Twelve-year-old killed by gunmen on jet skis targeting rival drug dealer, officials say

(LONDON) — At least eight people were transported to hospitals with stab wounds following a “major” incident in the United Kingdom, police and emergency officials said Monday.

Officers responded just before noon local time to reports of a stabbing at a property on Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool, according to Merseyside Police.

“Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station,” the department said in a statement.

The eight injured people were transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital, the North West Ambulance Service said on social media. The patients’ conditions and ages were not immediately released.

Thirteen ambulances had been dispatched to the scene, along with a Hazardous Area Response Team, an Air Ambulance and and Merit Doctors, emergency officials said.

Officials at Alder Hey said they were “working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy.” The hospital said it had declared Monday’s stabbing a “major incident.”

“We ask parents to only bring their children to the Emergency Department if it is urgent,” the hospital said in a statement.

The town of Southport sits in the county of Merseyside, in the the U.K.’s northwest.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, cease-fire discussions are occurring in the Middle East, with officials hoping to bring an end to the conflict.

The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal, with discussions set for this week.

Here’s how the news is developing:

West Bank death toll at 12, expected to rise

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that at least 12 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground and air operation in the West Bank.

Another five people are believed to have been killed in a mosque Tulkarm on Wednesday, though their bodies have not been recovered or added to the overall toll.

Israel said “terrorists were hiding in the mosque,” in the city, which is one of four areas subject to the ongoing raids.

Israel ‘fueling’ explosive situation in West Bank: UN

The White House remains “deeply concerned about maintaining stability in the West Bank,” a State Department spokesperson has said, as Israeli forces continue to press its multi-city operation.

“We recognize Israel’s very real security needs to protect all citizens from harm,” the spokesperson added.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that Israel is “fueling an already explosive situation,” while Guterres himself posted on X calling for an immediate end to the operation.

At least 11 dead, 20 injured in West Bank raids: Palestinian Ministry of Health

At least 11 people are dead and another 20 injured since the Israel Defense Forces launched operations in the West Bank overnight Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Hamas says Israel’s temporary pause for polio vaccinations is not enough

Amid rising calls for a pause in fighting to administer polio vaccinations to children in Gaza, Hamas is saying Israel’s temporary pause is not enough.

“This suspicious method that Netanyahu and his government are trying to impose will thwart the United Nations’ move and deprive hundreds of children of vaccination against polio,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday.

It is still unclear if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan is different from the United Nation’s requests for a temporary pause in fighting.

Hamas is calling for a comprehensive truce throughout Gaza to allow for a polio vaccination campaign.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

World Food Programme pauses staff movement in Gaza after vehicle targeted

The World Food Programme announced it is pausing the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice after its team came under fire on Tuesday, near an Israeli checkpoint.

The WFP team — traveling in two armored vehicles — was returning from a mission to Kerem Shalom after escorting a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian cargo routed to central Gaza.

“Despite being clearly marked and receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving towards an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) checkpoint. It sustained at least ten bullets: five on the driver’s side, two on the passenger side and three on other parts of the vehicle. None of the employees onboard were physically harmed,” the WFP said in a statement.

WFP called for protection of humanitarian workers providing essential aid to civilians in Gaza.

“The incident is a stark reminder of the rapidly and ever shrinking humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip, where increasing violence compromises our ability to deliver life-saving assistance. The already critical situation is exacerbated by restricted access and heightened risks, leading to decreased food supplies reaching those in desperate need,” WFP said.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Netanyahu approves ‘limited pauses’ in fighting to facilitate polio vaccination in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved “limited pauses” in fighting to allow for polio vaccinations for children in Gaza amid calls from international aid organizations, according to an Israeli official familiar with deliberations.

The pauses will only be in designated areas, according to the official.

A 10-month-old baby was paralyzed and became the first confirmed case of polio earlier this month.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

10 killed in West Bank as IDF says operation ‘won’t end tomorrow’

Ten people have been killed since the start of the Israel Defense Forces’ operation in the West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Wednesday.

