Three Americans wrongfully jailed in China are en route to US, State Department says
Bring Our Families Home
(NEW YORK) — Three Americans who the State Department said were wrongfully detained in China for years are on their way back to the U.S. as part of a prisoner swap, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the deal told ABC News.
The State Department announced that Mark Swidan, of Houston, Texas, Kai Li, of Long Island, New York, and John Leung, a permanent resident of Hong Kong, would soon be “reunited with their families for the first time in many years.”
While the State Department didn’t reveal more details about the deal, a senior official told ABC News the agreement swapped three Chinese nationals who were convicted of espionage.
China agreed to lift an exit ban on an additional American who was being prevented from leaving China, according to the official. The Chinese embassy said it did not have any comment about the release.
Katherine Swidan, Mark Swidan’s mother, posted on her Facebook page an image of her son posing in a U.S. flag emboldened sweatshirt with U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Roger Carstens the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs on the plane.
“My son Free at Last,” she said.
Harrison Li, Kai Li’s son, said in a statement posted on X Wednesday that his father and the other hostages were scheduled to land at to Joint Base San Antonio later that night.
“We are thrilled that Kai is on his way home along with [Mark Swidan] and John Leung. Thank you, [President Joe Biden], and everyone that made this day possible at long last. Please keep bringing them home,” he said in his post.
The three Americans were arrested and held on different charges that U.S. officials and humanitarian groups said were arbitrary and unlawful.
Swidan, 49, was in China in 2012 on business looking to purchase supplies for a company in Houston as well as flooring, fixtures and furniture for his own home. He was sentenced to death in April 2019 after Chinese authorities accused him of involvement with a drug manufacturing operation. The United Nations called the detention a “deprivation of liberty.”
Swidan’s mother recorded a video message in 2022, which was played during a Congressional-Executive Committee on China hearing in September, detailing her son’s chilling arrest.
“While I was on the phone with him at his hotel, I heard a lot of commotion, and he said, ‘Hold on, mom.’ And Chinese police got into his apartment. They said, ‘We need to take you in for questioning,’ and the phone hung up,” Swidan’s mother said in the video.
In a grim promise, Swidan told her he would come home “in the box of ashes, or walking off the plane, but I will come home,” Katherin Swidan said.
Li, 62, a Shanghai-born naturalized citizen who immigrated to the U.S. 35 years ago, had an export business that redistributed products from Boeing and a subsidiary. He was detained immediately upon landing in Shanghai in September 2016, according to a family representative.
Li was sentenced to 10 years for allegedly “furnishing five state secrets to the FBI,” but his family said that those “secrets” were merely “routine communications” that Li had that were “necessary to ensure compliance with US export laws.”
In testimony before the China commission in September, Harrison Li told lawmakers that his father suffered a stroke in prison, lost a tooth and was locked in a cell by himself for three years.
“I have now spent a third of my life missing my dad. Every day, I wake up and shudder at the thought of him crammed into a tiny cell with as many as 11 other people and no climate control, experiencing the mental and physical anguish,” he told the commission.
In April 2021, Leung, 78, was arrested by Chinese authorities.
He was charged with spying and sentenced to death in May 2023 after being “found guilty of espionage, sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated personal property of RMB 500,000,” officials said in a statement translated by ABC. News
An official with knowledge of the negotiations told ABC News the Biden administration met with Chinese officials multiple times over the years to facilitate the releases.
The State Department’s announcement that three Americans are coming home from detention in China comes two months after Pastor David Lin was released after nearly 20 years in prison.
Lin’s daughter, Alice, told ABC News that her family could breathe a full sigh of relief now that others were following her father back to the United States. “We’re overjoyed,” she said.
“For us, this is our first Thanksgiving where we don’t have an empty seat at the table,” Lin said.
Biden himself recently pressed for the releases in a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Peru earlier this month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, according to a U.S. official.
Two of the Chinese nationals who were swapped for the Americans were sentenced in the last few years for espionage, the official said.
Yanjun Xu, 44, was convicted three years ago of conspiring to and attempting to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets. Xu, who was the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the U.S. for trial, used multiple aliases to target specific companies in the United States and abroad that are recognized as leaders in the field of aviation, prosecutors said. He was serving a 20-year sentence.
Ji Chaoqun, 33, was serving an 8-year sentence after he was convicted in 2022 on one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and one count of making a material false statement to the U.S. Army.
Chaoquun provided an intelligence officer with biographical information on certain individuals, including engineers and scientists who worked for the Department of Defense, for recruitment by the Chinese security department, according to prosecutors.
Representatives of Li and Swidan in the U.S. Congress cheered the announcement of their constituents’ returns.
“I’m overjoyed to hear Mark Swidan is finally on his way home to Texas, just in time for Thanksgiving. Mark suffered for 12 long years in a Chinese prison for a crime he clearly did not commit,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said, apparently referencing drug charges that led to Swidan’s conviction.
“After nearly a decade of imprisonment by the Chinese government, Kai Li is finally on his way back to American soil and to freedom. Over the years, I have worked closely with Mr. Li’s son, Harrison, to speak directly to the highest levels of the Chinese and U.S. governments to advocate for Mr. Li’s release and safe return to his family in Huntington, New York,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Luke Barr and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Ukrainian authorities said that at least 23 people were injured and 41 buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight into Monday, as Moscow’s troops launched a fresh offensive effort in the region and claimed battlefield gains all along the eastern front.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the S-400 anti-aircraft missile impact in Kharkiv was part of a multi-pronged barrage against Ukrainian cities overnight. Kyiv, Odessa and Zaporizhzhia were all also targeted.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 145 drones, 71 of which were downed and 71 were lost during flight. One UAV flew into Belarusian airspace, the air force said.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed to have downed 23 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions. The ministry also said it downed eight ballistic missiles, though did not specify their type.
Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of Kaluga Oblast that borders Moscow Oblast to the southwest, said falling drone debris sparked a fire at a manufacturing facility. Ukraine’s General Staff, though, said its strikes destroyed the Kaluganefteproduct oil depot in the city of Kaluga.
“In total, since yesterday evening, Russia has used about one and a half hundred attack drones, aerial bombs and missiles against more than 10 of our regions,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram early Monday.
“These attacks by Russia on Ukrainian life can be stopped,” he added. “With pressure, sanctions, blocking the occupiers’ access to the components they use to create the tools of this terror, arms packages for Ukraine and a determination that must be unwavering.”
Only 19 miles from the Russian border, Ukraine’s “second city” of Kharkiv has faced near-constant attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022.
Russian forces failed to encircle and capture Kharkiv during the opening weeks of the invasion, but fighting has continued along the shared border throughout the conflict.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a post to Facebook on Monday that Russian forces launched assaults the settlement of Kozacha Lopan, around 2 miles from the border and 16 miles north of Kharkiv.
The Ukrainian Deep State Telegram military blogger reported that Russian forces also launched an amphibious operation across the Oskil River in eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian troops have been pushing towards the strategic objective of Kupyansk.
The Russian force established a foothold on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the waterway, Deep State wrote. The blogger’s claims could not be immediately be verified.
(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 days after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault and as Israeli leaders planned their response to last week’s Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Body of IRGC general killed in Israeli airstrike found in Beirut
The body of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general was discovered in the Dahieh area of Beirut, the IRGC announced on Iranian state TV Friday.
Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander for operations of the IRGC, was killed on Sept. 27 in the same Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah.
Nilforoushan was sanctioned by the U.S. for his role in suppressing protests in Iran.
