Israel military launches 'series of air strikes in Lebanon' as tension with Hezbollah soars

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its fighter jets “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”, raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire. The military provided no additional information about the air strikes, although Lebanese media outlets reported airstrikes on southern villages such as Adchit, Sawwaneh, and Shihabiyeh. The airstrikes occurred shortly after fire from Lebanon injured several individuals in northern Israel, as confirmed by medical personnel. According to the Magen David Adom emergency service, seven people were wounded, with five of them in the town of Safed. The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth month, has devastated the health sector in the Gaza Strip, with less than half of its hospitals only partially functioning as scores of people are killed and wounded in daily bombardments. Israel accuses the militants of using hospitals and other civilian buildings as cover. Palestinians began evacuating the main hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, according to videos shared by medics on Wednesday. The Israeli military said it had opened a secure route to allow civilians to leave the hospital, while medics and patients could remain inside The war began with Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct. 7, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza has surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving. The United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel, has been working with Qatar and Egypt to try and broker a cease-fire and the return of the remaining 130 hostages held by Hamas, around a fourth of whom are believed to be dead. The negotiators held talks in Cairo on Tuesday that were attended by CIA chief William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, but there were no signs of a breakthrough. With inputs from agencies.