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Ten people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Saturday, local officials said, just hours after the latest round of talks to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Lebanon’s Gaza Strip from escalating into a regional war.
The Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hezbollah-owned weapons storage facility near Nabatieh. The Iranian-backed militants and Israel have been trading gunfire since the start of the Gaza war.
In addition to the Syrian national killed, at least five others were wounded in the attack in the south of the country, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
Hezbollah responded by firing a volley of rockets at the northern Israeli town of Ayelet Hashahar. The Israeli military said some 55 shells were fired from Lebanon, starting several fires in the area, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
In two separate incidents on Saturday, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah commander in airstrikes in southern Lebanon and wounded two Israeli soldiers in rocket attacks from Lebanon.
The shootout came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Israel on Saturday to push forward with a deal to end Israel’s 10-month war with Hamas and secure the release of about 115 hostages still being held by the militant group in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. and Arab officials see the ceasefire talks as the best hope of preventing the war between Israel and Hamas, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, from escalating into a regional conflict.
Fears of a broader war have been growing since the back-to-back assassinations of senior Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Beirut and Tehran last month, with Hezbollah and Iran vowing retaliation against Israel.
On Friday, after two days of talks in Doha, the United States, Qatar and Egypt put forward a proposal aimed at bridging the gap between Israel and Hamas, who remain at odds over the terms of a ceasefire agreement despite multiple rounds of negotiations.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt, which have been mediating the talks, said in a joint statement that further meetings were due to take place in Cairo by the end of next week “with a view to concluding an agreement on the terms put forward today.”
“There is no more time to waste and no excuse for any side to allow further delay,” they added. “The time has come to release hostages and detainees, initiate a ceasefire and implement this agreement.”
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The mediators said they had presented Israel and Hamas with a “principled bridge proposal” that was outlined in a three-phase plan to end the fighting laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden in May.
The first phase of the plan envisaged a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas would release an initial group of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons.
The second phase would involve the release of all hostages and an extension of the ceasefire that the mediators hope will come into effect, while the third phase would see the start of reconstruction in Gaza.
Biden said Friday that talks in Doha were progressing well and that while the two sides “are not yet at a deal,” an agreement could be “close.”
Mediators have also expressed optimism about the negotiations so far, which have repeatedly stalled due to disagreements between Israel and Hamas over key aspects of the agreement.
