Middle East live updates: IDF troops killed in Gaza as hospitals ‘besieged’

(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut. The strikes form the backdrop for a fresh diplomatic push by the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.

Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.

 

At least 11 dead, more injured in powerful Israeli strikes on central Beirut

Rescue efforts were underway after Israeli airstrikes targeted central Beirut on Saturday morning, killing at least 11 people, Lebanese authorities said.

The powerful strikes occurred at around 4 a.m. local time, destroying an eight-story residential building in the densely populated Basta neighborhood in the heart of Lebanon’s capital. So far, emergency responders have pulled 23 people alive but wounded from the rubble as well as the lifeless bodies of 11 others, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense, which noted that the casualty count was provisional as search and rescue operations were still underway as of 10:30 a.m. local time.

ABC News has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the strikes.

It’s the fourth round of Israeli strikes to hit Beirut in less than a week, shaking the city as the Israeli military presses its offensive against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The escalation comes on the heels of U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein’s trip to the region earlier this week in an attempt to clinch a cease-fire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has erupted into full-on war in the past two months with Israeli ground troops invading southern Lebanon as warplanes bomb Hezbollah strongholds in both the south and in the capital.

Israeli forces conduct airstrike in southern suburbs of Beirut

Israeli forces conducted a strike in Beirut’s southern suburb Friday evening, causing a bright flash in the dark.

At least 62 people were killed and 111 people were wounded from Israeli attacks in Lebanon Thursday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.

Israeli forces issued an evacuation order to residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut Friday in a post on X.

At least 3,645 people have been killed and 15,355 people have been wounded since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon began in mid-September, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

-ABC News’ Bruno Nota

38 killed in Gaza Friday, IDF conducts operations in northern and central Gaza

At least 38 people have been killed in Gaza since Friday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said Friday.

Israeli forces said they conducted an operation in Beit Lahia in the northern area of the Gaza Strip during the night between Wednesday and Thursday. During the operation, two Hamas company commanders were killed, the IDF said in a statement about the operation.

Israeli forces also killed the commander of the Islamic Jihad’s Rocket Unit in central Gaza with an Israeli airstrike Wednesday, the IDF said in a separate statement.

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said Israeli forces targeted the hospital with bombings two days in a row Thursday and Friday. One doctor and a number of patients were injured from the attacks, the director said.

-ABC News’ Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller

Hungary prime minister says Netanyahu won’t be arrested in his county

Hungarian Prime Viktor Orban said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would face no risk of arrest if he visited Hungary, after the International Criminal Court issued arrest a warrant for the Israeli official.

Orban branded the arrest warrants a “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable decision.”

Orban, who is often at odds with his European Union peers, has forged close ties with Netanyahu.

“Today I will invite Israel’s prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary and in that invite I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents,” Orban said in a statement Friday.

Multiple countries and blocs, including Ireland, Norway, the EU, the Netherlands and Canada, said they would carry out the ICC arrest warrant commitment issued on Thursday.

The U.S., which is not a party to the court, said the ICC does not have jurisdiction to issue the warrants. Netanyahu called the arrest warrants “absurd” and “anti-semitic.”

More health workers, patients killed proportionally in Lebanon than anywhere else

The World Health Organization said Friday that more health workers and patients have been killed proportionally in Lebanon than anywhere else in the world over the past year, including Gaza and Ukraine.

Data shows that 47% of attacks on health care have proven fatal to at least one health worker or patient in Lebanon since Oct. 7, 2023. This is a higher percentage than in any active conflict today across the globe, with nearly half of all attacks on health causing the death of a health worker, according to the WHO.

White House rejects ICC warrants for Israeli officials

The White House said it rejects the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, saying the U.S. is working with its partners on steps that could include possible sanctions against the court.

“Let me just say more broadly that we fundamentally reject the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israel officials. We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutors’ rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday.

“The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” Jean-Pierre said.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

At least 66 killed in massive strike in northern Gaza

At least 66 people were killed and dozens more suffered serious injuries in a strike on Northern Gaza near the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Rescue operations are continuing with some people still missing.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been under siege for nearly a month.

