Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the northeast. UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel. “We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment.” Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded. The fighting came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively. The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive. Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel has also launched airstrikes against Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.  

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the October 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory. The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end the 13-month conflict. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have been subsequently killed in the conflict. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also blasted the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also slammed the request. “The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” the three-judge panel wrote in its unanimous decision to issue warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC's jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants. US vetoes a Gaza cease-fire resolution “No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy. The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes cases when domestic law enforcement authorities cannot or will not investigate. Israel is not a member state of the court. The country has struggled to investigate itself in the past, rights groups say. Despite the warrants, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague any time soon. The court itself has no police to enforce warrants, instead relying on cooperation from its member states.  

Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military targets in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties. The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran – including Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – are already at war with Israel. The Israeli military said Saturday it had launched “precise strikes on military targets” and, according to two Israeli officials, it was not targeting nuclear or oil facilities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing operation with the media. “The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 ... including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.” Iran prepares for huge military response amid Israeli tensions Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration believed it had won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets. Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city. But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an attempt to downplay the assault. A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. People in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky as the blasts could be heard. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles launching up to the sky and other detonations. Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by the Associated Press showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and would continue to receive updates. In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported missile fire targeting military sites in the country’s central and southern region. It said that Syria’s air defenses had shot some of the missiles down. There was no immediate information on casualties. Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That initial attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the seaside enclave. In the time since, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. has said hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped with little food or supplies as Israeli forces close in on the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, while food and other aid remains scarce in the enclave. Israeli military operations in the West Bank in the time since have killed hundreds more. Israel also has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and a series of punishing airstrikes that have rattled that country. The strike Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to tender a response that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and exclude nuclear sites in Iran. White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran” and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details on their operation. Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. Israel had vowed to hit Iran hard following a massive Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1. Iran said its barrage was in response to deadly Israeli attacks against its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and it has promised to respond to any retaliatory strikes. Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program. Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor. But since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began. Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon. Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike. But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response. Meanwhile Friday, Israeli strikes on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people, including 13 children from the same extended family, Palestinian health officials said. In northern Gaza, health officials reported that Israeli forces had raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the area. Israel has renewed its offensive against Hamas in the north in recent weeks, and aid groups are sounding the alarm over dire humanitarian conditions. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes on the country’s southeast killed three journalists working for news outlets that are considered to be aligned with Hezbollah.  

Israel said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed a Hezbollah official widely expected to have replaced the militant group's longtime leader, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike last month. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah about the fate of Hashem Safieddine, a powerful cleric who was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders. Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders, according to Israel, whose airstrikes in southern Lebanon in recent months have killed many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, leaving the group in disarray. Last week, Israel killed the top leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, during a battle in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a trip to Israel that leaders there should “capitalize” on Sinwar's death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages taken during the deadly Hamas attack that started the war. Blinken also stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called his meeting with Blinken, which lasted more than two hours, “friendly and productive.” The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by fresh airstrikes Tuesday, including one that leveled a building Israel said housed Hezbollah facilities. The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters (yards) from where a spokesperson for Hezbollah had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged Netanyahu's house. Tuesday's airstrikes came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah news conference nearby was cut short, and an Associated Press photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, said the group was behind the Saturday drone attack on Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea. Israel has said neither the prime minister nor his wife were home at the time. Blinken's meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders was part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. He landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries. Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel An Israeli airstrike late Monday in Beirut destroyed several buildings across the street from the country’s largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn’t targeted the hospital itself. AP reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis center, which was full of patients at the time. Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence. The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors on Tuesday. AP reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary. The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military's announcement the night before. “We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alame said. “There is nothing under the hospital.” Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 63 people have been killed over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,546. Three Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday, one in Gaza, one in Lebanon, and one in a rocket attack in northern Israel, according to the military. Blinken trying to restart efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza During his meeting with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, Blinken underscored the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, according to U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. The need for more aid in Gaza is something Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week. Miller said Blinken also stressed the importance of ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated earlier this month when Israel began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have brokered months of talks between Israel and Hamas, trying to strike a deal in which the militants would release dozens of hostages in return for an end to the war, a lasting cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners. But both Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands over the summer, and the talks halted in August. Hamas says its demands haven't changed following the killing of Sinwar. Israel said it invaded Lebanon to try to stop near daily rocket attacks from Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has said it plans to strike Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to its ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month. War rages in Lebanon and northern Gaza The U.S. has also tried to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but those efforts fell apart as tensions spiked last month with a series of Israeli strikes that killed Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders. Israel has carried out waves of heavy airstrikes across southern Beirut and the country’s south and east, areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel over the past year, including some that have reached the country’s populous center. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Around 100 of the captives are still held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel says more strikes coming against Hezbollah-run financial institution Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands, according to local health authorities, who don't say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children. It has also caused major devastation and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.

