Gaza, Lebanon pummelled by Israeli attacks, dozens killed

The Israeli army said the bodyguard of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed by its forces in southern Gaza on Friday, close to where the militant leader died two days earlier.

"Today (Friday), Mahmoud Hamdan was eliminated by the IDF (military) during an encounter with IDF troops, approximately 200 meters (yards) from the spot where Sinwar was eliminated," the army said in a statement.

It said that Hamdan was responsible for guarding Sinwar and was also the commander of Hamas's Tal al-Sultan Battalion.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched drones at an Israeli military base in the centre of the country on Friday, in an attack dedicated to the group's slain leader.

Hezbollah fighters launched "a swarm of explosives-laden drones" at an "air missile defence base" east of the central Israeli city of Hadera, the Iran-backed group said in a statement, adding it came "in response to the targeting of civilians" and "at the service" of Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last month in an Israeli air strike.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she planned to hold talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu after her current visit to Lebanon and Jordan.

"I think that at the end of my trip I will call Prime Minister Netanyahu", she told reporters.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, reports that an Israeli drone strike in the al-Nusra neighborhood of Gaza City has killed four Palestinians.

Additionally, it reported that two Palestinians were killed near al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia.

Earlier in the day, three more Palestinians lost their lives in Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The northern Gaza Strip is currently under a communications blackout and is besieged by Israeli military forces.

The Israeli military said on Friday it sent another army unit to support its forces operating in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, where residents said tanks blew up roads and houses as they thrust further into the territory.

Residents of Jabalia in northern Gaza said Israeli tanks had reached the heart of the camp, using heavy air and ground fire, after pushing through suburbs and residential districts.

They added that the Israeli army was destroying dozens of houses on a daily basis, from the air and the ground and by placing bombs in buildings then detonating them remotely.

The Israeli military said its forces, which have been operating in Jabalia for the past two weeks, killed dozens of militants in close-quarters combat on Thursday and carried out aerial strikes and dismantled military infrastructure.

Later on Friday, residents in Jabalia and two nearby towns said communications and internet services were cut off, disrupting rescue operations by ambulance teams and the ability of people affected by Israeli operations to seek help.

The Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes had killed at least 30 Palestinians so far on Friday, many of them in northern Gaza.

(Reuters)

The issue of collaboration has taken centre stage in Lebanon amid the significant losses suffered by Hezbollah, including the death of key leaders, most notably Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Before his assassination on 27 September, Nasrallah hinted in his final speech at breaches within Hezbollah's ranks and its close circles, citing Israel's ability to locate "secret" gathering places and obtain accurate information.

According to Lebanese security sources, Israel has recruited a network of collaborators in Lebanon not only to infiltrate Hezbollah and other groups, but also to document the aftermath of hostile airstrikes, monitor search and rescue operations, and confirm the outcomes of these attacks.

In this context, a source from Lebanese Army Intelligence told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "security forces have recently arrested several people on charges of collaboration, most of whom are Lebanese and Syrians, with some Palestinians as well. They have been referred to the military court, and security measures have been heightened because Israel has always used this method in its wars against Lebanon, and Lebanon has a history with this."

Read more here.

Dozens of Palestinians gathered in Ramallah, in the West Bank, on Friday to express their sorrow and anger over the death of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas' political office, who was killed during armed clashes with Israeli forces in south Gaza earlier this week.

The event began with a gathering at Al-Manara Square, where participants raised Palestinian flags and pictures of Sinwar, chanting in support of the Palestinian resistance.

After the gathering, a march was held throughout the streets of Ramallah, with participants chanting slogans praising the resistance in Palestine.

Activist Hala Al-Sharif, a Palestinian-Tunisian national, expressed her deep sorrow over Sinwar's death but found solace in the fact that he died while fighting on the front lines.

"It comforts the heart that the commander Yahya Sinwar died as a martyr with his weapon in hand, defending Palestine," she said.

Read more here.

The Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on Friday that they believed that 1,500 Hezbollah fighters have been killed, as Israel's air and ground invasion continues to batter Lebanese towns and villages.

Halevi also claimed that Hezbollah fighters were surrendering to Israeli forces - though this has not been reported elsewhere.

"We are very determined to hit Hezbollah with the greatest possible force. We have hit their entire senior leadership, and here you are hitting the entire local leadership. There is very great damage, an entire chain of command has been wiped out," Halevi said.

His comments come as the international community call for a cessation to the fighting and urge Israel not to bombard Lebanon's civilian areas. Over 2,400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

The Israeli army announced on Friday that four troops were "seriously injured" in battles in southern Lebanon and northern Gaza.

Three troops from the Magellan unit were injured on Thursday night in southern Lebanon, and one reserve officer from the Golani brigade was also critically wounded on the Lebanese border.

