Middle East latest: Israeli ambassador to US says Hezbollah ceasefire deal could come 'within days'

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, setting off more than a year of fighting. That escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion of the country’s south. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israeli military bases, cities and towns, including some 250 projectiles on Sunday.

In the Gaza Strip, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

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Israeli strike wounds a hospital chief in besieged northern Gaza, health officials say

JERUSALEM — An Israeli strike has wounded the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza, local and international health officials said.

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya was in his office when it was hit by an Israeli quadcopter drone on Sunday, according to the humanitarian organization MedGlobal.

The doctor was wounded by shrapnel in his thigh and back, causing serious bleeding that requires surgical care, the aid group said. Abu Safiya is the lead physician in Gaza for MedGlobal, which has worked in Gaza since 2018.

Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of Gaza's Health Ministry, posted a video to social media on Monday showing Abu Safiya limping and leaning on a crutch while speaking to patients inside the hospital.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike on the grounds of Kamal Adwan Hospital and said it does its utmost to avoid harming civilians.

During the past month, Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit several times, was put under siege and was raided by Israeli troops, who are waging a heavy offensive in the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp and towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. The Israeli military says it detained Hamas fighters hiding in the hospital, a claim its staff denies.

Abu Safiya said Israeli strikes on the hospital last week wounded nine medical staff and damaged the generator and oxygen systems. He said the hospital was treating 85 wounded, 14 children in the pediatric ward and four newborns in the neonatal unit. Israel also denied knowledge of conducting any strikes on in the area of the hospital at that time.

A top Hamas official in Lebanon says the militant group would support a Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

BEIRUT — A top Hamas official in Lebanon said the Palestinian militant group will support a ceasefire between its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Israel, despite Hezbollah's previous promises to stop the fighting in Lebanon only if the war in Gaza ends.

“Any announcement of a ceasefire is welcome. Hezbollah has stood by our people and made significant sacrifices,” Osama Hamdan told the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, which is seen as politically allied with Hezbollah.

There has been no official comment on a potential Lebanon ceasefire from Gaza-based leaders of either Hamas or the smaller militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Hamdan is a member of Hamas' political wing. Palestinian militants in Gaza have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire across the border since Oct. 8, 2023, the day after Hamas attacked Israel and sparked the war in Gaza. Israel escalated the war in September, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders in a wave of airstrikes, and Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October.

Israel tightens safety rules for areas near the border with Lebanon

JERUSALEM -- Israel has tightened restrictions on public gatherings and outdoor activities in areas near the Lebanese border as officials move closer toward a ceasefire deal.

The army’s Home Front Command said it was changing its public safety guidelines to “limited activity” from “partial activity.” As part of the order, school was canceled in the area.

The Israeli security Cabinet is scheduled to convene Tuesday to discuss a cease-fire proposal and possibly approve it.

The tighter restrictions reflect concerns that fighting could intensify ahead of any possible cease-fire.

The Israeli army says at least 20 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah toward Israel Monday, a day after the Lebanese group launched over 250 rockets and missiles. The Israeli air force conducted strikes against suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday, unleashing explosions throughout the country and killing at least 12 while Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group.

Israel bombs Beirut and kills at least 12 in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT — Israel’s military bombed commercial and residential buildings in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and killed at least 12 people in the southern port city of Tyre on Monday, the Health Ministry said, as Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group.

Israeli military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including meters from a Lebanese police base and the city’s largest public park. The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets. No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites.

Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighborhoods and other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatiyeh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 3,700 people in Lebanon who have been killed since Israel launched its invasion two months ago. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people.

Lebanese politicians have decried the ongoing airstrikes and said they are impeding U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations. The country’s deputy parliament speaker accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment in order to pressure Lebanon to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.

Elias Bousaab, an ally of the militant group, said Monday that the pressure has increased because “we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire.”

An Israeli strike that killed 3 Lebanese journalists was most likely deliberate, watchdog says

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists and wounded others in Lebanon last month was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime, an international human rights group said Monday.

The Oct. 25 airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon in one of the deadliest attacks on the media since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago.

Eleven other journalists have been killed and eight wounded since then, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said.

Human Rights Watch determined that Israeli forces carried out the Oct. 25 attack using an air-dropped bomb equipped with a U.S.-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, guidance kit.

The group said the U.S. government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military’s repeated “unlawful attacks on civilians, for which U.S. officials may be complicit in war crimes.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the report.

Human Rights Watch said that it found remnants at the site and reviewed photographs of pieces collected by the resort owner and determined that they were consistent with a JDAM guidance kit assembled and sold by the U.S. company Boeing.

