Israel kills top Palestinian militant as truce talks stumble

SIDON, Lebanon — The Israeli military killed a senior Palestinian militant in Lebanon on Wednesday, leading to accusations from the Fatah movement that Israel was trying to ignite a regional war.

The strike that killed Khalil Maqdah, described by Fatah as "one of the leaders" of its armed wing in Lebanon, came hours after United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a tour of the Middle East aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the conflict in Gaza.

Fatah, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said Maqdah was killed near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.

Israel accused him of "directing attacks and smuggling weapons" to the West Bank and collaborating with Iranian forces.

His killing marked the first time Israel has targeted a senior Fatah member in more than 10 months of cross-border clashes with Lebanese militants, mostly from Hezbollah, during the Gaza conflict.

Tawfiq Tirawy, a member of Fatah's central committee, told Agence France-Presse that the "assassination... is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region".

On the ground, Gaza was again rocked by airstrikes. The civil defense agency in the Hamas-run territory said at least three people were killed and 10 children wounded in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah claimed attacks on Israeli military positions across the border, including in the annexed Golan Heights, after several Israeli strikes that the Health Ministry said had killed five people.

On Thursday, China's embassy in Beirut urged Chinese citizens in Lebanon to leave "as soon as possible".

"Recently, the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border has continued to be tense, and security circumstances in Lebanon are severe and complex," it said in a statement, advising Chinese citizens in Lebanon to "take the opportunity while commercial flights are still running to return to China or leave the country as soon as possible".

Agencies Via Xinhua