Israeli carries out 4 rounds of airstrikes on Beirut

Israeli forces carried out four rounds of airstrikes on Beirut and continued striking areas in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to IDF statements and IDF evacuation orders posted on X.

At least 47 people were killed and 22 others were wounded in various Israeli attacks on the region Thursday, Lebanese governate Baalbeck-Hermel said in a post on X.

Several UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in Baalbeck, including ancient Roman temples.

At least 25 people were killed and 121 people were wounded from Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.

Israeli forces issued three separate evacuation orders for areas of southern Beirut on Thursday, according to posts on X. The IDF also issued evacuation orders for several Lebanese villages and Tyre in southern Lebanon, according to posts on X.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

US envoy had ‘constructive’ meeting with Israeli minister for strategic affairs

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Israeli officials on Thursday about a potential cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon. He arrived in Israel after meeting with Lebanese officials earlier this week in Beirut.

Hochstein had a constructive meeting with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer Wednesday night, an Israeli official told ABC News.

Hochstein is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz Thursday.

Netanyahu’s office ‘rejects with disgust’ ICC arrest warrant

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against it,” after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the prime minister and his former defense minister.

The arrest warrant issued Thursday morning alleges that Netanyahu and the minister, Yoav Gallant, were party to alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The statement issued by Netanyahu said the court, which is based in The Hague, was “a biased and discriminatory political body.”

“There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, coup, after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a murderous attack against us, committing the greatest massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” his office said.

The statement pointed a finger at Karim Khan, accusing the ICC’s chief prosecutor of bias and describing him as “corrupt.”

– ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Kevin Shalvey

ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

The Hague issued the warrants for alleged war crimes in Gaza, according to a statement. The ICC said that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant committed war crimes, and added that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction is not required

Dozens killed in massive strike in northern Gaza
Dozens of people have been killed and many more are feared dead after a large strike hit a residential neighborhood in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

The strike occurred in a neighborhood near Kamal Adwan Hospital, officials said.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Kevin Shalvey

Israel wants freedom to strike Hezbollah under any cease-fire deal, foreign minister says

Israel wants to “keep the freedom to act if there will be violations” by Hezbollah in any cease-fire agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in comments Wednesday.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is in Beirut meeting with officials about the proposed cease-fire deal and is expected to travel to Israel Wednesday night to continue discussions.

Israeli forces kill Hezbollah commanders, strike over 100 targets in Lebanon, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile and operations commanders “in the coastal area” on Sunday.

Israeli forces “struck over 100 terror targets in Lebanon” in the last day, the Israeli Defense Forces said Wednesday. Israel said it is continuing “limited, localized, targeted raids in southern Lebanon.”

On Tuesday, 14 people were killed, and 87 people were wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

US vetos Gaza UN Security Council cease-fire resolution

The U.S. vetoed another United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza because it did not include a hostage release.

This is the 12th time the Security Council voted on a draft resolution since the war in Gaza started 13 months ago.

At least 43,972 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

In June, the Security Council passed a U.S.-drafted cease-fire deal that President Joe Biden approved. At the time, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “we voted for peace.”

US sanctions Hamas leaders as officials say group’s political wing has rebased in Turkey

The U.S. is rolling out sanctions against six senior Hamas leaders accused of facilitating the transfer of weapons and funds into Gaza to support the group’s terror activities as well as smuggling in construction materials to build the underground tunnels critical to its operations, according to the Biden administration.

“There is no distinction between Hamas’ so-called military wing and its political leadership,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement announcing the tranche of sanctions.

Three of the targeted individuals are based in Turkey, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Despite the denials coming from Hamas and the Turkish government, two U.S. officials say that the bulk of Hamas’ political wing has now relocated to Turkey following the group’s ouster from Qatar.

The U.S. has turned a blind eye to Hamas’ relationship with NATO ally Turkey for years, which allows the U.S. designated terror group to openly recruit, fundraise and interface with its government officials.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he hopes to strengthen ties with the U.S. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. However, Trump’s cabinet is expected to feature many staunchly pro-Israel voices who will object to Turkey’s tolerance of Hamas — potentially complicating Erdogan’s plans.

