Israel says it 'will not accept a deal that includes an end to the war' in Gaza: Day 208 of the Gaza war

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At 5:50 p.m., Hezbollah attacked the Israeli site of Rouaissat al-Alam, in the disputed Kfar Shouba heights, using missiles.

Haaretz reports that Hezbollah's recent attack on Shtoula damaged two homes, and that warning sirens sounded in Metulla. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted two buildings in its attack on Shtoula in a new statement.

Here is an update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

- An Israeli drone fired a missile toward Talet Hamames near Khiam (Marjayoun).

- At 5 p.m., Hezbollah said it had targeted a building in the Israeli site of Metula, which faces Khiam.

- Hezbollah also carried out an attack at 5:35 p.m. on the Israeli site of Shtoula, opposite Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).

Israel has reopened the only crossing north of the Gaza Strip, allowing aid trucks to pass through the Erez checkpoint, following demands from the US to do more to address the growing humanitarian crisis, Reuters reports.

The reopening of the Erez crossing has been one of the main demands of international aid agencies for months to alleviate what is considered the most severe hunger among the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the northern sector of the enclave.

The Israeli government opened the crossing on the day of the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for increased deliveries of humanitarian aid to the territory. The crossing had remained closed since it was destroyed by Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.

University of South Florida (USF) police say that 10 individuals have been taken into custody following protests on campus.

It said that on Tuesday approximately 75 to 100 protesters, including some students and individuals not affiliated with the university, arrived on campus with several items, including wood shields, umbrellas, and tents.

The police say that it was “determined that the protest was no longer peaceful, and participants must leave the area.”

After participants “refused to comply” with instructions to disperse from the event, fourteen individuals were taken into custody.

The police department reported that one of the individuals was carrying a concealed firearm.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri stressed "the need for flexibility on all sides to reach a truce agreement" between Israel and Hamas in Gaza during a visit to Cairo by his French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, reported by AFP.

The visit comes at a time when long-standing Qatari, Egyptian and American mediation has raised hopes of a truce between Israel and Hamas, coupled with the release of hostages, after nearly seven months of fighting and almost daily bombardments in the Gaza Strip.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that current efforts to get Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel will not solve the crisis in the Middle East, reports AFP.

"Some people think that by forcing neighboring countries to normalize their ties [with Israel], the problem will be solved," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a speech in Tehran. "They are mistaken," he added. These statements come a few days after the United States said it was ready to offer Saudi Arabia security guarantees if it normalized its relations with Israel.

New York police detained around 300 people late on Tuesday at Columbia University and the City College of New York during pro-Palestinian protests, said NYC Mayor Eric Adams quoted by Reuters.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted by Reuters as saying: "We have decided to support South Africa's complaint against Israel at the International Court of Justice."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he "will not accept an agreement that includes ending the war" in Gaza, reports the Axios website quoted by Reuters.

Jordan said that Israeli settlers had attacked two of its aid convoys on their way to Gaza, Jordan's state news agency reported, citing Reuters.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said there was still work to be done to secure a truce between Israel and Gaza, after being briefed by Egyptian officials in Cairo on the progress of negotiations, Reuters reports.

"We came to coordinate our efforts for a truce. The messages given by France and its Arab partners in the region are that Israel is backing down in its offensive at Rafah," said Sejourne after meeting his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Choukri.

He declined to say whether he was optimistic that an agreement could be reached but added that if a truce were reached, he hoped the three French-Israeli nationals held by Hamas would be on the list of those to be released.

A Hamas official told AFP that the group would deliver its response to the proposed 40-day truce "within a very short period" but stressed that any cease-fire should be permanent.

Suhail al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official, stated that the goal is "to reach an end to this war."

However, the demand by Hamas for there to be a permanent cease-fire runs contrary to that of what the Israelis are saying. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli forces would go into Rafah "with or without" a truce.

Israel said it would give Hamas until tonight to give its response to the proposal when it would decide whether or not to send representatives to Cairo to finish the deal.

US Secretary of State told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US remains opposed to an Israeli incursion into Rafah, the southernmost city that has become home to an estimated 1.5 million Gazans, many of whom were displaced by Israel's invasion of the enclave, AFP reports.

According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Blinken "reiterated the United States' clear position on Rafah." 

There is more debris and rubble to clear in Gaza than in Ukraine, said the head of UN demining operations for the narrow Palestinian territory relentlessly pounded by Israel in its war against Hamas, reports AFP.

"The front in Ukraine is 600 miles (just under 1,000 kilometers) long, and Gaza is 25 miles long," explained Mungo Birch, head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Gaza, at a press briefing in Geneva. 

Clashes broke out on Tuesday night at a pro-Palestinian rally at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), according to police and images broadcast on US television, reports AFP.

"At UCLA's request, due to numerous acts of violence committed in the encampment inside the campus, the LAPD is intervening to assist university police and restore order and security," the Los Angeles City Police announced on X. Protesters and counter-protesters clashed with sticks, threw objects and fired fireworks at each other, according to television footage. The clashes were between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups, according to CNN.

(Credit: Hezbollah Media Office)

MP Hassan Ezzedine, a member of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, blasted "the Israeli and American approach to negotiations" concerning a possible cease-fire in Gaza, calling them "deceptive and hypocritical."