A public funeral and burial will be held when Nilforoushan’s body is returned to Iran, the IRGC said.
-ABC News’ Hami Hamedi
Hezbollah commander killed in strike in southern Lebanon: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it eliminated a Hezbollah commander in a strike in southern Lebanon.
The commander was “responsible for numerous anti-tank missile attacks on the area of Ramot Naftali in northern Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF said it was continuing to target Hezbollah positions while issuing an evacuation warning for people in parts of southern Lebanon on Friday.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long
Austin addresses safety of UNIFIL forces in call with Gallant
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety” of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon during a call with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said Friday.
He also “urged coordinating efforts to pivot from military operations to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible” during the call Thursday on Israel’s operations in Lebanon, according to a Pentagon readout.
The French Foreign Ministry and Italy’s defense minister on Thursday also expressed concern for the safety of UNIFIL troops after two peacekeepers were injured by Israeli fire on Thursday. Two more were wounded on Friday in explosions that occurred near its headquarters in Naqoura in southern Lebanon, according to UNIFIL.
The Israel Defense Forces said it is reviewing the incidents and “takes every precaution to minimize harm to civilians and peacekeepers alike.”
Lebanon condemns attacks on UNIFIL
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry condemned the “systematic and deliberate targeting of UNIFIL forces by the Israeli army,” in a statement on Friday.
“These attacks cannot be separated from the repeated and ongoing Israeli attempts to undermine the mission of UNIFIL,” the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said.
The Israel Defense Forces said two U.N. peacekeepers were “inadvertently hurt” during IDF combat with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Friday.
“The IDF expresses deep concern over incidents of this kind and is currently conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command to determine the details,” IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Clark Bentson
UNIFIL says 2 peacekeepers injured in southern Lebanon explosions
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said two peacekeepers were injured in two explosions that occurred near its headquarters in southern Lebanon Friday morning local time.
This marked the second time its headquarters were affected by explosions in the last 48 hours, UNIFIL said.
UNIFIL also said an Israeli military bulldozer knocked over several protective walls at one of the U.N. posts along the southern Lebanese border on Friday.
“These incidents put again UN peacekeepers, who are serving in south Lebanon at the request of the Security Council under resolution 1701 (2006), at very serious risks,” UNIFIL said in a statement. “This is a serious development, and UNFIL reiterates that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times.”
The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on the incidents. Israel on Thursday recommended that UNIFIL relocate farther north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies, after the mission said two troops were injured by Israeli fire.
Israel recommends UNIFIL relocate to avoid danger ‘as fighting intensifies’
Israel recommended that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon relocate farther north, after the mission said two troops were injured in the south of the country by Israeli fire.
“Our dialogue and coordination with UNIFIL will continue in southern Lebanon,” Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said in a statement Thursday. “Our recommendation is that UNIFIL relocate five kilometers north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies and while the situation along the Blue Line remains volatile as a result of Hezbollah’s aggression.
The Israel Defense Forces said earlier Thursday that Hezbollah operates near UNIFIL posts, and that they told U.N. forces in the area “to remain in protected spaces.” The IDF did not comment on the two UNIFIL peacekeepers being wounded.
22 killed in Beirut strikes: Health ministry
At least 22 people were killed and 117 injured after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut Thursday evening local time, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
Israeli forces have since issued another evacuation warning to residents in Haret Hreik in the Dahieh area of Beirut.
Amnesty International on Thursday called Israel’s evacuation warnings “inadequate” and “in some cases also misleading.”
“Our analysis shows that not only did the warnings issued by the Israeli military include misleading maps, but they were also issued at short notice — in one instance less than 30 minutes before strikes began — in the middle of the night, via social media, when many people would be asleep, offline or not following media reports,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
2nd round of Gaza polio vaccinations set to begin next week: UNICEF
A second round of polio vaccinations in Gaza is set to begin next week, according to UNICEF.
An agreement on humanitarian pauses has been reached to allow for the second dose on Oct. 14, targeting 590,000 children under the age of 10, UNICEF said Thursday.
The first round of vaccinations ended in mid-September, reaching 90% vaccination coverage, UNICEF said at the time.
Northern Gaza bombarded with airstrikes in past 2 days: UNRWA
Northern Gaza has been bombarded with airstrikes, with 118 attacks recorded in the past two days compared to 140 in September, according to a United Nations agency.
“Ongoing military operations and continuous airstrikes on northern Gaza are heavily affecting the population,” the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said on X on Thursday.
The World Food Programme warned the situation in the north is “worsening again,” saying they are no longer able to distribute food in the region.
“Virtually the entire area is under evacuation orders, and thousands of families have been forced to flee amid intense airstrikes and military operations on the ground,” the organization said in a press release on Wednesday. “There is nowhere for these people to go and hardly any way for WFP to reach them.”
Dozens killed in airstrikes in Lebanon in past 24 hours
Dozens of people were killed in the past 24 hours in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Twenty-eight people were killed and another 113 injured, bringing the total casualties since the increased fighting began in mid-September to 2,169 fatalities and 10,212 injuries, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
There were 61 airstrikes recorded in the past 24 hours in various parts of Lebanon, largely in the south, according to the Lebanese prime minister’s situation report on Thursday.
The Israeli Defense Forces issued a warning to sites “in and near southern villages” in Lebanon on Thursday as it continues its campaign against Hezbollah.
Israeli forces struck more than 110 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past day, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Dorit Long
Netanyahu to meet security cabinet Thursday
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with his security cabinet on Thursday evening local time.
Israeli media reported that Israel’s planned retaliation against Iran for its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack is among the topics to be discussed.
Netanyahu and other officials have vowed a significant response to the barrage, which Tehran justified as a “legal, rational and legitimate response” to Israeli strikes and targeted killings in Iran and Lebanon.
“Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it,” Netanyahu said shortly after Iran’s Oct. 1 attack.
This week, Netanyahu said Israel is the “one force in the world that stands in Iran’s way to conquest.” He added, “It’s not only our fight, it’s the free world’s fight.”
Netanyahu spoke with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the conversation between the two leaders was “direct” and “productive.”
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Israeli fire injures UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, mission says
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Thursday that Israeli forces fired on three peacekeeper bases in the south of the country, injuring two troops.
“UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit” amid fighting between Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah in the area, the mission said in a post to X.
Two peacekeepers were injured at the Naqoura position “after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower,” the mission wrote, “directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital.”
Elsewhere, UNIFIL said IDF fire on its camp in Labbouneh hit the entrance to a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communications system.
The IDF also fired at and disabled the perimeter-monitoring cameras at Labbouneh, UNIFIL said. An IDF drone was observed above the position, the mission added.
“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said, referring to the 2006 U.N. Security Council agreement that sought to end the last major cross-border war between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We are following up with the IDF on these matters,” it added.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
28 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
At least 28 Palestinians were killed in a single attack on a school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Children are believed to be among the casualties in the attack on the Rufaydah school. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting a Hamas “command and control center” in what it called a “precise strike.”
The strike occurred in the central region of the devastated strip, where Palestinians from the north have been ordered to evacuate by the IDF.
In the north, Israel is continuing an intense military operation in the Jabalia refugee camp, which is now sealed off and under IDF siege. This is the fourth major IDF operation in Jabalia since the start of the war.
The IDF, meanwhile, said it downed a drone launched into Israel from Gaza, with no injuries reported.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Zoe Magee, Jordana Miller, Victoria Beaule and Joe Simonetti.
Quarter of Lebanon under Israeli evacuation orders, UN says
Around 25% of Lebanese territory is now under Israel Defense Forces evacuation orders, the United Nations said.
