Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah engaged in a new round of cross-border attacks on Wednesday as negotiators push for Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire proposal.
An Israeli airstrike in Sidon, Lebanon, killed Khalil al Maqdah, who the Israel Defense Forces said was a terrorist with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His brother Mounir is also involved in the Guard, and Israeli officials accused both of them of facilitating the smuggling of weapons into the West Bank.
Mounir al Maqdah told a Beirut-based news outlet that his brother had been a brigadier general in Fatah’s armed wing, and he vowed that the group would retaliate “inside of Israel,” according to the Associated Press.
Hezbollah launched roughly 50 rockets toward Israel, many of which hit the Golan Heights. One civilian was injured, and a house was hit. Israel carried out other strikes targeting a weapons depot as well, and Lebanon’s health ministry reported that one person was killed and about 20 others were injured.
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in daily cross-border attacks since shortly after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7 attack that left roughly 1,200 people dead and another 250 kidnapped.
More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the cross-border attacks began, most of whom were militants, though about 100 civilians and noncombatants have been among those killed, while 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed in Israel, per the Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of Israelis living in northern Israel were evacuated as Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks began in October due to concerns there could be another invasion similar to what Hamas did on Oct. 7, and they still have not been allowed to return to their homes. Similarly, civilians in southern Lebanon have been evacuated from their homes.
Wednesday’s attacks between Israel and Hezbollah come as mediators from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar are hoping to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, another Iranian-supported U.S.-designated terrorist organization. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in the Middle East this week, meeting with relevant leaders in an effort to finalize the ceasefire agreement proposal.
He said Israel has agreed to the latest version of the proposal and that it’s now on Hamas to do the same.
“We’re engaged every single day with Israel, and our Qatari and Egyptian partners are engaged with Hamas, and over the coming days, we are going to do everything possible to, one, get Hamas on board with the bridging proposal, and then to make sure that both parties work on and agree to necessary details of implementation that would allow everything to go forward,” Blinken explained.
The latest iteration of the deal is based on the proposal President Joe Biden outlined publicly in late May. The contours of the deal are that it includes three phases, the first of which would last about six weeks. During that time, there would be a cessation of fighting, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from population centers, a surge of desperately needed humanitarian aid to the strip, and the release of presumably hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of some of the Israeli hostages Hamas took on Oct. 7.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Some of the details involving the second phase of the deal would be hashed out during the first phase, though Biden’s vision would include the withdrawal of all Israeli forces in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. The third phase of Biden’s deal includes the start of the reconstruction of Gaza in exchange for the bodies of any deceased hostages.
Mediators are hoping a completed ceasefire agreement going into effect would reduce the tension between Israel and Iran and Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East.