A soldier was evacuated from Gaza to receive treatment at a hospital the army said.

Israeli army brigades fighting in southern Lebanon have been facing fierce opposition from Hezbollah fighters over the past three weeks.

The military said earlier today that it was deploying an additional reserve brigade to the northern front to "allow the continuation of combat efforts against Hezbollah".

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Lebanon on Friday, her office said, the first head of state or government to visit since an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah last month.

The premier was welcomed at Beirut international airport by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom she was due to hold talks before making a joint statement to the press.

Italy has around 1,000 troops as part of the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon which has come under repeated fire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war in recent days.

Five peacekeepers were injured in a series of incidents last week, with the latest seeing the UN force accuse Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.

Meloni has condemned the incidents as "unacceptable".

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan on Friday said that two attackers who were killed by the Israeli army after crossing the border were members of the Islamist group.

The attackers were "members of the group and always participated in events in solidarity with Gaza and in support of the resistance", Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Moath al-Khawaldeh told AFP.

The Israeli army said two militants had crossed the border from Jordan in the Dead Sea region and had been shot dead after a confrontation.

The one million children in Gaza are living a "hell on Earth", the UN said Friday, with around 40 children having been killed there every day over the past year.

More than a year into Israel's war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory "children continue to suffer unspeakable daily harm", said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF.

"Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on Earth for its one million children," he told reporters in Geneva. "And it's getting worse, day by day."

Some "conservative" estimates put the death toll among children in Gaza at over 14,100, Elder said.

That means that "on a conservative measure, around 35 to 40 girls and boys are killed every day in Gaza, since October 7", he said.

Elder said the numbers -- provided by authorities in Gaza, who put the total death toll at over 42,400 -- were unfortunately trustworthy.

"There are many, many more under the rubble," he added.

Iran's foreign minister and its allies Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis have all mourned the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X that Yahya Sinwar "did not fear death but sought martyrdom in Gaza. He bravely fought to the very end on the battlefield." 

Arqchi added that "martyrs live forever, and the cause for liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever." 

A spokesperson for the Houthis said on X: "My sincere condolences and great blessings to the Hamas movement and the dear Palestinian people for the great leader Yahya Sinwar receiving the medal of martyrdom," adding that "Gaza and the Palestinian cause are destined for victory, no matter how great the sacrifices".

Hezbollah issued a statement saying, "We offer our deepest condolences," and vowed to continue "support for our Palestinian people".

Gaza's Ministry of Health have announced that 62 people have been killed and 300 wounded by Israel's military action in the enclave in the past 24 hours.

The ministry added that 42,500 people have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, with a further 99,546 wounded.

The United States called on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to seize opportunities for change following the killing of Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday.

"We'll see how things evolve," Austin said, when asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to keep fighting.

"But clearly there are opportunities for a change in direction, and we would hope that, you know, parties would would take advantage of that, both in Lebanon, in Gaza and in Lebanon."

The Israeli military said on Thursday that Sinwar, architect of last year's Hamas's cross-border assault on Israel, was killed in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Austin also said that US Forces in the Middle East stood ready to support Israel's defence.

(Reuters)

Hamas senior official Khalil al-Hayya confirmed on Friday the death of Yahya Sinwar after the Israeli military said yesterday it had killed the top Palestinian leader.

Al-Hayya, who is the deputy charman of Hamas' political bureau, said that Sinwar's death will "only strengthen the group" and said that Israeli hostages in Gaza would not be returned until Israeli attacks on Gaza stop and the military withdraws.

Al-Hayya's comments mark the first official confirmation from Gaza's rulers that Sinwar was killed, a year into Israel's brutal war on the territory.

US President Joe Biden said Friday the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a "moment of justice" and "an opportunity to seek a path to peace" in Gaza.

Biden said Sinwar, considered the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has "the blood of Americans and Israelis, Palestinians and Germans and so many others on his hands".

The US president, speaking in Berlin, said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas".

A UNIFIL peacekeeping mission spokesperson on Friday denounced several direct, deliberate attacks by Israeli forces in recent days and said it had found evidence of the possible use of white phosphorous near one of its bases.

"We need to stay, they asked us to move," said UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti by video link from Beirut.

"The devastation and destruction of many villages along the Blue Line, and even beyond, is shocking," he said, referring to a UN-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Asked about the downing of a drone near its ship off the Lebanese coast on Thursday, he said: "The drone was coming from the south but circling around the ship and getting very, very close, a few metres away from the ship.

(Reuters)

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group cannot be eliminated with the killing of its leaders, but stopped short of confirming the death of its chief, Yahya Sinwar.

"Hamas is a liberation movement led by people looking for freedom and dignity, and this cannot be eliminated," Basem Naim, senior member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP.

In a statement, he listed several Hamas leaders killed in the past, and said their deaths had boosted the group's popularity.