Israel said late Monday it planned to carry out more strikes in Lebanon against a Hezbollah-run financial institution that it targeted the night before and which it says uses customers' deposits to finance attacks against Israel. At least 15 branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan were hit late Sunday in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, and there were no reports of casualties. UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move Associated Press journalists witnessed strikes late Monday in the coastal region of Ouzai, near Beirut’s airport, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an airstrike near Beirut’s largest public hospital killed four, including a child, and wounded 24. It was the first strike on the Lebanese capital in 10 days. Israeli ground forces invaded Lebanon earlier this month. The military said it aims to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes nearby after more than a year of cross-border rocket and drone attacks. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes. Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel nearly every day since Hamas' deadly raid into Israel last year that sparked the war in Gaza. The United States is hoping to revive diplomatic efforts to resolve both conflicts after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, but so far all sides appear to be digging in. Hezbollah-run lender filled gaps left by Lebanon's troubled banksThe Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said — without providing evidence — that Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan and that the money is used to purchase arms and pay fighters. The strikes were aimed at preventing the group from rearming, he said. The institution, which has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, tried to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas. Many customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah. Al-Qard Al-Hasan, which is sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has long served as an alternative to Lebanon's banks, which have imposed restrictions on customers since a severe financial crisis that began in 2019. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said late Monday that Israel planned more strikes on Al-Qard al-Hasan. Hagari said Iran funds Hezbollah by sending cash and gold to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, though he did not provide any evidence. Hagari also said, without providing evidence, that Israeli intelligence had discovered a bunker belonging to former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that is now being used as a vault under a hospital in southern Beirut. He said it held millions of dollars of gold and cash. A member of Lebanon’s parliament who is the director of the hospital, Fadi Alameh, denied the claim, and said the hospital has underground operation rooms. Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated in anticipation of strikes. Hagari said Israeli strikes in Beirut in early October and in Syria on Monday had also killed people responsible for transferring money between Iran and Hezbollah. Syrian state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the capital of Damascus, killing two people and wounding three. Israeli airstrikes killed 17 people in Lebanon on Monday, including four first responders, according to the country's health ministry. The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired 170 projectiles into Israel on Monday. US envoy says UN resolution that ended past war is ‘no longer enough’U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent much of the past year trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, was back in Lebanon on Monday for talks with senior officials. He said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, was “no longer enough” to ensure peace and a new mechanism was needed to enforce it. The resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the border with Israel and for U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to control southern Lebanon, without any Hezbollah or Israeli presence. Israel says the resolution was never implemented and that Hezbollah built up extensive military infrastructure right up to the border. Lebanon has long accused Israel of violating its airspace and failing to abide by other provisions of the resolution. US tries to revive Gaza cease-fire talks after Sinwar’s deathThe United States has expressed hope that last week's killing of Hamas leader Sinwar could give new impetus for a cease-fire in Gaza, which would give a major boost to parallel efforts to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar, visited Egypt for the second time in less than a week and met with Egyptian officials on Sunday, according to an Egyptian official who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, remains opposed to any Israeli presence along the Gaza-Egypt border, a key sticking point in talks that sputtered to a halt in August. Hamas has said its demands remain unchanged after the killing of Sinwar. The militant group has said it will only release dozens of Israeli hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the captives, and says Israel must maintain an open-ended security presence in Gaza to keep Hamas from rearming. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don’t distinguish combatants from civilians but say most of the dead were women and children. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

Russia has issued a stern warning to Israel, advising against any potential attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, labeling such an action as catastrophic. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov emphasized that even contemplating an attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure would be a grave violation of nuclear security norms, reports TASS “We have repeatedly warned and continue to caution [Israel] against even hypothetically considering the possibility of striking [Iran’s] nuclear facilities. Senior US official warns of North Korean nuclear threats and help for Russia This would be a disastrous move and a complete rejection of established nuclear security principles,” Ryabkov stated. The warning follows an incident on October 1, when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a significant missile assault on Israel in response to the deaths of key leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC. Tehran claimed that 90% of the missiles hit their targets, while Israel reported that most of the 180 missiles fired were intercepted. Israel’s Chief of the General Staff vowed to respond with a surprise attack on Iran at an opportune time. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov further cautioned that targeting Tehran’s peaceful nuclear facilities in retaliation for Iranian missile attacks on Israel would be a highly provocative move.        