The operation is targeting Jenin, Tulkarm and Nablus in the West Bank, IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani said during a Zoom briefing with reporters Wednesday.

Shoshani implied the operation could go on for a few days, saying it “won’t end tomorrow,” during the IDF briefing.

The IDF did not say how many troops are involved in the operation, but Shoshani called it a “large” operation. Israeli security forces called it a “counterterrorism operation,” in a release Wednesday.

The IDF is surrounding the Ibn Sinai hospital in Jenin “to prevent terrorists from taking shelter there,” Shoshani said, but said the IDF has no plans to “enter, capture or seize” the hospital.

There are no plans to evacuate civilians from the areas where the IDF is operating, Shoshani said.

One of the targets of the operation is the cell that planned a failed suicide bombing attempt in Tel Aviv earlier this month, but the attack did not prompt the large operation, Shoshani added.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta and Guy Davies

US announces new sanctions targeting West Bank extremism

The U.S. State Department announced new sanctions targeting an Israeli nongovernmental organization and an individual, Yitzhak Levi Filant, as part of its ongoing efforts to “address the extreme levels of instability and violence against civilians in the West Bank.”

The organization, Hashomer Yosh, is providing support to an outpost in the West Bank and individuals — who are already designated by the U.S. government — and allegedly prevented Palestinian residents that were forced to leave their homes from returning, according to the State Department.

Filant, identified as the civilian security coordinator of a settlement in the West Bank, is accused of engaging “in malign activities outside the scope of his authority,” including an incident in February where he purportedly “led a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands,” the State Department said in a statement.

“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region. It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank,” the State Department said.

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

Foreign minister urges Gaza-style approach to West Bank ‘terrorist front’

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has framed the unfolding West Bank operation as another front in the country’s showdown with Iran, suggesting Israel should “deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.”

“Iran is working to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank, according to the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan,” Katz wrote in a post on X.

Katz said Israel should take “whatever steps are required,” including “the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents.”

“This is a war for everything and we must win it,” he added.

Israel launches largest raids in West Bank in years

The IDF overnight widened a major military operation in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, attacking from the air and from the ground using tanks and bulldozers, ABC News has learned.

The targets of the raid are Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas. The IDF has described the ongoing operation as an “extensive operation to counter terrorism” and to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures.”

Reports indicate that nine Palestinians have so far been killed, though that number could rise. The IDF has reportedly ordered Palestinians to evacuate from the three targets locations, with troops also entering a hospital in the area.

The raid is believed to be the first operation by the IDF targeting several cities at once since the Second Intifada, which ran from 2000 to 2005.

IDF launches large raids in the West Bank

Israel Defense Forces said it launched an “operation to counter terrorism” in the northern West Bank overnight Tuesday.

“The security forces have now begun an operation to counter terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm in the Menashe division,” the IDF said in a statement.

Hostage in good condition, will remain in hospital for more tests

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, the hostage rescued from a tunnel in Gaza, is in “good condition,” but will remain in the hospital for “another day or two of medical tests to make sure he is still OK,” Shlomi Codish, the CEO of Soroka Medical Center, said during a press conference Tuesday.

Alkadi is being treated at the Soroka Medical Center after being rescued by Israeli forces.

Israeli delegation heads to Doha to continue cease-fire talks

A delegation from Israel — including Israeli Security Agency, Mossad and IDF officials — is heading to Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to continue hostage release and cease-fire talks, an Israeli official told ABC News Tuesday.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Hostage was alone when found by Israeli forces

Qaid Farhan Alkadi was alone when he was located by Israeli forces in a tunnel in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces officials told ABC News.

In the last few days, IDF and Israeli security agency forces had been operating in the area where Alkadi was found and rescued, according to IDF officials. The forces operated underground, in a complex environment where there was suspicion of the presence of hostages, terrorists and explosives, the officials said.

Farhan was located by Israeli forces when he was alone, without his captors, and was rescued from the tunnel, the officials added.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir

Hostage families renew calls for cease-fire after hostage rescue

Hostage families are calling for an immediate cease-fire, calling the rescue of Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi — a Bedouin father of 11 from south of Rahat — from a tunnel in Gaza, “nothing short of miraculous,” in a statement.

