Woman stuck upside-down between 2 boulders trying to retrieve her phone freed after 7 hours
(LONDON) — A woman in Australia got herself into a tight predicament when she dropped her phone and ended up getting stuck upside-down in between two boulders for seven hours while trying to retrieve it.
The woman got herself into a “spot of bother,” according to a statement from New South Wales Ambulance released on Monday, when she was hiking in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney and dropped her phone which fell into a 10-foot crevice between two boulders when she went in head-first trying to recover it when she got stuck and couldn’t move.
“With no phone reception and unable to call for help herself, her friends called Triple Zero (000) after unsuccessful attempts to free her – the patient was hanging by her feet upside down for over an hour by this point,” authorities said. “NSW Ambulance Specialist Rescue Paramedic Peter Watts worked with a multidisciplinary team to remove several heavy boulders to create a safe access point. With care, a hardwood frame was built to ensure stability while rescuers worked.”
Responders worked for several hours until they were able to access the unnamed woman’s feet, officials said.
“With both feet now accessible, the team faced the challenge of navigating the patient out through a tight “S” bend over the course of an hour. It took teamwork and a specialised Tirfor winch to move a massive 500kg boulder,” NSW Ambulance said.
Finally, after seven hours of being stuck while emergency crews worked to free her, the woman was freed from between the boulders and suffered only minor scratches and bruises during the entire ordeal — though she was, regretfully, unable to retrieve her phone.
“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this, it was challenging but incredibly rewarding,” Peter Watts said. “Every agency had a role, and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.”
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The uptick in offensive operations came after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, and as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.
German warship downs drone off Lebanon
The German Ludwigshafen am Rhein corvette — which is operating as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon — downed an unidentified drone off the Lebanese coast on Thursday, a spokesperson at the German Ministry of Defense told ABC News.
The spokesperson did not describe how the aircraft was shot down, but said the ship acted in self defense.
There are approximately 60 crew members on board the vessel.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that “electronic countermeasures were used and the UAV fell and exploded on its own.”
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Guy Davies
Hezbollah fires projectiles towards Israel
Hezbollah said it launched a missile salvo towards Israel on Thursday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces said sirens sounded in northern Israel and “two projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.” One was intercepted and the other fell in an open area, the IDF said.
Fighting continues in southern Lebanon. There, Hezbollah claimed to have attacked two Israeli tanks near the border village of Labbouneh.
The IDF, meanwhile, said it killed a commander of Hezbollah’s Kana sector.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
WHO warns of cholera risk in Lebanon
The World Health Organization has warned of a “very high” risk of cholera in Lebanon following the wave of mass displacement caused by Israel’s nationwide airstrike campaign and southern ground offensive.
The WHO warning came after Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed the first cholera case in the north of the country on Wednesday.
WHO “has activated a preparedness and response plan to strengthen surveillance and contact tracing,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
–ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Guy Davies
IDF claims destruction of 150 Hezbollah targets in 24 hours
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that its troops and warplanes “eliminated more than 45 terrorists and destroyed more than 150 targets” in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours
Among the Hezbollah targets were “weapons warehouses, launchers and military buildings of the organization,” the IDF said in a post on X.
US bombs Houthi weapons storage sites
U.S. Central Command said it conducted “precision airstrikes on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities” on Wednesday.
The sites “contained various advanced conventional weapons used to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM said the strike was intended to degrade the Houthis’ ability to launch “reckless and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping and on U.S., coalition, and merchant personnel and vessels” in the region.
B-2 stealth bomber aircraft were among the assets involved in the mission, CENTCOM said. “The employment of the B-2 bomber demonstrates U.S. global strike capabilities to reach these targets, when necessary, anytime, anywhere,” it added.
CENTCOM said its analyses of the strikes “are underway and do not indicate civilian casualties.”
-ABC News’ Matthew Seyler
Defense Secretary Austin speaks with Israeli counterpart about Lebanon The Pentagon released a readout Wednesday evening following a phone call between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
The two discussed “Israel’s operations in Lebanon and broader regional security matters,” according to the readout.
“Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant discussed the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as an operational example of the United States’ ironclad support to the defense of Israel. The Secretary encouraged the Government of Israel to continue taking steps to address the dire humanitarian situation, noting the recent action by Israel to increase the amount of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Austin also “raised the need to pursue a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border as soon as feasible,” the Pentagon said.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Israeli forces targeting UNIFIL position ‘under examination,’ IDF says The Israel Defense Forces said an incident of an Israeli tank firing at a UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon is “under examination” when asked by ABC News.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization has been devising and taking forward attacks against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers from terror infrastructure sites that have been built within and adjacent to UNIFIL posts for many years,” the IDF said in a statement when asked about the incident.
This is the first time the IDF has said Hezbollah infrastructure has been built “within and adjacent” to UNIFIL posts. In the same statement, the IDF said UNIFIL “infrastructure sites and forces are not a target.”
