At least 22 killed in Lebanon and Gaza strikes as Israeli defence minister rejects ceasefire

An Israeli airstrike destroyed a home in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding 14 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Rescue teams scrambled to pull survivors from under the rubble, Lebanon’s state media said, and a video widely circulated on social media showed the Lebanese Red Cross moving corpses encased in body bags.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike, and the target was not clear. The strike hit the village of Ain Yaaqoub in the northern Akkar region, which is home to Greek Orthodox and Sunni Muslim communities and far from the Hezbollah militant group’s main areas of influence in the south and east.

Israel has struck increasingly deeper into Lebanon since its military escalation and ground invasion against Hezbollah in late September. Israel's first strike in the Akkar region was on 2 November and targeted a bridge near a Lebanese army checkpoint, cutting a key road leading to Syria.

On Monday, another Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in southern Lebanon, killing seven people and wounding seven others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Israel's military said 190 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Monday, with rescue services saying at least five people were injured.

Israel Katz rejects Lebanon ceasefire

On Monday, Lebanon ceasefire talks appeared to gain traction as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top strategic adviser met with US officials in Washington.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the State Department said. He also met White House senior advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk at the White House, according to a US official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, said that Dermer is also expected to meet on Tuesday with national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Dermer is also set to meet with Trump officials during his time in the US.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s new foreign minister told reporters there has been “certain progress” in cease-fire efforts with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dermer is a close confidant of Netanyahu and last week travelled to Russia as part of ceasefire efforts, said an official familiar with the matter.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said Dermer is trying to rally Russian support for enforcing a ceasefire by helping ensure that Iran will no longer smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through Syria, which is a Russian ally.

However, Israel's new Defence Minister Israel Katz ruled out a ceasefire in a post on X on Tuesday, saying the IDF "will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force until the war goals are achieved."

"There will be no cease-fire in Lebanon and there will be no truce," he added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian medical officials say two Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, most in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.

One strike late Monday hit a cafeteria in the Muwasi "humanitarian zone" west of the city of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

Another strike early Tuesday hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people, including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The strike also wounded 11 others, it said.

'Illegal annexation' of West Bank condemned by Josep Borrell

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a speech on Monday that he will push for Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank after US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Smotrich used the biblical term for the territory, saying, “2025 will be the year [...] of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria."

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has built scores of settlements to cement its control over the area. But it has never annexed the territory, which is home to 3 million Palestinians who live under military rule.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and Gaza, to form an independent Palestinian state.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell "unequivocally" condemned Smotrich's speech in a post on X, calling it illegal.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements, where some 500,000 Israelis live, to be illegal and obstacles to peace.

Smotrich, along with other settler leaders, are counting on Trump to resume the pro-settler positions he took during his first term as president.

During the first Trump administration, Washington reversed its longstanding policy and said settlements do not violate international law. Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also made an unprecedented visit to a Jewish settlement during that time.