'Ramadan will be marked by Gaza' this year, Nasrallah says: Day 159 of the Gaza war

Nasrallah concluded his speech and, with that, our live coverage for today.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for more live coverage of the war in Gaza.

Goodnight!

Before concluding his speech, Hassan Nasrallah stated that Israeli society and the army are beginning to show signs of fatigue, and the Israeli economy is in sharp decline.

Hassan Nasrallah: Anyone who wants to assess what the resistance is doing on the Lebanese front must see that it is dissuading the enemy from launching a war against Lebanon. Victory belongs to those who persevere, and it is our duty to remain steadfast. The axis of resistance is in a position of strength and the enemy in a position of weakness.

Hassan Nasrallah: Neither the Americans nor the British nor the Europeans were able to prevent our Yemeni brothers [the Houthi rebels] from striking ships en route to occupied Palestine [in the Red Sea]. The Islamic resistance in Iraq continues to send drones and missiles towards Israel.

Hassan Nasrallah: With the stroke of a pen, US President Joe Biden could put an end to the aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah: The economic losses suffered in southern Lebanon are nothing compared to the enormous Israeli losses on the northern front.

Hassan Nasrallah: After 5 months, the Israeli army is short of manpower and wants to recruit 14,500 officers and soldiers, even if it means recruiting from the ranks of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The army is tired on all fronts and has suffered far greater losses than announced.

Hassan Nasrallah: The front in the south [of Lebanon] is playing its part in weakening the enemy. Israeli agitation has increased due to the escalation of resistance operations in Lebanon. On Israel's northern front, there is a great deal of secrecy about losses among soldiers and in military vehicles [caused by Hezbollah strikes].

Hassan Nasrallah: From our Lebanese front, we affirm that we support the resistance, the people of Gaza and the Hamas leadership. Our front will remain in a position of support at all times.

Hassan Nasrallah: Hamas's condition in the negotiations to demand an end to the aggression in Gaza is rational, humane, legitimate and logical. Hamas is negotiating on behalf of the resistance.

Hassan Nasrallah: Hamas is negotiating from a position of strength [for a cease-fire]. Those who say that the ball is in Hamas's court regarding the talks are lying. The United States is lying to exonerate Benjamin Netanyahu from the failure of the negotiations.

Hassan Nasrallah, addressing Netanyahu: You have lost the war, whether you decide to enter Rafah or not.

Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to carry out an offensive on Rafah, the city in the south of the Gaza Strip where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge. In February, he declared that the Israeli army had to carry out such an operation, otherwise it would "lose the war" against Hamas.

Hassan Nasrallah: Even the [Israeli] enemy's experts recognize the losses inflicted by the resistance. After five months of fighting, Israel has not managed to win a single victory, has not achieved a single one of its objectives. In the face of massacre, destruction and martyrdom, the people of Gaza continue to resist with strength and courage.

Regarding the "support front" in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah announced that it would be the subject of a later "speech" during the month of Ramadan.

Hassan Nasrallah: This year, Ramadan will be marked by Gaza, its people and the support fronts in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. These support fronts will be present during this blessed month, and they must be strong.

After the beginning of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's speech, Israel carried out three airstrikes on the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent in the South.

One of the Israeli airstrikes on Mais al-Jabal targeted a house, residents told our correspondent in the South.

Hassan Nasrallah announced that he would devote the first part of his speech to religious issues, including Ramadan and the Quran, before turning to "events" in Gaza and the region.

After a technical problem, with the video showing Hassan Nasrallah broadcast without sound, the Hezbollah leader began his speech.

At the Sayyeda Zaynab complex in Haret Hreik, on the southern outskirts of the capital, a succession of personalities recited the Quran from the rostrum. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has not yet begun his speech.

Here is what happened on the Lebanese-Israeli border during the past hour:

- Israel fired flares over the villages of Dhairah (Sour) and Blida (Marjayoun), eyewitnesses told our correspondent in the South.

- Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Naqoura (Sour) and Houla (Marjayoun), residents and eyewitnesses told our correspondent in the South.

An Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon on Oct. 13 2023, by firing two 120 mm rounds at a group of "clearly identifiable journalists" in violation of international law, a UNIFIL investigation has found according to Reuters.

According to the report, "there was no exchange of fire across the Blue Line at the time of the incident" and "the reason for the strikes on the journalists is not known."

The Israeli army "should conduct an investigation into the incident and a full review of their procedures at the time to avoid a recurrence" and "should share their investigation's findings with UNIFIL," reads the report.

