This Wednesday Israel has resumed its offensive against Hezbollah. The Israeli Army ordered on Thursday the immediate evacuation, within a radius of at least 500 meters, of buildings in the eastern valley of the Bekaa and in the city of Tyre (south), supposedly located "near Hezbollah facilities and interests," after a day in which it attacked 150 "targets" in the country, such as weapons and launchers.
The Army announced today to have dismantled 150 "terrorist targets" in the last day as weapon depots and other infrastructure, without giving more details, as well as having eliminated more than 45 militants, including a Hezbollah commander in the area of Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon. The deceased commander has been identified as Husein Muhamad Awada, from the battalion in the Bint Jbeil area and, according to the Israeli Army, responsible for carrying out attacks against its territory.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have caused more than 2,300 deaths since October 8, 2023, about 1,500 of them in the last three weeks. The Israeli ground campaign and invasion have forced more than 1.2 million people to leave their homes, according to official figures.
Israel claims to be checking if one of its attacks has killed the Hamas leader
The Israeli army reported on Thursday that it is checking the possibility that it has killed the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, Reuters reports. A fact that is still not ready to confirm. Details of where and when this Israeli attack took place, in which three militants were killed, are not yet known.
"The Israel Defense Forces and the National Security Agency (Shin Bet) are checking the possibility that one of the terrorists (eliminated) was Yahya Sinwar. So far, we cannot definitively confirm the identity" of the three deceased, reads a military statement.
Norwegian Embassy in Beirut evacuated due to bomb threat
The Norwegian Embassy in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was evacuated on Thursday after a bomb threat, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. "We can confirm that the building where the Norwegian embassy in Beirut is located received a bomb threat today," the Norwegian ministry said in an email statement. "Only a few Norwegian diplomats are now in Beirut, and everyone at the embassy is safe," it added.
Hamas denies using the school bombed by Israel for military purposes
The Palestinian group Hamas denied on Thursday having used the Abu Hussein school in Yabalia for combat purposes, as it claimed after the Israeli army stated that it had attacked militants from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups operating from inside the school, which had been serving as a shelter for displaced persons. At least 22 people have died in the attack.
Death toll rises to 22, including children, in Israeli bombing of a school in northern Gaza
At least 22 people died and dozens were injured on Thursday, including children, in the Israeli bombing of a school in the Yabalia displaced camp, northern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources cited by the Hamas government. The attacked school is the Abu Husein Primary Education Center and, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, several tents in the courtyard that housed displaced persons caught fire as a result of the bombings.
The school is a center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), as confirmed by the entity, which in a year of war in Gaza has lost 228 of its workers in attacks, while 190 of its facilities have been damaged, according to its own count.
The Israeli Army, on the other hand, confirms the attack in a military statement, but says that the center was being used as a Hamas and Islamic Jihad "command and control center," and identifies twelve alleged militants who were at the school at the time of the attack.
Russia warns Israel against attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities
Russia has warned Israel against any attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the state-run Russian news agency TASS reported on Thursday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. It is not clear at this time how Moscow has issued this warning.
After Iran's missile attack on Israel on October 1, there has been speculation about whether Israel could attack Iran's nuclear facilities, as it has long threatened. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Tuesday in a press release that Israel would listen to the United States, but would decide its actions based on its own national interest. The statement was attached to an article in the Washington Post stating that Netanyahu had informed the administration of President Joe Biden that Israel would attack Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets.
At least 16 dead, including children, in Israeli bombing of a school in northern Gaza
At least 16 people have died and dozens have been injured on Thursday, including seven children, in the Israeli bombing of a school in the Yabalia displaced camp, northern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources cited by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
"The medical staff of Kamal Adwan Hospital cannot attend to the large number of injured and martyrs who came to the hospital as a result of the attack," sources from the center said, besieged militarily like the rest of northern Gaza, for thirteen days.
German corvette from the Finul mission shoots down a drone off the coast of Lebanon
A German corvette deployed off the coast of Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Finul) shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle of unknown origin on Thursday, Efe reports.
A spokesman for the operational command of the Bundeswehr (the German armed forces) told EFE that the drone was detected in the vicinity of the corvette Ludwigshafen am Rhein around 05:00 GMT on Thursday. "The origin of the object is unknown. The object was brought down in a controlled manner using defense systems and fell into the water," he said, adding that there were no personal or material damages on board.
Yemen's Houthi rebels say they will respond to US bombings
Yemen's Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, said on Thursday that the US bombings carried out overnight against their positions will not go "unanswered," Efe reports. "The US aggression [...] is part of the escalation by Israel and the United States against Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen" and will not "go unanswered," the movement's political office said in a statement.
The insurgent group insisted that it will continue to support the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the scene of an Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack by Hamas Islamist militants on October 7, 2023, and Lebanon, where Israel is engaged in open warfare against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement.
Egypt and Iran agree to intensify efforts to prevent a war throughout the Middle East
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi agreed on Thursday from Cairo to step up diplomatic efforts to prevent "falling into a comprehensive regional war" in the Middle East, while Tehran awaits Israel's announced response to its attack, Efe reports.
Araqchi arrived in the Egyptian capital, in the first visit by an Iranian Foreign Minister to Egypt in 12 years, as part of the diplomatic offensive carried out by the Islamic Republic in several countries in the region to try to stop the escalation in the Middle East.
At least 29 Gazans died in the last day, more than 42,400 in over a year of war
At least 29 Gazans died in the last day in the Gaza Strip, besieged by an Israeli military offensive for over a year, and more than 90 were injured, the Ministry of Health reported on Thursday, Efe reports.
"The Israeli occupation committed two massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, causing 29 martyrs and 93 wounded in the last 24 hours," the ministry detailed in a statement, reaching today 42,438 fatalities and 99,246 wounded since October 7, 2023.