Middle East latest: Israeli forces are retaking a key corridor that cuts Gaza in half

The Israeli military said Wednesday it launched a "limited ground operation" to retake part of a key corridor that bisects northern Gaza from the south.

The assault into the Netzarim corridor appears to deepen Israel's renewed offensive in Gaza, which shattered a ceasefire with Hamas on Tuesday in a wave of heavy strikes. More than 400 Palestinians were killed, nearly two-thirds of them women and children, the Health Ministry said. Its records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry’s records department, said Tuesday was the deadliest day in Gaza since the start of the war. The strikes have continued into Wednesday but at a lower intensity.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims — destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the militant group since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel ignited the war. Hamas has yet to respond militarily.

Here's the latest:

Syrian government and Kurdish officials discuss merging their armed forces

The new Syrian government wants to bring Syria's breakaway Kurdish militias back under government control, but the details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.

Government officials met Wednesday in the northeastern province of Hassakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the U.S.

The meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.

The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.

Witnesses describe strikes on a UN building in Gaza

Palestinians living close to a U.N. building in Gaza that was hit by a deadly strike on Wednesday say the facility had been struck multiple times by tank shelling in recent days.

Naief al-Lahham said the building was hit by tank shelling Tuesday evening, but it didn’t result in casualties.

On Wednesday morning, he heard two explosions minutes apart, he told the AP, adding that the attack came from an Israeli position just east of the building. A U.N. staffer was killed and at least five others wounded.

The explosion shook al-Lahham’s house, damaging its windows. He said he was lightly injured by pieces of glass.

The U.N. says it had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that the military was aware of the facility’s location. Israel denies targeting the U.N. compound.

Hamas says Israel has fully backed out of the ceasefire deal by retaking Gaza corridor

A spokesman for Hamas said Israel’s closure of the main north-south route in Gaza, the Salahuddin road, is part of Israel’s “blockade on Gaza.”

“The Zionist occupation, under American cover and international silence, is destroying life in Gaza and reneging on the signed agreement,” Abdel-Latif al-Qanou said in a statement Wednesday.

Israel has closed all Gaza’s border crossings since the beginning of the month and banned the entry of food and other supplies. There had been a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza during the ceasefire.

Al-Qanoua said Hamas is willing to engage with any proposal leading to starting negotiations on implementing the ceasefire's second phase.

He said the only person who benefits from resuming the war is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while it “threatens the life of the hostages in Gaza."

Both Israel and the United States blame the renewed hostilities on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages before negotiations on ending the war proceed — which was not part of the ceasefire agreement.

The Israeli military says it launched a 'limited ground operation to retake part of a key Gaza corridor

As part of the ceasefire, Israel had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor, which it had used as a military zone and which bisected northern Gaza from the south.

The move appeared to deepen the renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which shattered the two-month-long ceasefire with Hamas.

Israeli defense minister says evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza combat zones will start again soon

In a statement Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel was preparing to step up its new offensive.

Katz said that if the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are not freed, “Israel will act with an intensity that you have not seen.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to what remained of their homes and Israeli forces had pulled back to a buffer zone during the ceasefire in Gaza, which began in late January.

Lebanese army deploys in northeast border town after dayslong clashes

The clashes along the Lebanon-Syria border, where smuggling is widespread, was the worst fighting there since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in December.

The fighting happened after Syria’s interim government accused militants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group of crossing into Syria on Saturday, abducting and killing three soldiers. Hezbollah denied involvement and some other reports pointed to local clans in the border region that are not directly affiliated with Hezbollah but have been involved in cross-border smuggling. The Lebanese government said the three Syrians killed were smugglers.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said seven people in Lebanon were killed in the fighting, and 52 others were wounded. Four Syrian journalists embedded with the Syrian army were lightly wounded after an artillery shell fired from the Lebanese side of the border hit their position.

UN says an international staffer was killed and at least 5 others wounded by a strike in the Gaza Strip

An international United Nations staffer was killed and at least five others were wounded in a strike on a U.N. guesthouse in the Gaza Strip, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the U.N. Office for Project Services, declined to say who carried out the strike but said the explosive ordnance was “dropped or fired” and the blast was not accidental or related to demining activity. UNOPS operates the mechanism tracking aid trucks into Gaza, does demining and helps bring fuel in.

