Hamas fires rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel

Hamas said it has fired 20 missiles from Lebanon toward a military barracks near Israel's northern coast.

Wednesday's attack was the first rocket attack from Lebanon by the Palestinian militant group since late December and came a day after at least 25 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel in one of the strongest bombardments in more than a week.

A statement from Hamas said Wednesday’s attack was partly a response to the presumed Israeli airstrike that killed top Hamas official Saleh Arouri on Jan. 2 in the Beirut suburbs.

It was not immediately clear if there were damage or casualties in Israel. The Israeli military said its warplanes and artillery struck launch sites in southern Lebanon.

Hamas later announced that one of its fighters, from the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Sidon, had been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

In recent days, the intensity of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has escalated.

Regarding the prospects for another cease-fire agreement in Gaza and a release of hostages, Hamas political official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that the group had “presented a vision” to Egypt in Qatar in response to proposals put forward by those two countries, but accused Israel of “stalling” in its response.

The Hamas official also criticized the international community for its concern about getting medication to the dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, when more than 2 million Palestinians there have been living for months in dire conditions without access to health care.