Israeli troops advanced deeper into Lebanon on Sunday, seizing the medieval Beaufort castle for the first time in 26 years amid Hezbollah attacks.

JERUSALEM/TEL AVIV, June 4 (Reuters) - Israel's military will continue to carry out operations in Lebanon for the time being and will not be withdrawing from the country, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday,

The Lebanese militant group’s attacks have caught Israelis off guard, forcing its political and military leaders to scramble for solutions.

Israeli forces have seized a historic, strategic and symbolically important castle and are now deeper inside Lebanon than they have been in 26 years, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. That complicates efforts on a deal to end the Iran war.

Amid hostilities with Iran, the American military expended far more advanced interceptors to protect Israel than Israeli forces did, according to Defense Department data.

Israeli security forces have arrested a Palestinian terrorist who took part in the 2007 fatal shooting of an Israeli civilian during a joint operation in the Samaria city of Qalqilya, authorities said on Tuesday.

An Israeli campaign that started with high hopes has devolved into a kind of impasse, with Hezbollah looking more capable than it did when the war began.

An activist who tried to deliver aid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla says he was kicked and punched while detained by Israeli forces. Hasnain Jafer from Birmingham, who works for King's College London, said his experience in Israeli custody was "harrowing".