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

Hospitals in northern Gaza running out of medical supplies, requesting patient transfers as attacks continue

Kamal Adwan Hospital is running out of medical supplies, and more people with cases of malnutrition are arriving at the hospital because of the lack of food and water allowed into northern Gaza, the hospital director said in comments Tuesday.

“⁠There are a number of cases of malnutrition that have begun to arrive, including children and the elderly,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital said.

“The health system is working under extremely harsh conditions to the point that we have started losing numbers of infected people due to the lack of medical supplies,” Abu Safia added.

At least 50 people were killed, and 110 people were injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society transferred 15 patients from Al Awda Hospital in north Gaza to Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City Sunday, the ICRC said in a statement Tuesday. The patient transfers were requested by the hospitals, the ICRC said.

The organizations also delivered medical supplies to three hospitals in Gaza City Monday, the ICRC said in a post on X.

“The delivery and medical transfer came in the wake of another large-scale attack in the Beit Lahia area of ​​the Northern Governorate, in which dozens of people were killed and many more injured,” the ICRC said.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Sami Zyara

UN peacekeepers, buildings targeted in 3 incidents in south Lebanon

United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon and facilities were targeted in “three separate incidents in south Lebanon,” Tuesday, UNIFIL said in a post on X.

Four Ghanian peacekeepers on duty “sustained injures as a rocket … hit their base,” UNIFIL said in a post on X. Three of the injured peacekeepers were transferred to a hospital in Tyre, Lebanon for treatment, UNIFIL said.

In a different attack, a UNIFIL building was “impacted by five rockets,” UNIFIL said.

“In another incident, UNIFIL Sector West Headquarters in Shama was impacted by five rockets, which struck the maintenance workshop,” UNIFIL said. “Although it caused heavy damage to the workshop, no peacekeeper was injured. This was the second time this UNIFIL base was impacted by the ongoing clashes in the area in less than a week.”

In a third incident, a UNIFIL patrol was “passing through” a village, and “an armed person directly fired at the patrol,” UNIFIL said. No injuries were reported from this incident.

UNIFIL is investigating the incidents and has informed the Lebanese armed forces about them, UNIFIL said.

“UNIFIL once again reminds all actors involved in the ongoing hostilities to respect the inviolability of United Nations peacekeepers and premises,” UNIFIL said in a post on X.

5 killed, 31 injured after Israeli strike on central Beirut

At least five people were killed, 31 were injured and at least two people remain missing after an Israeli airstrike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

The Israeli Defense Forces did not issue a warning before conducting this airstrike on central Beirut Monday.

At least 28 people were killed and 107 were wounded across Lebanon from Israeli attacks Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

Overall, 3,544 people have been killed, and 15,036 have been injured since Israel’s increased attacks on the country began in mid-September, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut Tuesday, according to Lebanese state media.

After meeting with Hochstein for two hours, Berri said the cease-fire negotiations were “good in principle,” but warned Israel could change its minds about the proposal as it has done before.

Berri said the U.S. is managing guarantees about Israel’s position on the proposal, according to Lebanese state media.

-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor

Israel kills 5 in central Beirut strike, officials say

At least five people were killed and 31 wounded by an Israeli strike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut on Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Two other people are missing.

The Israel Defense Forces did not appear to issue any public evacuation order prior to the strike. ABC News has reached out to the IDF for comment on the target of the strike.

The attack made Monday the second consecutive day of Israeli strikes within central Beirut. To date, the vast majority of airstrikes on the capital have hit the southern Dahiya suburb, known as a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel has intensified its bombardment in and around Beirut over the past week, while Hezbollah has continued missile fire into Israel. Fresh discussions are ongoing as to a potential cease-fire to end the fighting.

-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

Israel demands ‘immediate’ action against pro-Iran militias in Iraq

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday published a letter sent to the president of the United Nations Security Council in which he called for “immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel.”

“The Iraqi government is responsible for everything that happens on its territory,” Saar wrote, noting Israel’s right to self-defense.

