Gaza war: Death toll in Israeli attack in southern Lebanon rises to 10, Hezbollah responds by bombing Ayelet Hashahar – BBC News Arabic

The Lebanese Ministry of Health’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center announced that at least 10 people, including children, were killed during the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon, which is an “unending toll.”

Lebanese media reported that the attack happened after midnight on Friday.

For its part, the Israeli army said the attack in Nabatieh was aimed at a Hezbollah military base.

US President Joe Biden expressed his optimism about reaching a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, warning “all parties in the region” not to undermine efforts to reach the agreement .

“We haven’t reached an agreement yet,” Biden said on the sidelines of a ceremony in the Oval Office, but it’s closer “than it was three days ago.”

Although Biden said that reaching an agreement is “soon,” he said that “the date for the ceasefire under the agreement remains unclear.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who plans to visit Israel today, quoted Biden as saying: “To emphasize how a full ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages will approach, that no one in the department should take steps to undermine this process. “

The U.S. State Department said in a separate statement that Blinken will leave the United States today, Saturday, in an effort to “finalize the cease-fire agreement and release the hostages and detainees.” ” through the proposal submitted by the United States on Friday during the Doha negotiations. .

On Friday, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt announced a new proposal to present at the talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, which lasted two days, “reducing the gaps” between Israel and Hamas.

The three countries said in a joint statement that the talks will start next week in Cairo, explaining that “over the past 48 hours in Doha, senior officials from our governments have engaged in extensive negotiations as mediators with the aim of concluding a cease-fire agreement in. Gaza and the release of hostages and detainees, and these talks were serious, constructive, and conducted in a positive atmosphere,” according to the text of the statement.

Agence France-Presse quoted a senior source in the Hamas movement as saying that the movement’s leadership had been informed of the results of the Doha meetings, explaining that the Israeli delegation “set new conditions in the context of the their approach to prevention, including asking. keeping military forces in the Philadelphia axis, and that he has the right to veto the names of the prisoners. “

The source stressed that Hamas “will accept nothing less than a complete ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the normal return of those displaced, and a deal to exchange hostages and detainees.” without the restrictions and conditions of office.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the mediators (America, Qatar and Egypt) to put “pressure” on Hamas to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office, the Prime Minister pointed out that “the main principles of Israel are familiar with the mediators and the United States,” explaining that “Israel hopes that the pressure put on the mediators urged Hamas to accept the principles of the May 27 proposal to be… “It is possible to implement the details of the agreement.”

The talks began in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Thursday, with the participation of the Director of the CIA, William Burns, and the heads of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Mossad, David Barnea, and the Israeli Shin Bet, Ronen Bar.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in a joint statement, called for a humanitarian ceasefire to be implemented in the Gaza Strip for seven days, to allow vaccination campaigns to be carried out the face of polio.

This comes after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that it had registered the infection of a ten-month-old child with polio in the Gaza Strip.

The ministry explained in a statement: “Doctors suspected symptoms consistent with polio, and after carrying out the necessary tests in the Jordanian capital, Amman, an infection with the polio virus to confirm. “

The Ministry said it recorded “the first infection with the polio virus in the southern governorates, in the city of Deir al-Balah, for a ten-month-old child, who did not receive any vaccine dose existence against polio,” appeals to the international community and international health organizations to “intervene quickly to immediately stop Israel’s vicious attack on the Gaza Strip,” and ” immediate action to rebuild safe drinking water and sanitation systems and dispose of medical and solid waste, work to import fuel to pump clean water, and unconditionally allow medical supplies, medicines and use special items for personal hygiene to enter.”

The WHO and UNICEF statement explained that stopping the fighting could allow children and families to safely reach health facilities and community workers, and help health workers reach children to receive polio vaccinations.

The statement said, “More than 1.6 million doses of oral polio vaccine type 2, which is used to stop the spread of the polio virus, will be delivered to the Gaza Strip, and shipments of vaccines and equipment are expected cold chain through. Ben Gurion Airport before reaching the Gaza Strip.” By the end of this August,” emphasizing “the need to facilitate the transport of vaccines and the cold chain to ensure timely delivery.”

The two UN agencies explained in their joint statement that “detailed plans have been completed to support those in charge of vaccination and those working in the field of social mobilization to reach children in different parts of Gaza struggle, as 708 teams are coordinated in hospitals, primary health care centers and field hospitals in each city.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, called for concrete commitments to declare humanitarian pauses to carry out the polio vaccination campaign.

Guterres emphasized that immediate commitments have been made to prevent the spread of polio in Gaza, which will require “massive, coordinated and urgent efforts.”

Guterres confirmed that the World Health Organization had agreed to provide 1.6 million doses of polio vaccine to Gaza, expressing the willingness of the United Nations to launch a polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, and explaining that “the delivery of vaccines and cold chain equipment for storage will be coordinated with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund.” .

In a statement published on its Telegram account, Hamas expressed its support for the request “announced today by the United Nations for a seven-day pause to vaccinate thousands of children,” asking “to get – into medicine and food for more than two million Palestinians under siege in Gaza.”