New “displacement orders” are being “issued on a daily basis,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a situation update, noting that more than 100 villages and urban areas in southern Lebanon are affected.
A total of 1.2 million people across the country have been displaced by Israeli air and ground attacks, the report said, citing OHCHR figures.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
IDF issues evacuation order in Dahieh area of Beirut The Israel Defense Forces issued another evacuation order in an area of Dahieh in Beirut, Lebanon, right after midnight Thursday local time.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” the order read.
“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate this building and the surrounding buildings immediately and stay away from them for a distance of no less than 500 meters,” the IDF added.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Trump, Netanyahu spoke last week, Netanyahu’s office confirms
Former President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone “about a week ago,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to ABC News.
Trump called Netanyahu “on his own initiative,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Trump “congratulated” Netanyahu on “the determined and powerful actions that Israel carried out against Hezbollah,” the prime minister’s office said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also participated in the call, Netanyahu’s office said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Delegations from Hamas, Fatah meet in Cairo to discuss post-war Gaza plan
Delegations from Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah met in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss reconciliation and the administration of post-war Gaza, according to a source and Egyptian state media reports.
Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera News quoted sources as saying the factions are working on a “mechanism to form a committee responsible for managing Gaza’s crossings and overseeing key issues related to health services, relief aid, shelter, social development, and education.”
Hamas’s delegation is led by Khalil Al-Hayya, while Fatah’s delegation is headed by deputy leader Mahmoud al-Aloul.
“The meeting will focus on establishing a technocratic government to administer post-war Gaza, the day-after plan, and supporting the unity of authority in Gaza and the West Bank,” a source told ABC News. It will also address the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, the source added.
The discussions are expected to last for two days, the source said.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy
Biden to speak with Netanyahu Wednesday, source says
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to speak Wednesday, a source familiar with the plans told ABC News.
The conversation will be the first publicly announced talks between the leaders in months.
Biden has told reporters for weeks that he would speak to the Israeli leader as escalation in the region intensified. The planned call was first reported by Axios.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Stabbing attack wounds several in Israel
Six people were injured — two seriously — in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said.
Police described the incident as a terrorist attack and said one attacker was “neutralized” while trying to flee the scene. The suspect is 36 years old and is an Israeli national, police said.
Hadera is a coastal city located between Haifa and Tel Aviv.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israel continues Beirut airstrikes
The Israel Defense Forces continued its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight into Wednesday, with a focus on the Hezbollah-controlled Dahiya area.
Lebanon’s health ministry also said 36 people were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli attacks on Monday.
The total number of people killed by Israel in Lebanon rose to 2,119 and the number of wounded to 1,019, health officials said.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti
Gaza death toll passes 42,000, health officials say
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza announced Wednesday that the Palestinian death toll in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023 has now passed 42,000.
Health authorities reported 42,010 Palestinians killed and 97,720 wounded since the start of the war. Thousands more bodies are believed to still be under rubble in the devastated territory.
-ABC News’ Lama Hasan and Joe Simonetti
IDF claims strikes on 230 targets in 24 hours in Lebanon and Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday morning that it struck 185 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and 45 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the previous 24 hours.
In southern Lebanon, the IDF said it “dismantled launch pads that posed a threat to communities in northern Israel, eliminated terrorists during close-quarter encounters and in aerial strikes, located and confiscated numerous weapons including anti-tank missiles.”
In Gaza, the IDF said its troops “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarter encounters and in aerial strikes, located weapons, including grenades, AK-47 rifles, and more, and dismantled numerous terrorist infrastructure sites and rocket launchers that were ready to fire toward Israeli territory.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
‘Many’ refusing Israel’s north Gaza evacuation order, UNRWA head says
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Wednesday that Israel’s latest evacuation order in north Gaza is deepening the misery of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
“No end to hell,” Lazzarini wrote in a post to X. “At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.”
The Israel Defense Forces ordered residents of the northern part of Gaza to evacuate amid a renewed military operation there, currently centered on the Jabalia refugee camp. The area is “still considered a dangerous combat zone,” the IDF said this week.
“Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe,” Lazzarini said of residents, many of whom have been displaced multiple times during a year of war.
UNRWA shelters and services are being forced to close, “some for the first time since the war began,” Lazzarini added. “With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading & deepening again.”
The renewed fighting in the north also threatens the second phase of the U.N.-led polio vaccination campaign in Gaza. “Children are as ever, the first & most to suffer,” Lazzarini said.
Al Jazeera says cameraman critically wounded in Gaza hospital bombing
An Al Jazeera cameraman was critically wounded in the bombing of a central Gaza hospital, the publication said Tuesday.
Ali al-Attar, 27, suffered a skull fracture and internal bleeding in the brain after being struck by two pieces of shrapnel during the bombing of a police checkpoint inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera. Al-Attar was in the journalists’ tents located next to the checkpoint at the time, it said.
The strike occurred early Monday local time, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic.
At least 128 journalists have been killed and 35 reported injured in the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Northern Gaza ‘unlivable’: Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders said northern Gaza has become “unlivable” due to bombings and evacuations.
“These forced mass evacuations of homes and bombing of neighborhoods by the Israeli forces are turning the north of Gaza into an unlivable wasteland, effectively emptying out the whole north of the Strip of Palestinian life,” the organization said in a statement on Tuesday. “To make matters worse, no humanitarian supplies have been allowed to enter the area since 1 October.”
The Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation order for northern Gaza earlier this week, saying the area is “still considered a dangerous combat zone.”
Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Medical Complex, which is within the evacuation zone, said they have 24 hours to completely evacuate patients and staff.
“This is a dangerous measure that threatens the collapse of the healthcare system in the northern Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
36 people killed in Lebanon Monday: Lebanese Ministry of Health
The Lebanese Ministry of Health provided an update on the death toll from the attacks by Israeli forces.
Thirty-six people were killed and 150 were wounded Monday, according to the agency.
Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that it killed at least 50 Hezbollah members, including six senior commanders, in “significant airstrikes” on Monday.
Since the start of the conflict with Israel, 2,119 people have been killed and 1,019 have been wounded, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Israeli defense minister postpones Washington trip
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has postponed Wednesday’s planned Pentagon meeting, the Pentagon confirmed.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said at a briefing on Tuesday that the Israeli Ministry of Defense had “just informed” them that Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington, D.C.
When asked why Gallant was postponing the trip, she said, “You’d have to speak to the Israelis on that one. I was just told that he postponed his trip.”
Gallant was to discuss “ongoing Middle East security developments” during the meeting, the Pentagon had said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
6 Hezbollah senior commanders among dozens killed in strikes, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces claims to have killed at least 50 Hezbollah members, including six senior commanders, in “significant airstrikes” on Monday.
The IDF said it conducted a series of strikes on underground Hezbollah command centers in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has not commented on the IDF’s strikes.
Israel claims it has killed Nasrallah’s replacement
Israeli officials claimed Tuesday that their forces have killed the replacement for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“We damaged Hezbollah’s capabilities. We have eliminated thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, Nasrallah’s successor, and the successor of Nasrallah’s successor,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address on Tuesday. “Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been in many years.”
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant also said during a situation assessment on Tuesday that Nasrallah’s replacement was “probably also eliminated.”
“Hezbollah is an organization without a head,” Gallant said. “There is no one to make decisions, no one to act.”
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, was widely believed to succeed Nasrallah after the leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month.
Hezbollah has not commented yet on Israel’s claims. Deputy Secretary-General Naim Kassem said earlier Tuesday that Hezbollah’s “resources and capabilities remain in good shape.”