Israel’s attacks on UNIFIL sites in southern Lebanon have been widely condemned by the international community.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long
Netanyahu approves set of targets for Israel’s reprisal strike on Iran, Israeli source says
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a set of targets for the planned Israeli reprisal strike on Iran, an Israeli source told ABC News.
Israel is planning to respond after Iran attacked Israel with more than 200 missiles on Oct. 1.
The source would not give more details on specific targets and would not comment on whether they are strictly Iranian military targets.
No timeline has been given for the strikes to be carried out.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Risk of cholera outbreak ‘very high’ in Lebanon after confirmed case: WHO
The risk of spread of cholera in Lebanon is “very high” after a case of the acute and potentially deadly diarrheal infection was detected in the country, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
“If the cholera outbreak … spreads to the new displaced people, it might spread very fast,” Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO representative in Lebanon, said in a press conference.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Netanyahu says Israel won’t accept ‘unilateral cease-fire’ in Lebanon
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is opposed to a “unilateral cease-fire” in Lebanon during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“The Prime Minister said in the conversation that he is opposed to a unilateral cease-fire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was,” the statement said.
Netanyahu “made it clear” that Israel won’t accept a cease-fire deal in Lebanon “that would not prevent Hezbollah from reorganizing and rearming,” the statement said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel says it killed Hezbollah commander in strike on southern Lebanon
Israel said it killed Hezbollah commander Jalal Mustafa Hariri in a strike on southern Lebanon Wednesday. Hezbollah has not confirmed the death of the commander.
Three people were killed and 54 others were injured in a strike in the Qana and Nabatieh areas, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long and Josiane Hajj Moussa
US announces more sanctions against Hezbollah, Syrian regime
The U.S. has announced another round of sanctions targeting several individuals and companies it accuses of generating funds for Hezbollah’s operations by helping the terror group evade existing financial restrictions.
The Biden administration also announced sanctions against three individuals allegedly involved in the production and trafficking of captagon, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant that it says “harms communities and countries across the region and beyond and is a source of funding for the Syrian regime and its backers,” which include Hezbollah.
“The United States is steadfast in our commitment to disrupt Hizballah’s access to the international financial system and its various methods of generating revenue, which the Iran-backed group uses to fund its violence. We will also continue to target the illicit captagon trade in the region, which has become an illicit billion-dollar enterprise operated in part by senior members of the Syrian regime,” the administration said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
At least 6 killed in strike on Lebanese town headquarters
At least six people were killed and 43 injured in an Israeli strike on Nabatieh, Lebanon, which hit the town’s municipal headquarters during a meeting, according to Lebanese Minister of the Interior Bassam Mawlawi. The city’s mayor was among those killed.
“The targeting of the municipality building in Nabatieh occurred during the coordination of relief work and the preparation of aid for distribution to the residents in the cities and villages of the region who are steadfast in the face of the war they are being subjected to and against Lebanon,” Mawlawi said in a statement.
Local mayor killed in Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon
At least six people were killed and 43 injured in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Wednesday — including the city’s mayor — according to Lebanese health officials.
The strike hit the town’s municipal headquarters and came as officials met to coordinate relief efforts, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said.
“The targeting of the municipality building in Nabatieh occurred during the coordination of relief work and the preparation of aid for distribution to the residents in the cities and villages of the region who are steadfast in the face of the war they are being subjected to and against Lebanon,” Mawlawi said in a statement.
Search and rescue teams are continuing to search for survivors under the rubble of the two buildings targeted in the strike.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Aid trucks enter Gaza, Israeli authorities say
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories organization said more than 145 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday and 50 on Wednesday, amid allegations that Israel has failed to facilitate humanitarian relief in the northern part of the strip.
COGAT said that four bakeries are operational in northern Gaza, though it is unclear whether humanitarian organizations have been able to distribute any aid into the north.
Dozens of aid organizations published a joint statement Wednesday saying no aid has been allowed into northern Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Aid organizations condemn ‘horrifying level of atrocity’ in Gaza
Thirty-eight NGOs signed a new appeal to the international community to stop Israel’s latest military operation in northern Gaza, which they said has “escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity.”
“Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map,” the organizations said, describing the Israel Defense Forces’ order for civilians to leave the northern part of the territory as “forced displacement under gunfire.”
Around 400,000 people are estimated to be subject to the north Gaza evacuation order. Hospitals — already “overwhelmed” according to the NGOs — and their staff are also being ordered to evacuate, with the IDF declaring the area a dangerous combat zone.
Israeli officials have denied they are implementing the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” a proposal by retired Israeli military leaders to put north Gaza under siege and declare anyone who does not evacuate to be a valid military target.
“The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities,” the NGOs wrote. “We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hamas drone commander in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it killed a Hamas drone commander in an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF said Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was Hamas’ UAV commander in the northern part of the territory.
The IDF said on social media that Mabhouh was responsible for launching unmanned aircraft towards Israel and against Israeli forces.
Israel resumes Beirut airstrikes
Israel launched its first airstrike on Beirut in nearly a week early on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed a strike “on strategic weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in the capital’s southern Dahiya suburb. It was the first such attack in the capital since a strike killed 22 people on Oct. 10.
