6 Israeli soldiers killed in combat in southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said six soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

It was one of the deadliest days for the Israeli military inside Lebanon during its current ground invasion, and came just one day after Israel’s new foreign minister said there was ” certain progress ” in efforts to end the fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

More than 370 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza and Lebanon in the past year. The army did not provide details on how the six soldiers died Wednesday.

Israel forces invaded south Lebanon on Oct. 1. Israel says it is destroying Hezbollah weapons and command centers near the border, including an extensive tunnel system built by Hezbollah.

Several Israeli airstrikes targeted a city in western Syria near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday, Syrian state media said. Israel’s warplanes hit bridges and military checkpoints in the area around al-Qusayr and led to the activation of air defenses.

Meanwihile, the Israeli military acknowledged Wednesday it was building along the Alpha Line that separates the Golan Heights from Syria.

The acknowledgment comes after an Associated Press report on Monday published satellite images of the work.

The Israeli military “is working to establish a security barrier on Israeli territory exclusively in order to thwart a possible terrorist invasion and protect the security of Israel’s borders,” it said in a statement.

In Gaza, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group released a new video showing an Israeli hostage who has been held in Gaza for over a year.

The video shows Sasha Troufanov, likely speaking under duress, describing the harsh conditions inside Gaza, warning against military operations to free him and calling on Israelis to protest for his release.

It was the first such video to be released in several weeks. It was not clear when it was filmed, but Troufanov appeared to refer to Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and its recent exchange of fire with Iran.

Islamic Jihad took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 people hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Islamic Jihad released two previous videos of Troufanov earlier this year. He turned 29 on Monday, marking his second birthday in captivity.

The U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent most of this year trying to broker a cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting cease-fire, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retain Israeli control over parts of Gaza and to continue the war until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of the remaining captives.

Elsewhere, at the United Nations, Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the U.N. agency known as UNRWA, urged a U.N. General Assembly committee Wednesday to prevent Israel from implementing legislation that prohibits the agency’s operations in the Palestinian territories. The laws, adopted by Israel’s parliament last month, take effect in 90 days.

Israel alleges that around a dozen of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. It recently provided the U.N. with over 100 names of UNRWA staff it claims have militant ties — but Lazzarini said he has received no response to repeated requests for evidence, including proposing how sensitive information could be shared.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon — with the mother of a young Israeli kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, allegedly by an UNRWA employee who was a Hamas member, seated by his side — responded to Lazzarini saying: “We have a video of this terrorist. You don’t need more evidence than that.”

“If you have any decency, resign in shame,” Danon told the UNRWA chief, accusing the agency of trading “humanity for bloodshed.”