The celebration prior to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's speech began at a mosque in Beirut's southern suburbs. The ceremony, organized to mark the start of Ramadan, began with a chanted reading of verses from the Quran.

Israel's defense minister Yoav Gallant hinted today at a potential Rafah operation, according to Haaretz.

"Those who think we are delaying will soon see that we will reach everywhere," he said while visiting Gaza.

"The conclusion is that there is no safe place for terrorists in Gaza," he added

Latest updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:

- Hezbollah announced that it "confronted an Israeli drone" over the Lebanese-Israeli border with "appropriate weapons, forcing it to retreat and return" to Israel and targeted the Israeli Ramim barracks, facing the Lebanese village of Markaba, with missile weapons at 5 p.m.

- Four Israeli artillery shells fell on the village of Markaba (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent in the South.

- Israel shot at the village of Wazzani (Hasbaya) with heavy machine guns, according to residents.

The plan to build a port to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is "a sign of impotence and weakness on the part of the international community," said Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard, according to AFP.

"At the same time, we continue to transfer arms" to Israel, she continued at a press conference in Madrid. "This is truly unacceptable."

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has announced the death of at least one of its employees in an Israeli strike on one of its warehouses in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, reports AFP.

"At least one UNRWA employee was killed and 22 others wounded in an Israeli strike on a food distribution center in eastern Rafah," said a statement from the agency.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately respond.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaking on a giant screen in Beirut's southern suburbs, Feb. 16. (Credit: João Sousa)

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah will give a televised speech at 8 pm.. tonight to mark the holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday for the Sunni community and Tuesday for the Shiite community.

The speech has been scheduled since last week. It will be the party leader's eighth speech since the outbreak of hostilities in southern Lebanon and the Israeli army on Oct. 8, due to the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

This speech comes the day after four Israeli air strikes near the town of Baalbeck, in the Bekaa region. The strikes killed two civilians and wounded several others, and represented an escalation in the conflict.

Here is what happened on the Lebanese-Israeli border in the past hour:

- Hezbollah announced that it hit the Zebdine Israeli barracks in the disputed Shebaa farms with a Falaq missile at 4:50 p.m.

- The party also said that it targeted the Ruwaisat al-Alam Israeli site in the Kfar Shouba Hills with rockets at 4:55 p.m.

- Interceptor missiles exploded over the village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), residents told our correspondent in the South.

- The Israeli army announced that three rockets were launched from Lebanon "towards Yesud HaMa'ala in northern Israel" and that no casualties were reported, according to Haaretz.

68 orphaned children and 11 caregivers and their families were evacuated from an orphanage in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and taken to the West Bank on Monday, according to a statement issued by the German embassy in Tel Aviv.

The embassy described the transfer as a "temporary measure during the war, sheltering the children from acute danger, and not an attempt to move them permanently."

Read the full story here.

A second ship loaded with humanitarian aid for Gaza is in the port of Larnaca, awaiting the successful unloading of a first shipment of food supplies to the Palestinian territory, the Cypriot Foreign Minister said on Wednesday.

"In the current option, we are operating via an NGO, we already have a follow-up with a larger capacity commercial vessel" which will be able to leave Cyprus "after the first unloading, if there are no problems," Constantinos Kombos explained to a few journalists in Nicosia.

Meanwhile, the authorities in the Gaza Strip deemed the arrival of aid in a ship that left Cyprus on Tuesday to be insufficient in the face of the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory after more than five months of war.

"Given what has been announced, the boat's cargo does not exceed that of one or two trucks and will take days to arrive," said Salama Marouf, spokesman for the Gazan government press service, in a statement.

Update on the situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel:

- A seven-year-old child was seriously injured and two other people slightly wounded in the Israeli air strike that targeted a building in the village of Yater (Bint Jbeil), a medical source told our correspondent in the South.

- Hezbollah announced that it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers east of the Hanita site with artillary. The party did not say what time the attack took place, although it usually does.

- Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Majdal Zoun, Naqoura and Jibbayn (Sour), residents told our correspondent in the South.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced that one of its warehouses had been "hit" on Wednesday by a strike in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip, reports AFP.

Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency, reported that "many people were injured." The Gazan Ministry of Health in the Palestinian territory said that four people had been killed in the "bombardment" of the warehouse.

The director of a hospital in the occupied West Bank said on Wednesday that two Palestinians had been killed at his facility on Wednesday by the Israeli army, which admitted firing on "armed suspects" as part of an "anti-terrorist" operation.