The JDAM is affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates, making the weapon accurate to within several meters, the group said.

Israel's U.N. ambassador says ceasefire deal is moving forward but not finalized

UNITED NATIONS — Israel’s U.N. ambassador says he expects a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah to have stages, and “it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Danny Danon told reporters Monday “we haven’t finalized it but we are moving forward.” He added, “I assume that the Cabinet will meet today or tomorrow to discuss it.”

What’s important for Israel, he said, is that Hezbollah militants will be pushed to the north of the Litani River and will not be allowed to come back.

Danon was asked about reports that Israel wants the right to go back into Lebanon to attack Hezbollah if it returns to the south but the Lebanese government rejected that out of hand.

He stressed that Israel learned the lessons from U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. It called for the deployment of the Lebanese army throughout the south and disarmament of all armed groups including Hezbollah but was never implemented.

“We will make sure that we will have the ability to neutralize any threat that will not be dealt in southern Lebanon,” he said. “I hope that the Lebanese army will take care of that in the future, but if they will fail again, we will be there.”

In the ceasefire proposal, Danon said, “there are different stages, few requirements.”

He said the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL is not part of the agreement as far as he knows, but he called its presence there “important, and we are grateful for that.”

“They know about what’s happening, and I think they have also to take advantage of the situation and make sure that the uniform presence is more effective,” the Israeli ambassador said.

Israeli officer resigns over deaths of two Israelis in Hezbollah ambush

JERUSALEM — A senior Israeli officer has resigned following the deaths of two people, including a 70-year-old Israeli man, in a Hezbollah ambush last week in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military has launched an investigation into last Wednesday’s incident, in which 70-year-old Zeev Erlich was killed along with a 20-year-old soldier.

They are trying to determine, among other things, who allowed Erlich into the combat zone with the forces and why he was allowed to enter.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Col. Yoav Yarom, the chief of staff of the army’s Golani infantry brigade, said he was stepping down.

Yarom, who was wounded in the incident, said a “false and far from the truth narrative” has emerged.

Nonetheless, he said “in light of the values upon which I was raised ... I believe I must take a commander’s responsibility for the event.” He did not specify his role.

According to Israeli media reports, Erlich was not on active duty when he was shot, but was wearing a military uniform and had a weapon. The army said he was a reservist with the rank of major and identified him as a “fallen soldier” when it announced his death.

Erlich was a well-known West Bank settler and researcher of Jewish history. Media reports said he was permitted to enter Lebanon to explore a local archaeological site.

The military said the investigation is continuing.

Israeli officials say security Cabinet to meet Tuesday on Lebanon ceasefire deal

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet is set to convene on Tuesday to discuss a proposed ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Officials have said the sides are close to a deal that would include withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and a pullback of Hezbollah forces from the Israeli border. But several sticking points remain.

Two officials confirmed the Cabinet meeting is set for Tuesday, but they said it is still not clear whether the decision-making body will vote to approve the deal.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations.

— Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv

Stormy weather sweeps away tents belonging to displaced people in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Weather is compounding the challenges facing displaced people in Gaza, where heavy rains and dropping temperatures are making tents and other temporary shelters uninhabitable.

Government officials in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave said on Monday that nearly 10,000 tents had been swept away by flooding over the past two days, adding to their earlier warnings about the risks facing those sheltering in low-lying floodplains, including areas designated as humanitarian zones.

Um Mohammad Marouf, a mother who fled bombardments in northern Gaza and now is sheltering with her family in a Gaza City tent said the downpour had covered her children and left everyone wet and vulnerable.

“We have nothing to protect ourselves,” she said outside the United Nations-provided tent where she lives with 10 family members.

Marouf and others living in rows of cloth and nylon tents hung their drenched clothing on drying lines and re-erected their tarpaulin walls on Monday.

Officials from the Hamas-run government said that 81% of the 135,000 tents appeared unfit for shelter, based on recent assessments, and blamed Israel for preventing the entry of additional needed tents. They said many had been swept away by seawater or were inadequate to house displaced people as winter sets in.

The U.N estimates that around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are living in squalid tent camps with little food, water or basic services. Israeli evacuation warnings now cover around 90% of the territory.

“The first rains of the winter season mean even more suffering. Around half a million people are at risk in areas of flooding. The situation will only get worse with every drop of rain, every bomb, every strike,” UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote in a statement on X on Monday.

Arab foreign ministers call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

ROME — Several Arab foreign ministers, gathering in Rome on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting, are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and the provision of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, and the secretary general of the League of Arab States, all participated in a Rome conference before joining G7 foreign minsters later in the day in nearby Fiuggi.