Yahya Sinwar masterminded an attack on Israel that shocked the world, unleashing a still-widening catastrophe with no end in sight. In Gaza, no figure loomed larger in determining the war’s trajectory than the 61-year-old Hamas leader. Obsessive, disciplined and dictatorial, he was a rarely seen veteran militant who learned Hebrew over years spent in Israeli prisons and who carefully studied his enemy. On Thursday, Israel said troops in Gaza had killed Sinwar. A top Hamas political official confirmed the death Friday. The secretive figure feared on both sides of the battle lines engineered the surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel, along with the even more shadowy Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing. Israel said that it killed Deif in a July airstrike in southern Gaza that killed more than 70 Palestinians. How Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was found and killed by Israel Soon after, Hamas’ leader in exile, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed while visiting Iran in an explosion that was blamed on Israel. Sinwar was then chosen to take his place as Hamas’ top leader, though he was in hiding in Gaza. Palestinian militants who carried out the October 2023 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others, catching Israel’s military and intelligence establishment off guard and shattering the image of Israeli invincibility. Israel’s retaliation was crushing. The conflict has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. It also has caused widespread destruction in Gaza, and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and many on the verge of starvation. Sinwar has held indirect negotiations with Israel to try to end the war. One of his goals was to win the release of thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, much like the deal that got him released more than a decade ago. He worked on bringing Hamas closer to Iran and its other allies across the region. The war he ignited drew in Hezbollah, eventually leading to another Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and led Iran and Israel to trade fire directly for the first time, raising fears of an even more expansive conflict. To Israelis, Sinwar was a nightmarish figure. The Israeli army’s chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, called him a murderer “who proved to the whole world that Hamas is worse than ISIS,” referring to the Islamic State group. Always defiant, Sinwar ended one of his few public speeches by inviting Israel to assassinate him, proclaiming in Gaza, “I will walk back home after this meeting.” He then did so, shaking hands and taking selfies with people in the streets. Among Palestinians, he was respected for standing up to Israel and remaining in impoverished Gaza, in contrast to other Hamas leaders living more comfortably abroad. But he was also deeply feared for his iron grip in Gaza, where public dissent is suppressed. In contrast to the media-friendly personas cultivated by some of Hamas’ political leadership, Sinwar never sought to build a public image. He was known as the “Butcher of Khan Younis” for his brutal approach to Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. Israel confirms killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza Sinwar was born in 1962 in Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp to a family that was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. He was an early member of Hamas, which emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987, when the coastal enclave was under Israeli military occupation. Sinwar convinced the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, that to succeed as a resistance organization, Hamas needed to be purged of informants for Israel. They founded a security arm, then known as Majd, which Sinwar led. Arrested by Israel in the late 1980s, he admitted under interrogation to having killed 12 suspected collaborators. He was eventually sentenced to four life terms for offenses that included the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers. Michael Koubi, a former director of the investigations department at Israel’s Shin Bet security agency who interrogated Sinwar, recalled the confession that stood out to him the most: Sinwar recounted forcing a man to bury his own brother alive because he was suspected of working for Israel. “His eyes were full of happiness when he told us this story,” Koubi said. But to fellow prisoners, Sinwar was charismatic, sociable and shrewd, open to detainees from all political factions. He became the leader of the hundreds of imprisoned Hamas members. He organized strikes to improve conditions. He learned Hebrew and studied Israeli society. He was known for feeding fellow inmates, making kunafa, a