The China Mail - Israel pounds Beirut as security cabinet discusses ceasefire plan

The United States, European Union, United Nations and G7, among others, have pushed for a halt to the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into full-scale war in late September.

But as the pressure for a truce has intensified, so too have air strikes and ground battles between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Waves of strikes pounded Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold after a flurry of Israeli evacuation warnings, AFPTV footage showed, in the heaviest raids since Israel's air campaign escalated.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that "a belt of fire has encircled (the city's) southern suburbs" as raids targeted Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that three strikes hit the central Nweiri neighbourhood and destroyed a "four-storey building housing displaced people". The health ministry said the first strike killed seven people and wounded 37.

"We were blown away and the walls fell on top of us," said Rola Jaafar, who lives in the building opposite.

The Israeli army warned residents of four neighbourhoods of central Beirut to evacuate their homes, the first such warnings it had issued for the city centre in two months of war.

Waves of strikes pounded Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold after a flurry of Israeli evacuation warnings, AFPTV footage showed, in the heaviest raids since Israel's air campaign escalated.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that "a belt of fire has encircled (the city's) southern suburbs" as raids targeted Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath.

Hezbollah lawmaker Amin Sherri, speaking to reporters at the scene of the strike, accused Israel of "seeking revenge on supporters of the resistance and on all Lebanese" ahead of a possible ceasefire.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it had attacked 20 Hezbollah targets in the Beirut area, including command centres, "weapons storage facilities" and "components of Hezbollah's financial system".

It also said it had hit 30 targets in south Lebanon since the morning, and troops had "engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists" and destroyed hidden weapons caches during ground raids in the Litani River region.

The military later said at least 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of them were intercepted.

- Security cabinet meeting -

Israel's security cabinet gathered in Tel Aviv to begin discussing the proposed truce in Lebanon, an official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told AFP on Tuesday afternoon.

After the meeting, the prime minister was to issue a public statement, scheduled for 8 pm (1800 GMT), his office said.

The United States and France have spearheaded the truce efforts, and G7 foreign ministers called on Tuesday for an "immediate ceasefire", saying in a statement: "Now is the time to conclude a diplomatic settlement."

US news outlet Axios reported that the draft agreement included a 60-day transition period.

During that time, Israeli forces would withdraw, the Lebanese army would deploy along the border and Hezbollah would pull its heavy weapons back north of the Litani River, some 30kilometres (20 miles) from the frontier, Axios said.

A US-led committee would oversee implementation, with provisions allowing Israel to act against imminent threats if Lebanese forces failed to intervene.

Defence Minister Israel Katz told the UN's Lebanon envoy Tuesday that Israel would have "zero tolerance" when defending its security interests, even after a truce.

"If you do not act, we will do it, forcefully," Katz told Janine Hennis-Plasschaert during a meeting in Tel Aviv, a statement from his office said.

Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu is likely to endorse the US ceasefire proposal.

- Deal a 'mistake' -

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Lebanon says at least 3,799 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past several weeks.

On the Israeli side, the hostilities with Hezbollah have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

The initial exchanges forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes, and Israeli officials have said they are fighting so they can return safely.

Some northern residents questioned whether that would be possible under a ceasefire.

"In my opinion, it would be a serious mistake to sign an agreement as long as Hezbollah has not been completely eliminated," said Maryam Younnes, 29, a student from Maalot-Tarshiha.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir warned on X that a Lebanon ceasefire would be a "historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah".

But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel had "no more excuses" to refuse a deal.

- 'Scavenging among the rubble' -

Sustained efforts this year by mediators to secure a truce and hostage-release deal in the Gaza war have failed.

In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Tuesday that 22 people were killed in Israeli shelling and strikes across the Palestinian territory, including 11 killed by a strike on a school housing the displaced.

With the violence showing no signs of stopping, Gazans were left "scavenging among the rubble" for food, said Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel last year resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 44,249 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

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S.Wilson--ThChM