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JERUSALEM: Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first on the north since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The strike came amid ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar and as five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year.
Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite the November truce, mainly hitting what it says are Hezbollah targets but also occasionally targeting Hamas.
“A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck a key Hamas terrorist in the area of Tripoli in Lebanon,” the Israeli army said in a statement, without providing further details.
In an updated toll, Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike on a vehicle “killed three people and wounded 13” in an area that is close to a Palestinian refugee camp.
An AFP photographer saw a burnt out car surrounded by the emergency services and onlookers.
Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of cross-border hostilities launched by Hezbollah in October 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally.
Israel has struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon, including since the ceasefire.
In May, Hamas said one of its commanders was killed in a strike on the southern city of Sidon as Israel said it targeted “the head of operations in Hamas’s Western Brigade in Lebanon.”
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon remain common, but raids on the north have been rare.
In October, Hamas said one of its operatives was killed along with his wife and two daughters in a strike on their home in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. Israel’s military said it targeted “a senior member of Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon.”
In May, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas visited Beirut for talks on disarming militants in refugee camps across Lebanon as the Beirut government seeks to impose its authority across all its territory.
The Israeli military said earlier that it had killed two militants of the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah in two separate attacks on southern Lebanon Monday.
It identified one of them as Ali Haidar, a local Hezbollah commander whom it said was involved in restoring militant infrastructure sites in the area.
Hezbollah’s clout has diminished after it emerged bruised from a conflict with Israel last year, fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, however, has kept up strikes against Hezbollah despite the ceasefire.
Israel said last week that it was “interested” in striking peace agreements with Lebanon and neighboring Syria.
The ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese group launched a wave of cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.