Israel’s massive humanitarian operation against Hamas militants in southern Gaza: an hour after Netanyahu’s plane was attacked by a drone
The house of the Israeli Prime Minister was targeted by a drones on Saturday, causing no casualties, as part of a bombardment of incoming projectiles. It was not known if the house was hit.
BEIRUT — Israel’s military announced Sunday it is now taking aim at the Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s financial arm and will attack a “large number of targets” in Beirut and elsewhere. The southern suburbs of Lebanon began to experience blasts about an hour later.
Israeli strikes on homes in northern Gaza overnight and into Sunday left at least 87 people dead or missing, the territory’s Health Ministry said, as a large-scale operation continued against Hamas militants said to be regrouping.
In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu’s plane was landing. The missile was successfully shot down.
People ran for cover and the missiles exploded in the sky in the north of the country. One rocket landed in the area, and Associated Press reporters saw burned cars and a damaged building. Itzik Billet, commander for the Haifa area, said nine people were lightly injured.
A mile from the Lebanon border, the Israeli fire service said that it was battling several blazes caused by missiles in the Shlomi area.
Israel has meanwhile ramped up strikes on southern neighborhoods of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, a crowded residential area. There is a large number of civilians and people who are not affiliated with Hezbollah in that area.
Israel ordered the entire population of the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate to the south in the opening weeks of the war and reiterated those instructions earlier this month. Approximately 400,000 people are believed to have remained in the north despite the population fleeing last year.
The death of Sinwar, a Palestinian leader whose hostages have been in Israel for a year after the Oslo Oslo Planned War
Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.
The health ministry in Lebanon said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a vehicle and killed two people. It wasn’t clear who was in the car at the time.
The death of Sinwar was confirmed by a top Hamas official on Friday, and the group reiterates that hostages taken from Israel a year ago will not be freed until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops. The staunch position pushed back against a statement by Netanyahu that his country’s military will keep fighting until the hostages are released, and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming.
On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him.
In Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza demanded the Israeli government use Sinwar’s killing as a way to restart negotiations to bring home their loved ones. There are about 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom Israel says are dead.
Several people were killed when a United Nations school for refugees was hit in the west of Gaza City.
The war has destroyed vast swaths of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, and left them struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel.
Still, the governments of Israel’s allies and exhausted residents of Gaza expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the fighting.
Israeli military operations and strikes in Beit Lahiya: Israeli forces should immediately halt their attacks, the health ministry, and doctors without borders
It said another 40 people were wounded in the strikes on the town of Beit Lahiya, which was among the first targets of Israel’s ground invasion nearly a year ago.
The United States is meanwhile investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, according to three U.S. officials. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, has called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the Israel-Hezbollah war and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
Two parents and their children, and a woman, her son, and her daughter-law were among those who died in the strikes in Beit Lahiya, according to a medic. He said the strike flattened a multi-story building and at least four neighboring houses.
In a post on X, the director general of the Health Ministry said the health care system in northern Gaza is in a state of collapse after the strikes.
Doctors Without Borders, the international charity known by its French acronym MSF, called on Israeli forces “to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in North Gaza” after the Health Ministry said Israeli troops had fired on two hospitals over the weekend.
“The ever-worsening escalation of violence and non-stop Israeli military operations that we have been witnessing over the past two weeks in northern Gaza have horrifying consequences,” said Anna Halford, an emergency coordinator for MSF.
It was hard to get accurate information about strikes and rescue efforts because of the internet connection going down in northern Gaza.
Israel has been carrying out a major operation in Jabaliya, also in northern Gaza, for the last two weeks. The military said it launched the operation against Hamas who had regrouped there.
Over the course of the war, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
The north has suffered the most destruction in the war, and has been surrounded by Israeli forces since late last year.
Hamas terrorists blew holes in Israel’s security fence, killing 1,200 people and abducting another 250 on October 7, 2023. Three out of 100 captives are thought to be dead, and they are still being held in Gaza.
A U.N. mission in southern Lebanon was demolished by Israeli forces on Sunday, the UN said in a statement. It was defiant when it was asked to leave its positions.
In one notice, the Israeli military confused the area south of Lebanon, causing confusion and panic. The theater in the mall is called Grand Cinema ABC Verdun and it is more than 6 miles away.
Gaza Strip Bank and Al-Qarsa Martyrs: a militant organization based on an alleged terrorist financing operation in Lebanon
In central Gaza, six people, including a child, were killed when a strike hit a car in Deir al-Balah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials said. The bodies were counted by AP journalists.
The bank assured customers that their funds were safe as a result of the decision to target it. There were a lot of people leaving the areas surrounding the branches.
“AQAH is a cash-based organization. He stated that the money would be useless in the event of strikes because it has large accounts with big banks in Lebanon.
“It’s a big deal,” said David Asher, an expert on illicit financing who has worked at the U.S. Defense and State Departments and is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Ordinary people in Lebanon use the nonprofit, which is also used by the US and Saudi Arabia. The name of its vehicle means “the benevolent loan” and it has been used to help Hezbollah build support among the Shiite population in a country where state and financial institutions have failed.
The strikes will target al-Qard al-Hassan “all over Lebanon,” a senior Israeli intelligence official said. An army official said that Hezbollah’s Al- Qard al-Hassan unit helps buy arms and pay operatives of Iran-backed militant group.