Israeli strike in Beirut kills 5, wounds 28; Hamas delegation in Cairo

Hezbollah confirmed that senior leader Haytham Ali Tabtabai was killed in Israel's strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday.

In a statement, the group confirmed the killing of "the great commander" Tabtabai in "a treacherous Israeli attack on the Haret Hreik area in the southern suburbs of Beirut", without specifying his position within the group.

Tabtabai is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending over a year of hostilities between the two.

The Israeli military has claimed to have killed Hezbollah's chief of staff Ali Tabatabai in its strike on Beirut earlier this afternoon.

Five people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the attack, which targeted a residential building in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood in south Beirut.

Hezbollah is yet to comment on the strike.

Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam called for unity following Israel's deadly strike in Beirut this afternoon.

Five people were killed and 28 others injured in the attack, which Israel said targeted Hezbollah's chief of staff.

"The attack on Beirut's southern suburbs today requires the unification of all efforts behind the state and its institutions," Salam wrote on X.

"Protecting the Lebanese people and preventing the country from slipping into dangerous paths is the government's priority at this delicate stage," he said.

He continued: "Experience has proven that the only path to entrenching stability lies in the full implementation of Resolution 1701, extending the state's authority over all its territories through its own forces, and enabling the Lebanese army to carry out its tasks."

Five people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the Israeli strike that hit southern Beirut this afternoon, according to an updated death toll released by Lebanon's health ministry.

Hezbollah confirmed an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday targeted a senior commander but did not disclose the person's identity, after Israel said it targeted the group's chief of staff.

"The targeting was clearly aimed at a key... figure in the resistance, and the results are unknown," Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told reporters in front of the strike location, adding the attack "crosses a new red line".

(AFP and TNA staff)

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun has urged world leaders to intervene and stop Israel from expanding its attacks against Hezbollah.

"Lebanon, which has committed to the cessation of hostilities for almost a year until today, and has presented initiative after initiative, renews its call on the international community to assume its responsibility and intervene strongly and seriously to stop the aggressions against Lebanon," Aoun said in a statement.

The Israeli military sharply escalated tensions with the Iran-backed group this afternoon after bombing a residential building in Beirut, killing at least one person and wounding 21 others.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike targeted Hezbollah's chief of staff.

One person was killed in an Israeli drone strike in a village in south Lebanon this afternoon, Lebanese media is reporting.

The attack took place in Aita al-Shaab close to the Blue Line that separates Lebanon and Israel.

Lebanon's health ministry has said that one person was killed and 21 others wounded in the Israeli bombing of Beirut earlier this afternoon.

One person was reported killed soon after the attack, which targeted a residential building in the Haret Hreik suburb of the Lebanese capital.

The US was not aware of Israeli plans to bomb Beirut, two US officials have told Axios.

One of the sources said the administration knew that the Israeli military was planning to escalate in Lebanon but did not know the timing, location or target of the strike.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the orders for a strike in Beirut on Sunday which targeted Hezbollah's "chief of staff", his office said.

"A short while ago, in the heart of Beirut, the IDF (Israeli military) attacked the Hezbollah chief of staff, who had been leading the terrorist organisation's buildup and rearmament," a brief statement said, adding that Netanyahu "ordered the attack".

"Israel is determined to act to achieve its objectives everywhere and at all times."

(AFP and TNA staff)

At least one person was killed and three others were wounded in an initial toll resulting from the Israeli attack on southern Beirut on Sunday. 

Earlier, an Israeli strike hit a residential building in the Haret Hreik area of ​​Beirut's southern suburbs.

Local media reported that the raid was carried out after intensive overflights by Israeli aircraft over the area, before the strike, which had targeted the fourth and fifth floors of a 10-story building on Al-Arid Street in Haret Hreik.

There was no prior evacuation warning issued before the heavily residential area was hit.

The Israeli military has killed 69,756 Palestinians since beginning its genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023, according to the local health ministry's latest toll.

In its daily update, the ministry said on Sunday that 23 bodies had been received by hospitals over the past 24 hours, 21 of whom were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. Another two were recovered from the rubble.

Israeli forces have killed 339 Palestinians and wounded 871 others in the six weeks since the ceasefire came into effect.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the military will continue attacking Hamas and Hezbollah, accusing both groups of violating their respective ceasefires with Israel.

At least 21 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday after Israel claimed that a Hamas gunman had fired on Israeli troops.

The Israeli military also intensified its attacks in southern Lebanon over the past week.

Iran's intelligence ministry has warned of attempts by foreign adversaries, including the United States and Israel, to target supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and destabilise the Islamic republic.

The country's ISNA news agency reported on Saturday that intelligence minister Esmail Khatib cautioned "the enemy seeks to target the supreme leader, sometimes with assassination attempts, sometimes with hostile attacks".

While it was not immediately clear if the minister was referring to a specific incident, and Iranian officials often allege foreign plots, statements on threats against Khamenei's life had been rare prior to a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.

"Those who act in this direction, knowingly or unknowingly, are the infiltrating agents of the enemy," Khatib added, referring directly to Israel and the United States.

(AFP)

A young man was shot and wounded by Israeli forces in the town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Al Jazeera reports.

The Israeli military has named a Hamas commander it says it killed in Gaza as Alaa al-Hadidi.

Al-Hadidi was the head of supply at Hamas's production headquarters and was among the 21 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday, the military wrote on social media.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military briefly said on X on Sunday that it had killed a local Hamas commander in Gaza, then deleted the post.

The post identified the commander as Alaa Al-Hadidi, head of supply in Hamas' production headquarters. It did not say when the commander was killed.

The Israeli military said it would provide a later statement.

(Reuters)

Hamas officials told Saudi news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat that the group remains committed to the ceasefire and claimed it had not carried out attacks against Israeli forces.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens of others in Gaza on Saturday in the latest brutal violation of the ceasefire by the Israeli military, Gaza's civil defence agency said.

The casualties came in five attacks across Gaza, including in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah.

Israel said the airstrikes were a response to a Hamas gunman crossing into Israeli-occupied territory.

A Hamas official in Gaza rejected the Israeli military's allegations as baseless and an "excuse to kill", saying the group was committed to the ceasefire agreement.

(AFP and TNA staff)

Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Sunday to discuss Israel's ongoing ceasefire violations, a day after another 21 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to Saudi news media.

The delegation, led by the group's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, will meet with officials from Egypt, Qatar and the US in the Egyptian capital, a source told Al Hadath.

Israel has violated the ceasefire on a near daily basis since it came into effect six weeks ago. 

At least 318 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling since 10 October while another 788 have been wounded.