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Israeli Aircraft Bombs Several Gaza Targets after Arson Balloons Launched

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians fly balloons loaded with flammable material to be thrown at the Israeli side, near the Israel-Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip, June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians fly balloons loaded with flammable material to be thrown at the Israeli side, near the Israel-Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip, June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Israeli Aircraft Bombs Several Gaza Targets after Arson Balloons Launched

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians fly balloons loaded with flammable material to be thrown at the Israeli side, near the Israel-Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip, June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians fly balloons loaded with flammable material to be thrown at the Israeli side, near the Israel-Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip, June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israeli aircraft targeted a number of sites belonging to the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip for a fifth night in a row, the Israeli military said in a statement early Sunday.

Shortly after that announcement, the military said two rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel and were intercepted by aerial defense systems.

The military said the airstrikes were in response to arson balloons that Hamas-affiliated groups sent across the Gaza frontier into Israeli territory.

The balloons have caused dozens of fires that burned Israeli farmland in recent days, The Associated Press reported.

Israel also said it closed the Gaza Strip's offshore fishing zone.

On Saturday, Israel carried out intensive airstrikes on the Strip, injuring a pregnant woman and a little girl, Wafa news agency reported. It was the first time that the five-day Israeli bombardment causes casualties in Gaza.

Member of Hamas Political Bureau Suhail al-Hindi stressed that Israel’s airstrikes against civilians is dangerous, noting that the resistance will not remain silent on such attacks.

Israel’s bombing of the Strip and injuring children and women have crossed the red lines, he told a local radio channel, affirming that the resistance is capable enough to respond to the occupation and its attacks.

For his part, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, accused Israel on Saturday of not honoring an informal truce to ease the blockade it has imposed on Gaza since Hamas took it over in 2007.

He told Hamas’ al-Aqsa TV that the Palestinian people in Gaza were experiencing “slow death” by the blockade.

“The zone of confrontation with the enemy is expanding day after day in response to its continued aggression.”

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Arab World

Lebanon-Israel Truce Committee Talks Widen as Hezbollah Disarmament Deadline Nears

People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon-Israel Truce Committee Talks Widen as Hezbollah Disarmament Deadline Nears

People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce in Lebanon focused on Friday on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent ​renewed war if a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met.

The 15th meeting of the committee reflected a long-standing US push to broaden talks between the sides beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire, in line with President Donald Trump's agenda of cementing peace deals across the volatile Middle East, according to Reuters.

Israel has publicly urged Lebanese authorities to fulfil a commitment under the truce to disarm Hezbollah, ‌warning that ‌it would act "as necessary" if Lebanon does not ‌take ⁠steps ​against the ‌Iran-aligned proxy militia.

At Friday's meeting in the south Lebanon coastal town of Naqoura, civilian participants discussed steps to support safe returns of residents uprooted by the 2023-24 war and advance economic reconstruction, the US Embassy in Beirut said.

A source familiar with the discussions told Reuters they also addressed disputes over how to limit weaponry south of the Litani River ⁠and deploying the Lebanese army into Hezbollah's stronghold region.

The Lebanese and Israeli participants agreed ‌that durable political and economic progress was essential ‍to reinforcing security gains and ensuring ‍long-term stability and prosperity, the US Embassy added in a ‍statement.

The committee added that a strengthened Lebanese army, which participants described as the guarantor of security south of the Litani River but was for many years outgunned by Hezbollah, was critical to sustaining stability.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ​affirmed the priority of returning residents of border villages to their homes, a presidency statement said, adding that the ⁠committee would reconvene on January 7.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially enemy states for more than 70 years. Since the US-brokered truce, the two sides have traded accusations of violations while Israel has continued to carry out strikes that have killed hundreds, saying it is targeting Hezbollah attempts to rebuild military capabilities.

At the committee's December 3 meeting, the first including civilians from both sides, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he hoped civilian participation would help defuse tensions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said then the atmosphere at the meeting was good and ‌that the sides agreed to put forth ideas for economic cooperation, but that Hezbollah must be disarmed regardless.

Arab World

Egypt Says Gas Deal with Israel is 'Strictly Commercial'

Under the deal, Leviathan will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040 or until all contract values are fulfilled - File Photo
Under the deal, Leviathan will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040 or until all contract values are fulfilled - File Photo
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Egypt Says Gas Deal with Israel is 'Strictly Commercial'

Under the deal, Leviathan will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040 or until all contract values are fulfilled - File Photo
Under the deal, Leviathan will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040 or until all contract values are fulfilled - File Photo

Egypt said that a natural gas deal with Israel was a "strictly commercial" arrangement with no political dimensions, adding it was concluded by private energy companies under market rules without direct government intervention, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, Israel approved an export deal signed in August with Chevron and its partners, NewMed and Ratio, to supply up to $35 billion of gas to Egypt from the Leviathan natural gas field.

Egypt's position on the Palestinian cause is "firm and unwavering," supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, rejecting forced displacement, and adhering to a two-state solution, the head of Egypt's State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday described the agreement as the largest gas deal in Israel's history, adding it would help bolster regional stability.

Under the deal, Leviathan, which has reserves of around 600 billion cubic metres, will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040 or until all contract values are fulfilled, NewMed said in a statement.

Egypt's gas production began declining in 2022, forcing it to abandon its ambitions to become a regional supply hub. It has increasingly turned to Israel to make up the shortfall.

Arab World

Israel Says Man's Capture Sabotaged Secret Hezbollah Naval Unit

Amhaz's ID card at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute. (Telegram)
Amhaz's ID card at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute. (Telegram)
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Israel Says Man's Capture Sabotaged Secret Hezbollah Naval Unit

Amhaz's ID card at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute. (Telegram)
Amhaz's ID card at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute. (Telegram)

Israel's military said Friday a man seized last year in Lebanon was a Hezbollah operative who played a key role in planning a covert maritime force for the militant group.

The military said special unit troops apprehended Imad Amhaz in November 2024 from the north Lebanese city of Batroun, and transferred him to Israel, reported AFP.

"During his questioning, Amhaz stated that he held a central role in the 'covert maritime portfolio'," which the military called "one of Hezbollah's most classified and sensitive projects".

It said the portfolio's "core objective is the establishment of organized maritime terrorist infrastructure, under civilian cover, in the maritime domain against Israeli and international targets".

The military added that it had disrupted the portfolio's advancement by dismantling its chain of command and through its questioning of Amhaz.

In November 2024, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP that a preliminary probe found that Israeli commandos used a speedboat equipped with radar-jamming devices to abduct Amhaz.

The official called his capture "a war crime that violated national sovereignty" because it involved the kidnapping of a Lebanese citizen in an area far from the fighting.

Amhaz was studying to become a sea captain at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun, Lebanon's primary training college for the shipping industry.

Israel says Amhaz was an "invisible" Hezbollah operative who joined the Lebanese armed group in 2004 and was trained in Iran in 2007.

Hezbollah has not claimed Amhaz as a member of the group.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five areas of south Lebanon it deems strategic.

Israel says the strikes target Hezbollah members and infrastructure, and aim to stop the group from rearming.