Hamas urges U.S. to pressure Israel in effort to reach ceasefire (2024)

The IDF said Thursday that Israeli fighter jets attacked terrorist infrastructure and buildings used for military purposes in southern Lebanon overnight.

The statement added that an interceptor missile had been launched at a suspicious target that turned out to be misidentification and that the siren in the Western Galilee at just after 5 A.M. local time had been activated due to concerns over falling interceptor fragments.

The Israel Defense Forces launched land, sea and air strikes on Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip early Thursday, CNN reported, citing the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

According to the report, Israel was bombarding an area it had previously designated as a "safe zone." WAFA added that the attacks included navy boats firing heavy machine guns.

CNN said it has contacted the IDF for comment on the WAFA report.

Hamas said on Wednesday it has shown "full positivity" in efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel in the Gaza Strip conflict.

In a statement, the Palestinian group said it urged the U.S., Israel's biggest ally, to pressure Israel to accept a deal leading to a permanent ceasefire in the enclave.

Hamas said that while U.S. officials have said Israel has accepted a ceasefire proposal outlined by President Joe Biden on May 31, "we have not heard any Israeli official confirm this acceptance."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has told Rolling Stone magazine that a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip would be the first step toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a wide-ranging interview, Harris said that "far too many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed [in Gaza]. We are looking at famine conditions. Aid must get in. And hostages must be freed. And we need a two-state solution. And we need to have a cease-fire to get to a place where we can start building toward a two-state solution."

"Palestinians are entitled to security and dignity and self-determination," the vice president added. "And Israelis are entitled to security and safety."

Likewise, she said that "we must fight what we have seen as a rise of antisemitism around the world. And we must fight Islamophobia."

Speaking about the recent protests against Israel in American cities, Harris said that "protest has been a part of every movement for the expansion of rights and freedoms in our country. It's part of what makes us a democracy that we support that approach. We are not an autocracy that shuts down protest. And we expect peaceful protest."

Iran-allied Houthi militants on Wednesday claimed that they carried out two joint military operations with Islamic Resistance in Iraq, targeting sites in the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Haifa. The latter group confirmed the operations.

The Houthis also took responsibility for small watercraft and missile attacks that left a Greek-owned cargo ship taking on water and in need of rescue near Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

The Houthis said the Tutor coal carrier was seriously damaged and vulnerable to sinking after they targeted the vessel with an unmanned surface boat, drones and ballistic missiles.

"The impact of the (unmanned surface vessel) caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room," U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said of the attack, which was the Houthis' first to use a boat successfully as a weapon.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night after not being summoned to a security discussion.

"The excuses are over," Ben-Gvir wrote. "You're the prime minister, and you can't even hide behind [former war cabinet members Benny] Gantz and [Gadi] Eisenkot."

"Well done for the elimination [of a senior Hezbollah commander] in Lebanon, but hundreds of missiles are not responded to with precise operations," Ben-Gvir wrote. "There is no doubt that the prime minister's obscene practice of excluding me from security discussions 'proved itself' during the events of October 7."