Deir Al-Balah of the Gaza Strip (AP) – Israel launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and southern Syria on Monday, killing at least 10 people, including one child. The Israeli military said it was planning an attack against militants.
Air strikes are the latest in frequent and often deadly attacks by Israeli forces during the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has blocked all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies from entering Gaza in the past two weeks, demanding Hamas accept changes in the ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
In Syria, Israel occupied a southern area after the collapse of the long-time dictator Bashar Assad in December. Israel said it was a preemptive security measure against former Islamic insurgents, although their transitional government has not yet expressed threats to Israel.
The Syrian Civil Defense Agency said the strikes attacked a residential area in the southern Syrian city of Dala, killing three people and injuring 19 people, including four children, a woman and three civil defense volunteers. It said two ambulances were damaged. Other strikes attacked military locations near the city.
The Israeli military said it targets military command centers and sites in southern Syria, which contain weapons and vehicles belonging to Assad’s forces. It said the existence of the material poses a threat to Israel.
In central Gaza, two strikes were attacked around the urban refugee camps in Bureij. A school provided shelter for displaced Palestinians, killing a 52-year-old man and his 16-year-old nephew, according to officials at nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The Israeli military said it attacked militants to plant explosives.
An earlier strike killed three men in Bureij. The Israeli military said the men tried to plant explosive devices on the ground near Israeli forces. The Hamas government, led by Gaza, said the people were collecting firewood.
In Lebanon, Israel said it attacked two members of Hezbollah militant group in Yohmor, a small town in southern Lebanon, which said it was “observation agents.” The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the two were killed in a strike and both were injured.
The military later said it had carried out further strikes on the Hezbollah site in Lebanon, but did not specify where. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, an American agent who went into effect in late November, ending a 14-month war between the two sides, both of which repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal.
Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli troops have killed dozens of Palestinians, and the military says they are approaching its troops or entering unauthorized areas.
Nevertheless, the deal was not reached and there was no widespread violence. The first phase of the ceasefire saw some hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next step in the ceasefire.
Israel hopes Hamas releases half of the remaining hostages in exchange for a promise to negotiate a protracted truce. Instead, Hamas wants to follow a ceasefire agreement reached between the two sides, which requires negotiations to begin in the second phase of the ceasefire, a more difficult second phase, where the remaining hostages will be released and Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza. Hamas is believed to have 24 hostages and 35 bodies.
___
Damascus AP reporter Ghaith Alsays contributed.
Wafaa Shurafa, Associated Press