“However, we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror. A negotiated deal is the only way forward,” the hostage families said in a press release.

Al-Qadi was kidnapped from his security job at Kibbutz Magen’s packing factory on Oct. 7. He is the eighth hostage that Israeli forces have rescued alive since Oct. 7, according to an IDF official.

“Every single day in captivity is one too many. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another such miracle,” hostage families said.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir

Israel to use ‘all means’ to return remaining hostages

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told a press conference on Tuesday of the “complex rescue mission” that freed Qaid Farhan Alkadi from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

“He is back home in Israel,” Hagari said of Alkadi. He is only the eighth hostage rescued alive from Gaza by the IDF, and the first rescued alive from a tunnel under the strip. Alkadi was among scores of people seized in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.

“We cannot go into many details of this special operation but I can share that Israeli commandos rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi from an underground tunnel, following accurate intelligence,” Hagari said.

“His medical condition is stable and he will undergo examinations in hospital. His family had been waiting 326 days to receive the news they did today.”

“But there are still 108 hostages, whose families are still waiting to hear news that their loved ones are home. And they should know that we will not rest until we fulfill our mission to bring all our hostages back home.”

“We will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible. I repeat, through all means possible.”

-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor

Israeli forces rescue hostage from Gaza

The Israeli military announced Tuesday that it had rescued an Arab citizen of Israel who was among scores of people abducted in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack.

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, from the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” according to Israeli authorities.

An Israeli source told ABC News that the rescued hostage is currently at Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Top US general ends Israel visit

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. has completed a visit to Israel amid intensifying fighting across the Lebanese border and continued uncertainty about a potential Iranian attack on Israel.

Brown met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in Tel Aviv on Monday. The officials discussed Hezbollah’s weekend rocket and drone attack and the “need to de-escalate tensions to avoid a broader conflict,” per a Pentagon readout.

Hezbollah launched its attack in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Fouad Shukr in Beirut last month.

Cease-fire talks moving forward after strikes: Kirby

Cease-fire talks are now moving forward at a working group level in Cairo over the next few days to hammer out specifics, according to National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby.

This weekend’s strikes by Israel and Hezbollah have “not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get this cease-fire deal in place,” Kirby told reporters Monday.

Kirby also rejected any suggestion that talks broke down this weekend, instead saying they were “constructive” enough to work on “finer details” at lower levels.

“There was no breakdown,” he said. “They made enough progress that they were willing to, or needed to transition to a working group level so you didn’t need the mediators all there and the leadership there.”

Brett McGurk, a top senior adviser on the Middle East at the White House, stayed in Cairo an extra day to kick off the meetings and is still there, Kirby said, adding that all parties are being represented in these discussions.

“One issue that will be for the working groups to flesh out is the exchange of hostages and prisoners that Israel’s holding — what that exchange looks like, how many, some of the details of exactly who will be released on either side and at what pace, those kinds of things,” Kirby said.

Al-Aqsa Hospital still operating despite evacuations

Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah is still operating, despite new temporary evacuation orders from Israeli forces to leave the surrounding area near the hospital.

Out of the 650 patients in Al-Aqsa Hospital, only 100 remain in the hospital that are being treated, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged they have been “operating in recent days in the Deir al Balah area,” but they said the evacuation orders did not include “the hospitals and medical facilities in the area,” in response to an inquiry from ABC News.

Three out of 18 water wells are still functioning in Deir al Balah due to “ongoing military operations,” the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in a post Monday.

World Food Programme operations ‘severely hampered’ in Gaza

The World Food Programme, the U.N.’s worldwide food assistance program, is being “severely hampered” by the “intensifying conflict” in Gaza.

The agency said border crossings have been limited and roads in Gaza have become so unusable that urgent repairs are needed in order to transport basic needs, like food and medicine.

“Transporting food, water, medicine and hygiene equipment is critical for the survival of communities in Gaza today and will be needed for months to come,” Antoine Renard, the country director for Gaza, said in a statement. “Roads are part of this lifeline.”

