Israel on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) attacked Lebanon killing a senior militant from Fatah’s armed wing, after which the Palestinian movement accused Israel of trying to “provoke a regional war”.
Fatah, a Palestinian movement based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said Khalil Makada was killed in the attack near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
The Israeli military said it targeted the brother of Munir Makada, the head of the Lebanese branch of Fatah’s armed wing. It accused them both of “directing attacks and smuggling weapons” to the West Bank and collaborating with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
In response, the slain militant’s Fatah movement, which is led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and is a rival of the Gaza Strip’s Islamist ruler Hamas, accused Israel of trying to launch a wider regional war.
Mr Makada’s killing is the first attack on a senior Fatah member in the more than 10-month-long cross-border conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement since the Gaza war.
Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s central committee, said “The killing of the Fatah officer is proof that Israel wants to wage a full-scale war in the region.” AFP In Ramallah.
The incident comes just hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned empty-handed from a visit to the Middle East aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Mr. Blinken called on Hamas to immediately accept a US-backed ceasefire proposal, while also holding a public debate with it over Israel’s future presence in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Timing is of the essence,” Mr. Blinken said before departing Doha after stopping in Qatar, Egypt and Israel on his ninth regional tour aimed at stopping the Gaza war.
He said of the ceasefire proposal, “It must be completed, and it must be completed in the coming days, and we will make every effort to bring it to its final goal.”
The United States has offered ideas to bridge differences and, through Qatar and Egypt, has pressured Hamas to return to talks in Cairo this week.
But a day after Mr Blinken said US ally Israel also agreed, Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying they disagreed on a key issue.
Mr Netanyahu insisted that Israel retain control of the Philadelphia Corridor, the border between Gaza and Egypt, which Israeli forces have seized from Hamas. Israel says Hamas relies on secret tunnels to bring in weapons.
sticking point
Mr Blinken said Israel had already agreed on the “schedule and location” for the withdrawal of troops from Gaza.
Asked about Mr Netanyahu’s remarks, Mr Blinken said it had been “very clear since the conflict began that the United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel”.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Netanyahu’s “extremist statements” were not helpful to a ceasefire agreement.
Mr. Blinken acknowledged the differences and called for “maximum flexibility” from both Israel and Hamas.
Egypt, the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel, is angered by the border occupation.
Hamas said it was “eager for a ceasefire” but opposed Israel’s “new conditions” in the latest US proposal.
On the ground, Gaza was once again rocked by air strikes. AFP This information was given by journalists, first responders and eyewitnesses.
The Israeli military said it had attacked about 30 targets in Gaza and that troops had killed “dozens” of militants.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said death was the “only certainty” for Gaza’s 2.4 million people as they had no way to escape Israeli bombing.
“Absolutely no place is safe,” said UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Wateridge. “People feel like they’re being driven around in circles.
He said, “Death is the only certainty.” AFPTV,
Amid heightened tensions, Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and 20 injured in Israeli attacks in the east of the country, while four people were killed in the south.
Cross-border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have been an almost daily occurrence, but when Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated during a visit to Tehran on July 31, fears of a major crisis grew.
Iran has vowed retaliation and blamed Israel for the killing, but has so far held off as the United States has sent in reinforcements and warned that a wider war could ruin chances for a Gaza ceasefire.
Elsewhere in the region, three missiles hit a merchant ship off the coast of Yemen after an exchange of fire with two boats, British maritime security agency UKMTO said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but it comes as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement continues its campaign against international shipping it says is in support of Gaza.
Mortgage Appeal
Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in agreeing a deal to end the fighting, free Israeli hostages and allow vital humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has faced a public outcry in Israel urging him to accept a ceasefire that would allow the hostages, whose plight has appalled Israelis, to be released.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from tunnels in Gaza, some of whom were killed in its operations.
According to one report, the October 7 attack killed 1,199 people in Israel, most of them civilians. AFP This figure is based on Israeli official data.
Of the 251 hostages taken that day, 105 are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 34 of whom the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 40,223 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, though the ministry did not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
In a stark reminder of what is at stake for Mr. Netanyahu, a young Israeli woman representing 251 hostages called for their immediate return.
“My boyfriend Avinatan is still there and we have to get him back before it’s too late. We don’t want to lose more people than we already have,” said Noa Argamani during a visit to Japan.