Middle East updates: IDF says 10 Hezbollah targets hit
Published July 30, 2024last updated July 30, 2024
What you need to know
- Israeli medics say a man in northern Israel was killed by shrapnel
- The IDF says it has killed a Hezbollah militant and struck 10 targets of the group
- A UK-based monitor says Israel has struck two military positions in Syria
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah not inevitable
Gaza health authorities say hundreds killed in Israeli Khan Younis offensive
Israel wrapped up a week-long military offensive in Khan Younis on Tuesday, with thousands of civilians returning to the battered city in southern Gaza.
Health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave saying around 300 people had been killed.
The offensive was launched on July 22 with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire from Khan Younis.
The Israeli military announced the completion of the operation on Tuesday, saying "150 terrorists" were killed, with tunnels, infrastructure and warehouses destroyed.
Gaza's civil defense forces said in a statement it has recovered the bodies of around 300 dead.
Israeli civilian killed by rocket fired from Lebanon
An Israeli man was killed by a rocket fired from Lebanon, Israeli media reported, citing the military.
The military said 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon, with one hitting Kibbutz Hagoshrim in the north, killing one civilian.
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency and blood service, said a 30-year-old man was pronounced dead after sustaining shrapnel injuries in the Kiryat Shmona region in northern Israel.
IDF says 10 Hezbollah targets hit
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck around 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon.
The IDF also said it "eliminated" a member of the group in the southern village of Bayt Lif. The military struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, infrastructure sites, military structures and a launcher in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
Border confrontations between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been occurring almost daily since the Hamas October 7 attacks on southern Israel prompted the ongoing war in Gaza.
Recently, however, fears have grown regarding an escalation of the conflict. This weekend, 12 teenagers and children were killed in a strike on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah. The group denied responsibility, but Israel has vowed a "harsh" response.
Some 1,200 were killed in Israel during the Hamas October 7 attacks, with the militant group taking around 250 hostages back to Gaza. Around 115 hostages are still there, though Israel says a third of them are believed to be dead.
Meanwhile, over 39,300 Palestinians have been killed so far in the fighting, health authorities in the Hamas-run strip say.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are designated as terrorist groups by several countries.
Monitor says Israel strikes Syria air defense bases
Israel has struck two Syrian military bases in the outskirts of Deraa, a UK-based monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported no casualties in the overnight strikes.
US says Israel-Hezbollah confrontation not inevitable
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was inevitable, though he was still concerned.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Manila, the Philippines, following security talks with Philippine counterparts alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Austin said he wished to see things "resolved in a diplomatic fashion."
"While we've seen a lot of activity on Israel's northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don't believe that a fight is inevitable," Austin said.