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Israel Bombs Gaza after US Criticizes High Civilian Toll

Palestinians inspect at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the central Gaza Strip, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians inspect at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the central Gaza Strip, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Israel Bombs Gaza after US Criticizes High Civilian Toll

Palestinians inspect at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the central Gaza Strip, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians inspect at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the central Gaza Strip, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israel renewed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip Tuesday, after the United States renewed its criticism of its ally over the high civilian casualty toll of the war.

Residents told AFP of Israeli warplanes striking central Gaza and artillery fire hitting the territory's south, while medics said they pulled multiple bodies from the rubble of the latest bombardment.

Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two top Israeli officials that casualties among Palestinian civilians "still remain unacceptably high".

"We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict," spokesman Matthew Miller said after Blinken meth Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

Washington has been pushing for a truce between Israel and Hamas.

But Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday that the group was pulling out of indirect talks for a deal in protest at recent Israeli "massacres", including a massive strike on Sunday that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said killed at least 92 people.

Haniyeh said Hamas stood ready to return to the indirect talks once Israel "demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal".

After the latest deadly strikes, medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said they recovered four bodies from a house outside the southern city of Khan Yunis and another from Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza.

The Israeli military said that over the previous 24 hours its air force struck "approximately 40 terror targets" in Gaza. They included "sniping posts, observation posts, Hamas military structures, terror infrastructure, and buildings rigged with explosives".

It said its troops were also continuing targeted raids in the far-southern city of Rafah and in the central Gaza Strip.

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Arab World

Former Syrian Regime Officer Arrested

Syrian Ministry of Interior in Damascus (Official Website)
Syrian Ministry of Interior in Damascus (Official Website)
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Former Syrian Regime Officer Arrested

Syrian Ministry of Interior in Damascus (Official Website)
Syrian Ministry of Interior in Damascus (Official Website)

Syria's Interior Ministry announced on Saturday the arrest of a former officer in Bashar al-Assad's regime holding the rank of major general and accused of committing crimes and violations.

In a statement, the ministry said that "based on precise monitoring and surveillance operations, Internal Security Forces carried out a special security operation that resulted in the arrest of criminal Mohammed Mohsen Nayouf."

"The criminal held the rank of major general under the former regime and occupied several prominent military and leadership positions, including service in the Third Corps, command of the 18th Tank Division, chief of staff of the 11th Division in 2020, and commander of the 105th Republican Guard Brigade in 2016."

According to the statement, the detainee was referred to the relevant authorities to complete investigations and take the necessary legal measures before being referred to the judiciary.

Syrian military police deployed near the explosion site in Bab Sharqi, near the headquarters of the Syrian Defense Ministry in Damascus, Syria, May 19, 2026. EPA/MOHAMMEDALRIFAI

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the operation, carried out on Friday by the Salamiyah Security Directorate, which is affiliated with the Internal Security Command in Hama, comes "as part of the Interior Ministry's and relevant authorities' efforts to pursue and hold accountable those involved in crimes and violations committed against the Syrian people during the former regime, based on the principle of ending impunity, achieving transitional justice, and guaranteeing the rights of victims and their families."

Earlier on Friday, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of Mohammed Imad Mahrez, one of the guards at Saydnaya prison during the former regime, making this the second such operation.

Arab World

Hezbollah Says Message from Iran Shows it 'Will Not Give up' on Group

Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Hezbollah Says Message from Iran Shows it 'Will Not Give up' on Group

Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Hezbollah said Saturday that a message from Tehran showed that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese militant group and that the Islamic republic's latest proposal to end the US-Iran war included a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which indicated that Iran "will not give up its support for movements demanding justice and freedom, foremost among them Hezbollah".

In Iran's latest proposal through Pakistani mediators aimed at achieving "a permanent and stable end to the war, the demand to include Lebanon in the ceasefire was emphasised", the statement added.

Arab World

South Lebanon Hospital Damaged in Israeli Strikes

Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
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South Lebanon Hospital Damaged in Israeli Strikes

Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)

Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon on Saturday, hours after overnight raids on the country's south and east, including one that damaged a hospital, its chief executive told AFP.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on around a dozen locations in the south on Saturday including one targeting an agricultural area, "wounding several Syrian workers".

The NNA said an overnight strike in the southern city of Tyre that targeted a site near the hospital caused "severe damage" to the facility.

An AFP correspondent saw shattered glass, ceiling panels blown out and damaged medical equipment at the multi-storey Hiram hospital.

The Israeli military late on Friday night had issued evacuation warnings ahead of strikes on two locations in Tyre, saying it would target "Hezbollah facilities".

Accompanying maps advised people to leave areas within 500 metres (yards) of the target buildings, with the Hiram hospital shown within the advised evacuation area.

The hospital's CEO Dr Salman Aydibi told AFP that around 40 patients were in the facility when the warning was issued, including seven in intensive care.

"We took the patients to a safer location" elsewhere inside the hospital, he said, adding that none were harmed but some 30 staff sustained minor injuries.

He said an evaluation of the damage was ongoing and that the hospital has remained operational, though the emergency department briefly closed.

He said it was the third strike near the facility since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.

Israel's army said Saturday that it had targeted "Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Tyre" overnight where operatives from the Iran-backed group worked to "plan and execute attacks" against Israeli soldiers.

"Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the issuing of advance warnings, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance," it added.

Another AFP correspondent saw heavy damage at both targeted sites in Tyre, with a man searching for his belongings among the debris at one location.

Israel's army also targeted east Lebanon overnight, saying it struck a "Hezbollah underground compound" used to manufacture weapons.

Lebanon's Hamas-aligned Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing the Al-Fajr Forces said Saturday in a statement that one of its members was killed in an Israeli strike in east Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire published by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".