The Latest | Israeli troops launch attacks in central Gaza, possibly widening their offensive

The Israeli military said it has begun “operational activities” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible expansion of its months-long ground offensive against Hamas.

The army said on Wednesday that its forces were operating “both above and below ground” in the eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp built dating back to The 1948 war that surrounded the creation of Israel.. He said the operation began with airstrikes against militant infrastructure, after which troops began a “selective daytime operation” in both areas.

The eight-month offensive has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing widespread hunger. International mediators expect Israel and Hamas to respond to a new ceasefire proposal and hostage releaseaccording to Qatar, which has played a key role in the negotiations alongside Egypt and the United States.

Announcing the proposal last week, US President Joe Biden said the three-phase plan was Israeli. However, Israeli leaders have since appeared to distance themselves from the proposal and have vowed to continue fighting Hamas until the group is destroyed.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Healththat does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel launched war in Gaza after Hamas attack on October 7in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. Around 80 hostages captured on October 7 are believed to still be alive in Gaza, along with the remains of another 43.

At the moment:

— Gunman captured after shootout outside United States Embassy in Lebanon.

— A human rights group says Israel has attacked residential buildings with white phosphorus in Lebanon.

– YO in the West Bank refugee camp, Israel’s incursions fuel the militancy it tries to eradicate.

— There may be a famine underway in northern Gaza despite recent aid efforts, a new report warns.

— Like hostage crisis in Gaza it lasts for Israel, this is what we know.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here’s the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will restore security in the north “one way or another” during a tour of the border with Lebanon.

His visit on Wednesday came a day after large forest fires sparked by Hezbollah rocket attacks burned in several locations. In a meeting with soldiers and firefighters, Netanyahu said Israel is “prepared for very strong action in the north.”

“Yesterday the land was burning here and I’m glad they put it out, but the land was also burning in Lebanon,” he said.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel a day after war in Gaza broke out with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire daily in violence that has pushed the region on the brink of a broader war.

Israel’s national parks authority says a total of nearly 40,000 dunams (9,900 acres) have burned since late May in multiple wildfires, many of which were started by rockets and other projectiles fired from Lebanon. He says it could take years to rehabilitate the area.

BEIRUT – A gunman was shot and captured by Lebanese soldiers after a shootout outside the US embassy on the outskirts of Beirut on Wednesday morning, the military said.

The attack took place as tensions continued to rise in the small Mediterranean country, where months of fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops have displaced thousands of people along the border, after years of political stalemate and economic hardship.

The Lebanese army said in a statement that soldiers shot an assailant, whom they described only as a Syrian national. The gunman was wounded and taken to a hospital.

The shooter’s motives were unclear. However, Lebanese media have published photographs that appear to show a bloodied attacker wearing a black vest with the words “Islamic State” written in Arabic and the English initials “I” and “S.”

Local media reported that there was a shootout involving at least one attacker that lasted almost half an hour. A video that appeared on social media showed a gunman in a parking lot outside the embassy entrance firing shots with what appears to be an assault rifle.

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says it has “begun operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible expansion of its months-long ground offensive against Hamas.

The military said on Wednesday that forces were operating “both above and below ground” in the eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp built dating back to The 1948 war that surrounded the creation of Israel.. He said the operation began with airstrikes against militant infrastructure, after which troops began a “selective daytime operation” in both areas.

Israel has systematically launched airstrikes throughout Gaza since the start of the war and has carried out massive ground operations in the territory’s two largest cities, Gaza City and Khan Younis, leaving many of them in ruins.

The military launched an offensive earlier this year for several weeks in Bureij and several other nearby refugee camps in central Gaza.

Troops withdrew from Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza last Friday after weeks of fighting that caused widespread destruction. Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 360 people, mostly women and children, who died during the fighting.

Israel sent troops to Rafah last month in what it said was a limited raid, but those forces are now operating in central parts of the city further south in Gaza. More than a million people have fled Rafah since the start of the operation, many of them heading towards central Gaza.

JERUSALEM – Israel says it is reviewing operations at an obscure military prison used to hold Palestinian detainees after protests over conditions at the facility.

He Sde Teiman facilities has served as the main detention site for the thousands of detainees Israel has detained in Gaza during an eight-month offensive. The facility has expressed concerns about human rights abuses.

State lawyers said during a Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday that over the next week the government will transfer 500 of the 700 detainees currently held there to the Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank. They pledged to transfer the remaining 200 at a later date and use the prison only as a short-term detention center.

State attorneys also said the facility’s medical center would be upgraded and eventually replaced by a new hospital.

Human rights groups had asked the Supreme Court to close the facility, citing poor conditions and lack of oversight.

Detainees can be held there awaiting trial and without access to a lawyer for more than a month, under a revision of Israeli wartime law.

Based on interviews with Palestinian detainees held there and complainant soldiers, human rights groups have said the detainees are chained and blindfolded in pens inside warehouse-like structures under strong spotlights.

Doctors working at the medical center have expressed concern to The Associated Press that patients are treated in handcuffs and blindfolds and surgeries are performed without adequate pain medication.

Israel says it has detained about 4,000 Palestinians during its Gaza offensive, saying the detentions are necessary to gather intelligence. It has freed 1,500 after deeming them unaffiliated with Palestinian militant groups.