He did not provide the nationalities of those killed and wounded.

The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes since early Tuesday, denied earlier reports that it had targeted the U.N. compound. There have been no reports of rocket fire or other Palestinian militant attacks.

Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the staffer was killed. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that the military was aware of the facility’s location.

“Israel knew this was a U.N. premise, that people were living, staying and working there,” he said.

At least 436 dead in airstrikes, Gaza Health Ministry says

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 436 people, mostly women and children, have been killed since Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes early Tuesday.

The ministry said another 678 people have been wounded in the strikes, which continued into Wednesday but at a lower intensity.

The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

The ministry said at least 183 children and 94 women have been killed since the strikes began early Tuesday. Its records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israeli military denies striking UN compound in Gaza

The Israeli military has denied striking a United Nations compound in central Gaza.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike on a U.N. building in Gaza on Wednesday wounded five international staffers.

There was no immediate comment from U.N. officials.

“Contrary to reports, the (Israeli military) did not strike a U.N. compound” in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the army said in a statement.

Macron calls Israeli strikes in Gaza ‘tragic step backwards’

French President Emmanuel Macron said Israel’s airstrikes are “tragic step backwards” for the Palestinian people and for Gaza, and for Israeli hostages and their families.

Macron, speaking alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II on a visit to France, called for an immediate end to hostilities and resumption of negotiations including with the U.S. administration toward a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages.

The two leaders were also expected to discuss the need to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and restoring access to water and electricity in the Palestinian territory, Macron’s office said.

Malaysia will accept 15 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons

Malaysia said it will accept 15 Palestinians who were released from Israeli jails and exiled as part of the January ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said in remarks published Wednesday in The Star newspaper that the move was a small contribution from Malaysia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, to ensure peace in Gaza.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told local media that security agencies would strictly monitor the Palestinians’ movement once they arrive.

A UN peacekeeper wounded in a mine explosion in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s state news agency said a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded when a mine exploded in the country's south.

National News Agency did not give further details about the blast between the villages of Zibqine and Yater, near the border with Israel.

Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, confirmed that a peacekeeper was wounded during an operational activity and was taken to a Beirut hospital for surgery.

An Israeli strike wounds 5 UN workers, Gaza medics say

The Gaza Health Ministry says an Israeli strike has wounded five international U.N. workers.

It says they were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza after their headquarters was struck on Wednesday.

It was not clear which U.N. body they were affiliated with. There was no immediate comment from U.N. spokespeople or the Israeli military.

Israel launched a wave of airstrike across Gaza on Tuesday, killing over 400 Palestinians, according to the ministry. Israel says it targeted Hamas militants.

Thousands in Jerusalem protest the resumption of war

Thousands of Israelis marched in Jerusalem on Wednesday to protest a resumption of the war in the Gaza Strip, fearing it could further endanger some two dozen hostages held by Hamas.

A sea of Israeli flags could be seen outside the Israeli parliament a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shattered a fragile ceasefire by launching heavy strikes on Gaza.

Families and supporters of the hostages fear renewed fighting could be a death sentence for their loved ones in captivity. The hostages “are waiting for us to take them out and to bring them home, but war will not do it. Only negotiations will do it,” protester Alon Shirizly said.

Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, including 24 who are believed to be alive.

The demonstrators are also protesting Netanyahu's plan to fire the head of Israel's internal security agency, the latest in a series of moves that his critics view as an assault on Israeli democracy.

Ben-Gvir returns to Netanyahu's government

A government statement on Wednesday said Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, regained his portfolio as national security minister. He had left the coalition in January to protest the ceasefire with Hamas.

His return strengthens Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition ahead of a crucial budget vote this month and improves its chances of surviving until the next scheduled elections in October 2026.

Ben-Gvir supports the full resumption of the war with the aim of annihilating Hamas, depopulating Gaza through what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians and rebuilding Jewish settlements there.