Lebanese Hezbollah militants fired rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed seven people in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said the attack targeted a military building and killed a member of the Jama al-Islam militant group, which has promoted terror plots against Israel.

Agence France-Presse quoted Jamaat-e-Islami party officials as saying that seven people were killed in the village of Hebbariyeh. Lebanese security sources told Reuters the same information.

The cross-border violence is the latest confrontation as Israel launches an operation in the Gaza Strip aimed at wiping out the Hamas terror group allied to Hezbollah.

The Israeli military on Wednesday also reported ground operations in the Shifa Hospital area of ​​northern Gaza, as well as airstrikes and ground fighting in the Khan Younis area of ​​the southern Gaza Strip.

Even after a U.N. Security Council resolution called for an immediate ceasefire, efforts to temporarily halt the fighting, including proposals to release Gaza hostages and provide massive humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, appear no closer to reality.

Indirect talks from U.S., Egyptian and Qatari negotiators have continued for weeks, with both Israel and Hamas not showing any progress toward reaching a deal this week, although officials said some progress had been made along the way.

Israel has recalled negotiators from Qatar after talks to free more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas hit a “dead end”, a senior Israeli official told Reuters on Tuesday. Israel believes that more than 30 other Israelis arrested on October 7 are dead. Previously, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas’ proposal a “delusional demand.”

Hamas officials said on Monday they told negotiators Hamas would not change its proposals, which include a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for prisoners held by Israel.

In Tel Aviv, about 300 family members and supporters of the hostages gathered outside the Israeli Defense Headquarters on Tuesday to demand an agreement on their release. Some at the protest locked themselves in cages and held placards with photos of their loved ones.

The war began when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. According to Israeli statistics, the attack killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. More than 100 people were released during a temporary ceasefire in November.

The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said Israel’s counteroffensive has killed more than 32,400 people. The death toll included Hamas fighters and civilians, with the ministry saying two-thirds of the dead were women and children.

Also on Tuesday, Tor Winnisland, the UN’s top envoy for the Middle East, briefed the Security Council during its regular meeting on the 2016 resolution on the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

Weinsland said that from December 8 to March 18, Israel has advanced or approved more than 5,000 housing units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. In addition, 300 Palestinian-owned buildings were demolished.

“I remain deeply troubled by the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem,” he told the Security Council during a briefing in Jerusalem. “The expanding settlement footprint, including outposts, further entrenches the occupation while seriously hampering the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

VOA’s United Nations correspondent Margaret Beshear and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. This report contains information from The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.