Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon continue even after the death of key group leaders. One of the latest Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 11 people. Alongside this, a Hezbollah drone was heading towards the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.
More strikes hit Gaza on Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that an Israeli strike hit a house in central Gaza early Saturday morning. It killed 11 people, including three children, all of whom were from the same family and were killed in the Maghazi refugee camp, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where they were taken. The strike came hours after another strike killed at least 10 people.
Israel also came under fire from Hezbollah. Sirens sirens wailed Saturday morning warning of incoming fire from Lebanon and a drone was launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, according to the Israeli government. Neither he nor his wife were at home and there were no casualties, his spokesman said in a statement.
The attack on the prime minister’s home, the most prominent target chosen by the terror group since the start of hostilities, came a day after it said it was entering a new phase in its fight against Israeli forces, adding that it had introduced new weapons in the past few days. In a statement, the group’s operational headquarters said Hezbollah fighters used new types of precision guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.
Hostilities continue after Hamas leader’s death
The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week appeared to be a random front-line clash with Israeli troops on Wednesday, and it could shift the dynamics of the war in Gaza even as Israel continues its offensive against Hezbollah, using ground troops in southern Lebanon and airstrikes elsewhere in the country.
For its part, Hamas, even after losing its main leader, continued to reiterate its position that the hostages they took in Israel a year ago will not be released until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza and Israeli troops are withdrawn. The hard-line stance countered Netanyahu’s statement that his country’s military will continue to fight until the hostages are released and will remain in Gaza to prevent the heavily weakened Hamas from rearming.
Israel, on the other hand, had pledged to politically destroy Hamas in Gaza, and killing Sinwar was a top military priority. However, Netanyahu said in a speech on Thursday night announcing the assassination that the war is not over. Still, Israel’s allies and exhausted Gazans expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the war.
Apart from that, sources say that with the US election approaching, Israel is rushing to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon and is seizing the moment to create de-facto buffer zones in an attempt to create an irreversible reality before the new president takes office in January. Israel is seeking to ensure that its enemies and their main patron Iran do not regroup and start threatening Israeli citizens again, according to Reuters.
Before considering any ceasefire agreements, Israel is ramping up its military campaign to push Hezbollah back from its northern border. The aim of the ground offensive launched in Lebanon over the past month is to push Hezbollah back some 30 kilometres from its northern border, beyond the Litani River, and ensure that the Shiite militant group is completely disarmed after 30 years of military support from Iran.
Simultaneously, the Israeli military is advancing on the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. Palestinians and UN agencies fear this might be seen as an attempt to separate northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave. The north of Gaza is suffering due to food shortages as not a single food truck has entered the northern part since the beginning of October, leaving 1 million people at risk of going hungry.
Sinwar was a major respondent to a Hamas raid on Israel in 2023, resulting in Hamas-led militants killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages in an attack in southern Israel, according to Israeli calculations. The subsequent Israeli offensive has resulted in the deaths of more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health authorities in the enclave.
