Key events
AP has reported on how the daily exchanges of strikes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have sparked fires that are tearing through forests and farmland on both sides of the frontline.
Exchanges have intensified since early May, when Israel launched its incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That coincided with the beginning of the hot, dry wildfire season.
Since May, Hezbollah strikes have resulted in 8,700 hectares (about 21,500 acres) burned in northern Israel, according to Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority.
George Mitri, of the Land and Natural Resources program at the University of Balamand, said that in southern Lebanon, about 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) have burned due to Israeli strikes. In the two years before, he said, Lebanon’s total area burned annually was 500 to 600 hectares (1,200 to 1,500 acres).
Netanyahu to hold security cabinet meeting to discuss Hamas ceasefire proposals
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will on Thursday evening convene a meeting of his security cabinet to discuss proposals from Hamas about a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu’s office told Reuters.
Before the cabinet meets, Netanyahu will have consultations with his ceasefire negotiations team, the source also said.
Opening summary
Hello, we are restarting the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israel is studying Hamas’ response to a proposal that would include a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza, according to a statement from Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
“The mediators of the hostage deal have given the negotiating team Hamas’ response to the hostage deal outline. Israel is examining the response and will respond to the mediators,” said a statement released by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, on behalf of the Mossad.
Mediators including Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to secure a ceasefire and the release of 120 remaining hostages in Gaza, but their efforts have stalled.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
-
About 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip have been displaced at least once since the war between Israel and Hamas began, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency. Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN’s OCHA agency in the Palestinian territories, said on Wednesday that about 1.9 million people are thought to be displaced in Gaza.
-
Israeli strikes killed one of Hezbollah’s top commanders in south Lebanon on Wednesday, prompting retaliatory rocket fire by the Iran-backed group into Israel. The Israeli military said it had struck and eliminated Hezbollah’s Mohammed Nasser. Nasser was the one of the most senior Hezbollah commanders to die yet in the conflict, two security sources in Lebanon said.
-
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said the country will reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon. He said Israel would prefer to reach a negotiated agreement, but if not, the country is prepapred to fight.
-
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in two military operations in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Wednesday. A night-time airstrike killed four men at a refugee camp near the town of Tulkarm, while another man was killed by Israeli fire in a separate Israeli operation in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. An Israeli military statement said forces “carried out a precise strike on the terrorist cell,” killing four militants.