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Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

A plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
A plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Fire Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

A plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
A plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 13, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 41 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday, local health authorities said, at least five of them near two aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). 

Medics at Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. Two others were killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south. 

An airstrike killed seven other people in Beit Lahia town north of the enclave, medics said. In Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 11 people in a house. The rest were killed in separate airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip, they added. 

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. 

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a near three-month total blockade. Scores of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily mass shootings trying to reach the food. 

The United Nations rejects the Israeli-backed new distribution system as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian impartiality principles. 

Later on Sunday, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that this week it had facilitated the entry of 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the international community, including food and flour, into Gaza. 

It said the Israeli military would continue to permit the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave while ensuring it did not reach Hamas. Hamas denies Israeli accusations that it steals aid and says Israel is using hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population. 

The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday that at least 300 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,600 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza. 

"These are not humanitarian aid, these are traps for the poor and the hungry under the watch of occupation planes," said Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the health ministry. 

"Aid distributed under fire isn't aid, it is humiliation," Bursh posted on X on Sunday. 

The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after Hamas-led fighters raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on October 7, 2023, Israel's single deadliest day. 

Israel's military campaign since has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two million people. Most of the population is displaced, and malnutrition is widespread. 

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Arab World

Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Leaders to Hold Talks Thursday

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Leaders to Hold Talks Thursday

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that leaders of Israel and Lebanon will speak Thursday, after they held a high-level face-to-face meeting in Washington Tuesday -- the first such negotiation since 1993.

"Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow," Trump wrote without specifying who will be involved or offering further details.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel, and more than 2,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since.

Israel pressed ahead with its aerial and ground war in Lebanon. The country's National News Agency reported airstrikes and artillery shelling throughout southern Lebanon on Wednesday, including near Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces have encircled Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops were about to “eliminate this great stronghold of Hezbollah” and would continue expanding control of areas in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu said negotiations are continuing, with disarming Hezbollah a key goal.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israel struck three teams of paramedics Wednesday in southern Lebanon, first hitting one team and then two more that rushed to help. The attacks killed three paramedics and wounded six others, the ministry said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Arab World

Damascus Foils Smuggling of 6,000 Detonators to Lebanon

Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
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Damascus Foils Smuggling of 6,000 Detonators to Lebanon

Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)
Tunnel found in Homs countryside linking Qusayr to Lebanon (Syrian media)

Syrian authorities said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of military-grade detonators from the Nabk area in the Qalamoun region of rural Damascus into Lebanon.

They also uncovered a cross-border tunnel and seized weapons depots prepared for smuggling, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Internal Security Directorate in Nabk said it dismantled a plan to move a large quantity of explosive detonators used in making improvised explosive devices, adding the shipment was bound for Lebanon.

In a statement, it said the operation was carried out with “high professionalism” after precise technical and field surveillance, preventing the materials from reaching their destination.

Authorities said about 6,000 detonators were seized, without identifying the smugglers or the intended recipients in Lebanon.

The announcement came as internal security forces in Homs reported discovering a tunnel linking Syrian and Lebanese territory in the border town of Housh al-Sayyed Ali, in the Qusayr area of southern Homs province.

Weapons and ammunition depots prepared for smuggling were also seized, according to the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya channel, which gave no details on who dug the tunnel.

Earlier this month, Syria’s defense ministry said it had uncovered a network of tunnels in the Qusayr area used to smuggle drugs and weapons, adding that Hezbollah had used them.

Qusayr has been one of Hezbollah’s main areas of influence in Syria since 2013, until the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad. The area served as a key supply route from Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border in Deir al-Zor, through Palmyra and Homs, to the Lebanese border.

Media reports say tunnels are widespread along the Qusayr border, alongside informal crossings used by residents to move between the two countries. For many, smuggling has become a source of income amid worsening economic conditions, poverty, and security instability, complicating efforts to secure the border.

The developments come amid fears Syria could be drawn into a wider conflict through Lebanon and efforts to disarm Hezbollah, with backing from the United States and Israel.

On April 11, Syria’s interior ministry said its counterterrorism department, working with internal security in rural Damascus, arrested five people in a cell linked to Hezbollah after tracking suspicious activity in the capital.

Authorities said a woman in the cell was caught attempting to carry out an attack by planting an explosive device near the home of a religious figure in Bab Touma, close to the Mariamite Cathedral. Media reports identified the target as Rabbi Michael Houri.

Earlier this month, the defense ministry allowed a photographer from Agence France-Presse to document the army’s deployment along the border for the first time since reinforcements were sent about a month earlier, including several cross-border tunnels that had recently been uncovered.

Mohammad Hammoud, a Syrian-Lebanese border official, told AFP the army had discovered “a network of tunnels linking the two countries” used to smuggle weapons and drugs. A Syrian army field commander also said Hezbollah had used the tunnels.

Hezbollah fought alongside Assad’s forces in the conflict that began in 2011 as a peaceful uprising before escalating into war.

An AFP photographer saw at least five tunnels crossing the border, including one that started in a house basement and led via concrete steps into narrow, dark passageways used for transit.

On March 28, Syrian authorities said they found a tunnel near a village west of Homs linking Syria to Lebanon, adding that “Lebanese militias” had used it for smuggling before it was closed.

In February, the interior ministry said it dismantled a cell behind attacks in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, adding the weapons used had come from Hezbollah, which denied involvement.

Arab World

Beirut MPs Meet to Back Weapons-Free City Declaration

Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
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Beirut MPs Meet to Back Weapons-Free City Declaration

Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers deploy at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut (AP)

Beirut lawmakers and political parties in Lebanon’s parliament will hold a conference on Thursday backing a declaration of the capital as “safe and free of weapons,” after a government decision that followed deadly Israeli attacks on the city last week.

Organizers invited all Beirut MPs except those from Hezbollah and the Islamic Group, in a move targeting the party’s arms after the government banned its military activities.

The gathering also signals support for Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who came under attack from Hezbollah after the decision.

Organizers told Asharq Al-Awsat that rejecting the targeting of Salam reflects that the move “expresses the decisions of the Council of Ministers collectively.”

Beirut MPs are expected to endorse government efforts to assert state sovereignty and cement the state’s exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace. This includes measures tied to Hezbollah, notably limiting arms to legitimate state forces.

They will also back the executive authority, represented by the president, prime minister, and cabinet, in declaring Beirut a weapons-free city, and call for a strong, comprehensive deployment of the Lebanese army and security forces to protect citizens and prevent any unauthorized arms or threats to stability.

MP Fouad Makhzoumi said the Israeli attack last Wednesday, while condemned, underscored the risks to the city’s security.

“There is no solution except to place all weapons under the control of the state, including Hezbollah’s arms. This is the gateway to strengthening stability and protecting all Lebanese,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Makhzoumi said Beirut MPs fully support the decision and stressed the need for full, uncompromising implementation.

He called for a robust deployment of the army and security forces, warning against any leniency in enforcing measures he said would protect the city, its residents, and people displaced from southern Lebanon and other areas hit by Israeli attacks.

Last week, Beirut MPs, along with economic bodies and civil society groups, called for the conference to present a unified stance on developments, reaffirm the state’s role, and press for implementation of government decisions to protect the capital, its institutions, and residents.

In a statement, they condemned Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory, including Beirut, and rejected dragging Lebanon into a war “that has nothing to do with it,” while backing government steps to reinforce sovereignty and stability.

They also denounced incitement and unrest in Beirut, saying it endangers residents and threatens security, and reiterated their commitment to national unity and rejection of sectarian strife.