Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon kill six medics as ceasefire talks continue | Israel attacks Lebanon News

At least six health workers have been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, while Israel bombed areas around the ancient eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek for a second day after issuing forced evacuation orders.

“Enemy aircraft launched four attacks on the village of Douris and the surrounding area of ​​the city of Baalbek,” the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said the six medics were killed and four others injured in multiple Israeli attacks. According to the report, Israeli forces struck a gathering point for civil defense personnel, killing four medics. Two other medics were killed in two separate incidents.

There was another attack in the city of Salaa, during which an ambulance was destroyed, but the paramedic operating the ambulance “miraculously” survived, the report said.

“The international community’s silence on this brutality is unwarranted at a time when voices must be raised to restore humanitarian laws and put an end to the machine of brutality that continues to kill frontline personnel,” the ministry said in a statement. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. NNA.

The number of paramedics killed since the Israeli attacks on Lebanon began rose to 178, with 279 injured and 246 vehicles hit, the report said.

Israel also carried out airstrikes in the al-Housh area of ​​Tyre, southern Lebanon, the NNA reported. Al Jazeera’s verification agency Sanad confirmed images posted online showing the moment of the bombing and dense smoke rising as a result of multiple raids in the area.

Hezbollah attacks

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Thursday. An attack on Metula in northern Israel killed five people, including an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

Israeli emergency services said a rocket launched from Lebanon towards Haifa killed two people in northern Israel.

Medics “treated and attempted to resuscitate a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman, who were subsequently pronounced dead,” Magen David Adom first responders said in a statement.

The Lebanese group also said it had carried out several rocket and artillery attacks on Israeli forces near the southern city of Khiam. It was the fourth straight day of fighting in and around the strategic hilltop city.

Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1.

There is talk of a ceasefire

Meanwhile, United States envoys and Israeli officials held talks in Israel to discuss ceasefire efforts in both Lebanon and the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein and US Middle East adviser Brett McGurk that any ceasefire with Hezbollah would have to guarantee Israeli security.

“The prime minister has indicated that the most important issue is not the paperwork for this or that deal, but Israel’s determination and ability to guarantee the implementation of the deal and prevent any threat to its security from Lebanon,” the office said from Netanyahu.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also took part in the discussion, which he said in a statement focused on “security measures related to the northern arena and Lebanon, and efforts to ensure the return of 101 hostages still held by Hamas are being held in Gaza.”

Evacuation orders a ‘war crime’

Also on Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel’s evacuation orders are a “war crime.”

“The Israeli enemy’s threats against Lebanese civilians to evacuate entire cities and drive them from their areas and homes are an additional war crime, added to the series of crimes committed by the Israeli enemy, including murder, destruction and sabotage,” said he. said NNA.

Mikati said he has conveyed this position to all diplomatic bodies, calling for intensifying political pressure to stop the deadly Israeli aggression. He also met with US Ambassador Lisa Johnson and Egyptian envoy Alaa Moussa as part of his efforts to broker a ceasefire for Lebanon.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Beirut, said Mikati’s latest comments made it “very difficult to reach an agreement in the near future.”

“He believes that these continued Israeli escalations do not inspire optimism,” Jabbari said. “He said the intense airstrikes must stop before negotiations can begin.”

According to Jabbari, this is an important sticking point in the negotiations.

“The Israeli military has said in recent weeks that they are going to negotiate under fire, and that is something the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have said they do not want to do.”

A day earlier, Mikati expressed optimism about a ceasefire in “the coming hours or days,” while Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem said on Wednesday the group would accept a ceasefire under certain conditions.

According to Israeli media reports citing government sources, the proposed plan, brokered by the US team, would see Hezbollah forces withdraw about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, north of the Litani River.

Israeli troops would withdraw from Lebanon and the Lebanese army would then take control of the border, along with UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon would be responsible for preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself.