Grazing Cows Lead to Squabble on Lebanese-Israeli Border

A shepherd herds cows in the village of Wazzani, near the Lebanese-Israeli border | © Reuters/AZIZ TAHER
A shepherd herds cows in the village of Wazzani, near the Lebanese-Israeli border | © Reuters/AZIZ TAHER
TT
20

Grazing Cows Lead to Squabble on Lebanese-Israeli Border

A shepherd herds cows in the village of Wazzani, near the Lebanese-Israeli border | © Reuters/AZIZ TAHER
A shepherd herds cows in the village of Wazzani, near the Lebanese-Israeli border | © Reuters/AZIZ TAHER

Lebanese cattle herders from a village close to the border with Israel said several of their cows, which have grazed freely in the area for decades, were taken by Israeli soldiers, in what could become a new dispute between the two countries.

The herders from the border village of Wazzani say Israeli patrols crossed into a grey zone on Sunday between a technical fence that separates the two countries and the 'Blue Line' that constitutes the internationally recognized border and started rounding up livestock, taking seven cows.

Lebanon and Israel are still in a formal state of war and have long contested their land and maritime borders.

"For twenty years and more these cows are there, from the time of the grandparents of our grandparents and this is the first time that someone takes them," villager Kamal al-Ahmad, who lost three cows in the incident, told Reuters.

"I don't know if they did this as a challenge or what?"

A cow is worth around $2,000, meaning the loss of an animal is no small matter to the farmers who are already living through the tough reality of Lebanon's ongoing financial crisis.

The area near a river where the Wazzani cows graze is only around 200 meters away from Israel.

The two countries disagree over a border wall Israel started building in 2018.

A UN peacekeeping force monitors the boundary since Israel's military withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation.

"We are aware of the alleged incident and we are in touch with both parties in relation to this issue," the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesperson Andrea Tenenti, told Reuters by phone.

The two countries are also in a maritime dispute over an area in the sea on the edge of three Lebanese offshore energy blocks.

"God help these people, this is their livelihood," Ahmad al-Mohammed, the head of the Wazzani municipality, said of the herders.

Not far from Wazzani, in another border village called Mais al-Jabal, local teenager Hussein Chartouni complained earlier of the loss of one of his chickens to Israel - earning him the nickname in the village of 'Chicken Hussein'.

When one of his chickens wandered off behind the border barbed wire, it was snatched and never returned he said.

"I want my chicken," he told Reuters, using the phrase that has now become a hashtag on Twitter.



Israeli Missile Hits Gaza Children Collecting Water

A Palestinian woman reacts as a young man carries the body of her child killed in an Israeli strike, in front of Gaza City's Maamadani (Baptist) hospital on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman reacts as a young man carries the body of her child killed in an Israeli strike, in front of Gaza City's Maamadani (Baptist) hospital on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT
20

Israeli Missile Hits Gaza Children Collecting Water

A Palestinian woman reacts as a young man carries the body of her child killed in an Israeli strike, in front of Gaza City's Maamadani (Baptist) hospital on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman reacts as a young man carries the body of her child killed in an Israeli strike, in front of Gaza City's Maamadani (Baptist) hospital on July 13, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water on Sunday, local officials said.

The Israeli military said the missile had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant in the area but that a malfunction had caused it to fall "dozens of meters from the target".

"The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians," it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review.

The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.

Water shortages in Gaza have worsened sharply in recent weeks, with fuel shortages causing desalination and sanitation facilities to close, making people dependent on collection centers where they can fill up their plastic containers.

Hours later, 12 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in Gaza City, including a prominent hospital consultant, Ahmad Qandil, Palestinian media reported. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that more than 58,000 people had been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, with 139 people added to the death toll over the past 24 hours.

Negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire appeared to be deadlocked, with the two sides divided over the extent of an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources said at the weekend.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene ministers late on Sunday to discuss the latest developments in the talks, an Israeli official said.

The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are being held in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a looming deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.

Netanyahu in a video he posted on Telegram on Sunday said Israel would not back down from its core demands - releasing all the hostages still in Gaza, destroying Hamas and ensuring Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.