Ceasefire talks continue in Lebanon, but Israel’s defense minister has ruled out any possibility of a truce with Hezbollah.
advertisementAn Israeli airstrike on Monday destroyed a house in northern Lebanon, killing at least eight people and wounding 14, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Lebanese state media said rescue teams were struggling to pull survivors from the rubble, and a widely circulated video on social media showed the Lebanese Red Cross transporting bodies in body bags.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, and its objective was not clear. The airstrikes hit the town of Ain Yaqub in the northern Aqar region, a stronghold of the Greek Orthodox and Sunni Muslim communities and far from the south and east, the main areas of influence for Hezbollah militants.
Israel has increasingly launched attacks on Lebanon since its military escalation and ground invasion against Hezbollah in late September. Israel’s first attack on the Akkar area took place on November 2 and targeted a bridge near a Lebanese army checkpoint, cutting the main road leading into Syria.
Another Israeli airstrike on Monday hit a residential building in southern Lebanon, killing seven people and wounding seven others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military said 190 rockets were fired at Lebanon on Monday, and rescue services said at least five people were injured.
Israel Katz rejects ceasefire in Lebanon
On Monday, ceasefire talks in Lebanon appeared to gain momentum as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top strategic adviser met with U.S. officials in Washington.
The U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of Strategy Ron Dermer met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He also met with White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein and senior White House adviser Brett McGurk at the White House, according to U.S. officials. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said Dermer was also expected to meet with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.
Dermer is also scheduled to meet with Trump officials during his visit to the United States.
Earlier Monday, Israel’s new foreign minister told reporters there had been “clear progress” in efforts for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. An official familiar with the matter said Dermer is a close ally of Netanyahu and visited Russia last week as part of ceasefire efforts.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said Dermer was trying to rally Russian support for enforcing a ceasefire by ensuring that Iran would no longer smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through Russia’s ally Syria.
But new Defense Minister Israel Katz ruled out the possibility of a ceasefire, saying in a post on X on Tuesday that the IDF “will continue to attack Hezbollah with all its might until the war objectives are achieved.”
“There will be no ceasefire or ceasefire in Lebanon,” he added.
Meanwhile, Palestinian medical officials said two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman. Most of these occurred in Israel-declared humanitarian zones.
At least 11 people, including two children, were killed in an attack late Monday at a restaurant in the ‘humanitarian zone’ of Muwasi, west of Khan Younis city, according to an official at Nasser Hospital, where the deaths occurred.
Another attack struck a house in the refugee camp of Nusseyrat, a city in central Gaza, on Tuesday morning, killing three people, including a woman, according to Al Awda Hospital, which registered casualties. Eleven other people were also injured in the strike, it said.
advertisementJosep Borrell condemns ‘illegal annexation’ of West Bank
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a speech on Monday that he would push for Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“2025 will be the year of the sovereignty of Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said, using a biblical term to refer to that territory.
Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and built dozens of settlements to tighten its control over the region. But it has never annexed the region, which is home to 3 million Palestinians living under military rule.
Palestinians want the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza to establish an independent Palestinian state.
advertisementEU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned Smotrich’s speech published on X “unequivocally” calling it illegal.
The international community overwhelmingly evaluates the settlements, where about 500,000 Israelis live, as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Smotrich, along with other settler leaders, expects Trump to resume the pro-settler stance he took during his first term as president.
During Trump’s first administration, Washington reversed a long-standing policy and said the agreement did not violate international law. Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also made an unprecedented visit to the Jewish settlement at the time.
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