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating a Hezbollah fatality in Kfar Roummane (Nabatieh), Ezzedine emphasized "the potential of students and young people to influence public opinion," claiming that their efforts reveal "the true nature of the United States, Israel and the West, while highlighting the growing importance and progress of Hezbollah and its allies."

Ezzedine asserted that Israel "has not won significant victories on the ground, and therefore will not win through politics what it has failed to achieve in combat." He concluded by reaffirming that "Hezbollah is ready to confront any developments on the ground, in line with its position of support for Gaza and the resistance."

Hezbollah announced the death of one of its members, Wahid Abdelhamid Toufayli, born in 2000, from the town of Deir Zahrani (Sour) in southern Lebanon.

290 Hezbollah members have been killed since Oct. 8 in Lebanon and Syria, according to L'Orient Today's count.

Latest developments in southern Lebanon:

- An Israeli Merkava tank targeted the Tal al-Nahas area, north of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), according to a security source.

- The outskirts of Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya) were the target of several Israeli shells, according to a security source.

A British police officer has been charged with a "terrorist offense" for allegedly publishing an image supporting Hamas, a group banned in Britain as a terrorist organization, police said quoted by Reuters.

Mohammed Adil, 26, from Bradford in northern England, was arrested last November and charged following an investigation by British counter-terrorism officers, counter-terrorism police said in a statement. The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said the investigations had focused on messages shared on WhatsApp and concluded that the case should be referred to prosecutors.

"On Monday, police officer Mohammed Adil, 26, was charged with two counts of publishing an image supporting a banned organization, specifically Hamas, in breach of Article 13 of the Terrorism Act," the IOPC statement said. "The offenses are said to have taken place in October and November 2023." Adil is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Thursday.

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abou Zouhri, said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was unfairly blaming the Palestinian movement for the delay in reaching a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Blinken, who is meeting with Israeli leaders to discuss ways of getting more aid to Gaza, has repeatedly urged Hamas to accept an offer from Israel that would free the hostages and bring about a cease-fire, calling it "extraordinarily generous."

"Blinken's comments contradict reality. It is not strange that Blinken, who is known as Israel's foreign minister, not America's, would make such a statement," said Abou Zouhri. "Even the Israeli negotiating team admitted that it was Netanyahu who was preventing an agreement," he added. Abou Zouhri said that Hamas was "still studying" the recent cease-fire offer.

A possible indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Israeli leaders for their conduct of the war in Gaza represents "a danger to democracies," said Israeli President Isaac Herzog, calling on his allies to "oppose" it, reports AFP.

Israeli officials have told the New York Times that they expect the ICC to issue arrest warrants for members of the Israeli government – which could include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – on charges relating to Israel's devastating military operations in Gaza in response to the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7.

Here is an update on the situation in southern Lebanon from last night:

- Last night at 9:30 p.m., Hezbollah said that it had “set up an ambush against an Israeli military vehicle at the Yiftah-Ramot Naftali triangle (located in the Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border) at 8:17 p.m. Upon reaching the ambush point, [Hezbollah] fighters targeted the vehicle with guided rockets, hitting it directly, destroying it, and setting it on fire. All soldiers inside were killed.” Israel has, up to this point, not acknowledged any deaths.

- Hezbollah also reported that “while Israeli soldiers were sweeping into Lebanese territory west of the Jal al-Alam site, [Hezbollah fighters] targeted them with artillery shells at 10:25 pm.” Additionally, a security source informed L’Orient Today that missiles were launched from the south targeting Israeli sites in western Galilee.

- Local residents reported that machine gun fire targeted Naqoura (Sour) from the Israeli Jal al-Alam site facing it.

- Israeli jets targeted the Maslakh neighborhood in the town of Khiam (Marjayoun).

- After 11:00 p.m. last night, Israeli jets targeted the town of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) with a missile.

- Local residents reported that Israeli jets conducted two strikes on the town of Mais al-Jabal and two strikes on the town of Kfar Kila (both located in the Marjayoun district).

- Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli army deployment around the Baranit barracks, opposite the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish (Bint Jbeil), with rocket and artillery fire at 08:15 a.m.

- According to resident sources, Israeli jets carried out an airstrike on the town of Tayr Harfa (Sour). Ambulances were dispatched to the site of the strike.

Hamas has yet to respond to the proposal for a 40-day cessation of hostilities. According to an Israeli official, Israel will wait until "Wednesday evening" for a response from Hamas before deciding whether or not to send a delegation to Cairo with a view to a possible agreement.

After a meeting in Cairo on Monday with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, a Hamas delegation returned to Doha and is expected to give its response "as soon as possible," according to a source close to the Palestinian movement.

The Gazan Ministry of Health announced this morning a new death toll of 34,568 in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on Oct. 7, reports AFP.

In the space of 24 hours, at least 33 additional deaths have been recorded, according to a statement from the ministry, which also reported 77,765 wounded in over 200 days of war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this morning in Tel Aviv that he was determined to obtain a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas "now," coupled with the release of hostages, in the seventh month of the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.

"Even in these difficult times, we are determined to get a cease-fire bringing the hostages home and to get it now. And the only reason it wouldn't happen is Hamas," said Blinken, during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The latest proposal, involving an exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, follows months of deadlock in indirect negotiations despite the heavy human toll of the war and a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza on the brink of famine, according to the UN.

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