Israel strike on car in south Lebanon kills at least one: state media

Teenager on bicycle stabs two Israelis at West Bank checkpoint

March 13, 2024 02:54 PM

At least one person was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the official National News Agency reported.

Since war erupted between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Hamas in October, Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire across the border, raising fears of all-out war.

An AFP photographer saw rescue workers collecting human remains and the mangled wreck of a car engulfed by flames near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal city of Tyre.

The identity of the person killed was not immediately known.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement says it is acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas with its attacks on Israel, while Israel has launched increasingly deep strikes into Lebanese territory, including targeting Hezbollah and Hamas officials.

On Tuesday, Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon killed two Hezbollah members, after a strike in the same region deep inside the country on Monday killed one person.

Hezbollah early Tuesday said it launched "more than 100 Katyusha rockets" at two military bases in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights "in response to Israeli attacks... most recently near the city of Baalbek", a bastion of the group in the east.

Since hostilities began, at least 320 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters but also 54 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally.

In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in the cross-border hostilities.

Teenager on bicycle stabs two Israelis at West Bank checkpoint

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy riding a bicycle stabbed two Israeli security personnel at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday before he was shot dead, police said.

The attack occurred at around 8:15 am (0615 GMT) at the Tunnels checkpoint south of Jerusalem when the teenager arrived on a bicycle, the force said in a statement.

"When security forces at the crossing attempted to check him, the terrorist drew a knife and began stabbing the forces present at the scene," the police said.

"An armed civilian guard immediately engaged with the terrorist, and simultaneously IDF (army) forces at the location responded with precise gunfire neutralising the terrorist."

A female soldier and a civilian armed guard were wounded in the stabbing, the police said, adding their injuries were "mild to moderate".

Police later pronounced the attacker dead.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that the Palestinian teenager was "left to bleed until he died" by security forces at the checkpoint.

The knife attack comes a day after a 12-year-old Palestinian boy died after being shot by Israeli border police at a refugee camp in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, 12, suffered a fatal gunshot wound during clashes between residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and police, who said the child had aimed fireworks at them.

Hundreds of extra police have been deployed in the Old City of east Jerusalem since the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began on Monday.