As negotiations between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas over a cessation of fighting continue to stall, tensions are rising as fighting between Israel and neighboring Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah intensifies.
Negotiations are continuing between Israel and Hamas over a cessation of fighting and the release of hostages, with Qatar and other mediators acting as intermediaries, and the influential American newspaper The New York Times reported that Israel and Hamas were negotiating in the Egyptian capital Cairo on the 14th. and intermediary countries will hold official-level consultations for an extended period of three days.
According to sources involved in the negotiations, there is a wide difference in opinion over how many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons should be released in response to the release of one hostage, and it appears that negotiations are still at a difficult stage. .
Under these circumstances, exchanges of attacks continue between Israel and neighboring Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah.
Israeli media reported on the 14th that one soldier was killed and eight others were injured in a rocket attack believed to be carried out by Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon and in a city in northern Israel.
In response, the Israeli military announced that it carried out retaliatory attacks on Hezbollah's strongholds, and Lebanese authorities say that four people, including children, were killed and nine others injured in the Israeli airstrike.
With the prospects for a cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip uncertain, tensions are rising as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which shows solidarity with Hamas, is intensifying.