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Israel Will ‘Take Control of All’ of Gaza, PM Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Will ‘Take Control of All’ of Gaza, PM Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip May 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will "take control" of the whole of Gaza, as the military pressed a newly intensified campaign in the war-ravaged territory.  

After Israel announced it would let a "basic amount" of food into the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said it was necessary to prevent a famine for "diplomatic reasons".  

In Gaza, rescuers said air strikes killed at least 22 people, after the military announced it had begun "extensive ground operations" against Hamas. 

"The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip," Netanyahu said in a video posted on Telegram. 

"We will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped."  

Israel has come under mounting international pressure, including from key backer the United States, to lift a total blockade it imposed on Gaza more than two months ago.  

"We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons," Netanyahu said, adding that even friends of Israel would not tolerate "images of mass starvation".  

In a report this month, the UN- and NGO-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza was at "critical risk of famine", with 22 percent of the population facing an imminent humanitarian "catastrophe".  

- 'Reduced to starvation' -  

Israel said its blockade since March 2 was aimed at forcing concessions from the Palestinian group, but UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines. 

Last week US President Donald Trump acknowledged that "a lot of people are starving", adding "we're going to get that taken care of".  

In his inaugural mass, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful not to forget "our brothers and sisters who are suffering because of war.  

"In Gaza, the surviving children, families and elderly are reduced to starvation," he said.  

But Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir argued against any resumption of aid, saying on X: "Mr Prime Minister, our hostages receive no humanitarian aid."  

"The Prime Minister is making a serious mistake in this move, and he has no majority at all. Hamas must only be crushed, and not at the same time provided with oxygen for its survival," he said in a statement.  

- No breakthrough in talks -  

Israel's military on Monday said the air force had struck "160 terror targets" in Gaza over the past day, as it pressed an expanded offensive. 

The campaign, which Israel says aims to free hostages and defeat Hamas, started Saturday as the two sides entered indirect talks in Qatar on a deal.  

Netanyahu's office said negotiators Doha were "working to exhaust every possibility for a deal -- whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting".  

Steve Witkoff is the US Middle East envoy who has been involved in discussions.  

Netanyahu's statement said a deal "would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip".  

Since a two-month ceasefire collapsed in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to make a breakthrough.  

Netanyahu has opposed ending the war without Hamas's total defeat, while Hamas has balked at handing over its weapons.  

- 'No one left' -  

On Monday, there were heavy strikes in and around the main southern city of Khan Younis, where civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 11 people were killed and several others wounded.  

Bassal also reported another 11 deaths in strikes on other parts of the territory.  

AFPTV footage from Gaza on Sunday showed people sifting through ruined shelters and rescuers treating the wounded. 

"All my family members are gone. There is no one left," said a distraught Warda al-Shaer.  

"The children were killed as well as their parents. My mother died too, and my niece lost her eye."  

The United Nations had warned of the risk of famine in Gaza before the aid blockade was imposed. 

Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. 

Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead. 

Gaza's health ministry said Sunday at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,339. 

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Arab World

South Lebanese Mayors, Residents Protest Israeli Demolitions

A child waves a Lebanese flag while residents, mukhtars, and inhabitants of the devastated southern Lebanese border villages protest against the destruction of their villages and being prevented from returning by order of the Israeli army, at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
A child waves a Lebanese flag while residents, mukhtars, and inhabitants of the devastated southern Lebanese border villages protest against the destruction of their villages and being prevented from returning by order of the Israeli army, at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
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South Lebanese Mayors, Residents Protest Israeli Demolitions

A child waves a Lebanese flag while residents, mukhtars, and inhabitants of the devastated southern Lebanese border villages protest against the destruction of their villages and being prevented from returning by order of the Israeli army, at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut on April 30, 2026. (AFP)
A child waves a Lebanese flag while residents, mukhtars, and inhabitants of the devastated southern Lebanese border villages protest against the destruction of their villages and being prevented from returning by order of the Israeli army, at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut on April 30, 2026. (AFP)

Dozens of residents and local officials from southern Lebanon gathered in Beirut on Thursday to protest Israel's destruction of their villages, which has been ongoing despite a fragile ceasefire.

Before and after the truce agreed on April 17 in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has been carrying out demolitions in the south and preventing the return of residents to more than 50 villages.

"We can't go back. It's been bulldozed -- basically there's nothing to go back to," Ibrahim Hamza, the mayor of the coastal town of Naqoura, told AFP.

"The situation is dire and the Israeli enemy is present inside the village."

Standing in Beirut's central square, protesters carried Lebanese flags and photos of their devastated villages, some had signs asking "where is the ceasefire?".

Two days after the ceasefire began, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the country's military would "remove the houses in the contact villages near the border that served in every respect as Hezbollah terror outposts".

Israel has declared a "yellow line", some 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanon, where its troops are operating.

"What is happening in Bint Jbeil... is systematic annihilation and destruction of trees and people," said Mohamed Souheili, 56, a local official in the town, now on the Israeli-controlled side of the "yellow line".

The southern town witnessed intense clashes in the days leading up to the ceasefire, evoking for many Lebanese its history of major battles in earlier wars.

"Trees are being uprooted from the ground, and not a single sign of life remains in the town," Souheili said.

The Lebanese government's scientific research council estimated earlier this month that the war had already damaged or destroyed more than 50,000 housing units.

AFP photos from April 15 showed extensive destruction in two such villages, including Mais al-Jabal.

Hosn Qabalan, from Mais al-Jabal, lost her home during an earlier round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023 and 2024.

