-year anniversary.
Austin “reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself and noted that the United States maintains significant capability in the region to defend U.S. personnel and facilities, provide further support for Israel’s self-defense and deter further escalation,” a readout provided by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
The two “reiterated their commitment to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict,” the readout added.
Austin also “expressed his condolences” for two Israeli soldiers killed in a drone attack launched by Iran-aligned Iraqi militants on Oct. 3.
U.S. and Israeli officials are in close contact as the latter consider how to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Biden says US ‘fully committed’ to Israel one year after Oct. 7
The White House released a statement Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, with President Joe Biden condemning “the unspeakable brutality” of the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
“One year later, Vice President [Kamala] Harris and I remain fully committed to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist,” Biden said.
“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and Iran,” the president added, noting the U.S. role in responding to Iran’s most recent ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
“We will never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely,” the president said of the 101 captives still in Gaza.
Biden condemned the “vicious surge in anti-semitism in America and around the world,” which he called “unacceptable.”
For Palestinians, too, Biden said Oct. 7 should be remembered “as a dark day.”
“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict — and tens of thousands have been killed, a human toll made far worse by terrorists hiding and operating among innocent people,” he said.
“Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.”
-ABC News’ Lauren Minore
Hamas marks Oct. 7 anniversary with rocket attack
Hamas released a statement Sunday to mark the first anniversary of its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The statement attributed to leader Yahya Sinwar and deputy leader Khalil Al-Hayya described the attack as a “glorious” operation that “shattered the illusions the enemy had created for itself.”
The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw some 250 people taken to Gaza as hostages.
Monday’s statement said Hamas was ready “for an agreement that achieves the cessation of aggression, ends the siege and leads to a serious exchange deal,” accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “procrastinating and obstructing” negotiations.
Hamas claimed responsibility for rocket fire that set off alarms in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel on Monday. One projectile landed south of Tel Aviv and wounded at least two people, emergency responders said.
The rockets were fired from the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said 41,802 Palestinians have been killed in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Matt Gutman and Sohel Uddin
Hezbollah vows to repel Israel despite ‘heavy’ losses
Hezbollah acknowledged “heavy” losses within its “leadership structure” and “military and material structure” during its ongoing conflict with Israel, in a statement issued Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack.
The group said it is “confident” in the “ability of our resistance to repel the aggression” in Lebanon in a message posted to one of its official Telegram channels.
One year of war, the group claimed, has shown Israel to be “a fragile entity that is unable to survive and continue without American support.”
The U.S. and its allies “bear full responsibility for the killing, criminality, injustice and shocking human tragedies” experienced by the Palestinian and Lebanese people, the statement added.
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of Billy Joel’s third studio album, Streetlife Serenade, which was a top 40 hit for the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
Released Oct. 11, 1974, the album is best known for the song “The Entertainer,” which had Billy clapping back after his classic track “Piano Man” was cut for radio. In it he sings, “If you’re gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05.”
While “The Entertainer” went on to become a fan favorite and a staple at Billy’s live shows, he says the song is often misunderstood. It features lyrics that appear to have Billy complaining about being a music superstar, although they’re actually meant to be sarcastic, something Billy says fans, and DJs, didn’t often get.
“The disc jockey saying, ‘OK, first he’s a piano man. He’s b******* about playing in a piano bar. He’s moaning about his life,’” Billy said in a video about the album he made for his website. “’Now he’s got a successful record. Now he’s b******* about being successful.’”
Streetlife Serenade wasthe follow-up to his 1972 breakthrough Piano Man, and even Billy admits he wasn’t at his best. He says the quality suffered because he was too busy opening for other acts on the road. As a result, he shares that he “didn’t really have a lot of time to write new material.”
“But there was a lot of pressure to put out another album after Piano Man and I just didn’t have a lot of stuff,” he said. “There’s even two instrumentals. When’s the last time a singer-songwriter put out an instrumental?”
Streetlife Serenade went on to sell over 1 million copies and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Mahmoudiye on September 24, 2024. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Netanyahu says operation in Lebanon will continue
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation in Lebanon will continue, despite international calls for a diplomatic resolution to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
“I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing, we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes. We are inflicting blows on Hezbollah that [the group] did not imagine. We do it with power, we do it with guile. I promise you one thing — we will not rest until they come home,” Netanyahu said.
Biden says ‘all-out war’ is possible in the Middle East
When asked about how real the threat of a wider war in the Middle East really is, President Joe Biden said “an all-out war is possible,” but added that there’s still the opportunity for a resolution contingent on Israel changing “some policies.”
