A cautious calm returned on Friday morning to the Israeli borders with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip following a night of Israeli shelling targeting sites in southern Lebanon and Gaza, with Palestinian factions responding by launching rockets into southern Israel. The Israeli army announced the cancellation of security instructions in areas adjacent to Gaza, signaling a return to normalcy, which also occurred in the north.
The Israeli army shelled sites in southern Lebanon and Gaza late Thursday night into Friday, while Palestinian factions in Gaza fired rockets into southern Israel. For the third consecutive day, violent clashes occurred at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli army reported that it attacked targets linked to the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” in Lebanon during the early hours of Friday. The National Office for the Litani River reported that the airstrikes damaged facilities of the irrigation project in the Qlayla area. Eyewitnesses stated that they found remnants of a rocket at the entrance of the Rashidiya camp near a Lebanese army checkpoint, where a house and a sheep farm were damaged.
UNIFIL forces reported that both sides "do not want war," urging them to de-escalate. They announced that the Israeli army had informed them of its intention to respond to the rockets fired from southern Lebanon. It was clarified that "both sides stated that they do not want war." The Lebanese army reported finding a rocket launcher containing several undispatched rockets in Marjeyoun plain. The army unit is currently working to dismantle it.
In its first comment on the Israeli shelling, Hamas condemned the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and held "the Zionist entity and its leadership responsible for the repercussions of targeting the surroundings of the city of Tyre."
In Gaza, as the Israeli bombardment renewed since midnight, Palestinian factions announced the launch of a surface-to-air missile towards Israeli aircraft in the Gaza sky. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority stated that 44 rockets were fired from Gaza towards settlements adjacent to the strip, resulting in injuries to one settler.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli army began on Friday to bolster its regular ground forces in the Gaza Strip area and the northern border, indicating that it targeted 3 locations in Lebanon and 10 in Gaza, as well as two tunnels and two weapons manufacturing sites belonging to "Hamas" in northern and central Gaza.
The Israeli Airports Authority announced that it decided to redirect civil aviation from Ben Gurion International Airport to alternative routes. Additionally, tens of thousands of worshippers performed the Fajr prayer at the Qibli Mosque in Al-Aqsa, followed by a protest in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa denouncing recent violations.
