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Israeli Strikes Kill 11 in Lebanon 12/03 06:13
Israel unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since
agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at least 11 people on
Monday after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a
warning over what it said were Israeli truce violations.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across
Lebanon since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at
least 11 people on Monday after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of
projectiles as a warning over what it said were Israeli truce violations.
The projectiles were apparently the first time that Hezbollah took aim at
Israeli forces after the 60-day ceasefire went into effect last Wednesday. The
increasingly fragile truce aimed to end more than a year of war between
Hezbollah and Israel -- part of a wider regional conflict sparked by the
devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump demanded the immediate
release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant Hamas group in
Gaza, saying on social media that if they are not freed before he takes office
in January there would be "HELL TO PAY."
It was not immediately clear whether Trump was threatening to directly
involve the U.S. military in Israel's ongoing war in Gaza. The U.S. has given
Israel crucial military and diplomatic support throughout the nearly 15-month
conflict.
A new exchange of fire threatens Lebanon ceasefire
Lebanon's Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village
of Haris killed five people and wounded two while another airstrike on the
village of Tallousa killed four and also wounded two.
Israel's military carried out a string of airstrikes late Monday against
what it said were Hezbollah fighters, infrastructure and rocket launchers
across Lebanon, in response to Hezbollah firing two projectiles toward Mount
Dov -- a disputed Israeli-held territory known as Shebaa Farms in Lebanon where
the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet. Israel said the projectiles
fell in open areas and no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired on an Israeli military position
in the area as a "defensive and warning response" after what it called
"repeated violations" of the ceasefire deal by Israel. It said complaints to
mediators tasked with monitoring the ceasefire "were futile in stopping these
violations."
Before the Hezbollah projectiles, Israeli carried out at least four
airstrikes and an artillery barrage in southern Lebanon, including a drone
strike that killed a person on a motorcycle, according to Lebanese state media.
Another strike killed a corporal in the Lebanese security services.
Israel has said its strikes are in response to unspecified Hezbollah
violations, and that under the ceasefire deal it reserves the right to
retaliate.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the
truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing
homes near the border and violating Lebanon's airspace.
Officials in the U.S. -- which along with France helped broker the truce and
heads a commission meant to monitor adherence to the deal -- played down the
significance of Israeli strikes. White House national security spokesman John
Kirby said, "Largely speaking, the ceasefire is holding."
"We've gone from dozens of strikes down to one a day maybe two a day," Kirby
told reporters, referring to Israeli strikes. "We're going to keep trying and
see what we can do to get it down to zero."
Under the deal, Iran-backed Hezbollah has 60 days to withdraw its fighters
and infrastructure from southern Lebanon. During that time, Israeli troops are
also to withdraw to their side of the border.
'RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!'
In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump called for Palestinian militants
to free all of the roughly 100 Israeli hostages still held inside Gaza, around
two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.
If not, Trump said, "Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has
been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.
RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!"
Hours earlier, the Israeli government confirmed the death of Omer Neutra, a
dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, whose body is still believed to be held by Hamas in
Gaza, according to the Israeli government. The Biden administration is mounting
a last-ditch effort to try to restart talks between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on
Trump's post though President Isaac Herzog welcomed it.
Fears of hunger mount in Gaza
In Gaza, meanwhile, alarm is mounting over increasing hunger. The amount of
food allowed in by Israel has plunged over the past two months, compounded by a
decision Sunday by the United Nations to halt aid deliveries from the main
crossing into the territory because of the threat of armed gangs looting
convoys.
Experts have already warned of famine in the northernmost part of Gaza,
which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October,
saying they're fighting regrouped Hamas militants there.
Displaced families have set up tents surrounded by piles of garbage on the
streets of Gaza City. Bilal Marouf, 55, said he and 11 family members fled the
Israeli offensive "barefoot and naked."
"We had nothing. Hunger and thirst killed us, and we did not have a single
shekel, nor clothes, nor a mattress, nor a blanket," he said, speaking near his
tent.
Israel's campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' Oct 7, 2023 attack on
southern Israel, has driven almost the entire population of the territory from
their homes. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians now live in squalid tent
camps, relying on international aid.
The Israeli military said it allowed 40 trucks carrying 600 tons of flour
for the World Food Program to enter the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday night, as
well as 16 other food trucks.
Israel has said it is working to increase the flow of aid. November saw an
increase in the average number of humanitarian trucks it let into Gaza, up to
77 daily from 57 the month before, according to official Israeli figures.
But the levels are still nearly the lowest of the entire 15-month war. And
the U.N. says less than half of that actually reaches Palestinians because
Israeli military restrictions, fighting and robberies make it too dangerous to
deliver the aid.
The World Food Program was able to only deliver aid to some 300,000
Palestinians in November across the Gaza Strip due to ongoing Israeli military
offensives and the looting of convoys, Carl Skau, WFP's deputy executive
director, said Monday.
In a tent camp in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, Palestinians lined
up at makeshift mud ovens trying to buy a few loaves of flatbread for their
families.
With the price of flour mounting because of scarcity, the bakers -- women
displaced from further north -- said they could bake less bread, and families
could afford far less.
"They divide them to their children, one loaf every day," said one woman
baker, Wafaa al-Attar.
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