"Shots were fired at a group of young men" on Tuesday night, near the entrance to the emergency ward of Jenin's government hospital, said Wissam Bakr, the hospital's director, according to whom "there was no confrontation."

"Snipers started shooting at them ... and the two young men were killed at the entrance to the emergency room," he added. According to Wissam Bakr, four other people were wounded.

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor announced this week that IDF soldiers holding South African citizenship would be arrested upon entering the country.

"I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and who are fighting alongside or in the Israeli Defense Force. We are ready. When you come home, We're going to arrest you," Pandor said at a conference on South Africa's solidarity with the Palestinians and the petition filed by Pretoria against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The Palestinian Al-Naji family eats an iftar meal, the breaking of fast, amidst the ruins of their family house, on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2024. (Credit: AFP)

Despite having no opposition in Democratic primaries, US President Joe Biden is losing supporters in droves, according to AP. Nearly 400,000 voters across multiple states have abandoned him, opting for "uncommitted" instead.

In his op-ed in The Middle East Eye, Israeli journalist and activist Richard Silverstein says that daily assurances from the Biden administration that the US is doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties are no longer being accepted as credible by the American people.

Countrywide, he writes, 57 percent of Americans are unhappy with how Biden has handled the conflict so far and 52 percent say that the US should halt arms shipments to Israel until current hostilities cease.

According to Silverstein, Biden's most recent bid at positioning the US as helpful in the humanitarian crisis unfolding Gaza — a temporary port off the coast of Gaza — will do little to convince his dwindling supporters and even less to circumvent the Israeli obstacles to effective aid delivery.

The Union of Palestinian Teachers in Lebanon has offered its condolences for the death of Hadi Mustafa, the Hamas member killed in this morning's Israeli strike on Sour.

According to the statement, Hadi Mustafa belonged to a family of teachers: his brother is the deputy principal of the UNRWA-dependent Ain al-Assal elementary school in Rashidieh Palestinian camp, his wife teaches at the Deir Yassine secondary school in the al-Buss camp, also in Sour, while his uncle works at the al-Aqsa secondary school in the Rashidieh. Mustafa himself was not a teacher.

The Israeli army confirmed the killing of a "central" Hamas member in southern Lebanon, according to a message posted on X by the army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee.

While limited information is available as to the role that Hadi Mustafa played within Hamas, Adraee described him as a "central member" who "directed sabotage cells and field operations in several countries," and was a key figure in Hamas' "construction department," headed by Samir Fandi, a close associate of Saleh al-Arouri. Both were killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Jan. 2.

The Israeli army's claims as the roles of the Hamas members it targets have not always been consistent with several different people being described as holding the same position. Hamas would not comment on the specifics of Mustafa's involvement in the group.

Israel's strike this morning on Sour also killed a man on a moto, who happened to be passing by the car that was struck at the moment of the attack.

The situation in southern Lebanon over the last few hours:

• The Israeli air force bombed a house located between the villages of Kantara and Adsheet al-Koussayr, in Marjayoun district. The building was completely destroyed, according to local residents. Ambulances rushed to the scene, but no information is available yet regarding casualties.

• An air raid was launched on Yater, in Bint Jbeil district, also targeting a building, according to residents, cited by our correspondent in the South.

• Residents of Yarine reported that seven artillery shells were fired by the Israeli army at the locality.

• South of Sour, where a strike on a car killed at least two people this morning, the army detonated a missile that had not exploded during the attack, according to a security source.

Prior to today's killing of Hadi Mustafa, Israel last targeted a member of Hamas in Lebanon on Jan. 22 when it killed al-Qassam Brigades member Mohammed Bassem Azzam, who was from the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Saida. The group announced Azzam's death saying he was “martyred during his mission in southern Lebanon.”

Most prominently, however, was the Jan. 2 assassination of deputy political leader of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri and six other members — two of them also leaders — at a Hezbollah office in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli officials had launched on a worldwide campaign of assassinations of Hamas leaders. With orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s top spy agencies had started working on plans to hunt down Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey, and Qatar, which has allowed the group to run a political office in Doha for a decade, the officials said, cited by the WSJ.

(Credit: Hamas press office)

A spokesperson for Hamas told L'Orient Today that Hadi Mustafa, one of the group's leaders, was killed in the Israeli drone strike on a car in Sour this morning.

Mustafa lived in Rashidieh Palestinian camp located next to where the strike occurred, killing two people and injuring several others.

