Hezbollah meets Hamas, Palestinian Islamic leaders

(From left) Saleh al-Arouri of Hamas, Ziad al-Nakhleh, Palestinian Islamic Jihad head, and Hezbollah’s Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Pic/AP

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group held talks on Wednesday with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures in a key meeting of three top anti-Israel militant groups amid the war raging in Gaza.

A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas' Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad's leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps that the three "along with other Iran-backed militants" should take at this "sensitive stage".

Their goal, according to the statement that was carried on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve ¿a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine¿ and halt Israel's "treacherous and brutal aggression against our oppressed and steadfast people in Gaza and the West Bank". No other details were provided.

‘Iran directly aided Hamas... still helping'

Israel has alleged that Iran "directly aided" Hamas ahead of the terror attack on October 7 and is still helping the terror group with intelligence and incitement. "Iran directly aided Hamas before the war, with training, supplying weapons, money, and technological know-how," IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday. "Even now, Iranian aid to Hamas in the form of intelligence and online incitement against Israel continues. Around the world, the proxies are working and all the instructions come from one place, Iran," he added.

UN agency says forced to cut operations

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, has warned that it would severely curtail its operations in Gaza Strip on Wednesday night because of a lack of fuel. UNRWA spokesperson Lily Esposito said that all services that the agency provides to 600,000 people who are sheltering in its facilities would be impacted, including food and water distribution. "Without fuel our trucks cannot go around to further places in the strip for distribution. We will have to make decisions on what activities we keep or not with little fuel," she said.

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