“I called on the Security Council to act urgently to make sure that the Iraqi government meets its obligations under international law and to make these attacks on Israel stop,” Saar said.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias have been launching drone attacks into Israel from the east in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, with whom Israeli forces have been engaged since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Nearly 100 aid trucks looted: UNRWA

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Monday their aid convoy was “violently” looted over the weekend, one of the largest such cases of looting since the war began.

The 109-truck U.N. convoy was carrying food supplies to people in Gaza when it was looted on Saturday, UNRWA said.

“The vast majority of the trucks, 97 in total, were lost and drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload aid,” UNRWA said in a statement.

UNRWA said the Israel Defense Forces made the convoy leave a day earlier than planned.

The IDF has not yet commented on this incident.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Israel’s October attack damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program: Netanyahu

Israel damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program in its October attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

Iran’s air defense, ballistic missile production and ability to produce “solid fuel” were impacted, Netanyahu said during remarks to Israel’s parliament.

“There is a certain element of their nuclear program that was damaged in this attack,” he said, though added that its ability to operate “has not yet been thwarted.”

Netanyahu said Iran’s nuclear threat must be dealt with.

“If we don’t deal with the nuclear program, then all the other problems will come back and resurface, both in the axis, and in armaments, and in other things,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also said Israel is “currently talking about possible negotiations for a settlement” to be reached between Israel and Lebanon, but added, “Even if there is a cease-fire, no one says it will last.”

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

US envoy en route to Lebanon for cease-fire talks, official says

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is on his way to Lebanon for talks on a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, an official familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.

Hochstein left from the U.S. for Lebanon on Monday, the official said.

Israel is getting close to being ready to agree to the U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal, which is very similar to the proposal that was floated by the U.S. at the end of September. The U.S. needs to see how Hezbollah feels about this proposal, which is what Hochstein aims to do during his trip, according to the official.

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

4 killed in Israeli attack in Beirut: Health ministry

Four people were killed and at least 18 injured in an Israeli attack in Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Monday.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

1 killed, 10 injured in strike on residential building in Israel: Officials

A woman was killed and 10 people injured after a Hezbollah rocket directly hit a residential building in northern Israel, Israeli emergency services said Monday.

Dozens of projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel Monday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said. Not all of the projectiles were intercepted, the IDF said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

US sanctions entity, 3 individuals tied to West Bank violence

The State Department said Monday it is sanctioning three individuals and one entity for allegedly undermining “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”

The department accuses the entity, Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD, of having supported Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was sanctioned by the Biden administration over accusations of attacks and harassment against Palestinians earlier this year.

The three impacted individuals are Itamar Levi, Shabtai Koshlevsky and Zohar Sabah, the State Department said. Itamar Levi, the brother of Yinon Levi, is being designated for his role as the owner of the aforementioned company, while Koshlevsky is accused of holding a leadership position at Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outposts in the West Bank and was sanctioned in August of this year.

Sabah is accused of engaging “in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes” as well as “a pattern of destructiveness targeting the livestock, grazing lands and homes of local Palestinians to disrupt their means of support,” the State Department said in a press release.

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

Hamas denies that leaders relocated from Qatar to Turkey

Hamas denied reports in Israeli media that its leadership has relocated from Qatar to Turkey amid a breakdown in Doha-supported cease-fire talks earlier this month.

Hamas dismissed the news reports as “rumors” spread by Israeli authorities in a statement posted to its official website.

Qatar told Israel and Hamas earlier this month it could not continue to mediate cease-fire and hostage release talks “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith.”

Doha is under U.S. pressure to expel Hamas leaders. A senior administration official told ABC News earlier this month that the group’s “continued presence in Doha is no longer viable or acceptable.”

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Shannon K. Kingston and Somayeh Malekian

Gaza death toll nears 44,000, health officials say

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that 43,922 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, with nearly 104,000 more injured.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 96 people and wounded at least 60 in Gaza through the weekend, officials said. The dead included 72 people in north Gaza and more than 20 from other areas of the strip.

Most of those killed were displaced women and children sheltering in residential buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, officials said.

Beit Lahiya is at the heart of the Israel Defense Forces’ recent northern offensive, which has been accompanied with sweeping evacuation orders and spiking civilian casualties.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti

Hezbollah positive on US cease-fire proposal, reports say

Hezbollah responded positively to the U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese media reported Monday.

