Middle East updates: 10 killed in Israeli strike in Lebanon
Published August 17, 2024last updated August 17, 2024
What you need to know
- Ten people were killed, including two children, after an Israeli strike on a residential building in the city of Nabatieh city in southern Lebanon
- US Secretary of State Blinken is heading back to Israel to finalize a Gaza truce deal
Below is a summary of events concerning Israel, Lebanon, Gaza and other parts of the Middle East from Saturday, August 17:
Gaza's civil defense agency says Israeli strike kills 15 from same family
In Hamas-run Gaza, civil defense rescuers said an Israeli air strike in the early hours of Saturday killed 15 people from a Palestinian family, including nine children.
The strike hit the home of a family in Al-Zawaida neighborhood of central Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told the news agency AFP.
"The toll from the Israeli strike on the Ajlah family home and their warehouse in Al-Zawaida is 15 dead," Bassal said, adding nine of those killed were children.
The Israel-Hamas war started when Hamas-led militants stormed across the heavily guarded frontier from Gaza into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
They also took about 250 hostages, more than 100 of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 110 are thought to still be inside Gaza, but Israeli authorities believe around a third of them are dead.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers to be broadly reliable.
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist group that has been designated as a terrorist outfit by the EU, the US, Germany and several other countries.
Blinken heading to Israel to finalize a Gaza truce deal, US says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel on Saturday to push forward a Gaza cease-fire deal as the United States tries to bridge the gaps in talks in the region, the State Department said.
Blinken will seek to "conclude the agreement for a cease-fire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal."
A US official said there would be working group engagements over the week to talk about a list of hostages being held by Palestinian militants in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners who could be released in exchange.
That proposal was presented Friday during talks in Doha by the US, with negotiations set to resume in Cairo next week.
In response, Israel issued a vague statement saying it appreciated the mediators' efforts in Doha.
Meanwhile, a statement from Hamas did not sound enthusiastic about the latest proposal.
The AFP news agency reported that Hamas objected to an Israeli veto on prisoners to be released, and the country having the option to deport some prisoners rather than return them to Gaza.
10 killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 10 Syrian nationals, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The strike on Wadi al-Kfour in Nabatieh province is among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah militant group and the Israeli military began trading near-daily fire over their border after war in the Gaza Strip began in October.
Hezbollah has stated it will halt attacks once a cease-fire is agreed.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon.
It is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several other countries. The EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.
jsi/wd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)