6:26 PM EDT
Hospital in central Gaza under evacuation order after nearby explosion

Israeli forces issued an evacuation order in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, urging people to flee, according to a statement from Doctors Without Borders Sunday.

“An explosion approximately 250 meters away triggered panic with many choosing to leave the hospital,” the organization said.

Of the approximately 650 patients in the hospital prior to the explosion, only 100 remain, with seven in the intensive care unit, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Doctors Without Borders is considering suspending wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain lifesaving treatment, according to the statement.

“This situation is unacceptable,” the organization said. “Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients’ access to medical care.”

Aug 26, 2024, 4:56 PM EDT
Sirens sound in Tel Aviv as Hamas fires rocket from Gaza

Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv Sunday night for the first time since January as Hamas launched a single rocket toward central Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said the Hamas rocket fell into an “open area” in Rishon LeTsiyon, south of Tel Aviv.

Israeli emergency services officials said no one was injured by the rocket, but a 26-year-old woman was hurt going to a shelter.

Hamas confirmed it fired an “M90” rocket at Tel Aviv.

-ABC News Victoria Beaule

4:37 PM EDT
Hezbollah leader says missile barrage on Israeli base ‘has ended’

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said missile and drone strikes targeting a “base for military intelligence” near Tel Aviv, Israel, “has ended” for now.

Nasrallah said the strikes carried out Sunday constituted the first and second phases of Hezbollah’s response to Israeli missile strikes in Lebanon. He said Hezbollah reserves the right to “respond” if it learns its strikes on Israel are not “sufficient.”

Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s missile and drone strikes targeted the Glilot military base near Tel Aviv, alleging it is a “base for military intelligence.”

“It contains a large number of officers and soldiers and it manages many of the assassination operations that take place in the region, as well as the sedition and deception operations,” Nasrallah alleged.

Hezbollah believes “a number of drones” reached their target. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said most of the Hezbollah missiles and drones were intercepted and denied that the Glilot military base was hit.

Hagari also confirmed that the soldier who was killed in the Hezbollah missile strike was hit by a fragment of an Iron Dome interceptor.

Nasrallah said a total of 340 missiles were fired at the Glilot military base.

A “preemptive strike” by Israel failed to cause any significant damage, according to Nasrallah.

“What happened was aggression, not a preemptive action,” Nasrallah said.

-ABC News Victoria Beaule

3:33 PM EDT
Hamas rejects latest cease-fire deal

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan has released a statement indicating Hamas does not accept the latest iteration of the cease-fire proposal as written.

Hamas insists that changes added by Israel since July 2 are non-starters for them, specifically, Israel Defense Forces positions in the Philadelphi corridor, an eight-and-a-half-mile long demilitarized buffer zone running along the border between Egypt and Gaza. Hamas also objected to a proposal for non-Palestinian control of the Rafah border crossing.

Hamdan said Hamas will not return to the cease-fire talks as long as the new conditions stay in the proposal.

“The occupation set new conditions for accepting the agreement and backed away from what it had previously agreed to,” Hamdan said in a statement. “The delegation informed the mediators today of our opinion.”

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule

1:16 PM EDT
Soldier killed, 2 others injured in ‘combat’ in Northern Israel, says IDF

An Israeli soldier was killed and two others were injured Sunday “in combat in northern Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces announced.

The circumstances of what led to the death and injuries of the soldiers were not immediately disclosed by the IDF.

The soldier who was killed was identified by the IDF as Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21, of Geva Binyamin, Israel. The soldier was a member of the Israeli Navy’s 914th Fleet, according to the IDF.

The two soldiers who suffered light to moderate injuries are also members of the 914th Fleet, according to the IDF. Their names were not immediately released.

-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Jordana Miller

US not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike on Lebanon, official says

A U.S. official reaffirmed Sunday that the United States was not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike Saturday night on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon but had provided Israel some intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information believed to have been used in the mission.

The U.S. had provided some “ISR support in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required,” the official said.