“Our resistance on the front is cohesive and the administration is cohesive,” he said in a video address delivered from an unknown location.
WHO reports 77 health workers killed by Israel in Lebanon
Hanan Balkhi, the regional director of the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, said Tuesday that 77 health workers have been killed and 74 others wounded by Israeli attacks since the beginning of October.
Health infrastructure has been “severely damaged,” the WHO wrote on X, with the organization verifying 36 attacks on health facilities so far in October.
Hezbollah in ‘good shape’ despite Israel strikes, leader says
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Kassem said Tuesday that the Iran-backed group will not be cowed by Israel’s ongoing air and ground campaign in Lebanon.
“The longer the war goes on, the deeper Israel will find itself in trouble,” Kassem said in a video address delivered from an unknown location. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “can say that he wants war, but he cannot achieve his goals from it,” he added.
More Israelis in the north of the country will be displaced as Hezbollah expands its operations, he said.
Hezbollah will continue cross-border attacks and “expanding the range of the missiles,” the leader said.
“This war has not affected our will and will not affect our determination to confront,” Kassem said. “Our resistance on the front is cohesive and the administration is cohesive.”
“Our resources and capabilities remain in good shape,” Kassem said, despite weeks of intense Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. “Our command and control is solid. Look at how our operations have increased in the last few days.” Still, Kassem also said Hezbollah supports Lebanese government efforts to secure a cease-fire.
Kassem said the U.S. bears responsibility for the ongoing war. “Israel and America and the West are trying to put more pressure on us to make us afraid,” he continued.
“Without American support, the Israeli aggression would have stopped within a month,” Kassem said.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Somayeh Malekian
Hezbollah fires rocket salvo at Israel as leader speaks
Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Tuesday as the group’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Kassem issued a defiant address vowing to defeat Israel’s operations in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces said 135 projectiles were fired into Israeli territory, some of which were intercepted and some of which landed.
The launches prompted sirens in the city of Haifa and elsewhere in the north of the country.
In his video address, Kassem — Hezbollah’s acting leader — said more Israelis will displaced in the north of the country as the militant group expands its rocket fire deeper into Israel.
Kassem said Hezbollah’s capabilities are still intact despite weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes. He added that the group has replaced all commanders killed by Israeli attacks.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israel should attack Iran’s nuclear program, ex-PM says
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called for a major attack on Iran, saying in a video posted to social media on Tuesday: “The opportunity must not be missed.”
Israeli leaders say they are preparing a response to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile barrage.
“Attack the Iranian nuclear program and the regime centers now,” urged Bennett, who was prime minister from 2021 to 2022 and remains an influential voice in national politics.
An August poll by Israel’s Channel 12 news found 38% of respondents would support Bennett’s return as prime minister, versus 33% who wanted Netanyahu to remain in the post. Both men polled better than opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
4th Israeli division joins Lebanon incursion
The Israel Defense Forces announced that a fourth division joined its ground operation in southern Lebanon on Monday.
The 146th Division “began limited, localized, targeted operational activities against Hezbollah terror targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon,” the IDF said. The 146th was previously deployed along Israel’s northwestern border with Lebanon in a defensive role, it said.
The IDF said the 146th Division is the first reserve division to be deployed into southern Lebanon. Its troops will be supported by the 213th Artillery Brigade and other units, the IDF said.
The 146th joins the 91st Galilee Division, 98th Paratroopers Division and 36th Division which are already in action in southern Lebanon.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF says they hit at least 120 targets in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said they struck more than 120 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Monday within an hour.
The airstrikes followed evacuation orders earlier Monday.
Over the past 48 hours, 190 airstrikes were recorded throughout Lebanon, primally in the south, according to the Lebanese Security Council. Forty-seven people were killed and another 207 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Approximately 190 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Monday, according to the IDF.
Harris, Emhoff mark Oct. 7 by planting pomegranate tree at VP residence
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff marked the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by planting a pomegranate tree — a symbol of hope and righteousness in Judaism — at the vice president’s residence.
Harris said the tree will “remind future vice presidents of the United States, their families and all who pass through these grounds, not only of the horror of Oct. 7, but the strength and the endurance of the Jewish people.”
The vice president underscored her pledge to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself.
Harris also said the world must “work to relieve the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.”
Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a president or a vice president, also spoke about the “incredibly challenging day for Jews.”
“We are still hurting, and today feels just as raw as it did one year ago,” he said. “What happened on Oct. 7 is seared into our souls.”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Israel’s incursions into Lebanon are limited: US State Department
Israeli incursions into Lebanon continue to be limited, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday, noting that this assessment does not “offer any kind of forecast about what’s going to happen.”
Miller asserted that U.S. officials were still engaged in talks about “what the path forward ought to look like” with a variety of partners in the Middle East.
“Just because we don’t make the details of those conversations public, which we are not at this point, doesn’t mean that we are not actively engaged in them,” he said.
Similarly, he said Israel’s campaign in Lebanon hadn’t impacted the administration’s drive to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and characterized Hamas as the main hurdle that has been “unwilling to engage in a meaningful way with the mediators.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
State Department organizes another flight out of Lebanon
The State Department said Monday it organized a flight to carry Americans out of Lebanon on Monday.
The flight carried approximately 150 American citizens, legal permanent residents and their family members from Beirut to Istanbul, the State Department said.
The department said earlier Monday that it had also organized two flights over the weekend carrying a combined 235 passengers from Beirut to Istanbul.
Monday’s flight brings the total number of U.S. charter flights from Lebanon over the past week to eight, with 900 combined passengers, according to the State Department.
The State Department said it has additionally blocked off 868 seats for Americans on commercial flights, with a significant share of them filled.
Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut are now in contact with approximately 8,500 people inside Lebanon who have asked for more information about departing the country.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday that does not mean that all intend to leave, though the department has assessed that there is still significant demand for additional government charter flights among Americans in Lebanon.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
IDF warns they will soon operate in maritime area off southern Lebanon
In a warning to vacationers, beachgoers and boaters, the Israel Defense Forces said they will soon operate against “Hezbollah maritime targets” south of the Awali River line.
“For your safety, refrain from being in the sea or on the beach from now until further notice. Being on the beach and boat movements in the area of the Awali River line southward pose a danger to your life,” the IDF said.
State Department organized 2 more flights out of Lebanon
The State Department said Monday it organized two flights over the weekend to carry Americans out of Lebanon.
The flights departed Beirut to Istanbul on Saturday and Sunday carrying a combined 235 passengers, the State Department said.
A spokesperson said the State Department has now made over 2,900 seats available to U.S. citizens seeking to depart Lebanon on commercial flights and supplemental U.S.-organized flights.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Bidens mark Oct. 7 with memorial candle lighting
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined a memorial candle lighting held Monday in the Blue Room of the White House in remembrance of the victims of the Oct. 7 attack.
Rabbi Aaron Alexander recited in Hebrew “El Malei Rachamim” (“God Full of Mercy”), a traditional Jewish prayer for those who have died, then recited it in English.
Biden then lit the yahrzeit candle before observing a moment of silence. Biden made the sign of the cross after a few moments.
Alexander is a family friend of the Goldberg-Polin family. American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 at the Nova Music Festival. His body was recovered by Israeli forces in late August.
Biden also spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier Monday to express his “deepest condolences” to Israelis and families of the Oct. 7 attack, the White House said.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Israel intercepts missile fired from Yemen, IDF says
Air alert sirens sounded across central Israel on Monday due to a missile launch from Yemen, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“The air force successfully intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen,” the force wrote on X.
