Latest news from the Middle East: Further evacuations after Israeli airstrikes that kill 8 people in Lebanon

The Israeli military warned people to evacuate more areas of southern Lebanon as at least eight people were killed in airstrikes across the country on Thursday. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said two Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack and a third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said its forces were targeting militants in the area Nur Shams refugee campwhere battles have occurred repeatedly in recent months. The military said it had eliminated a Hamas militant who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis.

Also on Thursday, Israeli police said they had arrested a pair accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information about an Israeli scientist on behalf of Iran.

The situation unfolds as the mediators do stepping up efforts to stop wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, disseminating new proposals to solve the problem regional conflict.

Hezbollah newly appointed leader, Naim Kassemsaid the militant group keep fighting your war with Israel until it is offered ceasefire terms that it finds acceptable.

About 1.2 million people were displaced by the so-called conflict in Lebanon– according to government estimates. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said that more than 2,800 people have been killed and 12,900 injured in retaliation since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel. Israeli ground forces attacked southern Lebanon in early October.

Death toll since over a year With Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has exceeded 43,000, Palestinian officials said on Monday, making no distinction between civilians and fighters. The war began after Hamas-led militants entered Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping 250 other people.

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Here are the latest:

BEIRUT – The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon, including a built-up Palestinian refugee camp. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on Thursday killed at least eight people in different parts of the country.

The Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tire is one of several dating back to ancient times war in the Middle East in 1948when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now Israel.

Israel attacked Lebanon in early October after almost a year of exchanging fire with Hezbollah. The militant group began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack sparked the Gaza war. Iran supports both groups.

Israel warned people to evacuate large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. More than a million people have already left their homes.

According to Lebanese state agency National News, Israeli attacks killed seven people in eastern Lebanon. Another strike on the coastal highway between Tire and Sidon killed a man on a motorcycle.

The news agency also reported a car strike on a main highway through the mountains near the capital, Beirut. It said the strike closed the highway, diverting traffic through nearby villages. There was no immediate information about any casualties.

JERUSALEM – Israeli police said Thursday they had arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information about an Israeli scientist on behalf of Iran.

Israeli security services say they have uncovered several Iranian spy networks in recent months. The two arch-enemies have been engaged in a long-running shadow war since the outbreak of the Gaza war. In April, they exchanged fire directly for the first time then again this month.

In a statement issued Thursday, police and the Shin Bet internal security agency said the arrested man, Rafael Guliev, from the city center of Lod, had been monitoring the Israeli Mossad’s Iranian spy headquarters for Iranians and had collected information about a researcher working at the Institute for National Security Studies, a top Israeli research group advisors. She did not allow the scientist to be identified.

The statement said Guliev was also entrusted with finding the killer, although it did not clearly indicate whether he actually did so.

The statement said that Guliev’s wife, Lala, assisted in the activities.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian officials said an Israeli military airstrike in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people.

The military said its forces were targeting militants in the area Nur Shams refugee campwhere battles have occurred repeatedly in recent months. The military said it had eliminated a Hamas militant in the area who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack and a third by Israeli gunfire.

Israel said its forces were still in the area.

According to the Ministry of Health, at least 763 Palestinians, including more than 165 children, have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since a Hamas attack in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 sparked a war there.

Most of them are militants killed during military operations, but the victims also include civilians and people killed during violent protests.

Since the beginning of the war, Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, and the Palestinians want it to form a major part of their future state. Israel has built dozens of settlements there, which are now home to over 500,000 Israeli settlers.

The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly unlimited Israeli military rule, and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-government in population centers.