U.S. special envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss the proposal before heading to Israel to speak with leaders there.

The proposal is reportedly based on the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1701 that sought to end the last major cross-border conflict in 2006.

That deal ordered Hezbollah to withdraw all military units and weapons north of the Litani River, which is around 18 miles north of the Israeli border. The resolution also prohibited Israeli ground and air forces from crossing into Lebanese territory.

Israeli leaders have demanded open-ended freedom to act against threats in Lebanon, a stipulation reportedly opposed by Hezbollah and Lebanese leaders.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

Khamenei meets with ambassador injured in pager attacks

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, as the latter continues his recovery from injuries sustained during Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in September.

Khamenei’s official X account posted a short video of their interaction on Monday, in which Amani told the Iranian leader he lost around half of the vision in his right eye in the attack.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Hezbollah media relations chief killed in Israeli strike

Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah’s media relations chief, was killed in an Israeli strike Sunday, Hezbollah confirmed.

The strike on central Beirut partially collapsed a building and injured three others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed Afif’s death. In a statement, the IDF said he joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and went on to become a “central and veteran figure in the organization who greatly influenced Hezbollah’s military activity.”

Citing one particular incident, the statement claimed that he had played a key role in the drone attack on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea in October.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Pope calls for investigation to determine whether Israeli attacks on Gaza are ‘genocide’

Pope Francis, in an upcoming book to be released ahead of his 2025 jubilee, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, according to the Vatican.

“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” he wrote in a passage released by the Vatican.

“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope wrote. “It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — After dedicating his life to fighting the regime of Assad, Mazen Al-Hamada did not live to see it fall.

A symbol of resilience and courage, the famous Syrian activist was found dead in the “slaughterhouse” prison of Saydnaya in Damascus, as confirmed by the Syrian Emergency Task Force to ABC News.

An unverified photo circulating online shows his disfigured face and suggests he was killed just before the rebels that ousted Assad reached the prison to liberate detainees, according to independent observers.

On Thursday, hundreds gathered in Damascus for Al-Hamada’s funeral, where one of his sisters leading the procession called him “a martyr of revolution and freedom.”

Originally from Deir Ezzor, Al-Hamada was first arrested in 2011 when he organized pro-democracy rallies in the context of the Arab Spring and documented the brutal repression from the Syrian government.

In 2012, he was arrested again for trying to smuggle baby formula into a besieged suburb of Damascus, returning to prison a second time.

He left Syria in 2013 and was granted asylum in the Netherlands a year later.

Once abroad, the world got to know the horrors endured by Al-Hamada, along with thousands of detainees, as he described them to huge crowds of students, policymakers and the press. He did not spare details of the numerous ways in which he had been tortured, reliving his trauma over and over again to raise awareness.

“Mazen poured his heart into every meeting and to anyone he spoke with,” Humanitarian Programs Director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) Natalie Larrison, who was on the road with him and became his close friend, told ABC News. As they traveled the United States, meeting everyone who would listen, from congress members in Washington, D.C., to students in Arkansas, Larrison said he was always “in the backseat singing and clapping and jumping up and down.”

Larrison also said Al-Hamada loved American tacos, especially from Taco Bell, and that he told her he was engaged and kept the ring even after his fiancé had been killed while he was in prison the first time.

With every testimony, Al-Hamada quickly became one of the most prominent advocates for Syrian prisoners held by Assad’s regime, at least 157,000 between 2011 and August 2024, including thousands of women and children, according to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

“Mazen was a gentle soul,” Sara Afshar, a friend of Al-Hamada and the director of the 2017 documentary “Syria’s Disappeared” in which he was featured, told ABC News, “A lot of people in his situation would focus on looking after themselves… but everything that motivated him, with an incredible sense of urgency, every second of the day, was how to get the other prisoners out. Because he knew what they were going through.”

Along with thousands of users on social media, Afshar called for justice for Al-Hamada and the other Syrian detainees who are dead or unaccounted for, echoing the words that Al-Hamada himself said in an interview which has been trending on social media since the news of his death.

