The home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea was the target of a drone attack, which caused no casualties. Neither he nor his wife were at home, the Israeli government spokesman said.
The Israeli government said a drone was launched toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home on Saturday without causing any casualties, as Iran’s supreme leader vowed that Hamas would continue its fight against Israel after the he assassination of the mastermind of the deadly attack on October 7 last year.
In Gaza, at least 21 people, including children, were killed in several Israeli strikes, according to hospital officials and an AP journalist.
Sirens sounded in Israel on Saturday morning, warning of incoming gunfire from Lebanon, as a drone was launched towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, the Israeli government said. Neither he nor his wife were at home and there were no casualties, his spokesperson said in a statement.
In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport as Mr. Netanyahu’s plane landed. The missile was intercepted.
Saturday’s strikes on Israel come as the war with Hezbollah Lebanese, ally of Hamas and supported by Iran, has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah said Friday it plans to launch a new phase of combat by sending more guided missiles and explosive drones to Israel. The historic leader of the militant group, Hassan Nasrallahwas killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops to Lebanon in early October.
In addition to the drone launched at Mr. Netanyahu’s residence, the Israeli military said that some 55 projectiles fired in two separate barrages into northern Israel from Lebanon Saturday morning. Some were intercepted, according to the army, and no casualties were immediately reported.
Israel also said on Saturday that it had killed Hezbollah deputy commander in the town of Bint Jbeilin the south of the country. Army says Nasser Rashid oversaw attacks on Israel
In Lebanon, the Ministry of Health declared that a Israeli air strike had touched SATURDAY a vehicle on a main highway north of Beirut, killing two people. It’s unclear who was in the car when it was struck.
A standoff also began between Israel and Hamas, which it is fighting in Gaza, with both parties showing their resistance to ending the war after the death of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinouarthis week. On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss, but stressed that Hamas continued to exist despite the assassination of other Palestinian militant leaders before it.
“Hamas is alive and will remain alive,” Mr. Khamenei said.
Concerns about the fate of the hostages and new strikes
Since Israel claimed responsibility for Sinouar’s death on Thursday and a senior Hamas politician confirmed the death on Friday, Hamas reiterated its position that the hostages he took from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and that Israeli troops will not have withdrawn. The tough stance clashed with a statement by Mr Netanyahu that his country’s army would continue fighting until the hostages were freed and would remain in Gaza to prevent the badly weakened Hamas from rearming.
Sinouar was the main architect of the Hamas raid on Israel in 2023who did something 1,200 deadmostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 other people. Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza kills more than 42,000 Palestiniansaccording to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but say that more than half of the dead are women and children.
New strikes hit Gaza on Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli strikes hit the upper floors of the Indonesian hospital of Beit Lahiya and that forces opened fire on the hospital building and its courtyard, causing panic among patients and medical staff. HAS Awda hospital in Jabaliya, strikes hit the upper floors of the building, injuring several staff members, the hospital said in a statement.
In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killedincluding two children, when a house was hit in the town of Zawaydaaccording to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where the victims were transported. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the hospital. Another strike killed 11 peopleall from the same family, in the refugee camp of Maghaziaccording to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where they were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the hospital.
The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million and left them struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel. .
Sinouar’s assassination appears to have been the result of a chance encounter with Israeli troops on the front line on Wednesday and could change the dynamics of the war in Gaza, even as Israel continues its offensive against Hezbollah with ground troops in southern Lebanon and airstrikes in other parts of the country.
Israel is committed to the political destruction of Hamas in Gaza, and Sinwar’s assassination was a top military priority. But Mr. Netanyahu said in a speech Thursday evening announcing the assassination that “our war is not yet over.”
The governments of Israel’s allies and Gaza’s exhausted residents nevertheless expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the war.
In Israel, the families of hostages still held in Gaza have called on the Israeli government to use Sinouar’s assassination to relaunch negotiations for the return of their loved ones. There are around a hundred hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom are dead according to Israel.