Israel will not differentiate between Lebanon and Hezbollah if ceasefire collapses, defence minister Katz says – Middle East crisis live | Lebanon
Israel's defense minister Katz: if ceasefire collapses we will no longer differentiate 'between Lebanon and Hezbollah'
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has threatened that if the ceasefire in Lebanon collapses, Israel’s forces “will no longer” differentiate “between Lebanon and Hezbollah.”
Lebanon’s ministry of health has put the death toll from Israeli attacks inside Lebanon since 7 October 2023 at over 3,000, with more than 13,000 injured. Israel has said it carried out the pager and walkie-talkie explosions in September, and in recent weeks had carried out an extensive series of airstrikes which it claimed were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Reuters quotes Katz, who was visiting the north of Israel, saying the Lebanese government must “authorise the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away from the Litani and to dismantle all the infrastructure.”
He added “If the ceasefire collapses, there will be no more exemption for the state of Lebanon. We will enforce the agreement with maximum impact and zero tolerance. If until now we have differentiated between Lebanon and Hezbollah, that will no longer be the case.”
Israel’s military has issued orders prohibiting civilians in neighbouring Lebanon to return to dozens of villages in the south, where tens of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Many Israelis in the north of Israel have also had to flee, due to near constant exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the IDF since 7 October 2023.
Katz threatened “if we return to war we will act strongly, we will go deeper, and the most important thing they need to know, that there will be no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.”
Key events
Oliver Holmes
Syrian insurgents fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have launched attacks in the central province of Hama, threatening to cut off government troops from a key route linking the capital, Damascus, with rebel-held Aleppo.
The army was engaging in “violent confrontations” with armed groups in Hama, the Syrian state news agency, Sana, reported.
Separately, a longtime independent war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Tuesday morning that rebel factions in the province had managed to seize several “towns in the last few hours”.
“Syrian and Russian air forces carried out dozens of strikes on the area,” said the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
After their lightning assault on Aleppo over the past few days, militants led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have advanced south towards Hama.
The city sits on a critical road linking Aleppo in the north with major central locations such as Homs city, the coastal ports of Latakia and Tartous, and Damascus in the south.
Here are some of the latest images on the news wires from the region.
Israeli troops stationed in Upper Galilee after returning from Lebanon. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPAPalestinians who live with disability lift placards during a rally marking the international day of persons with disabilities at Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty ImagesSenior emergency officer Louise Wateridge (R) speaks with Palestinian women during a tour at a Unrwa building in Khan Younis on 3 December. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians receive bags of flour distributed by Unrwa in Khan Younis. Photograph: APAImages/REX/ShutterstockPeople fleeing their homes on the outskirts of Aleppo on 2 December. Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images
The Hamas-led health authority in Gaza has issued new casualty figures for the conflict, stating that in the last 24 hours, 36 people have been killed and 96 injured in Israeli attacks.
It claims the total death toll in Gaza since 7 October 2023 now stands at 44,502 Palestinians killed and 105,454 injured.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported that caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati has held a series of diplomatic meetings today in which he “stressed … the priority of stabilising the situation for the return of the displaced to their towns and regions and expanding the army’s deployment in the south.”
Israel’s military has issued an order prohibiting Lebanese civilians from returning to their homes in dozens of villages in the south of Lebanon.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have raided the Turkish governmental hospital in Tubas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Pictures sent over the news wires from the scene appear to show Israeli troops detaining Palestinians. Wafa claimed the Israeli forces “arrested a number of citizens, including a doctor.”
Israeli soldiers detain what appears to be members of staff from the Tubas Turkish governmental hospital, 3 December. Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Israeli soldier takes aim outside the Tubas Turkish governmental hospital, 3 December. Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s military has said in a statement that the sound of explosions heard in the Israeli city of Qiryat Shemona “were caused by a supervised explosion conducted by IDF troops in the area.”