“We continue to closely monitor the situation and remain well-postured and ready to support the defense of Israel from attacks by Iran and any of its proxies, to include Lebanese Hezbollah,” the official said.

At least three people were killed overnight in the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday. The casualties included two people who were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

IDF issues new evacuation order in central Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces announced a new evacuation order Sunday for a small strip of land in a humanitarian area of central Gaza.

The new evacuation order for an area of Deir al-Balah came just days after the IDF ordered the evacuation of two refugee camps in the same area as the Israeli military prepared for a new ground offensive in the humanitarian zone.

The IDF suspects that Hamas terrorists are hiding in the area and using Palestinian refugees as human shields.

Sunday’s evacuation order affected those living in a relatively small area of Deir al-Balah that includes five schools sheltering displaced people and tent camps around them.
The area is near the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, one of the largest remaining functional hospitals in Gaza, servicing all of central Gaza.

-ABC News’ Bictoria Beaule

Hezbollah planned to strike Israeli intelligence, sources tell ABC News

Israel believes the Hezbollah targets in central Israel were meant to be a complex of intelligence bases and the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, just north of Tel Aviv, two Israeli security sources told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Bruno Nota

3 killed, 2 injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, officials say

At least three people were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Sunday.

Two were killed in the village of At Tiri and one in the town of Khiam, the ministry said, adding that two additional people were injured and required hospitalization.

The United Nations agency in charge of peacekeeping in southern Lebanon called on Sunday for a cease-fire and for all sides to “refrain from further escalatory action.”

“In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action,” the agency said in a statement, referring to a demarcation line separating Israel from Lebanon.

There have been no reports of injuries on the Israeli side, according to emergency services in Israel.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz, Jordana Miller and Victoria Beaule

Israel continues strikes in southern Lebanon, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said the military was targeting Hezbollah with additional strikes in southern Lebanon.

“In the last hour, the IDF struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats,” the IDF said in a statement. “In addition, the IDF identified a terrorist cell operating in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon. The IAF swiftly struck the terrorists.”

-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Victoria Beaule

‘Whoever harms us — we will harm them,’ Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday described his country’s preemptive strikes within Lebanon as a “strong action to foil the threats” raised by a potential attack by Hezbollah.

“It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel,” Netanyahu said as he convened his Security Cabinet for a meeting at 7 a.m. local time. “It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action — both defensively and offensively.”

Netanyahu had earlier in the morning been managing the situation with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, his office said. The prime minister’s office released photos of the pair meeting with military officials.

“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we will harm them,” Netanyahu said.

-ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey

‘Thousands’ of Hezbollah rocket launchers destroyed, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said it had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers.

“Approximately 100 IAF fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

The statement added, “Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel. More than 40 launches areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes.”

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey

Israel warns Lebanese citizens of danger as it strikes Hezbollah

The Israeli Air Force launched “dozens” of planes to attack locations throughout southern Lebanon, saying it was continuing “to remove threats, to vigorously attack the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”

“Israel’s air defense systems, navy ships and Air Force planes are on a defense mission above the country’s skies, identifying, intercepting threats and attacking wherever in Lebanon it is required in order to remove threats and harm Hezbollah,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

The aerial strikes within Lebanon were coming as Israeli defenses were dealing with “different types of threats,” including scores of rockets and drones launched into Israeli airspace, he said.

“We have already intercepted a number of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles that approached the territory of the State of Israel,” Hagari said.He added, “We warn the Lebanese citizens in South Lebanon. We recognize that Hezbollah is firing in a large area near your homes. You are in danger. We attack and remove Hezbollah threats.”

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey

Hezbollah claims hundreds of rockets launched at Israel

Hezbollah claimed early on Sunday to have launched more than 320 rockets toward 11 military locations within Israel and Golan Heights.

The “enemy sites” that had been targeted were detailed in a statement. They included military bases in Meron, Ein Zeytim and Al-Sahl.

Barracks in Naveh Ziv, Ramot Naftali and Zaoura were also among the sites targeted, Hezbollah said.