"We went back and our house was gone," the 55-year-old grandmother said, "we sat on the rubble".

Lebanon accused Israel, which refused to withdraw from five positions in southern Lebanon during the 2024 ceasefire, of carrying out a campaign of destruction in those villages and preventing their reconstruction.

Qabalan is nonetheless determined to make it back home once again.

"Even if we have to sit on bare ground, what matters is that we return to our land," she said.

Arab World

Hezbollah Signals Possible Return to 1980s 'Tactics' Against Israeli Army

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 29 April 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 29 April 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Hezbollah Signals Possible Return to 1980s 'Tactics' Against Israeli Army

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 29 April 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 29 April 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Overlapping media leaks from within Hezbollah on activating “martyrdom fighters” (suicide operatives) have raised questions about the next phase on the southern front, amid talk of non-traditional combat options that echo the warfare of the 1980s.

Media leaks citing military sources within Hezbollah said the group is studying a return to “1980s tactics,” including activating what it described as “martyrdom units.”

The issue gains additional weight in light of prior rhetoric within the group. Former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah described fighters in the south during the 2024 “support war” as “martyrdom fighters,” reflecting the nature of the fighting and battlefield conditions.

The renewed use of the term raises questions over whether it is mobilizing rhetoric or an indication of potential operational choices.

Environmental Constraints and Technological Shift

Retired Brigadier General Yarub Sakhr told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the field reality in southern Lebanon makes talk of a return to suicide operations closer to a theoretical proposition than a practical option.”

He added: “The south today is largely depopulated due to displacement and destruction, which strips this type of operation of one of its key elements, namely the ability to conceal within a civilian environment.”

“Technological advances in surveillance and reconnaissance, along with Israel’s extensive target bank, make carrying out such operations extremely difficult, if not impossible, under constant monitoring and precise tracking, in addition to the difficulty of movement and field access.”

He noted that “signaling the existence of such operations along the border with Israel is used in a propaganda context,” adding that “the real message goes beyond the military dimension to the Lebanese domestic arena, where this rhetoric is employed as a pressure tool on officials and political forces to push them toward certain foreign policy choices.”

According to Sakhr invoking the 1980s approach does not stop at suicide operations but also recalls a broader pattern that included kidnappings and assassinations.

He affirmed that the comparison between the current situation in the south and that of the 1980s is not accurate, stressing that “talk of a return to this mode of warfare remains within the realm of slogans and political pressure rather than a viable military option under current conditions.”

Between Theory and Application

By contrast, retired Brigadier General Fadi Daoud told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Talk of reviving 1980s methods is not merely media rhetoric, but reflects that this option exists within the party’s available capabilities.”

He said references to suicide operatives ready to act “fall within the human capabilities that have long been one of the party’s strengths.”

“These operations, despite major technological advances in surveillance and monitoring, can still have battlefield impact, because technology remains limited in effectiveness against a human element determined to reach its target.”

Daoud said the effectiveness of such operations “depends on the nature of the target, the level of surrounding security protection, and field measures around sites and facilities,” noting that “the chances of success vary from case to case based on these factors.”

He said any potential use of such capabilities would remain directed at Israeli targets, adding that carrying out such operations inside Israel would require infiltration and direct access to the target, which faces major field challenges and makes success rates uneven.

“Merely signaling this option carries psychological and strategic weight, recalling past experiences in the Israeli memory and sending a message that any settlement that does not take balances into account could lead to escalation outside conventional frameworks.”

Operational Meaning of the Term

A source following Hezbollah’s operations told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the use of the term ‘martyrdom fighters’ does not necessarily mean a return to traditional suicide operations, but reflects the nature of the current battlefield phase under the siege imposed on areas in southern Lebanon.”

He added: “Fighters are fully aware of the scale of risks surrounding them and deal with them on the basis of fighting to the utmost limits.”

The source noted: “What is meant by the term is readiness for engagement under the most difficult battlefield conditions, and continuing the confrontation until death if imposed, not as a separate tactical option but as part of the nature of the battle itself.”

Arab World

Lebanese Defense Minister: Talks With Israel Aimed at Peace, Not Surrender or Trade-Offs

Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa (National News Agency)
Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa (National News Agency)
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Lebanese Defense Minister: Talks With Israel Aimed at Peace, Not Surrender or Trade-Offs

Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa (National News Agency)
Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa (National News Agency)

Lebanon’s Defense Minister, Major General Michel Menassa, said on Thursday that his country had entered negotiations for peace, not for surrender or trade-offs.

The state-run National News Agency quoted Menassa as saying, during a meeting with Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna in Verdun: “We discussed the Israeli aggression against our country and the ongoing efforts to stop it. Preserving national unity, rallying around Lebanese legitimacy, and ensuring that arms remain exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese army and official security agencies were our shared priorities. Helping our people overcome this ordeal has been our concern, and rising above narrow calculations in favor of major national objectives will remain our goal.”

He added: “If we are heading to negotiations, they are for peace, not for surrender. We are going to negotiate, not to trade off. We want to stop the rivers of blood in honor of the martyrs, and we, as Lebanese, Muslims and Christians, insist on remaining united.”

He expressed hope that “this ordeal will end, that this cloud will pass, and that the light of deliverance will rise over Lebanon and its people.”

For his part, the Druze spiritual leader stressed “the duty to rally around the state and its legitimate institutions, foremost among them the military establishment, especially under the current circumstances, in support of carrying out its assigned tasks in protecting Lebanon and its sovereignty,” warning against any “attempts to undermine civil peace,” and saying that “a strong Lebanon is a united Lebanon.”