Israeli security cabinet meeting on Lebanon ceasefire underway as strikes in Beirut intensify
CNN
The Israeli security cabinet meeting on a US-backed ceasefire deal in Lebanon is underway, according to an Israeli official. Follow for live updates on war in the Middle East.
• The Israeli security cabinet meeting on a US-backed ceasefire deal in Lebanon is underway, according to an Israeli official. The proposal aims to achieve a 60-day cessation of hostilities with Hezbollah that some hope could form the basis of a lasting ceasefire. • Israel’s military says it launched several strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Beirut Tuesday, part of a broader offensive that began in September, killing top commanders, carrying out waves of strikes and sending troops into southern Lebanon, with the stated war goal of allowing displaced Israelis to return to northern areas. • More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, according to a CNN tally. And more than a million Lebanese people have been displaced. • In Gaza, the Israel-Hamas war rages on, with the death toll surpassing 44,200, according the Palestinian health ministry. Meanwhile, heavy rains in recent days have flooded makeshift camps, where displaced Palestinians are bracing for a harsh winter, according to the UN. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken downplayed the latest barrage of Israeli strikes on Beirut, saying that “rockets, missiles…going in both directions” underscore the need for a ceasefire. “Yes, we’re seeing these attacks in Beirut directed against Hezbollah. But every single day, Hezbollah has been launching projectiles into Israel, into northern Israel, as it’s done virtually every day since October 7, which is how this problem started,” Blinken said at a news conference in Italy Tuesday.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
More than 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon and northern Gaza since late Saturday, according to reports.
Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.
France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.
An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.