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Israel has reinforced its northern border with Lebanon amid intensified shelling from Iran-backed Hezbollah.
AFP
The Israel-Hamas war is on its 61st day, and the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed in an Israeli air strike, marking the first time a Lebanese soldier was killed since the war started.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has since expressed “regret” over the incident, saying it operated in “self-defense” to eliminate an “imminent threat” from Lebanese territory.
Israeli troops are expanding operations across the Gaza Strip, with Khan Yunis at the center of its ground offensive. Washington has been urging the IDF to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties.
Talks to negotiate for a new ceasefire-hostage deal have stalled. There are still 137 hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Of the said hostages, 17 are women and children, as per the IDF.
The IDF and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, a greater paramilitary force than Hamas, have intensified fire exchanges near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon since the truce deal collapsed Friday.
Amid raging Israel-Palestine tensions that blew up when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and killed more than a thousand people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to stand with Israel if the world wants “to help shorten the war.”