The group described those launches as a “first stage,” saying they were “targeting Israeli barracks and sites to facilitate the passage of offensive drones towards their desired target deep inside” Israel.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Kevin Shalvey

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, tensions are escalating after the assassinations of two Hamas and Hezbollah leaders this week.

Here’s how the news is developing:

IDF soldiers accused of abusing Palestinian prisoners denied release

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are in custody under suspicion of aggravated abuse of a Palestinian prisoner have been denied release by a military court on Thursday, according to the IDF.

The Military Court of Appeals approved the detention of the suspects until Sunday, stating that from the evidence presented, there is “reasonable suspicion of the commission of the acts attributed to them. The military court also determined that there was a clear cause of danger from the attributed acts,” the IDF said.

United Nations experts have called the reported widespread torture of Palestinian detainees a “preventable crime against humanity.”

“Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but they only represent the tip of the iceberg, independent human rights experts warned,” U.N. experts said on Tuesday.

Around 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently imprisoned — about one-third of them without charge or trial, according to the U.N.

27 killed in Gaza, IDF says Hamas weapons workshop found in Khan Younis

At least 27 people were killed in different parts of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Of those killed, 18 Palestinians were killed in eastern and central Khan Yunis.

The Israeli Defense Forces said they found a Hamas weapons manufacturing workshop in a tunnel below Khan Yunis in a statement Wednesday.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller

Egypt advises airlines to avoid Iranian airspace

Egypt has issued a notice to all Egyptian airlines to not fly over Iranian airspace at times when Iran is conducting military exercises on Wednesday and Thursday.

59.3% buildings in Gaza Strip damaged or destroyed, CUNY analysis shows

A new map based on open-access satellite data shows the damage across the Gaza Strip through July 27, where an estimated 59.3% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Oct. 5, 2023.

According to the analysis, most of the destruction in July was in Rafah, where 750 additional buildings were damaged or destroyed last month, bringing the total infrastructural damage in the southernmost city of Gaza to 45.4%.

The damage analysis of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data was done by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University.

-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini

2 killed, 6 injured in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

At least two people were killed and six others were injured in an Israeli drone raid on the town of Joya in southern Lebanon Wednesday.

The attack comes as Israel awaits a military response from Hezbollah or Iran after it assassinated leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.

Hezbollah said it carried out three retaliatory strikes on northern Israel on Wednesday — attacking the Al-Raheb site with artillery shells, the Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells and the Al-Malikiyah site with rockets.

IDF calls Sinwar terrorist following appointment, remains committed to killing him

Shortly after Hamas announced it appointed Yahya Sinwar as a the head of its political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a spokesperson for the IDF said Israel remains committed to killing him.

“Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, who is responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history – October 7th. There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him,” Daniel Hagari said in an interview with Al-Arabia.

Last Israeli designated missing after Oct. 7 attack confirmed dead

Bilha Yinon, the last hostage who was unaccounted for by the Israeli government, has now been confirmed dead.

Yinon was killed on Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Yahya Sinwar will replace Haniyeh as head of Hamas political bureau

Hamas has announced that Yahya Sinwar will replace Ismail Haniyeh as the head of the group’s political bureau after Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh. Sinwar was the head of Hamas in Gaza.

Sinwar has a $400,000 bounty on his head following the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Sinwar was chosen unanimously in negotiations managed by leadership, according to a top Hamas official.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Ghazi Balkiz

‘Hezbollah is obligated to respond’ to Israel, Nasrallah says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to respond to the Israeli assassination of senior official Fouad Shukr, and predicted a response from Iran after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last week.

“After the assassination of Commander Sayyed Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah is obligated to respond, and the enemy is waiting, anticipating, and calculating that every shout at him is a response. This Israeli weeklong waiting in anticipation — for a Hezb response — is part of the punishment, part of the response,” Nasrallah said in a speech Tuesday.

Multiple IDF troops injured in Rafah, humanitarian road closed

Several Israeli troops were injured and a humanitarian road was shut down after anti-tank missiles were fired toward them during operations in Rafah.

Injured troops have been evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment.