Chris Osieck, an open source intelligence (OSINT) researcher, collaborator with Geoconfirmed, and contributor to Bellingcat, shared satellite imagery on his X account showing the exact coordinates of the Israeli strike that targeted Sour this morning.

A map showing the exact location where an Israeli drone strike targeted a car this morning just south of the city of Sour, killing two people and injuring four.

Citing a security source, our correspondent in the South reports that one of the victims of the strike in Sour was a member of Hamas and resident of the nearby Rashidieh Palestinian camp.

The second victim is believed to be a man who was riding a motorcycle near the car when it was targeted, but whose identity has not yet been confirmed.

By our count, these deaths bring the total death toll in Lebanon since the start of the war to 314, mostly Hezbollah fighters. and at least 50 civilians.

The European Union is preparing a €7.4 billion aid package for Egypt with the purpose of helping boost its economy amid fears that the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan will increase the likelihood of people fleeing to Europe, the Financial Times reports.

European Commission president Ursual von der Leyen will travel to Cairo on Sunday with Greek, Italian, and Belgian prime ministers to finalize and announce the agreement.

The proposed package is the latest in a series of EU deals with northern African countries established to avoid the kind of economic instability that might further exacerbate the flow of migrants into Europe.

The EU has similar deals with Tunisia and Mauritania, FT reports, in which it has pledged money and other incentives in return for the north African countries policing their borders and preventing migrants crossing over into Europe. These deals have been criticized for being ineffective and willfully avoiding the root causes.

Despite growing international pressure including from Israel's key ally the United States, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to call for the Israeli offensive on Gaza to move into Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are now packed in against the border with Egypt, half of them displaced by the war.

"Israel will win this war whatever the cost. And to win this war, Israel must destroy the last Hamas battalions at Rafah, otherwise Hamas will regroup to reconquer Gaza and we'll be back to square one," Netanyahu told the pro-Israel American lobby AIPAC via videoconference.

The Israeli army continues to be active throughout the Strip, including in areas that it has previously claimed to have cleared of Hamas. Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam brigades, has been releasing several videos a week showing its fighters targeting Israeli tanks and troops.

A report from BBC Verify cast doubt on Israel's claims at having killed 12,000 Hamas fighters. Scouring evidence available on the army's media channels, the team was only able to confirm 714 fatalities.

👉 Read more here.

A photo sent by residents of Sour to our correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah, shows the car struck by an Israeli drone this morning. There were three people inside, two who have been pronounced dead and another who is in critical condition

L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South reports that at least two people were killed in the Israeli drone strike that targeted a car outside the Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, located just outside the major southern Lebanese city of Sour. The two dead were passengers in the car and a third passenger is in critical condition.

A medical source told L'Orient Today that three others were also injured in the strike.

Photo sent by residents to our correspondent in the region, Muntasser Abdallah. (Credit: L'Orient Today)

🔴 BREAKING: An Israeli drone struck a car on a main road in the major southern Lebanese coastal city of Sour, eye witnesses told L’Orient Today. A medical source reported that at least one person has been killed in the attack.

This is the first time since the start the war in southern Lebanon that Sour has been targeted by the Israeli army.

Cease-fire talks are ongoing in Cairo. The Hamas delegation is there this week, but scant information has come out regarding their progress. Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US had hoped to secure a deal by the start of Ramadan, which began on Monday and Tuesday for different groups.

👉 Read about why Ramadan has a staggered start time here.

During a press briefing Monday, an Israeli government spokesperson said: “I would like to take this opportunity to wish a Ramadan Kareem to everyone celebrating here in Israel and around the world. May this holy month bring peace, joy, and happiness to everyone observing the holiday, Inshallah.”

The Gazan Health Ministry reported that 70 people were killed overnight by Israeli airstrikes, and this morning, airstrikes and artillery shelling are ongoing in the south of the Strip. Yesterday UNRWA's chief said that more children had been killed in Gaza in the last five months than in an entire four years of worldwide conflict.

Yesterday and Monday, Israel targeted the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon for the second time since the war started. In four strikes in 24 hours, the Israeli air force killed three people — two Hezbollah fighters and a young soccer player. It also destroyed several buildings, including one that was being used as a hospital storage facility and an olive press.

👉 Read the on-the-ground reporting from L'Orient-Le Jour here.

Good morning, welcome to today's live coverage of the Gaza war and its effects on Lebanon, the Red Sea, and the region.

👉 Catch up on yesterday's live coverage here.

👉 Read today's Morning Brief here.