Netanyahu makes speech from Gaza, IDF announces fallen soldier in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah fired over 75 rockets on Monday, with one hitting Shfaram in northern Israel, killing one woman in her 50s and wounding 56 others, and shrapnel from another injuring five, one of whom is in serious condition.
Magen David Adom (MDA) said that the woman had been wounded while in a safe room of a building. Paramedics later pronounced her dead on the scene.

The Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa said it treated 56 people who were wounded in Shfaram, including 18 children and teenagers. Two of the wounded, a 41-year-old woman and a four-year-old boy, were in serious condition. Among the wounded being treated is also a pregnant woman.

The IDF will settle accounts with all those who harm the hostages in Gaza and reward those who hand them over to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

“We are also making an effort from here and everywhere to locate our hostages and bring them back,” Netanyahu said.

“We are not relenting here. We will continue to do so until we bring them all back, both the living and the deceased,” Netanyahu stated.

He issued a stark warning to the Palestinian captors in Gaza: “Whoever dares to harm our hostages — their blood is on your head. We will pursue you, and we will find you.”

Netanyahu also attempted to sway the captors to give up the hostages by providing a cash reward.

Fighters from Hamas and other Gaza factions have formed an armed force to prevent gangs from pillaging aid convoys in the embattled territory, residents and sources close to the group said, after a big increase in the looting of scarce supplies.

This comes after a large-scale looting of humanitarian aid yesterday, where 98 trucks were lost, according to UNRWA. 

Israel Air Force jets eliminated Ali Taufik Dwek, Hezbollah's medium-range rocket array chief, in a strike in southern Lebanon, the military said on Tuesday. 

Dwek reportedly oversaw the rocket array since September of this year and was responsible for the firing of some 300 rockets to Israeli territory, including the Haifa area. 

US special envoy Amos Hochstein urged Israel, Lebanon, and the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah to seize the present opportunity and agree to a ceasefire that would end the war that has raged since October 8 of last year.

“We have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,” Hochsten told reporters in Beirut, adding, “This is a moment of decision-making.”

He spoke amid the Biden administration's optimism that an opportunity to end the war is close. Both Israel and Lebanon have seen a US proposal for a ceasefire, which is based on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006 but which was never fully implemented.

Border Police officers apprehended a suspect who did not comply with instructions at the Shuafat crossing north of Jerusalem, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

This is a developing story. 

The political office of the Palestinian terror group, Hamas, in Doha has not been permanently closed, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday.

Al-Ansari said leaders of the Hamas negotiating team were not in Doha.

Argentina has notified the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon that it is withdrawing three of its officers, a UNIFIL spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

"Correct. Argentina has asked its officers to go back," said Andrea Tenenti, UNIFIL spokesperson, in response to a question about a newspaper report. He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to the Argentinian government.