Israeli , Mar 23 (V7N) – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Friday to annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages held in the war-battered Palestinian territory.

The warning came as Israel pressed the renewed assault it launched on Tuesday, shattering the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire.

A Palestinian source close to the ceasefire talks told AFP late Friday that Hamas had received a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar for re-establishing a truce and exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners “according to a timeline to be agreed upon.”


The source said the proposal “includes the entry of humanitarian aid” into Gaza, which has been blocked by Israel since March 2.

Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing deadlock in indirect negotiations on next steps in the truce after its first stage expired this month.

Israeli forces said Friday that they had killed the head of Hamas's military intelligence in southern Gaza in a strike a day earlier, the latest official targeted in recent days.

Israel's resumption of large-scale military operations, coordinated with US President Donald Trump's administration, drew widespread condemnation.


In a statement, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza condemned “the heinous crime committed by the occupation (Israel) in bombing the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital,” calling it “the only hospital designated for the treatment of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip.”

Thousands of protesters have rallied in Jerusalem in recent days, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming military operations without regard for the safety of the hostages.

Israel strikes Lebanon
Israel conducted deadly strikes on Lebanon Saturday in response to a rocket attack from across the border, as Hezbollah denied responsibility for the launch.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported one girl among two killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Touline, amid the largest escalation of attacks since a November 27 ceasefire.

The Israeli army had said earlier Saturday that three rockets, all of which were intercepted, were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since November.

“Hezbollah denies any involvement in the rocket fire from southern Lebanon into the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel),” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, calling Israel's accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon.”

The Iran-backed group said that it stands “with the Lebanese state in addressing this dangerous Zionist escalation on Lebanon.”

While Hezbollah has long held sway over areas of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks.


Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country risked being dragged into a “new war” after months of relative calm.

But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.

“We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.

“The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.

Armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned the military would “respond severely.”

NNA said Israeli air strikes and shelling had targeted several areas of the south.

One Israeli strike killed two people including a girl in Touline, NNA reported. It had earlier reported Israeli strikes wounded two people in the border village of Kfarkila.

 

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