Israeli combat jets continue to pound Lebanon, ostensibly targeting Hezbollah missile sites. Israeli military authorities said jets hit 130 targets in Lebanon July 27 and early the 28th, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where Israel said long-range rockets and rocket launchers were stored. Air-strikes also continued on supposed Hezbollah missile sites in Tyre which had been targeting Haifa. Israeli planes also destroyed a building said to belong to a Hezbollah militant in the southern village of Kfar Jouz, killing three and wounding nine, including four children. More people are believed trapped beneath the rubble. Ground combat continued in Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold just north of the Israeli border. Hezbollah launched 14 rockets into northern Israel July 28, injuring two people. Since the fighting began on July 12, Israeli attacks have killed at least 440 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians. Hezbollah has killed 33 Israeli soldiers and 19 civilians. (JTA, July 28)

Shades of the USS Liberty affair. Ian Williams writes for his blog, Deadline Pundit July 26:

Accidentally on Purpose
With the Israeli bombing of a UN camp and the killing of four UN peacekeepers, we really do seem to be in a "deja vu" all over again phase. Already UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is under attack for condemning the "apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a UN Observer post."

On July 21, Israeli reserve officer Yonatan Shapira, a helicopter pilot and signer of the pilots' letter refusing to perform assassinations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, spoke out against Israel's attack on Lebanon on Democracy Now! The following quote is part of a debate between Shapira and a member of what Democracy Now! oddly refers to as Israel's "peace party," Meretz. Only one of six members of the Knesset from Meretz has expressed opposition to Israel's attack on Lebanon:

From CNN, July 20:

Lebanese refugees pour across Syrian border
YABOSS, Syria — As many as 50,000 refugees from Lebanon poured through one border crossing into Syria alone Thursday, officials said, as the desperate and displaced fled to escape Israel's bombing campaign.

From the International Middle East Media Center (IMEC), July 18:

Troops invade Nablus, occupy a building belonging to its municipality
Israeli soldiers operating in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus broke into a building belonging to the Nablus municipality and used it as military post. Soldiers also occupied a school and fired shells at several houses in Old City.

From DPA, July 18:

At least 47 people were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Monday and 10 more bodies were found, pushing the death toll from the Israeli offensive to more than 200 over the past six days.

With all eyes on the horrific and escalating Lebanon crisis, Gaza has been forgotten. But things aren't looking too good there. From Reuters, July 17:

Aid agencies express concern about humanitarian crisis facing Gaza
Christian Aid, Oxfam International and Save the Children UK fear that escalating violence in Gaza will lead to a humanitarian crisis for over 1.3 million Palestinians.

Received by email from Indymedia Beirut:

URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH LEBANESE CIVIL SOCIETY
The Israeli offensive against Lebanon is an act of aggression against the whole Lebanese people. The IDF claims to be attacking an "infrastructure of terror," but the attacks on bridges, roads, airports and ships are cutting the country into pieces, threatening to create a disastrous situation by impeding the transportation of food and medicines, and terrorizing everyone. Besides the hundreds killed and injured, thousands of people are fleeing the country, and thousands of people are fleeing from the areas where the bombing is heaviest into central Beirut. Even here in the "safe" parts of the city we can hear the bombs throughout the day and night, and electrical and water supplies are tenuous.