Recent Middle East: More evacuations due to Israeli airstrikes kill eight people in Lebanon

The Israeli army has warned people to evacuate from more parts of southern Lebanon after airstrikes across the country killed at least eight people on Thursday. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said an Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank left three people dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack and a third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli army said its forces were targeting militants in the area the Nur Shams refugee campwhere battles have taken place repeatedly in recent months. The army said it has eliminated a Hamas militant involved in planning attacks on Israelis.

Also Thursday, Israeli police said they arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and gathering information about an Israeli academic on behalf of Iran.

The developments come as mediators do Efforts to stop the wars are being stepped up in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and new proposals are circulating to defuse the situation the regional conflict.

That of Hezbollah newly appointed leader, Naim Kassemthe militant group said continue to fight in his war with Israel until the country is offered the terms of a ceasefire it deems acceptable.

About 1.2 million people have been displaced by the war conflict in Lebanonaccording to government estimates. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 12,900 injured since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, prompting retaliation. Israeli ground forces invaded South Lebanon in early October.

The death toll of more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war Gaza has passed 43,000, Palestinian officials said Monday, without distinguishing between civilians and fighters. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people – mostly civilians. kidnapping 250 others.

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Here’s the latest:

BEIRUT – The Israeli army has warned people to evacuate from more areas in southern Lebanon, including a built-up Palestinian refugee camp. Israeli airstrikes killed at least eight people in several parts of the country on Thursday.

The Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tire is one of the many refugee camps from that time the 1948 war in the Middle Eastwhen hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now Israel.

Israel invaded Lebanon in early October, after nearly a year of trading fire with Hezbollah. The militant group began firing missiles, rockets and drones into northern Israel after Hamas’ attack sparked the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Iran supports both groups.

Israel has warned people to evacuate large parts of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Well over a million people have already fled their homes.

Israeli attacks killed seven people in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state news agency National News. Another strike killed a man on a motorcycle on the coastal road between Tire and Sidon.

The news agency also reported an attack on a car on a highway that runs through the mountains outside the capital Beirut. The strike closed the highway, diverting traffic through nearby villages. There was no immediate word on the victims.

JERUSALEM – Israeli police on Thursday arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites on behalf of Iran and gathering information about an Israeli academic.

Israeli security services say they have discovered several Iranian spy networks in recent months. The two archenemies have waged a long-running shadow war that has come to light since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. In April they exchanged direct fire for the first time then again this month.

In a statement released Thursday, police and Shin Bet’s internal security service said the arrested man, Rafael Guliev, from the central city of Lod, had surveilled Israel’s Mossad spy headquarters for the Iranians and gathered information about an academic working at the Institute worked. for National Security Studies, a prominent Israeli think tank. It did not identify the scholar.

The statement said Guliev was also tasked with finding a killer, although the statement did not clarify whether he had actually done so.

Guliev’s wife, Lala, assisted in the activities, the statement said.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials said at least three people were killed in an Israeli military attack on the occupied West Bank.

The military said its forces were targeting militants in the region the Nur Shams refugee campwhere battles have taken place repeatedly in recent months. The army said it had eliminated a Hamas militant in the area who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack and the third by Israeli gunfire.

Israel said its forces were still in the area.

At least 763 Palestinians, including more than 165 children, have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack from the Gaza Strip sparked the war there on October 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry.

Most appear to be militants killed during army operations, but the dead also include civilians and people killed during violent protests.

Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks on Israelis since the start of the war.

Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war and Palestinians want it to form the bulk of their future state. Israel has built dozens of settlements there, where more than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live.

The area’s three million Palestinians live under seemingly indefinite Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising limited self-rule in population centers.