Lebanese political sources have told Reuters that senior figures have asked Washington and Paris to intervene and pressure Israel over accusations it has breached the ceasefire conditions.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati and the Hezbollah ally and speaker of parliament Nabih Berri reportedly spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late Monday and expressed concern about the state of the ceasefire, the sources said.
Earlier we reported that Israel had carried out an airstrike on the Beqaa region of Lebanon, in which it had claimed to have “struck a terrorist cell.”
This was an error caused by a mistranslation from Hebrew, and a report filed by Reuters which was subsequently corrected.
The strike was carried out on Aqabah in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports it struck a vehicle, and killed two people, wounding one other.
We apologise for the error, and have made corrections in the previous entries on this live blog.
Reuters reports, citing state media, that in Syria army forces are working on reinforcing defence lines in the countryside of Hama province in order to start a counterattack against armed groups.
Map of territorial control in Syria
Israel's defense minister Katz: if ceasefire collapses we will no longer differentiate 'between Lebanon and Hezbollah'
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has threatened that if the ceasefire in Lebanon collapses, Israel’s forces “will no longer” differentiate “between Lebanon and Hezbollah.”
Lebanon’s ministry of health has put the death toll from Israeli attacks inside Lebanon since 7 October 2023 at over 3,000, with more than 13,000 injured. Israel has said it carried out the pager and walkie-talkie explosions in September, and in recent weeks had carried out an extensive series of airstrikes which it claimed were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Reuters quotes Katz, who was visiting the north of Israel, saying the Lebanese government must “authorise the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away from the Litani and to dismantle all the infrastructure.”
He added “If the ceasefire collapses, there will be no more exemption for the state of Lebanon. We will enforce the agreement with maximum impact and zero tolerance. If until now we have differentiated between Lebanon and Hezbollah, that will no longer be the case.”
Israel’s military has issued orders prohibiting civilians in neighbouring Lebanon to return to dozens of villages in the south, where tens of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Many Israelis in the north of Israel have also had to flee, due to near constant exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the IDF since 7 October 2023.
Katz threatened “if we return to war we will act strongly, we will go deeper, and the most important thing they need to know, that there will be no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.”
Here are some images from Khan Younis today in Gaza, where Unrwa has been distributing flour supplied as part of Turkey’s humanitarian relief efforts.
Palestinians wait their turn to receive a bag of flour. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty ImagesA man leaves the distribution centre with a sack of Turkish-supplied flour. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesWomen carry flour through Khan Younis. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
14 killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza
Local medics reported that at least 14 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Most of the 14 reported dead in Gaza were killed by strikes on Beit Lahiya in the north of the territory. Israel’s military issued new forced evacuation orders in Khan Younis, citing rocket fire from the area.
In a statement Israel claimed to have killed seven named Hamas operatives who participated in the 7 October 2023 attack inside southern Israel. The claims have not been independently verified.
There were further reports of an Israeli strike on a vehicle near Damascus international airport in Syria. Fighting was also reported between Bashar al-Assad’s government forces and the Kurdish SDF forces in Deir ez-Zur province, with a Unicef statement saying over 45,000 people have been displaced already by renewed violence in the country.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Russia are reported to have agreed to meet to discuss the crisis in Syria at the weekend in Doha, Qatar.
This block when originally published reported that Israel had carried out an airstrike on the Beqaa region of Lebanon. This was in error, due to a mistranslation from Hebrew and a subsequently corrected report filed by Reuters.
Israel’s military has issued a statement in which it claims that troops operating in the central corridor of the Gaza Strip over the last two weeks have killed seven named participants in the surprise 7 October 2023 Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
It said its forces “conducted several targeted raids in the area, during which they dismantled Hamas military terror sites, including military structures, observation posts, and sniper positions.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have detained 18 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last night. It reports over 11,900 people have been arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since 7 October 2023.
Syria’s state news agency Sana has reported an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle on a road leading to Damascus international airport.
