The Latest | Hezbollah says its intensified attacks show Israel that all-out war would be costly

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says its stepped-up attacks along Israel’s northern border this week demonstrate to Israeli leaders that an all-out war would be costly, senior official Sheikh Ali Daamoush said in a sermon during Friday prayers.

Iran-backed Hezbollah militants fired dozens of rockets on Friday in the third day of retaliation for the killing of a top commander. The Israeli military said approximately 35 projectiles were identified.

Cross-border attacks by Israel and Hezbollah have taken place almost daily since the war in Gaza began in October. The escalation comes as some Israeli leaders have threatened all-out war to silence Hezbollah’s rocket fire, and as the militant group seeks to pressure Israel during ceasefire negotiations in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he does not expect to seal a ceasefire deal in Gaza in the near future, as a US-backed proposal with global support it has not been completely embraced by Israel or Hamas.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 37,100 people, according to the Gaza Office. Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Palestinians confront widespread hunger because the war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies. UN agencies say more than a million people in Gaza could experience the highest level of hunger in mid-July.

Israel launched the war after Hamas attack on October 7in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250.

At the moment:

— The US-built dock in Gaza faces its latest challenge: whether the UN will continue delivering aid

— Israelis and Palestinians are hopeful but cautious about the latest ceasefire plan.

— What are the main conflicting points in the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas?

— Muslims begin Hajj in the context of the destructive war between Israel and Hamas

— The US Navy faces its most intense combat yet. since the second world war against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels

– Report by UN-backed experts cites crimes committed by Israeli forces and Palestinian militants starting 0ct. 7.

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

Here’s the latest:

JERUSALEM – Israel will not join a trilateral effort to stop fighting with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah proposed by France’s president, Israel’s defense minister said Friday.

“While we fight a just war, defending our people, France has adopted hostile policies against Israel,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement from his office rejecting the French proposal.

French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the effort Thursday on the sidelines of the G7 conference in Italy. He said France, the United States and Israel had agreed to work together to quell tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, which have exchanged cross-border fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began in early October.

“We have agreed on the principle of a trilateral between Israel, the United States and France to advance the roadmap we have proposed,” Macron said.

Gallant’s rejection of the French proposal was criticized by senior officials in Israel’s Foreign Ministry in a rare public dispute.

“We disapprove of Defense Minister Gallant’s attacks against France,” the officials wrote Friday. They said France had supported Israel in many ways over the course of the war: helping Israeli defenses against a Iranian missile attack in April, sanctioning Hamas and Iran, and fighting anti-Semitism domestically.

Tensions are rising dramatically on Israel’s northern border in recent years after an Israeli airstrike killed a top Hezbollah commander. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, setting large fires in northern Israel. In retaliation, Israel has continued to attack Hezbollah bases, with airstrikes in southern Lebanon killing and wounding civilians.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has sanctioned a right-wing group of Israeli activists who have blocked humanitarian aid from reaching desperately starving Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

State Department sanctions were imposed Friday against Tzav 9, which blocked a major highway in southern Israel in an effort to prevent the delivery of aid. U.S. officials say the group has also looted and set fire to trucks transporting aid through the West Bank to Jordan.

In announcing the sanctions, the State Department said the Israeli government had a responsibility to ensure that humanitarian convoys could reach Gaza safely and that acts of sabotage and violence would not be tolerated.

In a response statement, Tzav 9 called the Biden administration’s decision to impose sanctions “shocking” and stated that the aid being delivered falls directly into the hands of Hamas. The group said it should not be “forced to feed the enemy” and said blocking aid was its right and duty.

BEIRUT – A senior official with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said its stepped-up attacks along Israel’s northern border will make it difficult for Israel to mount an all-out war against Lebanon because it knows the conflict would be costly.

The attacks are also putting pressure on Israel to end the war in the Gaza Strip, Sheikh Ali Daamoush said in a sermon during Friday prayers. His comments came as Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed it fired rockets into northern Israel on a third day of shelling, saying they hit several military posts, including two in the cities of Metula and Misgav Am.

The Israeli military said approximately 35 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into the Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Szold areas of northern Israel early Friday. The army said that a fire broke out in the Kfar Szold area as a result of the launches. Israeli army artillery fired toward the launch site, he said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike Friday on the border village of Kfar Kila. On Thursday night, an Israeli attack on the southern Lebanon village of Janata killed two women and wounded 19, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.

Hezbollah’s stepped-up attacks come after an Israeli strike on Tuesday night killed the group’s highest-ranking military commander since fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border began in early October.

These cross-border attacks have occurred almost daily. This week’s escalation comes as some Israeli leaders have threatened all-out war to silence Hezbollah’s rocket fire, which has displaced tens of thousands of Israelis, and Hezbollah seeks to apply pressure in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas during the back-and-forth negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza.

More than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly combatants, but among them are more than 70 civilians and non-combatants. Tens of thousands have also been displaced. On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed.

JERUSALEM – Two high-ranking Israeli officials will visit the United States next week, an Israeli official said Friday, as a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal to end the grinding war between Israel and Hamas is in play.

Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, and national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, will fly to Washington next week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The meetings come as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits the Middle East to try to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas over the proposal, which US President Joe Biden announced earlier this month. It is the last serious attempt to end the war in Gaza.

Biden said Thursday that he does not expect to solidify the agreement in the near future, since it has not been completely embraced by Israel or Hamas.

DEIR Al-BALAH – An Israeli airstrike on a house in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed two people and wounded several others, including children, hospital officials said.

The bodies of the two men were taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

The seven injured, including three children and a woman, were also taken to hospital for treatment.

Earlier in the day, the bodies of two fishermen were taken to hospital after they were shot by Israel’s navy, officials said.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 37,100 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants kidnapped about 250.

BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy – US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he does not expect to reach a ceasefire deal for Gaza in the near future, as Israel and Hamas have not fully embraced a proposal backed by the United States with global support.

Biden said international leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Italy had discussed the ceasefire, but when asked by reporters whether a truce deal would be reached soon, Biden responded simply: “No,” adding: ” “I haven’t lost hope.” .”

Earlier Thursday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan rejected claims that Israel is not fully committed to the proposed ceasefire with Hamas.

“Israel has presented this proposal. It’s been on the table for some time. “Israel has not contradicted or backed down,” Sullivan said. Hamas responded to the plan offering amendments, and Sullivan said the goal is “to figure out how we work to close the remaining gaps and reach an agreement.”

Hamas says the requested changes are aimed at ensuring a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The ceasefire proposal announced by Biden includes those provisions, but Hamas has expressed caution about whether Israel will implement the terms.

At a news conference later on Thursday, Biden said: “The biggest problem so far is that Hamas refuses to sign, even though they have presented something similar.”

He said it remains to be seen if the agreement comes to fruition. But he said he remains committed to pushing for both sides to come together in the three-phase deal he publicly outlined late last month.