treat of shredded dough stuffed with cheese. “Being a leader inside prison gave him experience in negotiations and dialogue, and he understood the mentality of the enemy and how to affect it,” said Anwar Yassine, a Lebanese citizen who spent about 17 years in Israeli jails, much of the time with Sinwar. Yassine noted how Sinwar always treated him with respect even though he belonged to the Lebanese Communist Party, whose secular principles conflicted with Hamas’ ideology. During his years in detention, Sinwar wrote a 240-page novel, “Thistle and the Cloves.” It tells the story of Palestinian society from the 1967 Mideast war until 2000, when the second intifada began. “This is not my personal story, nor is it the story of a specific person, despite the fact that all the incidents are true,” Sinwar wrote in the novel’s opening. In 2008, Sinwar survived an aggressive form of brain cancer after treatment at a Tel Aviv hospital. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released him in 2011 along with about 1,000 other prisoners in exchange for Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid. Netanyahu was harshly criticized for releasing dozens of prisoners held for involvement in deadly attacks. Back in Gaza, Sinwar closely coordinated between Hamas’ political leadership and its military wing, the Qassam Brigades. He also cultivated a reputation for ruthlessness. He is widely believed to be behind the unprecedented 2016 killing of another top Hamas commander, Mahmoud Ishtewi, in an internal power struggle. He also married after his release. In 2017, he was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza. Sinwar worked with Haniyeh to realign the group with Iran and its allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. He also focused on building Hamas’ military power.  

For more than a year, Israel's security forces, with significant backing from the United States, invested substantial resources and gathered extensive intelligence in their pursuit of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader linked to the October 7 attacks, according to The New York Times. Ultimately, it was a unit of trainee squad commanders who unexpectedly came across Sinwar during an operation in southern Gaza, as reported by four Israeli defense officials who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation. Where was Sinwar found? On Wednesday, an Israeli unit patrolling southern Gaza encountered a small group of fighters, according to officials. Supported by drones, the soldiers engaged in a firefight, resulting in the deaths of three Palestinian militants. During the clash, Israeli fire damaged a building where the militants were hiding. Israel confirms killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza As the dust settled and the soldiers began to search the debris, they discovered a body that strikingly resembled Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader. This discovery was unexpected, as Israeli and U.S. intelligence had believed Sinwar was hiding deep underground, surrounded by Israeli hostages to protect himself from assassination. How did Sinwar die? Photographs obtained by The New York Times, some of which circulated online, depict a man whose facial features closely resemble Yahya Sinwar. The body shows multiple severe wounds, including to the head and leg, and bears distinctive marks matching those seen in archival footage of Sinwar, such as moles near his eyes and crooked teeth. After the firefight concluded, soldiers approached the bodies with caution, as the area was still strewn with explosive devices. They suspected that Sinwar's body might be booby-trapped. Alongside the militants, the troops discovered money and weaponry, with one official sharing photos of the scene, including these items. The soldiers were also concerned about the possibility of hostages being present but found none with the fighters. The Israeli military stated that there is no evidence indicating that any hostages still held in Gaza were harmed during the battle. By Thursday evening, following the identification process, the Israeli military confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was dead. Source: With inputs from The New York Times 

An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the school. The strike hit the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week. Israel pressured by UN and US to step up action to tackle Gaza's escalating humanitarian crisis Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry's emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties. "Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said. The military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of dozens of names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.