The Kerem Shalom Crossing and the other entry routes for humanitarian aid are operating, according to the IDF.

Lebanon aims to prevent Hezbollah response to avoid wider war, says foreign minister

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the country is working to ensure that Hezbollah’s response to Israel does not trigger a total war, saying, “It would not benefit any of the countries involved.”

“Only those who want to incite conflict would gain from such a situation. We, as officials, do not want any war. Therefore, if a response is necessary, it should not be collective or so severe that it escalates into a broader conflict,” Bou Habib said.

At least 8 Palestinians killed during Israeli military raids in occupied West Bank

At least eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during military raids in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health authorities said.

Five were killed in the city of Jenin, two in the nearby village of Khafer Dan and one in the city of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said at least 15 people were injured during the raid in Jenin on Tuesday. A spokesperson for PRCS told ABC News that the organization’s medical teams were stopped by Israeli troops from reaching the wounded.

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

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Camilla Alcini

Palestinians in West Bank being blocked from medical care: New report

Palestinians in the West Bank are being restricted access to medical care, including for physical injuries and mental trauma, according to a new report from Doctors Without Borders.

“Access to medical care for Palestinians in Hebron is rapidly deteriorating because of restrictions imposed by Israeli forces and violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and settlers,” Doctors Without Borders said.

Ministry of Health clinics across Hebron, in the West Bank, have been forced to close, pharmacies have run short of medications and ambulances transporting the sick and wounded have been obstructed and attacked. Faced with restrictions on their movements and the threat of violence, many sick people delay seeing a doctor or have no choice but to stop medical treatments altogether, according to data collected by Doctors Without Borders between June 2023 and April 2024.

“The movement restrictions, and harassment and violence by Israeli forces and settlers, is inflicting immense and unnecessary suffering on Palestinians in Hebron,” said Frederieke van Dongen, the group’s humanitarian affairs manager.

Israeli prisons are ‘network of torture’ for Palestinians: Human rights group

B’tselem, a major Israeli human rights group, published a report alleging that the Israeli prison system has become a “network of torture camps” for Palestinians arrested since Oct. 7.

The group reported abuse including “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation; deliberate starvation and sleep deprivation.”

The number of Palestinians in Israeli jails and detention centers stands at 9,623, the rights group said, including, 4,781 held without charge. An estimated 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody.

The Israeli army and government have denied allegations of systematic abuse, and the prisons service said it is are not aware of the claims in the report.

But, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister for national security who is in charge of the prisons service, has long championed the deteriorating conditions in prisons for Palestinian prisoners, who he said are “terrorists,” as a matter of policy.

“Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons, and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law,” he said in July. “Everything published about the abominable conditions of these vile murderers in prison was true.”

In response to claims of overcrowding, Ben-Gvir has advocated the death penalty as a response.

Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire, killing at least five in Lebanon and injuring two in Israel

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets and drones toward northern Israel on Tuesday morning and afternoon, injuring at least two people, after an earlier Israeli airstrike killed at least five people in southern Lebanon, according to authorities on both sides.

The Lebanese militant group said in separate statements that Tuesday’s attacks against Israel — at least four so far — were carried out both in support of the Palestinian people in the war-torn Gaza Strip and in response to recent Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

One of those drones was intercepted by Israeli air defense and the falling shrapnel injured “several civilians” south of Nahariya, the northernmost coastal city of Israel, according to the IDF.

Israel’s Magen David Adam rescue service said its first responders were deployed to the scene and treated a 30-year-old man in serious condition and a 30-year-old woman in mild-to-moderate condition with shrapnel injuries to the lower limbs. Both patients were transported to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

“We saw the male unconscious in the car with a severe head injury from shrapnel. A female who was fully conscious with shrapnel injuries to her lower limbs was in a parking lot nearby,” paramedic Roi Vishna and senior EMT Noam Levi said in a joint statement released by MDA.” We treated the male including ventilating him and providing medications, and evacuated him by MICU in very serious condition to hospital. The female casualty was evacuated in mild to moderate condition.”

