Netanyahu says returning Israelis to north a war goal

At least eight people were killed and some 2,750 were injured in pager explosions across Lebanon, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said.

The blasts "killed eight people, including a girl," he told a televised news conference. 

"About 2,750 people were injured ... more than 200 of them critically," with the injuries reported mostly to the face, hands and stomach, he added.

Among the dead and injured were reportedly members of Hezbollah, a political organization and military group. The US, Germany and others designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, while the EU designates only its military wing as a terrorist group.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also among the wounded. He suffered a minor injury when a pager exploded, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Hundreds of people were injured in Lebanon when handheld pagers exploded in the suburbs of the capital, Beirut, and other parts of the country, local media reported.

Multiple news agencies are reporting that the pagers belonged to members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political organization and military group. 

The exact cause of the explosions is unclear. The Hezbollah official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said the explosions were the result of "a security operation that targeted the devices."

"The enemy [Israel] stands behind this security incident," the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also reportedly injured in the explosion of a pager.

Read more: Lebanon: Dozens injured in pagers' explosion

Several German media companies, including Deutsche Welle, have signed an open letter to the governments of Israel and Egypt demanding journalistic access to the Gaza Strip.

After almost a year of war, reporters are still barred from accessing the area "unaccompanied and independently," the letter said.

"The almost total exclusion of international media from a crisis of this enormous global scope is unprecedented in recent history," it added.

Journalists have long complained that they are only allowed to report in the company of Israeli soldiers and only in certain parts of Gaza greenlit for them by Israeli authorities.

The letter was signed by directors and editors-in-chief of both public and private media organizations, including major public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and DW as well as publications like Der Spiegel magazine and Die Welt newspaper.

Reporters Without Borders and the German Association of Journalists also signed the letter, which refers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi by name.

"Anyone who prohibits us from working in the Gaza Strip is creating the conditions for human rights to be violated," the media organizations wrote.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit the Middle East on Tuesday in a bid to push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Blinken will meet local officials to "discuss ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages, alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and helps establish broader regional security," the State Department said in a statement.

Unlike his other visits to the region since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, Blinken will not hold meetings in Israel.

The attempts to bring about a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas have so far failed to bear fruit, with both sides reportedly refusing to compromise on several key issues.

Hamas is a militant, Islamist, Palestinian group. The European Union as well as the United States, Germany and several other countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that the country's official war goals now include the return of residents to Israel's far north, the area where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been exchanging cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollahin Lebanon.

"The political-security Cabinet updated the goals of the war this evening, so that they include the following section: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes since Hamas' October 7 attack sparked war in Gaza.

The fighting between both sides resulted in tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.

While Hezbollah officials said the fighting would stop should a cease-fire in Gaza be reached, Israel says it cannot allow militants to threaten its territory from Lebanon's south.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

ftm/jsi (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)