Oct. 28 (UPI) — Israel launched strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday as the Israel Defence Forces said it took out Hezbollah fighters elsewhere in the region.
Lebanon’s Ministry of health announced on social media that seven people were killed and 17 others were injured as the Israeli military raided a building in and around Tyre’s Corniche and Raml area near dawn.
IDF said its Northern Command fighter jets made attacks on Tyre in an effort to “make it difficult” for Hezbollah to restore its military capabilities, in a post on X.
The strikes hit a key military unit in Tyre — a “significant terrorist area,” the IDF claimed — and its known weapons and anti-tank missile sites, other military buildings and “observation posts” of various Hezbollah military units including the critical Aziz unit.
The Aziz unit, according to the IDF, is the source of ongoing shelling from southwestern Lebanon toward Israeli territory.
Israel claims Hezbollah is “systematically taking over” civilian spaces in Lebanon in order to “carry out terrorist actions and outlines, while assimilating its operatives and commanders into the civilian space,” which they went on to state “harms and endangers” the general Lebanese population.
It has made similar claims about Hamas in Gaza while facing condemnation from international observers for strikes on hospitals, schools and other civilian sites.
The Gaza death toll is reported to be near the 43,000 mark as the Gaza Ministry of Health says Israel has “arrested and deported all the medical staff” at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, except one pediatrician.
However, Israel claimed on Monday that “many steps” have been taken to limit harm and civilian casualties in its deadly airstrikes.
But Gaza’s Health Ministry is now “quickly” appealing to international institutions for help “to send surgical medical teams to the hospital,” it said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, IDF said at least one cell of Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon had been eliminated amid tactical advances in both its northern theater and in the south in Gaza.
On Monday, as part of military operations targeting “terrorist” infrastructure and confiscating weapons, territorial units of the Israel Defense Forces 91st Division had identified a Hezbollah military structure in the early hours “that posed a threat to our forces,” and called in airstrikes to destroy the facility, the IDF wrote in a post on X.
“In a quick closing of the circle and in cooperation with the Air Force, the cell was eliminated,” IDF stated in the post which was accompanied by night vision footage of a structure being targeted with a guided bomb and then obliterated.
Separately, IDF said forces of its 146th reserves division had located and destroyed infrastructure and accommodation facilities “where terrorists of the Hezbollah terrorist organization have fortified themselves in southern Lebanon for the purpose of harming our forces.”
Air Force fighter jets also “eliminated dozens of terrorists” in strikes on dozens of targets, including a launcher the IDF said was being used to fire rockets into northern Israel.
As Israeli military forces step up their attacks on Lebanon, Spain’s top diplomat said it would continue to contribute to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
“We will remain in UNIFIL and have provided 5.5 million euros in humanitarian aid, and we will continue to support the Lebanese army,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Monday.
In Gaza, meanwhile, the IDF’s Southern Command claimed to have scored at least three tactical victories over Hamas in the past day across the strip.
Soldiers of the 252nd “Sinai” division killed “terrorists” and took out a military structure in targeted raids in central Gaza while troops in Rafah in the south near the Egyptian border called in airstrikes after spotting militants in a building that had been booby-trapped, killing the occupants.
An operation by armored divisions focused on the Jabalia district in the north continued “eliminating dozens of terrorists” from the ground and from the air, with the help of the Air Force.
They also conducted reconnaissance, locating and destroying shafts below ground and uncovering large numbers of weapons.
The military stressed troops had continued to do the best they could to move civilians out of harm’s way.
“The forces continue their efforts to evacuate the citizens to safe areas, despite Hamas’ efforts to prevent the citizens from doing so,” said the IDF.
As events on the battlefield continued to unfold, Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, joining CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to try to get some movement on an agreement to free the 100 or so hostages still being held in Gaza.
The trio will hold talks on “various possibilities to restart negotiations for the release of hostages from Hamas captivity, based on recent developments,” The Times of Israel quoted Al Thani’s office as saying.
The “recent developments” refer to the killing by the IDF of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar whose hardline stance was thought a key factor in the lack of progress. Hostages have been periodically rescued in operations by Israeli special forces but none have been handed back for the past 11 months.
Hamas is not party to the discussions but may be involved down the line — at arm’s length — with Qatari mediators acting as go-betweens. Israeli and U.S. policy dictate the two principals cannot talk to Hamas directly as Hamas is considered a banned terror organization by both nations.
Israel is said to be looking at a pilot mini-deal — as a way of figuring out where things stand within the post-Sinwar Hamas — which could serve as the foundation for a comprehensive deal.
Another possibility is a proposal from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for a two-day cease-fire in Gaza at the end of which four Israeli hostages would be swapped for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Meanwhile, Barnea has reportedly been instructed to try to push for better terms while Hamas will lay out a comprehensive deal to end the conflict immediately by the withdrawal from Gaza of all Israeli forces, and the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.