Hezbollah launched the counterattacks after an Israeli airstrike on the town of Mifdoun in southern Lebanon killed at least five people on Tuesday morning, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. It was not immediately clear whether civilians were among the casualties.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months amid the ongoing war in Gaza. But regional tensions have soared following last week’s assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Lebanon’s capital.

Israel kills another Hezbollah commander

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday they had killed another Hezbollah commander in a strike on Lebanon. Ali Jamal Aldin Jawad, a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, was killed in the strike.

The death was also confirmed by Hezbollah.

“His elimination significantly degrades the capabilities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization to promote and carry out terror activities from southern Lebanon against northern Israel,” the IDF said.

Israel’s killing of a Hezbollah official in Beirut, Fuad Shukr, and a Hamas official in Iran, Ismail Haniyeh, has pushed the Middle East to the brink of further war.

Remains of about 80 deceased Palestinians returned after being taken by IDF

The deceased remains of an estimated 80 Palestinians — which Israeli forces took from Gazan cemeteries to identify whether hostages had been buried there — were returned by the Israel Defense Forces.

The bodies were decomposed beyond recognition, with Gazan officials saying between three and four bodies were in each bag. They will be reburied in a mass grave in Khan Younis.

A Gazan civil defense official on the ground said there is no data as to who these individuals were.

“I wished I could find him, to be at peace,” Suwa Abu Rajilah, a mother who traveled to the site to see if her son, killed in the war, was there. “To say I buried him, but I couldn’t find him.”

-ABC News’ Dia Ostaz

9 UN employees fired after investigation into ties to Oct. 7 attack

The U.N. has fired nine employees following a lengthy investigation into ties to the Oct. 7 attacks, the organization said.

The U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigated 19 staff members with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East as part of the probe.

For nine of the staffers, evidence was found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks,” the U.N. said.

“The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the Agency,” the organization said in a statement.

There was no evidence or insufficient evidence that the other investigated staffers had been involved, they added.

At least 7 Hezbollah attacks Monday

In another active day on the northern Israeli border, Hezbollah launched at least seven attacks on Monday.

The IDF said they “successfully intercepted” the projectiles, and no injuries were reported.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying in a statement they had launched them “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance.”

The IDF also said Monday that they had “identified a terrorist cell operating a drone in the area of Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon.”

“Shortly following the identification, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorists,” they said.

Israeli officer and soldier injured in aerial attack from Lebanon: IDF

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer and a soldier were injured after an aerial attack in northern Israel’s upper Galilee region near Ayelet HaShahar early Monday morning local time, the IDF said in a statement.

The aerial targets crossed from Lebanon, the IDF said.

“Israel Fire Services are currently operating to extinguish a fire that was ignited in the area as a result of the attack,” the IDF said.

Netanyahu says Israel will strike wherever necessary

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is prepared to stand against attacks from Iran and its proxies.

“Iran and its detractors seek to surround us with a choke ring of terrorism on seven fronts. Their open aggression is insatiable,” Netanyahu said during a state memorial service commemorating the death of Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky in 1940.

Netanyahu added, “We are determined to stand against them on every front, in every arena, far and near. “

Netanyahu’s comments came just days after the assassination in Iran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was killed in an explosion on Wednesday at a guest house in Tehran that he was staying in while attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for “revenge” against Israel.

Haniyeh’s assassination followed the death of Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas’ military wing, in a “precise, targeted strike” in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on July 13. Deif was allegedly one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

IDF officials also announced that they killed top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a precision missile strike Tuesday in Beirut, Lebanon. Officials claim he had been orchestrating drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel, including one on July 27 in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers playing soccer.

“Anyone who murders our citizens, anyone who harms our country, will not be cleared of responsibility,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “He will pay a very heavy price. Our long hand strikes in the Gaza Strip, in Yemen, in Beirut, wherever necessary.”

Netanyahu said Israel’s goals are to “secure our future” and the ensure that hostages taken by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel are returned home.

“We will continue to press the pedal,” Netanyahu said. “We did not let up from the pressure in all combat areas. We will take an offensive, creative, persistent initiative — until victory comes.”

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