Hamas confirms death of a top commander in Gaza after Israeli strike

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Israeli artillery targeted areas in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, as well as the al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the enclave, Palestinian media reported Sunday evening.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa sent his condolences to his American counterpart Donald Trump on Sunday, a day after a deadly attack on US troops in central Syria.

In a statement, the Syrian presidency said Sharaa sent "a cable of condolences to US President Donald Trump regarding the killing of American soldiers in Homs province", expressing his country's "solidarity with the victims' families".

The attack, which Washington blamed on the Islamic State group, killed two US troops and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Homs province.

Syrian forces and a US-led coalition launched an operation against Islamic State group sleeper cells on Sunday, an interior ministry official said, a day after a deadly attack on US troops in the country.

The official told AFP that a "security campaign" across the Syrian desert was tracking "Daesh sleeper cells, in cooperation with the US-led international coalition", using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The official said that three individuals have so far been arrested over their suspected involvement in the Saturday attack which killed two US troops and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, central Syria.

The Tulkarm governorate in the northern occupied West Bank announced on Sunday that the Israeli army has decided to demolish 25 buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of the city.

Tulkarm Governor Abdullah Kamil called on the international community, human rights organisations, and diplomatic missions and embassies to intervene immediately and urgently to halt the decision.

Gunmen shot dead four members of Syria's security forces in the country's northwest on Sunday, state media reported.

"Four members of the Internal Security Forces were martyred and a fifth was wounded" after gunmen opened fire on them in Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, the official SANA news agency said.

A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader said Sunday that the country would "resolutely support" Hezbollah, its ally in Lebanon, in the group's efforts to confront Tehran's regional foe Israel.

"Hezbollah, as one of the most important pillars of the resistance front, plays a fundamental role in confronting Zionism," state news agency IRNA quoted Velayati as saying to Hezbollah's representative in Tehran.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the leadership and orders of the (supreme) leader, will continue to resolutely support this valuable and selfless group on the front lines of the resistance," he added.

Israeli forces detained several Palestinians at the entrance to al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, as the troops continue their mass detention and raids campaign throughout the occupied territory.

Israeli forces stationed at the entrance assaulted the young men and detained them before releasing them.

The army had also vandalised several vehicles that were parked at the entrance, slashing tyres and smashing their windows.

The State of Palestine strongly condemned the deadly attack in Sydney, which killed at least 12 and wounded many more.

The state rejected all forms of extremism and terrorism, including the killing of civilians and expressed condolences to the families of the victims, the government and the people of Australia and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

The ministry said it "reiterates its firm rejection of all forms of violence, terrorism and extremism, which contradict humanitarian values", expressing in a statement its "full solidarity" with "friendly Australia".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Sunday's deadly shooting at a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney and accused his Australian counterpart of fuelling antisemitism over supporting Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu said the shooting was "cold blooded murder".

He added that in August, he had told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a letter that the Australian government's policies were promoting and encouraging antisemitism in Australia.

"I wrote: 'Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets'," Netanyahu said in a speech.

The Israeli military said it killed two Hezbollah members in strikes on Sunday on southern Lebanon, where Israel has carried out repeated attacks despite an ongoing ceasefire with the Iran-backed group.

The Lebanese health ministry said three people were killed in strikes in different parts of the south.

"Today, the (army) struck and eliminated two Hezbollah terrorists in different areas in southern Lebanon within less than an hour," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israeli airstrikes targeting southern Lebanon killed at least three people.

Including the killing of one citizen in the town of Yater, Bint Jbeil district, which also left one injured, another person was killed after a strike targeted a car between the towns of Safad al-Batikh and Barashit. 

A member of the municipal council in Jouaya, Tyre, was killed after an Israeli strike targeted the town.

The Israeli military claims it has "eliminated a terrorist who attempted to stab them in the area of Hebron".

It comes after the Palestinian civil affairs authority said on Saturday that Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old in an incident in the northern West Bank, after the military said an individual threw an explosive at soldiers.

