Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, in response to the wave of Israeli attacks, Hezbollah launched a volley of missiles towards
00:06Israel. Most have been intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, but some damage
00:11was reported and air raid sirens sounded in the city of Haifa.
00:16Less people, less people in the streets. Yes, of course. People are afraid. Where to reach
00:23them? They want to be protected near home. How do you say? Near the shelter.
00:33Every couple of years there is a war and I don't think it is the last war. Probably it's
00:38going to end like always with a cold peace or a cold war for a couple of years and then
00:46something will ignite the situation again.
00:49Well, let's go from Haifa then live to Jerusalem. Clare Pakkala is our reporter covering developments
00:55from there. Clare, good to speak to you. What is the latest today on the Israeli side?
01:03Certainly air raid sirens sounding out across northern Israel, particularly in the lower,
01:10central and upper areas of Galilee, as well as as far south as Haifa, as we saw that port
01:16city, the area around Haifa and Nazareth too. Now, the Israeli army says it has intercepted
01:22most of those rockets coming from Hezbollah. But of course, when they're intercepted, debris
01:29is created. And a man just outside to the south of Haifa was injured by shrapnel. He
01:35said to be in a stable condition. And an Israeli reservist soldier also suffered light injuries
01:41and is also being treated in hospital. That's according to the Israeli army. This, of course,
01:46as Israel continues what it's calling its Operation Northern Arrows, so pounding areas
01:53of Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah there. And we understand the death toll in Lebanon since
01:59yesterday only is already over 500 people, already over 500 people in Lebanon have been
02:05killed in this Operation Northern Arrows, which Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah
02:10command centres and weapons stockpiles. And Clare, look, just a moment ago, we played
02:15that soundbite from Benjamin Netanyahu, where he was saying that, look, Israel is not at
02:21war with Lebanon, it is at war with Hezbollah. How would you characterise the Prime Minister's
02:27strategy at the moment? Well, certainly, as with Hamas saying that Hezbollah is using
02:36the Lebanese people as human shields, as Israel says Hamas is using people in Gaza as human
02:42shields, that's part of the strategy, but also clearly focusing the attention now on
02:48the north, taking it away from Gaza, where peace talks, ceasefire talks really are at
02:53a stalemate at the moment. There are still Israeli hostages in Gaza and that focusing
03:00the attention on these military gains that Israel has made when it comes to Hezbollah.
03:06We saw that beginning last week with the attacks on the pages and walkie-talkies that Hezbollah
03:11fighters use exploding in their pockets. Israel has also had success in taking out
03:17one by one the top brass of Hezbollah, some of its key people in the organisation. Then
03:23of course also this pounding that Israel has inflicted on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
03:30in the last 24 hours. Clearly, for Benjamin Netanyahu, this is a way to shift focus away
03:37from Gaza. What will it mean of course for the Israeli hostages who are still in Gaza?
03:43Some Israelis will say that it's a good thing, forcing Hezbollah to pull out support for
03:49Hamas and getting a ceasefire deal through the door and liberating those Israeli hostages
03:54still in Gaza. Others Israelis will say that this strategy of Benjamin Netanyahu is once
04:01again abandoning the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Certainly neither side looks ready to back
04:06down so we are seeing an escalation in this conflict today.