Israel carries out airstrikes in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 10 people
Israel launched new strikes against Hamas and promised āincreasing military forceā after talks on further hostage releases stalled.
Early Friday morning, Israelās Prime Ministerās office said it instructed the army to strike Hamas across Gaza.
The statement said it was because of Hamasā repeated refusals to release its hostages and its rejection of all offers it received from the US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and mediators.
The strikes come after nearly two months of a ceasefire to pause the 17-month long war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel carried out airstrikesĀ in the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and southern Syria on Monday, killing at least 10 people, including a child, according to local authorities. The Israeli military said it was targeting militants plotting attacks.
The airstrikes were the latest in what have been frequent andĀ often deadlyĀ attacks by Israeli forces during the fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has blocked all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies from entering Gaza the past two weeks, demanding Hamas accept changes in the two sidesā ceasefire deal.
In Syria, Israel seized a zone in the south after the fall of longtime autocratĀ Bashar AssadĀ in December. Israel says it is a preemptive security measure against the former Islamist insurgents who now run Syria, though their transitional government has not expressed threats against Israel.
The strikes hit a residential area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, killing three people and wounding 19 others, including four children, a woman and three civil defense volunteers, the Syrian civil defense agency said. It said two ambulances were damaged. Other strikes hit military positions near the city.
The Israeli military said it was targeting military command centers and sites in southern Syria that contained weapons and vehicles belonging to Assadās forces. It said the materialsā presence posed a threat to Israel.
In central Gaza, two strikes hit around the urban refugee camp of Bureij. One struck a school serving as a 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, where the casualties were taken. The Israeli military said it struck militants planting explosives.
An earlier strike killed three men in Bureij. The Israeli military said the men were trying to plant an explosive device in the ground near Israeli troops. Gazaās Hamas-led government said the men were collecting firewood.
In Lebanon, Israel said it struck two members of the Hezbollah militant group in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor, who it said were āobservation operatives.ā Lebanonās state news agency reported two people killed in the strike and two wounded.
The military later said it carried out further strikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, without specifying where. A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect in late November ending the 14-month war between the two sides, and each side has repeatedly accused the other of violating the deal.
Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.
Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. The ceasefireās first phase saw an exchange of some hostages held by Hamas in return for the freeing of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Egypt, Qatar andĀ the United StatesĀ have been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.
Israel wants Hamas to releaseĀ half of the remaining hostagesĀ in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefireās more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
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