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly targeted Israel using missiles and drones. Israel has launched airstrikes on Houthi military and infrastructure sites in response.
Airstrike hits close to Beirut airport
Two more powerful strikes hit Beirut on Monday morning as Israel’s air campaign continued, including one that impacted close to the city’s international airport.
The strikes sent towering pillars of smoke and dust rising above the capital and Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.
The airport is located south of the city center close to the Dahiya suburb, which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold and has borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks on the city.
Beirut’s airport is still functioning despite nearby airstrikes, though major international carriers have frozen operations there due to the deteriorating security situation.
Lebanon-based Middle East Airlines now accounts for most flights landing at and departing the airport, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes in 2006 during the last major cross-border conflict.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Morgan Winsor
World must condemn Iran on Oct. 7 anniversary, Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the first anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack by calling on the international community to “condemn Iran’s support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region that are responsible for so much death, destruction and instability.”
“Today, we mark a devastating and tragic anniversary,” Blinken said in a statement published by the State Department. “The depravity of Hamas’ crimes is almost unspeakable.”
The Oct. 7 attack “unleashed a year of conflict, with tragic consequences for the Palestinian people,” Blinken said.
“The United States mourns the death of every innocent who died on Oct. 7 and in the year since. It is time to reach a ceasefire agreement that brings the hostages home, alleviates the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people and ultimately brings an end to this war.”
Blinken called on other nations to “stand steadfast in the face of terrorism and violent extremism, including the sources of support for groups like Hamas,” specifically Iran.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to lasting peace and stability across the region and for a common future for Israelis and Palestinians with equal measures of security, dignity, opportunity and freedom,” Blinken added.
Netanyahu attends Oct. 7 Jerusalem memorial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a ceremony at the “Iron Swords” monument in Jerusalem to commemorate Israelis killed since Oct. 7, 2023.
The monument was unveiled in September to remember those from Jerusalem killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and in the subsequent fighting.
“On this day, in this place, and in many places in our country, we remember our fallen, our abductees — whom we are obliged to return — and our heroes who fell for the defense of the homeland and the country,” Netanyahu said.
“We went through a terrible massacre a year ago and we stood up as a people, as lions.”
“A nation of wolves will rise and a lion will soar,” Netanyahu said.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
US will help deter Iran, Austin tells Gallant
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday to reiterate U.S. support ahead of Monday’s Oct. 7 one-year anniversary.
Austin “reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself and noted that the United States maintains significant capability in the region to defend U.S. personnel and facilities, provide further support for Israel’s self-defense and deter further escalation,” a readout provided by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
The two “reiterated their commitment to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict,” the readout added.
Austin also “expressed his condolences” for two Israeli soldiers killed in a drone attack launched by Iran-aligned Iraqi militants on Oct. 3.
U.S. and Israeli officials are in close contact as the latter consider how to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Biden says US ‘fully committed’ to Israel one year after Oct. 7
The White House released a statement Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, with President Joe Biden condemning “the unspeakable brutality” of the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
“One year later, Vice President [Kamala] Harris and I remain fully committed to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist,” Biden said.
“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and Iran,” the president added, noting the U.S. role in responding to Iran’s most recent ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
“We will never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely,” the president said of the 101 captives still in Gaza.
Biden condemned the “vicious surge in anti-semitism in America and around the world,” which he called “unacceptable.”
For Palestinians, too, Biden said Oct. 7 should be remembered “as a dark day.”
“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict — and tens of thousands have been killed, a human toll made far worse by terrorists hiding and operating among innocent people,” he said.
“Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.”
-ABC News’ Lauren Minore
Hamas marks Oct. 7 anniversary with rocket attack
Hamas released a statement Sunday to mark the first anniversary of its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The statement attributed to leader Yahya Sinwar and deputy leader Khalil Al-Hayya described the attack as a “glorious” operation that “shattered the illusions the enemy had created for itself.”
The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw some 250 people taken to Gaza as hostages.
Monday’s statement said Hamas was ready “for an agreement that achieves the cessation of aggression, ends the siege and leads to a serious exchange deal,” accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “procrastinating and obstructing” negotiations.
Hamas claimed responsibility for rocket fire that set off alarms in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel on Monday. One projectile landed south of Tel Aviv and wounded at least two people, emergency responders said.
The rockets were fired from the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said 41,802 Palestinians have been killed in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Matt Gutman and Sohel Uddin
Hezbollah vows to repel Israel despite ‘heavy’ losses
Hezbollah acknowledged “heavy” losses within its “leadership structure” and “military and material structure” during its ongoing conflict with Israel, in a statement issued Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack.
The group said it is “confident” in the “ability of our resistance to repel the aggression” in Lebanon in a message posted to one of its official Telegram channels.
One year of war, the group claimed, has shown Israel to be “a fragile entity that is unable to survive and continue without American support.”
The U.S. and its allies “bear full responsibility for the killing, criminality, injustice and shocking human tragedies” experienced by the Palestinian and Lebanese people, the statement added.
(LONDON) — A ceasefire went into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday morning after Israel’s Cabinet approved the U.S.-backed proposal to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah after prolonged negotiations.
The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.
IDF launches 4 more strikes in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces has announced carrying out four more airstrikes Saturday in Lebanon, where a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is tentatively in place.
In all four attacks, the IDF says they hit Hezbollah-affiliated targets where they believed operatives were near to, or handling, weapons. It does not appear that Hezbollah has fired any weapons since the start of the ceasefire, nor has the IDF accused them of doing so.
This makes five total IDF strikes in Lebanon on Saturday alone. The IDF announced conducting one on Friday, and one on Thursday.
The Lebanon Ministry of Health said in a statement that a 7-year-old child was among three injured in an Israeli strike on a car earlier Saturday, and an additional person was injured in a separate strike.
The IDF said it is “deployed in the southern Lebanon area, operating against any threat to the State of Israel and enforcing any violation of the ceasefire agreement understandings.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
75 killed in 2 Beit Lahia strikes: Gaza Civil Defence
At least 75 people were killed in two air strikes in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence.
Video circulating online shows bodies under rubble, which the group said they are unable to reach as they remain trapped.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara
MSF: Crisis in Gaza worsens as entry of medicine, supplies blocked
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is warning that people in Gaza with medical conditions are facing mounting catastrophes this winter.
Shortages of food, medicine, water, shelter and other crucial supplies are at critical levels, the humanitarian group said, and could worsen aid workers’ means to provide care.
“Shortages of critical supplies have reached such levels that we are now forced to turn away patients in some facilities,” Caroline Seguin, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, said in a statement. “Restrictions and obstacles to the entry of aid by the Israeli authorities continue to severely hamper our ability to provide care. Meanwhile, the looting of aid trucks within the enclave is making it difficult for that small amount of aid allowed by Israeli authorities to reach those in need. Ultimately, it’s the patients who suffer the consequences.”
Another IDF airstrike in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces launched another airstrike in southern Lebanon on Friday after it said they identified “terrorist activity and movement of a Hezbollah portable rocket launcher.”
The IDF said the “threat was thwarted in an IAF strike.”
“The IDF is deployed in southern Lebanon and will actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement,” it said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Netanyahu threatens ‘intensive’ war if Hezbollah violates ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened an “intensive” war if Hezbollah violates the ceasefire agreement, according to an interview he did with a local reporter.
“I gave the IDF instructions,” Netanyahu said, speaking to the right-wing Channel 14. “If there is a massive violation of the agreement … we [will] operate surgically like we are doing now, and with force … I instructed the IDF to prepare for an intensive war.”
