Closing summary
Thank you for following along today. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Gaza official says 300 people have been killed in an Israeli assault on Khan Younis. Thousands of Palestinians returned home on Tuesday after the assault came to an end. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday that the Israeli operation in and around the city killed about 300 people since it began last week.
An Israeli civilian has been killed by rocket fired from Lebanon, Israel’s N12 news channel reported. The Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and that one of them hit kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty.
Two air defence bases in southern Syria have been struck by Israeli missiles overnight, a war monitor has said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported no casualties in the overnight strikes in Daraa province, which abuts the armistice line separating Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a fight between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and said Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion. “While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin said. “We’d like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.”
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday called on Israel not to fall into the “trap” of retaliation, saying she was “very, very worried” by the situation in Lebanon and by the risk of a regional escalation. Speaking during an official visit to China, Meloni said the international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and that China could help in these efforts, having “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Nine Israeli soldiers are due to appear before a military court for an initial hearing Tuesday on what a defence lawyer says are allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at a shadowy facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war, the Associated Press reports.
An investigation by The Associated Press and reports by rights groups have exposed abysmal conditions at Sde Teiman, where most of the thousands detained in Gaza have been held. Israeli authorities have generally denied abuses in detention facilities for Palestinians.
The investigation into the soldiers stoked tensions between the military command and hard-line nationalists in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who advocate even harsher treatment in Israel’s conduct of the 10-month-old war in Gaza.
The soldiers’ detention Monday triggered protests by supporters demanding their release, including members of parliament and at least two government ministers. Several hundred broke into the facility in southern Israel and then into the military base where the soldiers were held.
Defense lawyer Nati Rom, who represents three of the soldiers, did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged sexual abuse and said they were innocent. The military has said only it was looking into allegations of “substantial abuse.”
