Jerusalem:
Israel suffered one among its deadliest days of its floor offensive in opposition to Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday when six of its troopers had been killed in fight close to the border.
The troopers “fell throughout fight in southern Lebanon”, the military stated in a press release. Their deaths imply 47 Israeli troops have been killed in fight with Hezbollah since September 30, when Israel despatched floor forces into Lebanon.
The military’s announcement got here after Israel’s new Defence Minister Israel Katz stated there can be no easing-up within the warfare in opposition to Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X shared a picture of the “Golani” Brigade image — the unit the troopers killed belonged to — a inexperienced olive tree in opposition to a yellow background, with a damaged coronary heart emoji.
Since September 23, Israel has stepped up its bombing marketing campaign in Lebanon, primarily focusing on Hezbollah strongholds in south Beirut and within the east and south of the nation. On September 30, it despatched in floor troops.
It got here after practically a 12 months of cross-border exchanges of fireplace, launched by Hezbollah in help of its Palestinian ally Hamas following their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel that triggered the Gaza warfare.
Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit Aramoun, a densely-packed space south of Beirut which is positioned exterior Hezbollah’s conventional strongholds, which the well being ministry stated killed eight individuals.
Lebanese state media on the identical day reported a 3rd wave of Israeli raids on Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion in 24 hours.
The Israeli military in the meantime stated it had intercepted a number of the “5 projectiles” that had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Katz informed senior navy commanders on his first go to to the border area since his appointment final week that Israel would “make no ceasefires, we is not going to take our foot off the pedal, and we is not going to enable any association that doesn’t embrace the achievement of our warfare goals”.
Katz added: “We are going to proceed to strike Hezbollah in all places.”
Israel’s goals embrace disarming Hezbollah and pushing the operatives past the Litani River, which flows throughout southern Lebanon.
After Katz’s deal with, one other air strike hit a Beirut suburb Wednesday night after a warning by Israel’s navy for residents to evacuate.
‘No time left’
Hezbollah stated on Wednesday it had fired ballistic missiles on the Israeli military’s headquarters within the business hub of Tel Aviv, which additionally homes the defence ministry.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military spokesperson’s unit stated it could “to not react to Hezbollah’s allegations”.
Lebanese authorities say greater than 3,360 individuals have have been killed since October final 12 months when Hezbollah and Israel started partaking in cross-border clashes.
Rocket hearth from Lebanon on Tuesday killed two residents of the northern Israeli metropolis of Nahariya. The deaths convey to 45 the variety of civilians killed in northern Israel because of rocket hearth from Lebanon.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, launched a video earlier on Wednesday of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, figuring out himself as Sasha Trupanov.
When Hamas operatives staged the October 7 assault, they took 251 hostages into the Gaza Strip. Some had been already useless. Of these, 97 are nonetheless held hostage, whereas 34 are confirmed useless however their our bodies stay in Gaza.
Trupanov’s mom, Lena, in a press release printed by the Hostage and Lacking Households Discussion board marketing campaign group, urged the hostages’ rapid launch. They don’t have any time left.”
The well being ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Wednesday stated at the least 43,712 individuals have been killed in additional than 13 months of warfare between Israel and Palestinian operatives.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)