Israel conducts airstrike during ceasefire
The Israel Defense Forces said it fired at suspected terrorists Thursday. Hezbollah has not yet commented on the strike and there have been no indications rockets have been fired into Israel from the north.
“The IDF remains in southern Lebanon and acting to enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF said in a statement.
The Lebanese Army confirmed the strikes hit within its territory, saying Israel “violated the agreement several times” on Wednesday and Thursday.
“After the ceasefire agreement was announced, the Israeli enemy violated the agreement several times, through air violations and targeting Lebanese territory with various weapons. The Army Command is following up on these violations in coordination with the relevant authorities,” the Lebanese army said in a statement.
2,500 children in Gaza need to be evacuated: UNICEF
Over 2,500 children in the Gaza Strip need “urgent medical evacuation,” according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. “The situation in the northern Gaza Strip is extremely difficult and tragic and is getting worse,” UNICEF spokesperson Kazem Abu Khalaf said in a statement.
“Thirty percent of children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe malnutrition,” Abu Khalaf said. “Ninety-five percent of the schools that house displaced people in the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed,” he said.
Nearly all attempts to deliver aid to northern Gaza have been thwarted, UNRWA says
Nearly all of the 100 attempts to deliver aid to northern Gaza over the last two months have failed, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
“Out of the 91 attempts the UN has made to deliver aid to besieged north #Gaza between 6 October and 25 November, 82 have been denied and 9 impeded,” the UNRWA said in a statement
“The conditions for survival are diminishing for the 65,000-75,000 people estimated to remain there,” the UNRWA said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
IDF fires at ‘suspects’ in southern Lebanon, alleging ceasefire violation
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning it fired at “suspects, some with vehicles” arriving in several areas of southern Lebanon.
The IDF did not give information on the identity of the targets but said their presence in the area “constitutes a violation.”
There have been sporadic reports of firing in several areas of southern Lebanon since the IDF-Hezbollah ceasefire went into effect early Wednesday morning.
The IDF has warned evacuated citizens of southern Lebanese towns and villages not to return to their homes until told to do so. Around 1.2 million people in Lebanon — roughly a quarter of its population — have been displaced by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders.
IDF says residents returning to south Lebanon are ‘in danger’
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee again urged south Lebanon residents not to return to their homes in a post to X on Thursday morning.
Adraee listed 10 villages in the south as still off limits to evacuated residents, despite Wednesday’s ceasefire.
“The IDF does not intend to target you and therefore you are prohibited at this stage from returning to your homes,” he wrote.
Anyone who travels south regardless will be “in danger,” Adraee added.
Israeli forces are expected to withdraw from their positions in southern Lebanon in phases during the 60-day ceasefire that came into effect on Wednesday morning.
They will be replaced by Lebanese Armed Forces troops, who will be tasked — with United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon assistance — with preventing the return of Hezbollah forces in the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah claims victory, says they will remain ‘fully prepared’ to deal with Israel’s ‘ambitions’
Hezbollah said it continued its war against Israel for “more than 13 months,” and it was “able to achieve victory over the delusional enemy,” the militia said in its first statement since the ceasefire was announced.
Throughout the “Israeli ground operation the attempts of the enemy forces to occupy and establish themselves in any of the towns of the first line of the front did not succeed nor did they succeed in establishing a military and security buffer zone as” Israel had hoped it would, Hezbollah said in a statement.
Hezbollah will remain “fully prepared to deal with the Israeli enemy’s ambitions” and “will continue to follow the movements and withdrawals of the enemy’s forces beyond the borders, and their hands will remain on the trigger, in defense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and for the sake of the dignity and honor of its people,” Hezbollah said.
‘We will see’ if Israel’s goals in war were realized ‘in the next 60 days,’ Israeli defense minister says
The goal of Israel’s ongoing war with Hezbollah was to “damage Hezbollah’s capabilities and create the conditions for the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said, in his first comments since the ceasefire went into effect.
“We will see in the next 60 days whether this goal is realized. When the details of the arrangement, including all its components, become clear to the public, and if effective enforcement is carried out, with Israel at the center, calm and deterrence will be created, it will be possible to say that the goal has been achieved,” Katz added.
Katz said the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire is “creating additional pressure on Hamas.”
“From here we look towards the southern front, with the most important goal being to return all the kidnapped people home safely and quickly. Results of the campaign in the north are creating additional pressure on Hamas and we intend to make every effort to create the conditions for a new hostage deal and to bring everyone home — this is the most important moral goal we are facing now, this is the ultimate goal,” Katz said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Isolated incidents reported as ceasefire begins
The Israel Defense Forces and Lebanese media are reporting several isolated incidents in southern Lebanon after the ceasefire went into effect.
Israeli forces fired “artillery shells” in Kfar Kila, Al-Aadaissah and Khiyam in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported.
“In light of Hezbollah members entering the village of Kila, Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to act firmly and without compromise against such phenomena,” the Israeli defense minister’s office said in a press release.
“The IDF will operate against anyone who attempts to breach the ceasefire agreement and will continue to protect the citizens of Israel,” the IDF said in a separate release.
Two journalists were injured after Israeli forces opened fire on a group of them in the town of Khiam while they were covering the return of Lebanese residents to the town, Lebanese state media reported.
The Israel Defense Forces said they received the report regarding several journalists injured in the Khiam area and added the IDF is “unaware of fire toward the journalists.”
“As of now, only warning shots have been fired in the area,” the IDF said. “The IDF remains in southern Lebanon and will actively enforce every violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
An Israeli security official said there have been “several incidents” of gunmen and others trying to provoke Israeli forces in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect. The Israeli security official called them “isolated incidents” that often happen in the first day of a ceasefire and have happened in previous wars.
The IDF’s position right now is that Lebanese residents should not come back to villages in southern Lebanon as they are not safe, the Israeli security official said.
The ceasefire calls for a handover from the IDF to the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. The Israeli security official implied it would not be safe for Lebanese residents to return until that handover is complete.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF not to allow the population to enter the area of villages near the border in southern Lebanon, in accordance with the first phase of implementing the ceasefire outline,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a release Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Lebanese army warns residents not to return to front-line villages, towns in the south
Initial reports suggest the ceasefire is holding, but the Lebanese army is being cautious in parts of southern Lebanon, asking people to wait for Israeli forces to withdraw before returning to front-line villages and towns, in a statement to the public Wednesday.
The Lebanese army also said it is already starting to strengthen its deployments in the South Litani sector in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces warned residents of south Lebanon not to travel south of the Litani River from 5 p.m. local time Wednesday until 7 a.m. local time Thursday morning, in a post on X, warning any movement toward these areas exposes people to “danger.”
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
Biden says US to make ‘another push’ on Gaza ceasefire
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. “will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza” over the coming days, following the success of ceasefire talks in Lebanon.
Negotiations, Biden said in a post to X, must end “with the hostages released and an end to the war without Hamas in power.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Lebanon PM confirms ceasefire acceptance
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed Lebanon’s acceptance of the ceasefire in an address on Wednesday.
“We affirm the government’s commitment to implementing Security Council Resolution 1701 in all its provisions,” he said, referring to the 2006 U.N. Security Council measure that sought to end the last bout of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Resolution 1701 stipulated that Hezbollah must withdraw all forces north of the Litani River and that all Israeli forces must leave — and no longer violate the sovereignty of — Lebanon.
