NEW YORK (AP) - Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant officially stepped down Friday in a ceremony that replaced him with Israel Katz, the former foreign minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this week.
Israel has been rocked by Gallant’s dismissal, with the news setting off mass protests across the country. Many in Israel view Gallant as the sole moderate voice in a far-right government, and see his removal as a sign that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu has lost interest in returning hostages still held in Gaza.
Israel Katz, his replacement, currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister.
Also Friday, the Israeli military body handling aid to Gaza, COGAT, said it is preparing to open a new aid crossing into Gaza as the deadline for a U.S. deadline to increase desperately-needed aid into the war-ravaged territory approaches. But the body did not say when the crossing will open nor if aid will be delivered to north of Gaza, where the UN and aid groups say the humanitarian situation is most dire.
The United Nations humanitarian office says Israel’s monthlong offensive in northern Gaza is preventing the estimated 75,000 to 95,000 Palestinians in the north from receiving essential items for their survival.
The Israel-Hamas war began after militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,100 people have been killed and some 13,800 wounded in Lebanon, the health ministry reported.
The force, known as UNIFIL, is in southern Lebanon to monitor the border between Israel and Lebanon.
UNIFL said in a statement Friday that the Israeli military used two excavators and a bulldozer to destroy part of a fence and a concrete structure at the peacekeeping mission’s position in Ras Naqoura on Thursday. UNIFL said that in response to its “urgent protest,” the Israeli Defense Forces denied any activity was taking place inside the UNIFIL position.
UNIFIL also said the Israeli military this week destroyed and removed two blue barrels that mark the border.
The statement was accompanied by a photo of one blue barrel on its side and a short video of an excavator working in an area where a U.N. flag was flying.
Since Israel launched a ground war in Lebanon in September, UNIFIL has accused its military of shooting and wounding peacekeepers and attacking UNIFIL positions.
The Israeli military has repeatedly demanded that peacekeepers leave their positions for their safety. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
“Yesterday’s incident, like seven other similar incidents, is not a matter of peacekeepers getting caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the IDF,” the UNIFIL statement said.
15 people killed in Lebanon in past day, health ministry says BEIRUT— Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday that 15 people were killed and 69 wounded Thursday, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 3,117 killed and 13,888 wounded. One-quarter of them are women and children.
The health ministry said that over the past year, 2,242 men, 617 women and 192 children were killed.
In the health care sector, the ministry said that 180 health workers have been killed, 306 wounded and 244 medical vehicles damaged since Oct. 8, 2023. Additionally, 87 medical and ambulatory centers have been affected, along with 65 hospitals.