Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Wednesday launched more than 50 rockets, hitting a number of private homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The attack came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar as he pressed ahead with the latest diplomatic mission to secure a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain. Diplomatic efforts had redoubled as fears grow of a wider regional war after the recent targeted killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, both blamed on Israel, and threats of retaliation.
Hezbollah said Wednesday’s attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, key mediator Egypt expressed skepticism Wednesday as more details emerged of the proposal meant to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas.
Officials in Egypt, in its unique role as both a mediator and affected party since it borders Gaza, told media that the Hamas militant group will not agree to the bridging proposal for a number of reasons — ones in addition to the long-held wariness over whether a deal would truly remove Israel forces from Gaza and end the war.
Hamas is believed to still be holding around 110 hostages captured during the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war. Israeli authorities estimate around a third are dead. During the Oct. 7 attack, militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, often multiple times.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — Israel police say they arrested five ultra-Orthodox protesters at a demonstration in Jerusalem against mandatory enlistment.
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrated outside of the Israeli military enlistment office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, blocking streets and preventing people who had received summons from the army from presenting themselves for enlistment.
Approximately 3,000 ultra-Orthodox have received summons in recent weeks after Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the army.
The landmark ruling in June seeks to end a system that has allowed them to avoid enlistment into compulsory military service.
Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women, who serve 2-3 years as well as reserve duty until around age 40.
Roughly 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 13% of Israel’s population and oppose enlistment because they believe studying full-time in religious seminaries is their most important duty.
These exemptions have long been a source of anger among the secular public, a divide that has widened during the ten-month-old war, as the military has called up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and says it needs all the manpower it can get. Over 600 soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
ISTANBUL — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed developments in the Hamas-Israel cease-fire negotiations in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, a spokesman for the ministry said Wednesday.
The conversation was held at the request of the U.S., Oncu Keceli said in a social media post. Turkey is a close supporter of Hamas and has condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza as “genocide.”
Blinken and Fidan discussed “diplomatic efforts to prevent regional escalation and their shared commitment to creating conditions for a durable ceasefire, bringing the hostages home and ensuring vital humanitarian aid reaches those in need in Gaza,” according to a statement by the U.S. State Department.
JERUSALEM — Israel has ordered the evacuation of a residential area near the main hospital in central Gaza.
The military on Wednesday ordered people to leave an area in Deir al-Balah that is a few hundred meters (yards) away from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the last functioning medical centers in the territory. The military said it would soon act against militants in the area.
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