Live blog: ++ USA: Israel’s troop reduction in Gaza helps Hamas ++

According to US experts, Israel’s army risks playing into the hands of Hamas with lower troop numbers in the Gaza Strip. French President Macron calls on Israel to show restraint in Lebanon. All developments in the live blog.

According to a media report, after the killing of a Hamas leader in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the government in Lebanon is in contact with Hezbollah to prevent them from a possible backlash. Acting Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told British radio station BBC 4 on Tuesday evening that his government was speaking to Hezbollah to “convince them that they should not react themselves.”

The deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Saleh al-Aruri, was killed in an explosion in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday evening. He is the highest-ranking Hamas leader to date to be deliberately killed during the Gaza war.

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has rejected US criticism of his move to resettle Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. “The United States is our best friend, but first and foremost we will do what is best for the State of Israel,” said Ben Gvir on the online service X, formerly Twitter. “The relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans” would allow Israeli residents of the Gaza belt to “return home and live in safety,” argued the security minister from the ultra-right Otzma Jehudit party.

The US had previously criticized statements by Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which they called for the resettlement of Palestinians and the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip.

According to US experts, Israel’s army risks playing into the hands of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza war if the bombings ease up so far. Israeli forces moved to a phase of targeted strikes with smaller troop numbers in northern Gaza, which will likely allow Hamas to regroup militarily, a report from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Israel’s army recently withdrew five brigades and allowed some reservists to temporarily return to civilian life. Israel’s army has decimated several Hamas units and disabled others, especially in the northern Gaza Strip. “But Hamas’ military forces are currently neither defeated nor destroyed,” the ISW said. “Rather, a relaxation of Israeli pressure would allow Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities and infrastructure,” it said.

Following the alleged Israeli-initiated killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the Israeli government to “avoid any escalatory behavior, particularly in Lebanon.” The Elysee Palace in Paris announced this in the evening after Macron’s phone call with Benny Gantz, minister in Israel’s war cabinet, according to media reports. France will continue to convey these messages of restraint to all actors directly or indirectly involved in the area, it said.

According to a media report, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon is said to have a more sophisticated tunnel system than the radical Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The underground routes ran hundreds of kilometers in southern Lebanon all the way to the border with Israel, the Times of Israel newspaper reported, citing intelligence expert Tal Beeri. The head of the Alma Research and Education Center, which deals with security issues on Israel’s northern border, says he has been researching the Iranian-backed Shiite militia’s tunnel network in Lebanon for years based on publicly available information.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has accused Israel of “unconscionable” attacks on a hospital in the embattled city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service, at least five civilians were killed in the attacks, including a five-day-old infant, wrote WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the online platform X, formerly Twitter, that night. 14,000 people were accommodated in Al-Amal Hospital. Many of them would have left by now. “Today’s bombings are ruthless,” Tedros wrote.

The US rejects calls from Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir that Palestinians should emigrate from the Gaza Strip. “This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,” the State Department said. “We have stated clearly, consistently and unequivocally that the Gaza Strip is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land.” However, Hamas is not allowed to have control over the area.

The British Maritime Safety Authority (UKMTO) has again reported explosions near a cargo ship in the Red Sea. Up to three detonations occurred at a distance of one to five nautical miles from the ship, which was in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Eritrea and Yemen, the UKMTO said in a short report on the online service X in the evening.

It was also said that there was no known damage to the ship and that the crew was safe. Since the war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip began in early October, the Houthi militia has repeatedly attacked ships off the coast of Yemen.

Despite the announced withdrawal of troops from Gaza, Defense Minister Gallant has made it clear that there is no end to the war in sight. Survivors of the October 7 attack are suing Israel’s security authorities. Tuesday’s developments to read.