Hezbollah’s acting leader declared Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed in a televised speech to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.” It was his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut. The United Nations human rights office meanwhile called for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in Aito in northern Lebanon, killing at least 23 people, including 12 women and two children. Israeli strikes continued in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters. It’s been more than a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people. In solidarity with Hamas, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily for the past year. Israel has escalated its campaign against the group in recent weeks. Israel assures US it won’t strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites, US officials say The Biden administration believes it has won assurances from Israel that it will not hit Iranian nuclear or oil sites as it considers retaliating to Iran’s missile barrage earlier this month, two U.S. officials say. The administration also believes that sending a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel and roughly 100 soldiers to operate it has eased some of Israel’s concerns about more Iranian strikes and general security issues. The Pentagon announced Sunday that the THAAD deployment was to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October, saying it was authorized at the direction of President Joe Biden. However, the U.S. officials who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic discussions, cautioned that the assurance is not iron-clad and that circumstances could change. The officials also noted that Israel’s track record on fulfilling assurances in the past is mixed and has often reflected domestic Israeli politics that have upended Washington’s expectations. Shelter in Syria struggles to help displaced Lebanese A shelter near Damascus established to house Syrians displaced by the country’s civil war is now housing more than 300 Lebanese families who fled the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah in their country. Abdul-Nasser Khatib, the head of the shelter in Herjelleh, said Tuesday that Syria, which was already in the throes of an economic crisis, is struggling to meet the needs of the new arrivals. He says the center doesn’t have enough drinking water, food, baby milk and clothes, and “we are in urgent need of the assistance of international organizations.” A child playing with a make-believe train at the center chanted, “Toot toot, to Beirut,” a line from a popular song about Lebanon’s now-defunct railroad. Nour Murad, a Lebanese citizen from the eastern city of Baalbek, says she fled a “disastrous” situation and has been in Syria for eight days. Read: UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah “The destruction and blood were everywhere around us,” she said. “Displacement is nothing compared to those who have lost loved ones.” Murad said she plans to return to Lebanon “as soon as the situation calms down.” Lebanese border authorities say more than 326,000 Syrians and more than 124,000 Lebanese citizens have crossed into Syria from Lebanon since Sept. 23, when Israel began widespread attacks in Lebanon. US State Department dismisses Iranian claim that communications have broken down The U.S. State Department has dismissed remarks by Iran’s foreign minister who said Tehran shut down an indirect communication route between the two countries in Oman. Responding to a query from The Associated Press, the State Department said Tuesday: “We have direct and open lines of communication with Iran when it is in our interest.” “There is no misunderstanding in our position,” the State Department said. “Thus, there is no need at the current time for indirect talks in Oman or anywhere else.” On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state media in Muscat, Oman, that Iran has stopped indirect talks with the U.S. there. Iran remains braced for a possible retaliatory strike by Israel to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel, its second direct attack on Israel amid the ongoing wars in the Middle East. UN human rights office urges independent probe into deadly airstrike in northern Lebanon The U.N. human rights office is calling for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in northern Lebanon and left at least 23 people dead. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR ), says the agency has received reports that 12 women and two children were among those killed Monday in the airstrike on the village of Aito. “With these factors in mind, we have real concerns with respect to … the laws of war and principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality,” he told reporters in Geneva Tuesday. Laurence is calling for a “prompt, independent and thorough investigation into this incident.” Israel speeds up technology development to counter drone attacks The Israeli Defense Ministry says it is speeding up development of new technologies to counter drone attacks like the Hezbollah strike this week that killed four soldiers. Israel’s air defenses have performed well during a year of war against enemies across the region, particularly against rocket and missile attacks. But at times, they have struggled against drones, with unmanned aerial vehicles responsible for several deadly attacks. Read more: Israel says 4 soldiers killed by Hezbollah drone attack while Israeli strike in Gaza leaves 20 dead The Defense Ministry said it tested a number of technologies being developed by Israeli companies as part of an “expedited process” to find new solutions. It says it will analyze the results and select several technologies for further development with the aim of deploying them within months. US and Canada impose sanctions on a Palestinian organization The U.S. and Canada on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or “Samidoun,” a charity that serves as an alleged fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group. The group operates in Gaza and the West Bank and has been a designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997. Also designated is Khaled Barakat, a member of the group’s leadership. Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said that organizations like Samidoun “masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups.” The penalties aim to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. Hezbollah's acting leader says the group is focused on ‘hurting the enemy’ Hezbollah’s deputy chief and acting leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in a televised speech Tuesday that the group is now focused on “hurting the enemy,” exemplified by targeting the Israeli city of Haifa and areas beyond it, including Tel Aviv. The pre-recorded speech marked his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27. “We will defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands,” Kassem said. He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking a “new Middle East” aligned with Israeli and American interests. He urged Hezbollah supporters to remain steadfast amid Israeli attacks. “Our hope for victory is limitless,” he said. “I give you good news that we are the ones who will hold the enemy’s reins and return it to the fold.” Addressing Israelis, Kassem said that a cease-fire is the only solution to return residents of northern Israel to their homes. “We are not seeking a cease-fire because we are weak,” he said. If Israel continues its bombardment and ground invasion in Lebanon, he said that Hezbollah’s strikes will expand over a geographically wider area and “more than 2 million will be in danger.” Israeli officials have said the operation in Lebanon is intended to push back Hezbollah and return displaced Israelis to their homes. Kassem linked the ongoing conflict in Lebanon to the broader struggle of the Palestinians, and to the ongoing war in Gaza. “We cannot separate Lebanon from Palestine, or Palestine from the world,” he said. A team of US troops supporting a missile defense system arrives in Israel A team of American troops supporting a missile defense system in Israel has arrived in the country, the U.S. military said. A statement from Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder announced the team’s arrival in Israel on Monday. They’ll operate a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery there to defend against ballistic missile attacks from Iran. Tehran has launched two missile attacks on Israel as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon rage. “Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” Ryder said. “The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines.” Iran has warned U.S. troops would be in harm’s way if Iran launches another attack on Israel. Thousands vaccinated against polio in Gaza as the campaign enters a second phase The U.N. health agency says more than 92,000 children aged under 10 in central Gaza received doses of novel oral polio vaccine as a second phase of a vaccination campaign got underway. World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters Tuesday that the kick-off a day earlier to the second round of polio vaccinations was part of efforts to reach over 179,000 kids in central Gaza – and over 590,000 across the entire strip. Read more:UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah “What we have received from colleagues is that the vaccination went without major issues yesterday,” he told reporters at a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. He expressed hopes that a “humanitarian pause” will be respected in north and south Gaza over the next six-to-eight days. Jasarevic said 92,821 children aged under 10 received the vaccine on Monday, the first day of the new phase of the vaccination campaign. “No one wants to see any child paralyzed (because of polio),” Jasarevic said. “But there are so many other problems that people in Gaza are facing, and we need sustained access.” A police officer killed and 4 civilians wounded in a shooting in central Israel Israeli police say one officer was killed and four civilians were wounded in a shooting Tuesday on a highway in central Israel. Police did not immediately provide the identity of the shooter, but police spokeswoman, Mirit Ben Mayor, said that it was a militant attack. Police said the attacker approached the highway and shot the officer before firing on civilians, wounding four. The attacker was then shot by a paramedic arriving on the scene, Israel’s rescue services said, without saying whether the attacker was killed. The shooting occurred on a two-lane highway near the city of Yavne, just south of Tel Aviv. Ohad Yehezkeli, a spokesperson for nearby Assuta Hospital, said the officer died on the way there and another civilian was being treated for moderate injuries. He said two more wounded people were being transported to the hospital. Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Israel has ramped up military operations in the occupied West Bank, killing more than 750 Palestinians. Most have been killed during gunbattles with the army or violent protests, but the dead also include civilian bystanders. Iran's general threatens Israelis at a funeral in Tehran A general in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard directly threatened the lives of Israelis during a funeral service in Tehran for a general slain alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The comment from Gen. Ali Fadavi, a deputy commander in chief of the Guard, comes as Iran awaits a threatened retaliation by Israel over its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack. “That land is a small land. It’s not even as big as one of Iran’s small provinces,” Fadavi said. “If we will, we can obliterate all the Zionists.” Iranian officials routinely refer to Israelis as “Zionists.” The Guard’s leadership attended a funeral service for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed alongside Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut. Guard leaders and others in Iran’s theocracy have threatened to destroy Israel in the past during the more than four decades since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israeli police accuse Hamas operatives in Turkey for August attack in Tel Aviv Israeli police accused Hamas operatives in Turkey of directing a militant attack in