al jazeera

By Zaheena Rasheed and Alastair Mccready
    Israel’s prime minister reiterates his intention to attack Rafah with ground forces to “finish the job” against Hamas as US allies say no “credible” plan exists to protect the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there.
   Intense battles are ongoing between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
   Three Palestinian civilians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem, including a teenage boy playing with firecrackers.
   At least 31,184 Palestinians have been killed and 72,889 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139 and dozens continue to be held captive.

    What’s happening on Israel-Lebanon border?

    Exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border have escalated, with Israeli forces striking deep into Lebanese territory for a second consecutive day as the Hezbollah armed group kept up its rocket launches.

    The Lebanese group, early on Tuesday, said it had fired at least 100 Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, targeting Israeli air defence and missile command headquarters at the Kilaa Barracks as well as a missile and artillery base in Yoav.

    It said the attacks were in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in response to Israeli shelling of the Bekaa Valley region that killed at least one person on Monday night.

    Later on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it carried out more attacks on the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold located near Lebanon’s border with Syria. The Israeli military said it “struck two Hezbollah military command centers” in the Baalbek area.

    At the time of the attacks, Lebanon’s NNA news agency said at least one person was killed and 10 more wounded in the attacks, while Hezbollah later said two of its members were killed in the attacks.

    The violence is the worst since Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006.

    The Reuters news agency says Israeli attacks since October have killed more than 200 Hezbollah fighters and some 50 civilians in Lebanon. In Israel, about a dozen soldiers and six civilians have been killed, it said.

    Canada commits $1m to support Palestinian victims of sexual violence

    Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has pledged $1m to support investigations into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian women.

    “We believe Palestinian women. Allegations on sexual and gender-based violence against them must be investigated and Palestinian women must be supported,” Joly wrote on X.

    The move comes two days after Joly said Canada would provide $1m to organisations supporting survivors of sexual violence during Hamas’s attacks on October 7.

    Two Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli attacks

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says two of its fighters from the Bekaa Valley have been killed after Israeli warplanes launched attacks on the area for a second consecutive day.

    The group announced the deaths in a statement late on Tuesday.

    The Bekaa Valley – a stronghold of the Lebanese armed group – is near Lebanon’s border with Syria.

    US military says Houthis fired missile at USS Laboon

    The US military Central Command (CENTCOM) has said that the Houthis have fired a close-range ballistic missile at the USS Laboon in the Red Sea.

    The missile did not impact the vessel and there were no reported injuries. The US military also destroyed two unmanned aerial systems launched from Yemen.

    The Houthis have pledged to escalate their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, carried out in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza, during the month of Ramadan.