Lebanon’s Hezbollah has launched more than 50 rockets, hitting a number of private homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The attack on Wednesday came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar as he pressed ahead with the latest diplomatic mission to secure a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain.
Hamas in a new statement called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously and accused the U.S. of acquiescing to what it called “new conditions” from Israel. There was no immediate U.S. response.
First responders in Golan Heights said they treated a 30-year-old man who was moderately wounded with shrapnel injuries in Wednesday’s attack. One house was engulfed in flames, and firefighters said they prevented a bigger tragedy by stopping a gas leak.
Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19. On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles toward Israel, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border, a significant increase in the daily skirmishes.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily strikes for more than 10 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah’s ally, Hamas, in Gaza. The exchanges have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon — mostly militants but also including around 100 civilians and non-combatants — and 23 soldiers and 26 civilians in Israel.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, saying it needs the strategic plateau for its security. The United States is the only country to recognize Israel’s annexation, while the rest of the international community considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory.
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JERUSALEM — Israel police say they arrested five ultra-Orthodox protesters at a demonstration in Jerusalem against mandatory enlistment.
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrated outside of the Israeli military enlistment office in Jerusalem on Wednesday, blocking streets and preventing people who had received summons from the army from presenting themselves for enlistment.
Approximately 3,000 ultra-Orthodox have received summons in the recent weeks after Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the army.
The landmark ruling in June seeks to end a system that has allowed them to avoid enlistment into compulsory military service.
Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women, who serve 2-3 years as well as reserve duty until around age 40.
Roughly 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 13% of Israel’s population and oppose enlistment because they believe studying full time in religious seminaries is their most important duty.
These exemptions have long been a source of anger among the secular public, a divide that has widened during the ten month-old war, as the military has called up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and says it needs all the manpower it can get. Over 600 soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
ISTANBUL — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed developments in the Hamas-Israel cease-fire negotiations in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, a spokesman for the ministry said Wednesday.
