The Israeli military said on Wednesday it shot down a drone that was carrying weapons and crossed from Egypt to Israel, Reuters reports.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 9pm in Beirut, Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Thousands of people displaced southern Lebanon have begun returning home after a ceasefire aimed at ending the 14-month-war between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday. Lebanon’s motorways were thronged with packed vehicles carrying families returning south despite warnings from the Israeli military that they should stay away while its forces remained in the area. The Lebanese army asked displaced people to avoid frontline villages and towns near the UN-drawn “blue line” that separates the two countries.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said the Lebanon ceasefire was the “first ray of hope” in the regional conflict after the “darkness of the past months”. “It is essential that those who signed the ceasefire commitment respect it in full,” Guterres said on Wednesday. He reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The 60 day ceasefire agreement brokered by the US between Israel and Hezbollah came into force at 4am local time and appears to be holding. If it continues to do so, it represents a major milestone in the 14-month-old war in Lebanon. However, in a sign of how volatile the situation remains, Israeli forces opened fire on a number of cars that attempted to enter what it said was a restricted area on Wednesday.
The ceasefire in Lebanon came after Israel launched the heaviest day of raids on Beirut, including a series of strikes in the city’s centre. At least 42 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut and the south of Lebanon before the ceasefire began. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel, triggering air raid sirens.
Doubts over whether the ceasefire would hold were widespread on both sides. Supporters of Hezbollah, which has suffered heavy losses since October 2023, celebrated the group’s survival and waved its yellow and green flag across southern Beirut on Wednesday. Iran, Hezbollah’s ally, welcomed the end of Israel’s “aggression” in Lebanon. In Israel, the ceasefire has met a more mixed reaction where rightwingers and residents of Israel’s north have criticised the agreement. Dozens of people gathered outside the Israeli army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night to protest against the ceasefire.
The Lebanon ceasefire deal does will not have any direct effect on the fighting in Gaza, where the death toll passed 44,282 on Wednesday. Gaza’s health ministry said an additional 104,880 Palestinians have been injured since October 2023. An Egyptian security delegation is reportedly expected to travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss a Gaza ceasefire deal. The US will renew a push for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, president Joe Biden said.
At least 12 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed in an Israeli strike on a school in central Gaza City on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. A pregnant woman and two other Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombing in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and Khan Younis in the south on Wednesday, Wafa reported.
Two journalists were injured when Israeli forces “opened fire” on a group of journalists covering a border town of Khiam in south-east Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. A video journalist told AFP that he was shot at while reporting in Khiam and that it was clear that the group were journalists.
Israel has decided to notify the international criminal court (ICC) that it will appeal against arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Separately, France’s foreign ministry suggested that Netanyahu would not immediately be arrested if he came to French territory because Israel is not a member of the ICC.
The Biden administration is reportedly pushing ahead with a $680m arms sales package to Israel. The package includes thousands of joint direct attack munition kits (JDAMs) and hundreds of small-diameter bombs, Reuters reported.
