The Israeli army has… Lebanon According to his own statement, the terrorists attacked at a “Palestinian training camp”. Lebanon’s Health Ministry in Beirut accused Israel of attacking Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp on Tuesday. At least 13 people were killed and others injured in the air attack. According to reports, the attack may have targeted a meeting of leaders of the Islamist group Hamas. Hamas says there are no Palestinian organization training camps there.
Israeli attacks on positions from Hamas rare in Lebanon. In July, a senior Hamas commander was killed in an attack on Tripoli. The Israeli military has recently stepped up its air strikes in southern Lebanon against the Shiite Hezbollah militia, which is allied with Hamas.
Sources in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ain al-Hilwah, near the coastal city of Sidon, said the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday may be much higher than the 13 deaths reported so far. The attack hit the edge of the camp.
An Israeli military spokesperson said: Military attacking “terrorist elements”. A building used by Hamas fighters to train was hit. The army is trying to prevent Hamas from gaining a foothold in Lebanon and will continue to take action against the terrorist organization’s fighters.
Ain al-Hilwah is located in the south of the country and is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon with around 80,000 residents. Most of them are refugees from the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and their descendants. Other Palestinians fled there during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). In recent years, Palestinians from Syria have also arrived because of the civil war there.
Hamas: The victims were young people who were on the sports field
Hamas says there are no military facilities in Palestinian camps in Lebanon. The victims were young people who happened to be on the sports field at the time of the attack.
Like Hamas, the Hezbollah militia operating in Lebanon is supported by Iran. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah In southern Lebanon there has recently been another significant increase after both sides agreed to a ceasefire a year ago after a month-long war. Israel, with US support, pushed Hezbollah to disarm and accused the organization of secretly rearming Hezbollah.
Report: US representatives meet with Hamas officials
According to media reports, the US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, wants to meet in Istanbul today with Chalil al-Haja, Hamas’ top official abroad. At the meeting, efforts to maintain the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip should be discussed, the Times of Israel reported, citing an Arab diplomat. Initially there was no confirmation regarding the meeting from the US side.
Witkoff had met with al-Haja in early October – shortly before the ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip. The US government classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization and is not actually conducting direct negotiations with it – at least that is the official statement. After the first meeting, Witkoff said the Hamas leadership had agreed to disarm. However, terrorist organizations reject this.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251119-930-311207/1
