Troops to remain in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria indefinitely: Israeli def. min.

Israel's defence minister on Wednesday said troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate over a ceasefire and hostage release.

Israeli strikes across Gaza, meanwhile, killed another 22 people, according to local health officials, including a girl who was not yet a year old. The girl's mother, who was wounded, embraced her daughter, still wearing a bloodied blue dress, before she was taken for burial.

Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a to pressure Hamas to release hostages after Israel last month.

Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group last year, and it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad in December.

“Unlike in the past, the (Israeli military) is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and (Israeli) communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza — as in Lebanon and Syria”.

The Palestinians and both neighbouring countries view the presence of Israeli troops as military occupation in violation of international law.

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said Israel's continued presence in some areas in Lebanon was “hindering" the Lebanese army's full deployment as required by the ceasefire negotiated with Israel. The war left over 4,000 people dead, many of them civilians.

Two Israeli drones strikes on Wednesday in southern Lebanon killed two people, the health ministry said. The UN said Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 70 civilians since the ceasefire took effect in November.

Hamas has said it will not release dozens of remaining hostages without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

When will this stop? #Gaza pic.twitter.com/Pj93Fyf5Ka

— Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) April 15, 2025

“They promised that the hostages come first. In practice, Israel is choosing to seize territory before the hostages," the main organisation representing families of the hostages said in a statement. “There is one solution that is desirable and feasible, and that is the release of all the hostages at once as part of an agreement, even at the cost of ending the war."

Israel says it must maintain control of what it refers to as security zones to prevent a repeat of Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack, in which thousands of militants allegedly stormed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.

Israel's offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up more than half of the dead. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Every day, children

Ahlam Seiam's family had planned to celebrate her first birthday later this month. Then the Israeli strike hit the building where they had pitched a tent on the roof. Her grandfather, Nashat, said the family was awakened by a blast overnight. When he raced to the roof, he found his son, Mohammed, sobbing. “I found her like this,” he said as he held the girl's body.

Associated Press footage showed the mother, wrapped in bandages, cradling her daughter one last time in the hospital bed.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas. The grandfather said there were no militants in the area of the strike. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The to Khan Younis from the southern city of Rafah after Israel renewed its offensive last month. “Wherever you go, death will catch up with you. There is no escape,” the grandfather said.

Nermin Zughrub, Ahlam's aunt, scrolled through photos of the girl on her phone. “If the world doesn't wake up today, when will it?” she said. “Every day, massacres. Every day, children.”

Israeli occupation forces just killed yet another Palestinian journalist.

Photojournalist Fatma Hassouna, was killed along with her entire family in an Israeli strike on their home in Tuffah neighborhood in #Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/44JU5QgD7x

— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) April 16, 2025

Much of Gaza is uninhabitable

Israel's bombardment and ground operations have left vast areas of the territory uninhabitable and have displaced around 90 per cent of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Many have been displaced multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps with dwindling food after Israel sealed off the territory from all imports more than a month ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas and return the 59 hostages still in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive.

On Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of hostage Rom Braslavski, likely filmed under duress, in which he said he was covered in sores and pleaded with Netanyahu to stop the war.

Netanyahu also has said Israel will implement US President for the resettlement of much of Gaza's population in other countries through what Netanyahu refers to as “voluntary emigration”.

Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected Trump's proposal, which human rights experts say would likely violate international law. Palestinians in Gaza say they don't want to leave, and fear another mass expulsion like the one that occurred during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire, has expressed full support for Israel's decision to end it and to cut off all humanitarian aid. Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has been trying to broker a new ceasefire more favourable to Israel, but those efforts appear to have made little progress.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has carried out near-daily attacks on Lebanese territory in recent months, claiming to target Hezbollah positionshttps://t.co/E5d343lHML

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 16, 2025

Netanyahu leads the most nationalist and religious government in Israel's history, and his coalition partners have called for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza and dismantled its settlements there in 2005, but maintained control of most of Gaza's land border, coastline and airspace, and joined Egypt in imposing a blockade after Hamas seized power in 2007.

Israel seized Gaza, east Jerusalem and the West Bank — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. It also captured the Golan Heights from Syria in that conflict and annexed it in a move not recognised by any country except for the United States.