Terrorist killed in Lebanon?
Israel investigates shelling that killed dozens near Rafah
22.06.2024, 21:02
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The International Committee of the Red Cross complains of shelling “dangerously close to humanitarian facilities”. More than 20 people are reported to have died. The Israeli army is under pressure and wants to investigate the incident. Meanwhile, it is reporting military successes from Lebanon.
After an attack on a tent camp for internally displaced people in the Gaza Strip attributed to Israel, the Israeli army says it is continuing to investigate the incident. According to an initial investigation, there was no direct attack on a Red Cross facility, the military said. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had previously announced on Platform X that the organization’s office had been damaged by shelling on Friday afternoon. It also announced that more than 20 people had been killed. 22 dead and 45 injured were taken to a field hospital, according to the ICRC.
The building was surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians who were living there in tents, including ICRC employees. “Firing so dangerously close to humanitarian facilities endangers the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers,” the organization continued. The warring parties are said to know where humanitarian facilities are located. Large-caliber projectiles landed just a few meters from the office during the incident. The ICRC did not say who fired the fire.
Army: Top terrorist killed in Lebanon
According to the health authority controlled by the Islamist Hamas, at least 25 people were killed and 50 others injured in the incident in Al-Mawasi near Rafah. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tank shells hit the tent camp completely unexpectedly. The information cannot currently be independently verified. Before the start of its ground offensive in May, Israel declared the coastal town, around ten kilometers from the city of Rafah, a “humanitarian zone.”
As for the conflict on the border with Lebanon, Israel’s army has meanwhile reported killing a “key terrorist” in Lebanon. The military said it eliminated the man in a targeted attack in the Bekaa Valley. According to the information, he was responsible for supplying weapons to the Islamist Hamas and the Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya group, among others. The Lebanese news agency NNA had previously reported that one person was killed in an Israeli attack in Chiara in the western Bekaa Valley, about 40 kilometers from the Israeli border.
Local media reported that the man killed was a member of Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. The militant group did not initially comment. The organization is close to Hezbollah and Hamas and says it supports the Shiite Hezbollah militia’s fight against Israel.
Israel’s army also announced that it had attacked an observation post of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in the south of the neighboring country. A member of the pro-Iranian militia was inside. In another attack in southern Lebanon, a member of the organization went into a Hezbollah military facility and the building was then bombed. In both cases, it was initially unclear whether the people were killed or injured. According to the army, there was further shelling of targets in southern Lebanon in order to “eliminate threats” there.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon. Recently, the fighting has become significantly more intense, with deaths on both sides. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the conflicting parties on Friday to cease hostilities. The danger of the conflict in the Middle East escalating is “real”.