Hezbollah on Sunday officially announced the death of Mohammad Afif, the party’s media relations chief, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, while an Israeli airstrike on a five-storey apartment building in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people, including women and children, local civil defence officials said.

Israeli strike kills Hezbollah lead spokesperson

Hezbollah said in a statement:

“We mourn a great media leader and a martyr on the path to Jerusalem, taken from us in a heinous Zionist criminal attack.”

Mohammad Afif was one of the founders of Hezbollah. His media career began in 1983, during which he maintained close ties with the party’s former secretary-general Abbas al-Mousawi, assassinated by Israel in 1992, and with Hassan Nasrallah, assassinated on September 27, 2024.

Afif was appointed Hezbollah’s head of media relations in 2014 and also served as Nasrallah’s media adviser. His contributions extended to managing news and political programmes on Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s official news channel. Afif played a key role in media coverage during Israel’s war with Lebanon in July 2006.

Details of the assassination

A Lebanese security source confirmed that Mohammad Afif was killed on November 17 in an Israeli airstrike on the densely populated Ras al-Nabaa neighbourhood of Beirut. Israeli Army Radio reported that Afif was the main target of the operation.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the bombing killed one person and wounded three others, bringing the total number of casualties to more than 3,365 and some 14,344 wounded.

Observers suggested that the strike on Afif reflected “a shift in Israeli strategy toward targeting non-military Hezbollah leaders to increase pressure on the group.” The airstrike followed a series of sustained attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahyeh), where areas such as Haret Hreik and Burj al-Barajneh have been heavily bombed by Israeli warplanes.

Lebanon agrees to US ceasefire proposal

Hezbollah has submitted its response to the ceasefire proposal presented by US envoy Amos Hochstein, Lebanese channel LBCI reported on Sunday. Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut as early as Tuesday to receive Lebanon’s official position.

According to the report, Beirut accepts the main provisions of the deal, but will make changes and demand clarification on US assurances to Israel that the IDF will be able to operate in Lebanon if the terms of the ceasefire are violated. Beirut rejects any Israeli operations on its territory.

Israel has requested a letter from the US guaranteeing freedom of action against Hezbollah if the Lebanese army or peacekeeping forces to be deployed in the south do not respond.

If an agreement is reached, Hochstein is expected to travel to Israel after his visit to Beirut. According to senior officials privy to the details of the talks, Iran is not expected to prevent Lebanon from agreeing to a ceasefire. The officials said:

“Iran wants to calm the situation. They are playing the long game. There is no problem for them to reach an agreement.”

Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted sources in Lebanon as saying that parliament speaker Nabih Berri was in touch with Hochstein and his team. He said:

“There are serious fears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually renege on the deal.”

Israel has stepped up its attacks on Beirut and on Sunday struck the Dahyeh neighbourhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the city. An Israeli official said the attacks were “a symptom of attempts to finalise the deal.”

34 killed in Israeli airstrike in Northern Gaza

An Israeli airstrike on a five-storey residential building in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people, including women and children, local civil defence officials said.

The bombing levelled the building to the ground, leaving a pile of rubble in its place. Dozens of people are believed to still be under the rubble, with seven others injured.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the chances of rescuing more victims were dwindling due to constant Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes.

“The whole neighbourhood was shaking,” a resident whose family lived in the destroyed building told reporters, describing the shock and panic caused by the attack.

The Israeli military confirmed it had struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including Beit Lahiya, to crack down on Hamas and prevent the group from regrouping. Israel says its offensive is aimed at neutralising “terrorist targets.”

In addition to the Beit Lahiya strike, three separate attacks on refugee camps in central Gaza killed another 15 people and a drone attack in the southern city of Rafah killed five others.

Humanitarian organisations warn of worsening situation in Gaza

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza continues to deteriorate. Over the past five weeks, Israel’s ground offensive has displaced some 130,000 people, many of whom are unable to leave dangerous areas.

The UN estimates that at least 75,000 Gazans remain in areas such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, facing severe shortages of food, water and medicine.

As the violence continues, many Gazans have expressed frustration at the destruction of their homes and difficulties in fleeing. One woman from Beit Lahiya told BBC News:

“What have we done to you people? What harm have we done to you? We are staying in our homes. Why are you expelling us?”

The United Nations and human rights organisations have condemned the scale of destruction and displacement in Gaza.

A recent Human Rights Watch report accuses Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by deliberately causing mass displacement.

Since Israel launched its offensive following an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, more than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel’s operation in Gaza to eliminate Hamas after its attack, which killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians.

According to the UN, some 1.9 million people – 90 per cent of Gaza’s population – have been displaced over the past year, with 79 per cent of the territory now under Israeli-issued evacuation orders.