Israel-Hamas war: Israel bombs Gaza as truce talks resume

A drone attack originating from Lebanon injured 11 people in northern Israel on Wednesday, according to Israel's national emergency service, Magen David Adom.

The organization said one person suffered serious injuries, three others had moderate injuries, and the rest had minor injuries.

The drone, which was loaded with explosives, reportedly hit the village of Hurfeish without having triggered an air alarm. 

Confirming the drone attack, the Israeli army said it was investigating why there was no air alert. 

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched an explosive drone toward a gathering of military officials, which it said was in response to an earlier Israeli attack.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, there have been daily military confrontations with the pro-Iran Hezbollah and other groups in the border region, with casualties on both sides. 

Two UN agencies have warned that more than a million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if there is no pause in hostilities.

In a joint report, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization say hunger is worsening because of heavy restrictions on humanitarian access and a collapse of the regional food system after nearly eight months of war.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the world authority on the extent of hunger crises, said in March that about 677,000 people in Gaza were experiencing the equivalent of famine.

The two UN agencies said in their report Wednesday that that figure could climb to more than 1 million — nearly half of Gaza's total population of 2.3 million — by the middle of July.

The situation remains dire in northern Gaza, the agencies say. The territory has been surrounded and largely isolated by Israeli troops for months. Though Israel has recently opened land crossings in the north, only a few dozen truckloads pass through each day, with hundreds of thousands of people in need.

Israel's incursion into Rafah has meanwhile severely hampered aid operations in the south.

Israeli police have deployed as many as 3,000 officers ahead of the traditional Jerusalem Day march, which commemorates Israel's capture of East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque — known as the Temple Mount to Jews — during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

A perennially contentious event that sees Israelis waving flags and chanting provocative slogans as they march through predominantly Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem's Old City, this year's march comes as tensions are as high as they have ever been. 

Most shops in the area were closed Wednesday as ultranationalists gathered at the Damascus Gate in the heart of the Old City before marching to the Western Wall.

Scuffles broke out and arrests were made before the march even began, as young Israelis pelted a journalist with plastic water bottles and resisted police who attempted to stop them. Police also arrested several young Palestinians.

Prior to the event, police announced that marchers would not be allowed to enter the Al-Aqsa compound — Islam's third-most-important site, and Judaism's holiest — in an attempt to keep the situation under control.

Three years ago, the Hamas group launched rockets at Jerusalem claiming Israeli provocation on Jerusalem Day, setting off 11 days of clashes. Palestinians advocating for their own state envision East Jerusalem as its capital.

Firebrand ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has promised to lead marchers to the Al-Aqsa compound, saying, "We will march through the Damascus Gate, and Jews will go onto the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is the most important place for the state of Israel." 

Police rejected the plan, saying: "The march is not expected to pass through the Temple Mount or the Temple Mount gates."

While touring his country's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said security in the area would be secured "one way or another."

Speaking with soldiers after inspecting the aftermath of brush fires ignited Tuesday by Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel's military was, "prepared for very strong action in the north." 

Netanyahu told those gathered that the time for deciding what actions would be taken was fast approaching. 

"Whoever thinks that they can harm us and we will sit idly by," he said, "is making a big mistake."

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah has been launching attacks at Israel since October 8, the day after Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel killing nearly 1,200 people and taking a further 240 hostage.

Many Israeli towns and villages in the area have been evacuated since October as wildfires have burned nearly 10,000 acres (4,046 hectares) of land following rocket and drone attacks.   

Israel, in turn, has launched numerous retaliatory strikes, also sparking massive fires. Both sides have suffered losses of life.

Despite reports of Israeli bombing on Wednesday, US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators were set to resume talks in Doha in hopes of achieving a breakthrough that could lead to a cease-fire and the release of Hamas-held hostages in Gaza.

Efforts have been underway for months though neither of the warring sides appears willing to accept terms put forth by outside mediators — with Israel refusing to end operations before Hamas is entirely wiped out, and Hamas insisting upon a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the implementation of a permanent cease-fire.

US President Joe Biden has called on Hamas to turn over the roughly 80 hostages it is believed to still hold and has called the Islamist group "the only obstacle to a complete cease-fire." Israel, the US, Germany and other nations classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Qatar, which maintains ties with Hamas and is hosting the talks, said it has not heard statements "that give us a lot of confidence" from either side, but added that it was "working with both sides on proposals on the table."

The US has said it is in a "full-court press to get a breakthrough," while Egyptian media said an "Egyptian security delegation will meet with its Qatari and US counterparts in Doha on Wednesday to discuss the mechanism of restoring the truce talks." 

Israel on Wednesday said its forces had begun "operational activity" in the central Gaza Strip, with forces active "both above and below ground."

Israeli authorities said the operation began with airstrikes on Hamas infrastructure before Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated "targeted daylight operations" in Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp dating back to Israel's foundation in 1948.

"The activity started with a series of air strikes on terror targets, including military compounds, weapons storage facilities and underground infrastructure," the Israeli army said. "During the strikes, several Hamas terrorists were eliminated."

Palestinian sources told French news agency AFP that 12 people had been killed near the Al-Maghazi camp and that two more had been killed near Deir al-Balah.

Gaza civil defense and hospital officials said 11 civilians had been killed in the airstrikes. Neither the Israeli nor Palestinian claims could be independently verified.

js/ab (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)