Israel’s aggressions around the Middle East haven’t ceased with the recent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The pact, established on October 10, has eased the pressure on Palestinians in Gaza, even if Israeli strikes there continue. And in other parts of the region, Israel is still attacking on multiple fronts.
Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank have all witnessed Israeli strikes in the last week, giving credence to the idea that Israel is trying to keep its neighbours destabilised and weak.
United States officials visited Israel this week, but Tel Aviv’s biggest backer didn’t seem to indicate it was ready to hold the country accountable for its regional belligerence, focusing its attention on Gaza.
Here’s all you need to know about Israel’s latest attacks around the region.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank
Israel is cracking down hard on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023 in the West Bank alone and has intensified its efforts to annex the occupied territory.
For the second straight week, Israeli soldiers and settlers are harassing and arresting Palestinians trying to harvest their olives.
One of the Palestinians Israel recently detained had been released during January’s short-lived ceasefire in a prisoner exchange, then was rearrested, according to Wafa news agency.
The violence on the ground is matched by rhetoric from Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who urged his supporters to pressure US President Donald Trump to support the West Bank’s annexation.
He has also said that Israel should declare “sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank, saying this would stymie the “dangerous idea of a Palestinian state”.
Syria
The Israeli military has been especially active in Syria in recent days, with local media reporting nearly daily incursions into Syrian territory along the southern border.
Last December, as the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad fell, Israel encroached on Syria’s territory and attacked its military infrastructure around the country.
Israel has kept up its incursions, even though Syria’s new government has not reciprocated Israel’s aggressions.
The incursions include reconnaissance overflights, ground infiltration by Israeli soldiers, arrests and disappearances of Syrians, and establishing checkpoints on Syrian territory, according to Syrian media.
Israel’s latest aggression took place Sunday morning in the villages of al-Razaniyah and Sayda al-Hanout, in the countryside of Quneitra, Syrian state media outlet SANA reported.
“A unit of the Israeli forces, consisting of four military vehicles, established a checkpoint between the two villages. During the operation, the forces detained a local bread distributor who was serving the surrounding villages near Sayda, before releasing him and withdrawing from the area,” a SANA reporter said.
Numerous villages in Quneitra, southern Syria, have experienced Israeli incursions in recent weeks, according to Syrian outlet Enab Baladi.
At the United Nations Security Council session on October 24, Syria’s UN Representative Ibrahim Olabi said Israel must refrain from interfering in Syria’s internal affairs and should stop its incursions into Syrian territory.
He also condemned Israel’s continued occupation of Syrian territory, including the Golan Heights.
Olabi said Israel’s “aggressive” practices violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Syria and Israel. Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement is void since the fall of al-Assad.
Lebanon
Next door in Lebanon, Israel has continued its regular violations of the ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The south has been subject to particularly heavy bombing by Israel in recent days.
On Monday, UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL shot an Israeli drone out of the sky after it claimed the drone dropped a grenade close to a patrol. UNIFIL said an Israeli tank then shot at peacekeepers, with no casualties caused. Attacks on UNIFIL by Israel are not unprecedented.
Earlier, on Sunday, Israel killed two people, one in Nabi Chit, Baalbek, and another in Naqoura, south Lebanon.
Israel’s war on Lebanon ended on November 27, 2024, when a ceasefire was signed between the Lebanese government and Israel.
But the Israeli military did not fully withdraw its troops from Lebanon and continued to bombard the country on a near-daily basis.
Recent attacks have destroyed reconstruction equipment and killed civilians, with Israeli media claiming these strikes are to deter Hezbollah from rebuilding in the south.
Israel and the US are insisting that the Lebanese government disarm Hezbollah completely, a demand beyond what was stipulated in the ceasefire, which called for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has announced its intent to disarm Hezbollah, but has pressed the US to hold Israel accountable for its ceasefire violations, including its continued occupation of at least five points in Lebanese territory.
Lebanese media, however, reports that US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has been unable to convince Israel to leave Lebanese territory or cease its aggression, leaving many Lebanese fearful of a return to last year’s violence, when Israel killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced over one million.
Israeli media also reported that their army recently ran military drills simulating a Hezbollah invasion, despite experts and diplomats telling Al Jazeera that the group is currently incapable of such an attack.
Gaza
US Vice President JD Vance said during a visit to Israel last week that the ceasefire agreed on October 10 between Hamas and Israel is going “better than expected”.
Yet, Israel has continued to launch strikes across Gaza and kill people, leaving the definition of what the US administration was expecting quite vague.
Outside of its continuing attacks, Israel is also undermining the ceasefire agreement by creeping deeper into Gaza, overstepping an invisible “yellow line” it was supposed to withdraw to, as reported by the BBC.
While Israeli attacks are less frequent than before the ceasefire, Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israel persists in Gaza. In addition to its continued choking off of aid supplies entering Gaza, Israel has continued to increase its death toll.
It killed one Palestinian and injured four others in a drone attack Saturday night in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, according to a statement by al-Awda Hospital. Nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect.
Meanwhile, Israel is also blocking sick people from leaving via the Rafah border crossing.
Rasha Abu Sbeaka told Al Jazeera on Sunday that she has stage three cancer and needs to leave Gaza for adequate medical treatment after Israel destroyed the Gaza Strip’s medical infrastructure.
Yet, there is no relief in sight for Abu Sbeaka, who is still waiting for Israel to allow her to travel for treatment.