Mikati did not address the separate U.S.-Israeli agreement backing Israel’s right to continue to strike anywhere in Lebanon if deemed necessary for self-defense.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Somayeh Malekian
Hezbollah allies welcome Israel ceasefire
Hezbollah allies on Wednesday praised the group for securing its ceasefire deal with Israel.
In a press conference Wednesday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran supports “ending Israel’s aggression against Lebanon as a part of the ceasefire.”
Iran — the founder and director of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” of which Hezbollah is a key element — maintains “unwavering support for the Lebanese government, people and resistance,” Baqaei said.
Hamas, meanwhile, said in an official statement that it welcomed the ceasefire and praised Hezbollah’s support of Palestinians, as well as the “great sacrifices” of the group’s members including late leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal, Hamas added, is a “milestone” in “destroying” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “illusions of changing the map of the Middle East by force and his illusions of defeating or disarming the resistance forces.”
Yemen’s Houthis — who have been attacking shipping and launching long-range strikes into Israel — also praised Hezbollah’s “steadfastness,” framing the ceasefire deal as an Israeli defeat.
“The conflict with the Zionist enemy is an inevitable conflict and the wars with it are rounds in a conflict that will inevitably end with its demise,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz, Samy Zyara and Somayeh Malekian
IDF attacked ‘dozens’ of targets in hours before ceasefire
The Israel Defense Forces said its warplanes bombed “dozens” of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon in the hours leading up to the Wednesday morning ceasefire.
The IDF said in a post to social media that the targets included “Hezbollah command centers, launchers, weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites in Beirut, Tyre and Nabatieh.”
The IDF also struck “several smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon, which were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weaponry,” the force said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Lebanese army preparing to deploy south after ceasefire
The Lebanese Armed Forces said in a Wednesday morning statement that it was “taking the necessary measures to complete the deployment in the south as mandated by the Lebanese government” after the ceasefire deal with Israel came into effect.
The ceasefire agreement stipulates that Lebanese troops will take up positions in the south of the country and prevent the return of Hezbollah forces — who are expected to withdraw north of the Litani River — to the area.
LAF commander General Joseph Aoun met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the south of the country, a statement posted to Mikati’s X channel said.
The LAF is expected to deploy around 5,000 troops to the area as part of the 60-day ceasefire. United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers will remain in southern Lebanon to assist.
Israeli troops are expected to withdraw from their positions in south Lebanon in phases during the same timeframe.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Israel ceasefire ‘a test for all Lebanese,’ parliament speaker says
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri said in a Wednesday address that the nascent ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is “a test for all Lebanese, from all sects, to save their country and protect its constitutional institutions.”
Berri — the leader of the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement who has been negotiating on Hezbollah’s behalf — said the Lebanese “people were able to neutralize the effects of the Israeli aggression” and saluted late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.
“We call on all our displaced people in all our regions and the sister countries that hosted them to return,” Berri added. “We are in dire need of national unity among all the Lebanese people.”
Berri called for the “speedy election” of a new Lebanese president and thanked all those “who contributed to the ceasefire.”
Hezbollah is yet to issue any official statement on the ceasefire, which went into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti
IDF fires on vehicle in south Lebanon after ceasefire begins
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday its troops fired on a vehicle carrying several people “in a zone prohibited for movement in Lebanese territory” shortly after the ceasefire came into effect at 4 a.m. local time.
“IDF troops fired to prevent them from advancing and the suspects left the area,” the IDF wrote in a post to X.
The Israeli air force, it said “remains ready to act across Lebanese territory” while the Israeli air defense network “is also in a high state of defensive readiness.”
“The IDF will act against anyone who tries to violate the ceasefire agreement and will not allow damage to the security of the residents of Israel,” the force wrote.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF warns southern Lebanese not to return home despite ceasefire
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Wednesday morning that Lebanese civilians who fled their homes in the south of the country should not return to their homes until told to do so, despite the start of the ceasefire.
Twenty minutes after the ceasefire came into effect, Adraee said in a post to X that the IDF remains “positioned in its posts in southern Lebanon.”
“Do not approach the villages that the IDF has evacuated or IDF soldiers in the area,” he wrote. “For your safety and the security of your families, avoid entering the area.”
“We will update you when it is safe to return to your homes,” Adraee added.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is now in effect
The ceasefire went into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.
Representatives of Hezbollah still have not said anything on the record about the agreement.
When submitting the deal for approval, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal still relies on the actions of Hezbollah.
“The duration of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in the statement. “We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. We will continue together until victory.”
Strikes reported in central Beirut minutes after ceasefire deal announced
There were reports of strikes in central Beirut minutes after President Joe Biden finished speaking, announcing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.
The ceasefire is set to take effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire will begin at 4 am local time on Wednesday
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will begin at 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday under a U.S.-brokered deal, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday.
“Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not want this either,” Biden said in an address Tuesday.
“This has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades,” Biden said.
Biden warned that Israel “retains the right to self-defense” if Hezbollah or anyone else attacks Israel.
Biden also called for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. The U.S. is working with Egypt, Turkey and other partners to attain a ceasefire in Gaza, Biden said.
“The people in Gaza have been through hell,” Biden said.
Israel’s cabinet has approved the U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had submitted the proposal to the cabinet for approval Tuesday.
Far-right Israeli Minister Ben Gvir was the only minister who voted against deal. The 10 other ministers in the cabinet voted in favor of the deal.
Netanyahu thanked President Joe Biden for “the US involvement in achieving the ceasefire agreement,” and for “the understanding that Israel will maintain freedom of action in its enforcement,” a statement said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Gaza’s Civil Defense stops operating in Gaza City due to lack of fuel
Gaza’s Civil Defense vehicles — which serve emergency functions like search and rescue operations — are no longer operating in Gaza City because the agency is out of fuel, it announced Tuesday.
Gaza’s Civil Defense stopped operating in northern Gaza on Oct. 23.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and over 104,000 injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said Tuesday.
Israeli strikes hit Beirut, southern Lebanon, as ceasefire talks continue
At least seven people were killed and 37 were injured in Israeli strikes on the Dahieh area of Beirut on Tuesday as Israel continued to strike multiple areas throughout Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The strikes come amid reports of Israel and Hezbollah nearing a ceasefire agreement.
The Israel Defense Forces issued multiple evacuation orders for areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut and areas in southern Lebanon, including nine warnings about strikes in the Dahieh area of Beirut.
Hezbollah fired 45 projectiles toward Israel on Tuesday, the IDF said. One person was seriously injured after one of the rocket salvos landed in the Haifa and Krayot area of Israel, Israeli emergency services said.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Israel strikes 20 targets in Beirut
Israel said it conducted strikes on 20 targets in Beirut, including components of Hezbollah’s military and financial systems.
“Among the targets struck were a Hezbollah aerial defense unit center, an intelligence center, command centers, weapons storage facilities, an operations room, an artillery storage facility, and terrorist infrastructure sites,” Israel said in a statement.
Israel also targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association — a nonprofit that gives out loans — alleging it is used by Hezbollah to collect and store funds.
Israel had sent evacuation orders about 20 minutes before the strikes hit. The IDF said they are attacking Hezbollah in Beirut on “a large scale.” Black smoke was still visible and covering part of Beirut hours later.
The strikes began just minutes before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet with his cabinet to discuss a cease-fire deal with Hezbollah.
Earlier Tuesday, there were three other strikes in Beirut.
Israel bombs Beirut suburbs again
Fresh airstrikes shook Beirut’s southern Dahiya suburbs on Tuesday morning, with the Israel Defense Forces claiming to have targeted six Hezbollah targets including infrastructure sites used by the group’s coast-to-sea missile unit.