“I will not rest until I take them to court and get justice,” Al-Hamada said in the interview, his sunken eyes in tears unable to hide the pain behind his words. “Justice for me and my friends who they killed. Even if it costs my life. Bring them to justice, no matter what.”

Al-Hamada returned to Syria four years ago in a shocking move that some people close to him described as the result of his disappointment in the international community. The last time he was active on his WhatsApp was on Feb. 22, 2020, according to the SETF.

“He became discouraged over time because he gave it his all with people promising to help, and nothing changed,” Larrison told ABC News.

Others, including his sister who spoke at his funeral on Thursday, believe the regime promised him safety if he returned to Syria in an attempt to stop his international anti-Assad campaign. She also said they threatened to hurt his family still in Syria.

“The circumstances of Mazen’s death underscore the heavy price borne by those who dared speak out against Assad’s brutal regime,” the Syrian Emergency Task Force said in a statement remembering Al-Hamada.

The Dutch government never commented on his departure, fostering rumors that it failed to support the refugee and his efforts to raise awareness for the Syrian cause.

When asked about Al-Hamada’s legacy, the people who knew him said it would be justice and his contribution to freeing Syria from Assad’s five decadeslong regime.

“Seeing his funeral service today in Damascus is a testimony to what he meant to the Syrian people. His tireless journey has not been for nothing and his legacy will continue to live on in a free Syria, and he will be remembered always for helping his people be free,” Larrison told ABC News.

“We talked about justice and accountability when he recounted the horrors he had experienced. He didn’t want revenge. What he wanted was justice in a court of law,” Afshar told ABC News. “The world failed him and the other disappeared, and now they are dead. But with all the evidence that is being gathered and the work that so many Syrians have done for years, I have hope that there will be justice. That will be Mazen’s legacy.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The uptick in offensive operations came after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, and as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.

54 killed, 258 wounded in Lebanon in past 24 hours

In the past 24 hours, 54 people have been killed and 258 have been wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

The total number of casualties since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September is now 2,309 people killed and 10,782 people injured, the ministry said.

A situational report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said 200 airstrikes and shellings were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 48 hours.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a release Monday that they found an underground compound in southern Lebanon stocked with “weapons, ammunition and motorcycles ready to be used in an invasion into Israel.”

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller

Netanyahu: ‘We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon” while visiting the Golani camp, which was hit by a Hezbollah drone Sunday evening, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring dozens.

“I want to make it clear: We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon — also in Beirut, all according to operational considerations. We have proven this in recent times, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and said he would visit the injured later on Monday.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Doctors Without Borders staffer killed in northern Gaza

A Doctors Without Borders staffer has been killed in northern Gaza, the organization announced Monday.

Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, 31, was struck by shrapnel Tuesday and died of injuries to his legs and chest two days later, according to the organization.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

In a statement, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israeli forces for having “systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people.”

“He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital’s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility,” the organization said of Al Shalfouh.

Al Shalfouh joined Doctors Without Borders as a driver in March 2023, but had not been able to work for them recently as operations have been impacted by the war, the group said.

He is the seventh Doctors Without Borders staffer to be killed in Gaza since the war began, the organization added.

“We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” the NGO said. “In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.”

Americans in Lebanon should ‘depart now,’ embassy says

American citizens in Lebanon “are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a new alert Monday.

The embassy has been urging Americans to depart Lebanon via commercial flights in recent weeks. Monday’s warning was the starkest yet.

The embassy noted it had helped add thousands of extra seats to commercial flights to help Americans leave amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

“Much of this capacity has gone unused,” Monday’s alert said. “Please understand that these additional flights will not continue indefinitely.”

“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the embassy said.

“These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation,” the notice read.

The embassy has been warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon since July.

Airstrike kills 18 in north Lebanon, Red Cross says

Eighteen people were killed and four wounded in an airstrike in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross wrote on X.Seven Red Cross teams were dispatched to the area in the Zgharta district, the organization said. “Our teams are working to provide first aid and evacuate the wounded,” it added.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies

Hezbollah launches dozens of cross-border attacks, marking daily record

Hezbollah issued 38 statements claiming cross-border attacks into Israel on Sunday — the highest tally since renewed fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023, per ABC News’ count.

