According to the Al-Akhbar newspaper: “The solution offered by the American administration to the Israelis is that offered by Hezbollah: cease the war in Gaza and cease fire from Lebanon. The US State Department reports: “Israel tells us it is nearing the end of large-scale military operations in Rafah.” This could lead to a new escalation towards Lebanon or according to others to an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Vasilij Nebenzja during a session at the UN asked on behalf of Russia that Israel abandon the operation in Rafah, asked for the release of the Israeli hostages and the detained Palestinians. Nebenzya welcomed the recent recognition of Palestine as a state by several countries.
Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, supported Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah’s threats and said that Cyprus has become a base for military and intelligence operations, especially in the context of Gaza. He said European agents had turned the island “into a logistics base to cover their military objectives.”
“We constantly see in Turkish intelligence reports that the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus constitutes a base for some countries in operations against Gaza. There is some serious militarization there. And now Southern Cyprus is on track to become a target for Hezbollah,” continued Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Diplomatic sources in Greece are outraged by the words of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who, amid threats from Nasrallah, said that “Greece and Cyprus should keep their distance from Middle East affairs”. Greek media sources called ” unacceptable” the statements of the Turkish Foreign Minister, adding that “Greece will not allow its policies to be dictated by others”.
The Israeli Defense Minister hopes that the end of the current phase in Gaza will restore calm with Lebanon. He said this during the meeting with the American envoy Amos Hochstein, Yoav Gallant informed him that the transition to Phase III of the war in Gaza will have an impact on all sectors (both Gaza and the North). He adds that Israel is preparing for every possibility – military and diplomatic – to resolve the conflict with Hezbollah.
For phase 3, Gallant intends the end of the invasion of Gaza and the stationing of the Israeli army in the newly created buffer zones to maintain raid capacity.
Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview released on June 23, stated that he does not yet want to end the war in Gaza; that he will leave the Gaza Strip once all the hostages have been returned. He reported that he agrees to a partial hostage deal that will return all kidnapped Israelis, after which he can continue the war. And finally he stated that he rejects an agreement to end the war. And he concluded by briefly saying that, after the end of the Rafah operation, he will order the Israeli army to move towards the Lebanese border.
Yedioth Ahronoth: “Does the Israeli army today, stationed in Gaza for eight months, constitute a decisive and reliable force capable of removing the threat of Hezbollah and Hamas in a short and decisive war? Does the Israeli army itself believe it?”.
From Western and Israeli press sources we learn that the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that “The state must begin conscripting students of ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminaries into the army, a decree that creates new political tensions for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” “Netanyahu’s Likud party said the Supreme Court ruling was “disconcerting,” given ongoing efforts in parliament to agree on a new conscription law that would address the problem.”
According to Reuters: “The Prime Minister’s coalition government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties who see conscription exemptions as the key to keeping their voters in religious seminaries and out of a melting pot army that could test their ways . The leaders of these parties said they were disappointed by the ruling but did not immediately threaten the government. However, the prospect of the military, supported by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, starting to recruit seminary students could widen cracks in Netanyahu’s increasingly fragile coalition.”
Starting from June 24th, the movement of a large convoy of Israeli heavy equipment spotted in northern Israel was recorded.
From Palestinian press sources we learn that the sister of the head of the Hamas political office, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by Israeli shelling in a house in the Beach camp, west of Gaza.
Israeli security forces confirmed an attack on the 24th afternoon in Beqaa which targeted a complex of air defense units.
The attacks on the Beqaa Valley on June 24 represent a new phase in this ongoing battle, setting a dangerous new precedent. The rules of engagement to date stipulated that Israel would attack Hezbollah in the Beqaa Valley and target strategic positions only in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack on Israel that targeted strategic facilities or shot down a UAV. Targeting air defenses, more than 100km from the border, means you are only setting the stage for increasing damage and destroying weapons that would be critically needed if this turned into a war.
On June 24, Hezbollah ended the day with four claims: attack on Israeli soldiers between Margaliot and Al-Manara; artillery attack on the soldiers’ resting place on the Kafarshouba hills; attack on a house in the Al-Manara settlement; attack on a house in the Ya’roun settlement. The attack on the houses was a response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese villages and the destruction of houses, including Blida, Maroun and Aitaroun.
The IDF confirmed the attack in a statement: “In the last few hours, IAF fighter planes hit the infrastructure used by Hezbollah’s Air Defense Array in the Baalbek area of Lebanon. Furthermore, today, IAF fighter jets hit Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Aitaroun, Blida and Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon.”
On June 25, drone alert over the Dishon area, where Israeli artillery units are stationed. As part of the initial response to the surprise Israeli aggression in the Beqaa Valley, Hezbollah announced that it had successfully attacked the 91st Division base near Dishon with a swarm of drones. Following the attack, a fire broke out. The Islamic Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack: “an air strike with a squadron of assault drones against a brigade headquarters of the 91st Division in the Nahal Gershom area, east of Dishon, targeting Israeli officers and soldiers, causing numerous casualties among them and the outbreak of a fire inside the headquarters.
The Israeli army attacked the villagers of Taybeh and their vehicles with small suicide drones equipped with shrapnel; Israeli air attack between Odaiseh and the village of Kfarkila on the Lebanese border and another Israeli air attack also in the village of Khiyam.
In a statement, the IDF writes that it conducted an attack on a facility used by Hamas to attack IDF troops. The facility was located within the Islamic University in the Sabra area “was hit by the IAF, with the assistance of IDF ground troops. Hamas and its men used the facility to launch anti-tank missiles and to direct and carry out attacks against IDF troops.”
Also in the IDF statement we read: “IDF ground troops continue targeted intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area. Over the past day, troops eliminated several armed Hamas gunmen and IAF aircraft dismantled numerous Hamas and militia infrastructure sites containing terror tunnels identified by the troops.”
Following shell attacks on communities near the Gaza Strip on the night of June 24, “IAF fighter jets struck military facilities adjacent to where the shells were launched in Gaza. Furthermore, the IAF struck Hamas infrastructure sites, weapons depots and militants in the central Gaza Strip.”
The IDF struck Hamas men operating inside two facilities in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, including some of those involved in the hostage-taking and October 7 massacre.
On the night of the 23rd, under the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck two facilities used by Hamas in Shati and Daraj Tuffah in the northern Gaza Strip. Hamas operated within the school complexes used as a shield for its terrorist activities.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, in collaboration with the Al-Quds Brigades, claim attack against Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the Yabna camp in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, with mortar shells. The Al-Quds Brigades claim bombing of the zionist enemy headquarters with large-caliber mortar rounds in the “Abu Oreiban site” in the “Netzarim” axis. According to the Correspondent of Al-Mayadeen, Hezbollah’s newspaper, in Gaza: “The resistance is engaged in clashes with the occupation forces in the areas west of Rafah.” “Israeli artillery shells the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, south of Gaza City.”
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – Tulkarem: “In a joint operation with Al-Qassam, we targeted a car carrying a number of enemy soldiers behind the wall near Al-Jarushiya.” According to the UNRWA commissioner general: “We are concerned about the situation in the West Bank, which is facing a silent war and the intensity of Israeli military operations in the refugee camps is a sign of this.”
Israeli media finally report suspicions about a security incident near the Yarmouk River, on the border between Jordan and Palestine. At least 6 people crossed the Jordanian-Israeli border and entered the Jordan Valley area without the presence of security forces on site.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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