The Israeli government said a drone was fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home on Saturday.
Sirens sounded Saturday morning warning of fires coming from Lebanon. The drone was fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, but neither he nor his wife were home, his spokesman said in a statement. There were no injuries.
There was no information on where the drone was launched from or who was involved in the attempted attack. Israel did not say whether the drone was intercepted or landed elsewhere.
This is the second attack targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months. In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion Airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane was landing. The missile was intercepted.
Hezbollah did not claim responsibility but said it had carried out several rocket attacks against Israel. The barrage comes as Israel appears to be responding to attacks earlier this month by Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas.
Lebanese officials said Israel in turn carried out at least 10 airstrikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut, known as Dahieh, a heavily populated area where Hezbollah offices are located. The Israeli military said it had attacked Hezbollah targets.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke by phone Saturday with Israeli Defense Minister Yov Gallant during which he discussed “regional security developments,” including the recent deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, the Pentagon said. ” was discussed. During the call, Mr. Austin told Mr. Gallant that he was “relieved” that Netanyahu was safe after the drone strike.
Meanwhile, several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed more than 50 people, including children, in less than 24 hours, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press reporter.
Israeli security forces secure a road near where the Israeli government said a drone was fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, Israel, Saturday, October 19, 2024. Ariel Shalit/Associated Press
Saturday’s attack on Israel came as the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah announced Friday that it plans to send more guided missiles and explosive drones into Israel, launching a new phase of the war. The militant group's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops to Lebanon in early October.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that about 200 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah announced plans to send more guided missiles and exploding drones.
A 50-year-old man was killed by shrapnel in northern Israel and four others were injured, Israeli medical authorities said.
Israel also announced on Saturday that it had killed a second-in-command of Hezbollah in the southern town of Bint Jubeir. Military says Nasser Rashid oversaw attacks against Israel
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Saturday’s Israeli airstrike killed two people when a vehicle collided on a main highway north of Beirut. It is unclear who was in the car at the time of the collision.
Lebanese state news agency reported that an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the eastern village of Baalour killed five people, including the mayor of the nearby village of Somor. Israeli military officials confirmed that the IDF attacked targets in the Bekaa Valley.
A standoff continues between Israel and Hamas, which is fighting in Gaza, with both sides showing resistance to an end to the war following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week. On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Mr. Sinwar’s death was a painful loss, but said Hamas continued to operate despite the killing of other Palestinian militant leaders before him. pointed out.
White House says Hamas has been ‘dramatically weakened’ after Sinwar’s death 02:16
“Hamas is alive and will continue to be alive,” Khamenei said.
Since Israel announced Mr. Sinwar’s death on Thursday and a senior Hamas political official confirmed his death on Friday, Hamas has continued to operate from Israel until a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Israeli troops a year ago. Japan has repeatedly maintained that the hostages taken will not be released. . This strong position was in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that his army would remain in Gaza to continue fighting until the hostages are freed and to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming.
Israel claims that Mr. Sinwar was the mastermind behind a 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip, local health officials say. Although it does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, it says more than half of the dead were women and children.
Further strikes took place in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli military attacks hit the upper floors of the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahya, with troops firing into the hospital building and courtyard, causing panic among patients and medical staff. At Al Awda Hospital in Jabaliya, several staff members were injured when a strike attacked the top floor of the building, the hospital said in a statement.
In central Gaza, at least 10 people, including two children, were killed in an attack on a house in the town of Zawaida, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which reported casualties. An Associated Press reporter counted the number of bodies at the hospital. Eleven people, all from the same family, were killed in another attack at Maghazi refugee camp, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Bala, where they were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the number of bodies at the hospital.
Inside Lebanon’s only incinerator 04:43
At least three houses were attacked in northern Gaza on Friday night, killing at least 30 people, more than half of them women and children, said Fares Abu Hamza, head of the health ministry’s ambulance and emergency services. said. At least 80 people were injured in Jabaliya, where houses were attacked.
The war has destroyed vast swathes of Gaza, with about 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people displaced and struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel.
Mr. Sinwar’s killing on Wednesday appeared to be a chance front-line encounter with Israeli forces, even as Israel ramps up its offensive against Hezbollah with ground forces in southern Lebanon and airstrikes in other parts of the country. This could potentially change the dynamics of the war in Gaza. .
Israel had pledged to politically destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and killing Shinwar was a top military priority. But Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a speech Thursday night announcing the killing: “Our war is not over yet.”
Still, Israel’s allied governments and exhausted Gaza residents expressed hope that Mr. Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the war.
In Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza have called on the Israeli government to use Mr. Sinwar’s killing as a means to restart negotiations to bring their loved ones home. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and Israel says at least 30 of them have died.
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