The IDF said it struck around 30 Hezbollah targets in Dahiya over the past week. The suburb — parts of which are close to the city’s international airport — is known as a Hezbollah stronghold and has borne the brunt of months of near-daily airstrikes on the Lebanese capital.
The strikes followed soon after an IDF warning for residents to evacuate parts of Dahiya.
Lebanese authorities said that 3,768 people in Lebanon had been killed by Israeli strikes as of Sunday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel says troops reached Lebanon’s Litani River
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that its forces conducted operations near Lebanon’s Litani River — the waterway around 18 miles of the Israeli border which Israeli leaders have demanded serve as a buffer keeping Hezbollah units out of the country’s south.
Reaching the Litani would mark the deepest penetration of Israeli forces into Lebanon since the IDF withdrew from the country in 2000. Israeli troops did not push up to the Litani in the 2006 war with Hezbollah.
Soldiers “raided several terrorist targets, engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists, located and destroyed dozens of launchers, thousands of rockets and missiles and weapons storage facilities” in operations in the Litani River region, the IDF said in a post to X.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Lebanon death toll rises ahead of possible cease-fire
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said Tuesday that the death toll from Israel’s military operations in the country had risen to 3,768 people as of Sunday.
Another 15,699 people have been wounded since renewed fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023, the ministry said.
Israel continued airstrikes on Monday night and Tuesday morning even amid reports of an imminent cease-fire deal. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported six people killed in multiple attacks in the southern Nabatieh Governorate.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee also issued fresh evacuation warnings for Beirut’s southern Dahiya area on Tuesday morning ahead of planned airstrikes there.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
Details of Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire deal emerge
A cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah would begin soon after its announcement, with the aim of achieving a permanent cease-fire after 60 days, according to an Israeli source with knowledge of the potential deal.
The U.S. will head a committee, joined by French and Arab partners, to monitor and verify the implementation of the ceasefire, the source said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss the deal and hold a cabinet vote, Israeli officials said.
There is almost unanimous support in the cabinet for the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal, and it is expected to be approved. Far-right leader Ben Gvir is expected to vote against it.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
‘We don’t believe we have an agreement yet’: State Department
The U.S. is hopeful that Israel and Hezbollah are close to a cease-fire deal, but striking a pact “is up to the parties, not to us,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Monday.
“We don’t believe we have an agreement yet. We believe we’re close to an agreement. We believe that we have narrowed the gap significantly, but there are still steps that we need to see taken, but we hope — we hope that we can get there,” Miller said.
Echoing comments earlier Monday by White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby, Miller emphasized that “nothing’s final until everything’s final.”
“Oftentimes the very last stages of an agreement are the most difficult, because the hardest issues are left to the end,” Miller said.
-ABC News’ Chris Boccia
Israeli strikes kill 31, injure at least 62 people in Lebanon
Israeli forces conducted strikes Monday in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut and in southern Lebanon as talks of a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel continued on both sides.
At least 31 people were killed and 62 others injured in the strikes on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
No indication Netanyahu will call in cabinet and vote to approve Lebanon cease-fire
There are no indications that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to call in his cabinet and vote to approve the Lebanon cease-fire Monday night, Israeli officials told ABC News.
Netanyahu is planning a series of meetings Tuesday to discuss the Lebanon cease-fire deal, including talks with his minister of strategic affairs, former American ambassador Ron Dermer, along with his most senior defense officials.
Later in the afternoon, Netanyahu will hold a larger cabinet meeting that includes the far-right. That meeting may lead to a final vote to approve a deal, though that remains unclear. A deal can pass even if one of the two far-right leaders opposes it.
The cease-fire would last for 60 days, but would not require the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw right away.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Jordana Miller
White House says deal is close but nothing is final
A cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah was close, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby reiterated in a briefing Tuesday, but he would not give details about the deal or specific timing, saying he had to be careful not to get in the way of the tenuous diplomacy.
“We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction. But again, nothing is done until everything is done. Nothing’s all negotiated till everything is negotiated. And you know, we need to keep at the work to see it through so that we can actually get the ceasefire for which we’ve been working for for so long and so hard,” Kirby said.
Kirby declined to say if any announcement from President Joe Biden and French President Emanuel Macron should be expected over the next few days.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Far-right Israeli minister says Lebanon cease-fire would be a ‘big mistake’
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Monday that a potential cease-fire agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon would be “a big mistake.”
Ending the war would be a “missed opportunity” to “eradicate Hezbollah,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X.
Ben-Gvir has previously pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject any cease-fire deal in Gaza, where fighting continues with Hamas and other militant groups.
“We must continue until the absolute victory,” Ben-Gvir said of both the Gaza and Lebanon fronts.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Khamenei calls for ‘death sentence’ for Netanyahu, Israeli leaders
In an address to thousands of Basij militia members on Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued last week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were insufficient.
“What [they have] done in Gaza and Lebanon is not a victory, it is a war crime,” Khamenei said.
“Now they have issued arrest warrants for them; this is not enough,” he added of the ICC decision. “A death sentence must be issued for Netanyahu and the criminal leaders of this regime.”
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, who the Israel Defense Forces claimed to have killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July.
Netanyahu’s office expressed its “disgust” at the decision and dismissed the ICC warrant as “absurd.”
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs
The Israel Defense Forces said its warplanes “conducted intelligence-based strikes on several Hezbollah command centers” in southern Beirut on Monday.
The strikes again focused on the Dahiya area in the south of the Lebanese capital, which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Monday’s bombings followed an intense day of strikes on Sunday, as diplomats continued to push for a cease-fire agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
1 hour ago
UAE arrests 3 people accused of rabbi’s killing
The United Arab Emirates’ Interior Ministry said Monday it arrested three Uzbek nationals suspected of the kidnapping and killing of Moldovan-Israeli rabbi Zvi Kogan.
Kogan, 28, was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Nov. 21. He managed a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The ministry identified the three detained men as Olimpi Tohirovic, 28, Mahmoud John Abdul Rahim, 28, and Azizi Kamilovic, 33. It did not say whether charges had been filed and did not suggest a motive.
Israeli leaders have framed the killing as an antisemitic terror operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his nation would “act by all means” to “bring justice to the murderers and their senders.”
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
IDF issues new Beirut airstrike warnings
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Monday morning that Israeli warplanes would soon begin new airstrikes in Beirut, following 24 hours of intense bombing of the city’s southern suburbs.
Adraee ordered residents of the Haret Hreik area of the southern Dahiya suburbs — known as a Hezbollah stronghold — to flee their homes and stay at least 500 meters from target buildings identified on an IDF map.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
More strikes on southern Beirut suburbs
There were more strikes Sunday night in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been pounded by dozens of Israeli strikes in the last few days.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday night’s strikes in Dahieh were on “12 Hezbollah command centers.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
29 dead in central Beirut after Saturday’s airstrike
The death toll from an Israeli strike Saturday in central Beirut has risen to 29, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The update on casualties came as emergency workers continued to search collapsed buildings for survivors of the strike, an official said.
At least 67 people were also injured in the Israeli strike, according to the Ministry of Health.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
Israeli official confirms Netanyahu holding meeting on Lebanon cease-fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a meeting with security officials on Sunday night regarding ongoing Lebanon cease-fire talks, an Israeli official told ABC News.
The development comes after Netanyahu met last week in Israel with U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein and discussed a possible cease-fire in Lebanon. Hochstein also traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to discuss a cease-deal between Hezbollah and Israel.