"We informed the health ministry of the martyrdom of the boy Muhammad Iyad Abahra", by Israeli forces, in the town of Silat al-Harithiya in Jenin, said the agency, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli army had said earlier on Saturday that soldiers killed an individual who had "hurled an explosive toward the soldiers" in Silat al-Harithiya.

"The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist," it said.

Israeli settlers cut down almost 40 olive trees grown by a Palestinian farmer in Mekhmas, north of occupied Jerusalem, as settlers continue to target Palestinian land, threatening their livelihood. 

The settlers had also attacked the same area the day before, suspected of putting unknown substances in a water well used for irrigating land.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Sunday against a government push to oust the attorney general, who has sparred with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition over the legality of its policies, court documents showed.

In March, the cabinet held a no-confidence vote against Gali Baharav-Miara, citing substantial differences between the government and the attorney general, who was appointed by the previous government.

But a panel of seven Supreme Court judges said on Sunday the established mechanism for terminating the term of office of an attorney general could not be changed, ruling that as a result the cabinet's no-confidence vote was null and void.

Under the established mechanism to dismiss an attorney general, governments must first consult a professional-public committee, the documents showed.

The judges also cited numerous procedural defects in the government's dismissal of Baharav-Miara that meant it was invalid, saying she continues to hold office lawfully.

There was no immediate response to the ruling from the government or the attorney general's office.

A young Palestinian man ha died after being shot by Israeli forces at the northern entrance of the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. 

The body of Mohammad Wael Al-Sharouf, 23, is still within Israeli possession, the health ministry in the West Bank confirmed.

The Israeli military said it targeted three members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon on Sunday, without providing any evidence to back up their claim.

"Since this morning (Sunday), the [Israeli military] has struck three Hezbollah terrorists in several areas in southern Lebanon. The terrorists took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah's terror infrastructure," the military said in a statement.

"Their activities constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," it added, referring to a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Sunday killed one person, the Lebanese health ministry said, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

In a statement, the ministry said that an "Israeli enemy strike" on a motorcycle in Yater, south Lebanon, killed one person and wounded another.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an envoy of the Religious Zionist movement Chabad, has reportedly been killed after gunmen opened fire at Australia's Bondi Beach in Sydney, killing at least 12 people who were gathering to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Israel's ongoing attacks have killed at least 391 Palestinians since 11 October, despite the ceasefire being in effect.

A further 1,063 have been injured.

Israel's genocidal war has now killed at least 70,663 Palestinians since October 2023, not including the thousands missing or trapped under the rubble presumed dead.

A further 171,139 have been injured as Israel continues its attacks on the enclave.

Nine Palestinians were killed over the past 24 hours, including five fatalities that were previously unrecorded and four new deaths, along with 45 new injuries.

The Israeli navy detained four Palestinian fishermen while they were fishing off the coast of Khan Younis.

The condition of the detainees, or the reason they were detained, was provided.

Hamas' chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said on Sunday that a targeted assassination by Israel on Saturday of one of the group's senior commanders threatens the "viability of the truce" in the enclave.

In a televised address, Hayya, who is also an exiled Gaza Hamas chief, confirmed the killing of the group's senior commander, Raed Saed, in an Israeli strike a day earlier.

It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.

"The continued Israeli violations to the ceasefire agreement...and latest assassinations that targeted Saed and others threaten the viability of the agreement," he said in an address.

"We call on mediators, and especially the main guarantor, the US administration and President Donald Trump, to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it."

Israeli forces shot and injured a young Palestinian in Hebron at the northern entrance to the city, Wafa reports.

The forces opened fire at the Palestinian, hit him on the head and left him to bleed, preventing medical teams from reaching him to help.

Palestinian detainee Sakhr Ahmad Zaoul has died in Israeli prison on Sunday, the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said.

Zaoul, 26, had been held in administrative detention at Ofer prison since 11 June 2025, without charges or trial.

Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, as they raided the city and the nearby town of Halhul.

Israeli forces stormed and searched Palestinian homes, converting one home into a temporary military outpost, as well as detaining four brothers in Halhul.

Palestinian group Hamas' Gaza chief, Khalil Al-Hayya, confirmed on Sunday the killing of the group's senior commander, Raed Saed, in an Israeli strike a day earlier.

It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.