August in Tel Aviv in which an explosive went off on a busy street, killing the attacker and wounding a bystander. There was no immediate comment from Turkey. Relations between the two countries have plunged since the start of the war in Gaza. Turkey has long provided political support for Hamas, including welcoming its top leaders on visits, but denies involvement in its military activities. The bomb appeared to have gone off before it was planned to, and it was unclear if the attacker had planned to carry out a suicide bombing or plant the explosives. Both Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the attack. Police said Tuesday that they filed indictments against eight suspects. They said the attacker was a militant from Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who had been directed by an operative in Turkey. They said one of the attack planners had traveled to Turkey several times for explosives training, and that a raid in Nablus uncovered more bombs and funds transferred from Turkey. The police did not provide evidence. “The findings of this investigation clearly indicate the establishment of Hamas headquarters in Turkey and their extensive efforts abroad to incite violence and carry out bombings in Israel,” the police statement said. First responders recover 11 bodies from a destroyed home in northern Gaza Palestinian first responders say they recovered 11 bodies, nearly all women and children, from a home destroyed in an airstrike in northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground operation for over a week. The Gaza Health Ministry’s ambulance service said the dead recovered Tuesday were all from the same family and included seven women and three children. Fares Abu Hamza, head of the emergency service, said ambulances were only able to reach the area in the Jabaliya refugee camp around 12 hours after the airstrike late Monday. He said funeral prayers for the dead, which included a medic killed in Jabaliya, were held Tuesday in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. First responders from the Civil Defense said its teams evacuated three families Tuesday who were stuck inside their homes in Jabaliya for several days because of heavy fighting. Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has carried out several large operations in Jabaliya — a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — only to return months later after saying militants had regrouped there. Israel launched a large operation there on Oct. 6. Top leaders are among those mourning an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general The funeral of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the paramilitary organization together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel. The Guard’s leadership hasn’t been as visible in the two weeks since Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel. The Guard is the main power behind Iran’s theocracy and oversees its arsenal of ballistic missiles — which would be crucial in any future attack on Israel. At the funeral in Tehran for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, the Guard’s chief commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, attended alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the country’s judiciary. Other Guard generals also attended, including Gen. Esmail Qaani of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, about whom rumors had circulated for days regarding his status after the strike that killed Nasrallah. At least two prominent Guard generals were not on hand: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Guard’s aerospace division that oversees its missile program, and Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Guard’s navy, did not attend. Iran offered no explanation for their absence, though Israel has threatened to carry out a serious retaliatory strike against Iran. Israeli strikes on south Gaza kill at least 15 overnight Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. A strike early Tuesday hit a house in the southern town of Beni Suhaila, killing at least 10 people from one extended family, according to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. The dead include three children and one woman, according to hospital records. An Associated Press camera operator at the hospital counted the bodies. In the nearby town of Fakhari, a strike hit a house early Tuesday, killing five people, including three children and a woman, according to the European Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of sheltering in civilian areas. Israeli bombardment around Jabaliya leaves family trapped In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters Tuesday. Adel al-Deqes said his relatives tried to move to another place in Jabaliya in the morning, but the military shelled them. “We don’t know who died and who is still alive,” he said. Ahmed Awda, another Jabaliya resident, said they heard “constant bombing and gunfire” overnight and Tuesday morning. He said the military destroyed many buildings in the eastern and northern parts of the camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. “They bombed many buildings; some of them empty buildings,” he said. Iranian paramilitary leader whose status was in question is shown on state TV The head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television. Rumors circulated for weeks over Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online. Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the airstrike. Australia puts sanctions and travel bans on 5 Iranians  Australia’s government has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranians contributing to the country’s missile defense program, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday. Iran’s launch of at least 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on Oct. 1 was “a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Wong said in a statement. The fresh sanctions target two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The decision brings to 200 the number of Iran-linked individuals and entities now sanctioned by Australia. “Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilizing actions,” Wong said.