“Gaza is now a graveyard for children, a graveyard for human values, a graveyard for international law,” said Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

The Mideast conflict was the top agenda item Monday for the G7, amid reported progress on a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. said a deal could be reached within days.

“We all hope and pray that this ceasefire will be realized because the absence of it will mean more destruction, and more and more animosity, and more dehumanization, and more hatred, and more bitterness which will doom the future of the region to more conflict and more killing and more destruction,” Safadi said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed that Cairo would host a ministerial-level conference next Monday on mobilizing international aid for Gaza. In remarks to the “Mediterranean Dialogues” conference, he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, the release of hostages, provision of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and the initiation of “a serious and genuine political process” to create a Palestinian state.

Israeli rights group accuses prison authority of failing Palestinian prisoners after scabies outbreak

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “ to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.

Lebanese politician accuses Israel of increasing bombardment to wring concessions

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker has accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment of Lebanon in order to pressure the government to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.

Elias Bousaab, an ally of the militant group, said Monday that the pressure has increased because “we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire.”

“We are optimistic, and there is hope, but nothing is guaranteed with a person like (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu),” Bousaab told reporters.

Israel has carried out heavy strikes in central Beirut in recent days, while Hezbollah has increased its rocket fire into Israel.

The United States is trying to broker an agreement in which Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces would withdraw from southern Lebanon and Lebanese troops would patrol the region, along with a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Israel has demanded freedom of action to strike Hezbollah if it violates the ceasefire, but Bousaab said that was not part of the emerging agreement.

He also said Israel had accepted that France be part of the committee overseeing the ceasefire after Lebanese officials insisted. There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli side.

Israel has objected to France being on the committee in the wake of the International Criminal Court's decision last week to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military commander.

France said it supports the court. It said the question of whether it would arrest Netanyahu if he set foot on French soil was a “complex legal issue” that would have to be worked out.

Palestinian officials say Israeli forces killed 2 people, including a 13-year-old, in the occupied West Bank

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces killed two people, including a 13-year-old, in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said the two had thrown explosives at forces overnight near the Palestinian town of Yabad and that the forces had responded by opening fire.

The Health Ministry identified the two as Mohammed Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Zayd, 20. It did not disclose details about the circumstances behind their deaths.

It was the latest bloodshed in the West Bank, which has faced a surge of violence throughout the 13-month war in Gaza. The Health Ministry says nearly 800 people have been killed, with more than 160 of them 18 and younger.

Many have been killed in fighting with the Israeli military, but Palestinians throwing rocks and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. There has also been an increase in Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began.

Israeli government orders public entities to stop advertising in Haaretz newspaper

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has ordered all public entities to stop advertising in the Haaretz newspaper, which is known for its critical coverage of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Sunday that the government had approved his proposal after Haaretz’ publisher called for sanctions against Israel and referred to Palestinian militants as “freedom fighters.”

“We advocate for a free press and freedom of expression, but also the freedom of the government to decide not to fund incitement against the State of Israel,” Karhi wrote on the social platform X.

Noa Landau, the deputy editor of Haaretz, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “working to silence independent and critical media,” comparing him to autocratic leaders in other countries.

Haaretz regularly publishes investigative journalism and opinion columns critical of Israel's ongoing half-century occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

It has also been critical of Israel’s war conduct in Gaza at a time when most local media support the war and largely ignore the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

In a speech in London last month, Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken said Israel has imposed "a cruel apartheid regime" on the Palestinians and was battling "Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls 'terrorists.'"

He later issued a statement, saying he had reconsidered his remarks.

“For the record, Hamas are not freedom fighters,” he posted on X. “I should have said: using terrorism is illegitimate. I was wrong not to say that.”

Iran's supreme leader says Netanyahu should be ‘sentenced to death’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be “sentenced to death” for his role in the ongoing wars in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and in Lebanon.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the remarks Monday during an event in which he spoke to members of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Khamenei referenced the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“What the Zionist regime did in Gaza and Lebanon is not a victory, it is a war crime. Now they have issued a warrant for their arrest. This is not enough!” Khamenei said, according to remarks published by the state-run IRNA news agency. “Netanyahu and the criminal leaders of this regime must be sentenced to death.”

The International Criminal Court at the Hague does not issue death sentences.

Khamenei also insisted those in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance,” like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, would be stronger after the war.

“The idiots should not think that bombing houses and hospitals in Gaza and Lebanon is a victory,” he said. “The enemy has not become winner in Gaza and Lebanon, and it will not be winner.”

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