RE’IM, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military says it will soon launch operations on Lebanon’s southern coast, telling residents to stay off the beaches and fishermen off the sea for a 36-mile stretch along the Mediterranean.
The military’s statement did not specify what operations would be carried out. Israeli forces have been carrying out intensified airstrikes across southern Lebanon and limited ground incursions near the border in a campaign against Hezbollah.
The statement told residents south of Lebanon’s Awali River to stay off beaches and the sea for their safety. The river empties into the Mediterranean about 36 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Meanwhile, Israelis held somber ceremonies Monday to mark a year since the deadliest attack in the country’s history, a Hamas-led raid that shattered its sense of security and has since spiraled into wars on two fronts with no end in sight.
Hamas marked the anniversary of its Oct. 7, 2023, attack by firing a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv, underscoring its resilience after a year of war and devastation in Gaza. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8 in support of its ally Hamas, fired new barrages despite its recent losses.
In Lebanon, an Israeli strike killed at least 10 firefighters, the latest in a series of strikes that have killed dozens of first responders, according to Lebanon ‘s Health Ministry. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said Israeli troops shot and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in a refugee camp, where the military said it opened fire on Palestinians throwing stones at its forces.
Hamas’ surprise cross-border attack one year ago — which caught Israelis unprepared on a major Jewish holiday — shook their faith in their leaders and their military. The militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. Around 100 hostages have not been returned, a third of whom are believed to be dead, and cease-fire efforts have ground to a halt.
The aftershocks are still rippling across the region.
The war in Gaza rages on, and Israel is fighting a new war against Hezbollah, escalating its bombing campaign in Lebanon the past three weeks. There is also a mounting conflict with Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — that threatens to drag the region into an even more dangerous conflagration.
No formal commemorative event is planned in Gaza, where Israel’s assault since Oct. 7 has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, huge areas have been completely destroyed, most of the population have been driven from their homes and hunger is widespread.
Israelis hold memorials and call for the return of hostages
Israelis flocked to ceremonies, cemeteries and memorial sites around the country, remembering the hundreds of victims, the dozens of hostages still in captivity and soldiers killed in battle. Commemorations were also planned across Europe and elsewhere.
Before dawn, hundreds of families of those killed at the Nova music festival, joined by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, gathered at the site where at least 364 revelers were killed and many others taken hostage. As the sun rose, organizers played the same trance track that was abruptly halted when the barrage of rockets began.
At 6:29 a.m. — the exact minute Hamas launched its attack — the crowd observed a moment of silence. A woman’s piercing wail broke the quiet and booms echoed from the fighting in Gaza, just a few kilometers (miles) away.
“When we are here, we are near our loved ones,” said Sigal Bar-On, whose niece, Yuval Bar-On, 25, and her fiancé Moshe Shuva, 34, were killed in the attack two months before they were to be married.