The attacks included the drone strike on an Israel Defense Forces training base in northern Israel, which killed four soldiers and injured 55.

Hezbollah has expanded its attacks into Israel despite the IDF’s monthslong campaign of targeted killings of top commanders and airstrikes on Hezbollah military facilities and weapons caches.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies

IDF claims killing of Hezbollah anti-tank commander

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile forces.

The IDF said in a statement posted to social media that Muhammad Kamal Naim was killed in an airstrike in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.

Naim, it said, was responsible for the elite Radwan Force’s anti-tank weapons.

Naim “was responsible for planning and carrying out many terrorist plots, including firing anti-tank missiles at the Israeli rear,” the IDF wrote.

Israel kills 20 in strike on UNRWA school, health ministry says

At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.

The school was being used to shelter displaced people in Nuseirat camp, health authorities said. It was bombed on Sunday.

The school was earmarked for use in the planned second round of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign, which was due to begin on Monday.

-ABC News Diaa Ostaz and Guy Davies

10 killed amid ‘total siege’ in northern Gaza

Ten people were killed in shelling at an aid distribution center in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip.

The area has been the focus of intense recent Israeli military activity, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting fierce fighting with Hamas militants there.

The IDF has ordered residents of northern Gaza — of whom there are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 — to leave the region, which it has classified as a military zone.

Hamas is urging residents to stay, suggesting Israel will not allow those who leave to return.

Gaza’s Civil Defense said there was a “complete siege” of Jabalia. Aid agencies have said that no food has been allowed to enter the north of Gaza since Oct. 1.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies

 

Israel to probe deadly drone attack on troops, Gallant says

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the scene of a deadly Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel on Monday, telling soldiers there the incident “was a difficult event with painful results.”

Four troops were killed and 55 wounded in Sunday’s attack on the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.

“We must investigate it, study the details and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” Gallant said, according to a Defense Ministry readout.

“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks,” he added

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

IDF claims 200 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its warplanes targeted around 200 “Hezbollah terror targets” in its continuing operation against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.

The targets included “launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, terrorist infrastructure and weapons storage facilities containing launchers, anti-tank missiles, RPG launchers and munitions,” the IDF wrote on X.

Ground forces, meanwhile, “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes” in their ongoing cross-border incursion, the force reported.

The IDF is still describing its ground operation as consisting of “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern areas close to the border.

Airstrikes, though, continue across southern Lebanon. Around a quarter of all Lebanese territory is under IDF evacuation orders and some 1.2 million civilians are displaced, according to the government in Beirut.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base ‘painful,’ commander says

The Israel Defense Forces identified the four soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base in the north of the country on Sunday.

Sgt. Omri Tamari, Sgt. Yosef Hieb, Sgt. Yoav Agmon and Sgt. Amitay Alon were killed, an IDF press release said. The strike occurred at the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.

Around 55 more are reported to have been injured.

IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed Golani Brigade troops on Sunday night following the attack.

“We are at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful,” the commander said according to a post on the IDF’s official Telegram channel.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Israel strike on Gaza hospital kills 4, wounds dozens

At least four people were killed and 40 others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah, health officials said.

The Israeli military said it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the compound. Israel accuses Hamas of routine use of civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes — a charge Hamas denies.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Defense Secretary Austin discusses safety of UNIFIL forces with Israel’s Gallant

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by phone on Sunday to express his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and discuss the IDF’s military operations in Lebanon.

According to a readout of the call from the Pentagon, Austin, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible.”

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon established by the U.N. Security Council.

The conversation comes after the IDF has repeatedly fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in southern Lebanon.

Additionally, Secretary Austin “reaffirmed the deep U.S. commitment to Israel’s security,” which he says is demonstrated by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).

According to the Department of Defense, THAAD employs interceptor missiles, using “hit-to-kill” technology, to destroy threat missiles.

During the call, Austin “again raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it,” the Pentagon said.

At least 3 killed in IDF strike on Gaza hospital

At least three people were killed and dozens more were injured after Israel Defense Forces struck Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.