“We’re still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” Biden said, in an interview on “The View,” which covered a range of topics.
“The Arab world very much wants to have a settlement, because they know what it does for them. They’re willing to make arrangements with Israel and alliances with Israel, if Israel changes some policies.”
Biden said he has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he said that there “needs” to be a two-state solution.
“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen. There’s a way to do it, and they have a possibility,” Biden said.
Biden added that if a cease-fire agreement is reached in Lebanon, then they’ll have to deal with Gaza, but he insisted that he and his team are “using every bit of energy” to
Israel preparing a ground operation into Lebanon
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
“We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north,” Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
“To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians,” Halevi said.
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ‘wouldn’t solve the problem,’ Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “needs to be contained.”
“We’re working to make sure this doesn’t get into a full-scale war,” Blinken said.
Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: “I do.”
“Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve,” Blinken said, noting Hezbollah’s near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The “best way” to address Israel’s problems in the north, Blinken continued, “is through diplomacy.”
There were “a number of times” where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said.
“Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening,” he said.
“But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn’t solve the problem,” Blinken said.
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah’s “unprovoked” attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced,” the president said.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
“That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve,” Biden said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel’s ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Khamenei touted the “organizational and human strength and the authority and ability” of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks “martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah,” Khamenei wrote.
“This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah,” he added.
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday — citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
“Now probably they’re approaching half a million” Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes.”
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority,” Grandi said.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR’s count.
IDF in third day of ‘extensive strikes’ in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was again “conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area” to the east of Beirut.
Almost 600 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Hezbollah targets Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah claimed the launch of a Qadir-1 ballistic missile targeting the Mossad intelligence agency’s headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
“It is the headquarters responsible for the assassination of leaders and the bombing of pagers and hand-held radios,” the militant group said in a statement, referring to last week’s communication device explosions in Lebanon and Syria.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv amid the attack.
“One surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF later said in a social media post that it destroyed the launcher from which the missile was fired in southern Lebanon.
The launch at Tel Aviv is the first time Hezbollah has attacked the city in central Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah confirms death of division commander
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of rocket and missile division commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in a post on their Telegram channel.
Hezbollah said he was killed in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli air attack in Da’ahia in Beirut killed Qubaisi.
52 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, officials say
Israeli forces targeted eight residential homes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, killing at least 52 people, spokesperson Major Mahmoud Basal of the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said Tuesday.
At least five of those people were killed after a house in the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah, was targeted, the civil defense spokesperson added.
The IDF said they were conducting “precise, intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area” in a statement Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, foreign minister says
The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that “the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so.”
Habib spoke at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He expressed his “disappointment” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the U.N., saying it was “neither strong nor promising and will not solve this problem,” but said he “hopes that Washington can intervene to help.”
“Lebanon cannot end the fighting alone and needs America’s help, despite past disappointments,” Habib said, adding that the U.S. is “the only country that can truly make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.”
Mediators as far from a cease-fire deal as ever, US officials say
Mediators between Israel and Hamas are as far away from a cease-fire deal as they have ever been, with both sides impeding negotiations, multiple senior U.S. officials told ABC News.
Many officials have long been skeptical that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would ever sign off on an agreement that involves ceding rule of Gaza, and in recent weeks Hamas has deeply frustrated the Israeli government by adding demands related to Palestinian prisoners that would be released in an exchange.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also become increasingly intractable, according to U.S. officials. While high-level engagements between the U.S. and Israel often moved the needle at the beginning of the conflict, those meetings are now unproductive, officials said — a major reason Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t stop in Israel during his last visit to Middle East.
When it comes to these negotiations, the ball is actually in the Biden administration’s court. Blinken promised during the first week of September that the U.S. would present a new, final proposal to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days,” but almost three weeks later, there’s no indication that has happened yet.
The reason for the delay is the struggle to devise an arrangement both sides might agree to — but that’s just one more factor contributing to the gridlock, according to U.S. officials.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Shannon K. Kingston and Martha Raddatz
Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says
Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.
“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.
G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.
The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander
Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.
“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.
At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut
At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.
US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high
The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.
“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.
Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.
“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”
“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”
Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says
At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon
Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.
The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.
A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.
Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.
IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.
At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.
The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.
“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.
The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.
At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.
New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East
A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.
Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.
Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.
“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.
“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.
Afula is a city in northern Israel.
“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.