"It seems that Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people," Naim said.

"Hamas each time became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations to continue the journey towards a free Palestine."

The Israeli military Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adree issued a new set of evacution orders for more than 20 villages in south Lebanon, urging people to leave for their own safety and claiming Hezbollah facilties are nearby.

Adree named the following villages: Qozah, Beit Lif, Yater, Jabal al-Batm, Zebqin, Marouhin, Sheheen, Umm Tuta, Bustan, al-Zalutiya, Yarin, al-Dhahiriya, Matmoura, Majdal Zun, Shamaa, Tayr Harfa, Abu Shash, al-Jabbin, Biyadh, al-Mansouri, Kafr, Alma al-Shaab, al-Naqoura.

"The IDF has no intention of harming you. For your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Awali River," Adree said.

Israel has repeatedly called on residents to leave homes, mainly in south Lebanon and Beirut's suburbs. It has triggered a major displacement crisis with more than 1.2 million people internally displaced, according to UN reports.

The Lebanese government has said that a quarter of the country is now under evacuation orders.

Egyptian officials have been holding talks with French, US and Saudi counterparts to discuss the need for "de-escalation" in the Lebanon-Israel conflict.

Discussions have been around the need to pressure Israel to stop attacking civilian areas outside of southern Lebanon. Over the past week, there have been huge air strikes on locations in the east and north of the country, including a strike on the Christian village of Aitou which killed 23 people, with women and children among the dead.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Cairo on Thursday as part of plans to persuade allies to put pressure on Israel from launching a large-scale retaliation on Iran.

US bomber aircraft conducting strikes on underground bunkers in Yemen this week flew through Australian air space in a demonstration of military interoperability, Australian officials said on Friday.

The United States said it carried out strikes on Wednesday against five underground weapons storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, in a strike that used long range B-2 stealth bombers against the Iran-aligned group for the first time.

Australia provided support for the US airstrikes, an Australian defence official said in a statement.

"Australia provided support for US strikes conducted on 17 October 2024 targeting Houthi facilities in Yemen, through access and overflight for U.S. aircraft in northern Australia," the statement said.

"This support is consistent with our long-standing alliance commitment and close cooperation, demonstrating the interoperability of our militaries," it added.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister said on Friday he rejected Iranian interference in a Lebanese matter, after the speaker of Iran's parliament said Tehran was ready to negotiate with France on implementing a UN resolution concerning southern Lebanon.

UN Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, calls for the border area of southern Lebanon to be free of weapons or troops other than those of the Lebanese state, with the aim of keeping peace on the border with Israel.

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, made his comments in an interview published on Thursday.

"We are surprised by this position, which constitutes a blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish a rejected guardianship over Lebanon," a government statement quoted Prime Minister Najib Mikati as saying.

Mikati added that negotiating to implement UN resolution 1701 was a matter for the Lebanese state.

(Reuters)

The Israeli army said on Friday that its troops "neutralized" a number of "terrorists" who crossed from Jordan into Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea.

In a statement it said further searches in the area were ongoing and more details would follow. This would be an unusual incursion into Israel from Jordan, which shares a border crossing with Israel and the West Bank.

Palestinian news outlet Quds News Network reported that two Israeli soldiers were injured in a shooting incident along the border with Jordan.

Israeli army said operations are ongoing in Jabalia in north Gaza which has been beset by intense fighting for the past week.

The army said its troops from the Givati Combat Team and air force "eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters" and aerial attacks. It said it also struck a site in central Gaza.

Israel says it killed Hezbollah commander Muhammad Hassin Ramal in southern Lebanon strike. It also claimed to have located weapons used by the group, including "sniper rifles, combat equipment and a Burkan-2 rocket launcher".

Hezbollah said on Friday it shelled a group of Israeli troops on the outskirts of Kafr Kila after "monitoring their movements".

Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group says it is entering a new phase in its fight against invading Israeli troops, adding that it has introduced new weapons over the past days.

A statement from the group’s operations room early Friday said that Hezbollah’s fighters have used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.

The statement appears to refer to a drone laden with explosives that evaded Israel’s multilayered air-defense system and slammed into a mess hall at a military training camp deep inside Israel, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens.

The group also announced earlier this week that it fired a new type of missile called Qader 2 toward the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

The statement also said that Hezbollah’s air defense units shot down this week two Israeli Hermes 450 drones.

Hezbollah said its fighters are working according to “plans prepared in advance” to battle invading Israeli troops in several parts of south Lebanon.

Iran’s Mission to the United Nations issued a statement honouring Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, after Israel said Thursday he had been killed in fighting:

"When US forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However when Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield — in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy — the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forth his path for the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration."

Iran and Iraq fought a brutal war in the 1980s that began when Hussein launched an invasion of Iran. It killed more than 1 million people on both sides.