Three Hezbollah Fighters Killed in Israeli Attack

The militant group Hezbollah announced on Wednesday, June 30, that Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon killed three of its fighters. This comes as Amos Hochstein, the U.S. envoy for Lebanon, who is tasked with preventing the escalation of the ongoing war in the Middle East, has returned to Israel after meetings with Lebanese officials. Lebanese state media reported multiple Israeli attacks along the border and in an area north of the coastal city of Tyre, about 30 kilometers from the border. The Israeli army stated that two shots fired by Hezbollah damaged several vehicles in northern Israel. Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, returned to Israel after meetings on Tuesday in Lebanon. There has been no statement on whether he made any progress in his efforts to prevent a wider war. Hezbollah, which is supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, opened a new front against Israel in the north following Israel's retaliatory attack on Hamas, engaging in the conflict. Many fear these clashes could escalate into a full-scale war. Meanwhile, in southern Gaza, according to residents and Palestinian doctors, Israeli tanks, supported by warplanes and drones, entered deeper into the western part of the city of Rafah on Wednesday. Eight people were also reported killed in that day's clashes. Israel claims it has entered Rafah to completely destroy the remaining Hamas brigades. Colonel Liron Batito, head of the Givati Brigade, told Israeli army radio, 'The Hamas brigades there have not yet been worn down sufficiently, and we must completely dismantle them.' He estimated that if the fighting continues at its current intensity, it could last about a month. On the other hand, the United Nations Human Rights Office announced on Wednesday that Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated the laws of war and made no distinction between civilians and fighters in the Gaza conflict. Meanwhile, the head of a UN investigative group accused the Israeli army of 'exterminating' Palestinians. Israel does not cooperate with those investigations and claims that the basis of the investigation is anti-Israeli. To respond to the allegations made by the UN, Israel selected the mother of a hostage to speak on its behalf and criticized the report for not paying attention to those who were kidnapped by Hamas during the 'October 7' attack and taken hostage in Gaza. Miraav Gonen, the mother of Romi Gonen, a 23-year-old hostage, cried out, 'We can do better than this for the hostages. The hostages need us.' The Hamas group, supported by the Iranian government, killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in a terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 15 last year. Following this attack, Israel launched an assault on Gaza, stating it would continue the war in Gaza until the 'destruction of Hamas.' The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, and Israel are among the countries that have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. This report utilized information from Reuters and the Associated Press.