“These weapons were stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility in the area of Dahiya, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF wrote on X.
The strike came shortly after a new evacuation order issued online by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee for residents of the Haret Hreik area of southern Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah has the right to ‘target any point’ within Israel, acting leader says
Hezbollah’s acting leader Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah has the “right to target any point within the enemy’s entity” in a prerecorded video address released Tuesday.
“The occupation seeks to destroy and eliminate everything that stands in its way, but the resistance is prepared to confront it and establish a new equation based on inflicting pain on the enemy,” Qassem said. “We have the right to target any point within the enemy’s entity, and we will choose the appropriate time and place to do so.”
Delta pauses JFK-Tel Aviv flights through March 31
Delta will pause flights between New York’s JFK International Airport and Tel Aviv through March 31 due to “ongoing conflict in the region,” the airline said Tuesday.
Travel waivers will be issued to customers impacted by the change, the airline said.
“As always, the safety of customers and crew remains paramount,” Delta said. “Customers should be prepared for possible adjustments to Delta’s TLV flight schedule, including additional cancellations on a rolling basis.”
UK issues sanctions in response to continued violence in the West Bank
The United Kingdom announced sanctions against Israeli settler outposts and four organizations in response to “continued violence by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank,” Tuesday, according to a release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The sanctions target outposts and organizations “that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” the U.K. said in a statement.
“When I went to the West Bank earlier this year, on one of my first trips as Foreign Secretary, I met with Palestinians whose communities have suffered horrific violence at the hands of Israeli settlers. The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.
“Today’s measures will help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights. The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the UK and the international community will continue to act,” Lammy said.
Gazan soccer player killed alongside 9 family members
Emad Abu Tai’ma, a 20-year-old Gazan soccer player, was killed alongside nine members of his family, after a strike hit a house in Bani Sahalia where the family was sheltering early Tuesday morning, according to local health officials.
It took rescuers over two hours to free Abu Tai’ma’s body from the rubble, a Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson told ABC News.
Abu Tai’ma was a soccer player for the Khan Yunis-Tokyo Union for about a year before he was killed, his friend, 19-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Muzain, told ABC News.
“We studied together in one of the Bani Suhaila schools east of Khan Younis. Imad was a smart student, and he was a famous player even in school. I have not seen him for eight months due to the repeated and continuous displacement. I feel very sad for his loss. He was displaced in a house belonging to the Baraka family, and he is a civilian,” Al-Muzain said.
The Palestinian Football Association confirmed Emad’s death and reflected on his soccer career playing for Ittihad Khan Yunis Club and the Palestinian national soccer team.
“With the passing of Abu Taima, the number of martyrs of the Palestinian sports and scouting movement, as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, has risen to 455 martyrs, including 314 in football (87 children, 227 young men), in addition to 90 martyrs from the Olympic sports federations, and 50 martyrs from the scouting movement. The occupation forces also destroyed 57 sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” the association said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz
At least 29 killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah
At least 29 civilians were killed in northern Israel amid fighting with Hezbollah, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers were also killed in the north, according to the prime minister’s office.
Attacks on hospitals, health workers jeopardize health care in Lebanon, WHO warns
Nearly half of the health care centers and dispensaries in conflict-affected areas in Lebanon are now closed, jeopardizing access to health care, according to the World Health Organization
“Increasing conflict, intense bombardment and insecurity are forcing a growing number of health facilities to shut down, particularly in the south,” the WHO said in a statement Tuesday. “Hospitals have had to close or evacuate due to structural damage or their proximity to areas of intense bombardment.”
The World Health Organization said it has verified 23 attacks on health care in Lebanon, killing 72 and injuring 43 health workers and patients since the escalation of hostilities on Sept. 17.
Fifteen incidents impacted health facilities and 14 impacted health transport, according to WHO.
Northern Gaza cut off from food aid, health systems have ‘all but collapsed,’ aid groups warn
Escalating violence in northern Gaza is having “a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families,” the United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday as aid groups issue sharp warnings.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, said in the release. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”
Over 90,000 children in Gaza vaccinated in second round of polio vaccine campaign
Over 92,800 children in Gaza were vaccinated on Monday, the first day of the second phase of the polio vaccine campaign, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Tuesday.
“Despite the incredibly complex situation in Gaza, the second phase of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign began smoothly yesterday, reaching over 92,800 children with polio vaccines and administering Vitamin A to more than 76,000 children between the ages of 2 and 10,” UNICEF said in a statement Tuesday.
“This campaign is crucial not only for preventing the resurgence of polio but also for safeguarding the long-term health of Gaza’s children, who are already facing huge vulnerability due to ongoing conflict, restricted access to healthcare, and malnutrition. Each dose of the vaccine is a lifeline, in an environment where every safeguard counts,” UNICEF said.
The health systems in northern Gaza have “all but collapsed,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.
Lazzarini said they are “unable to reach” UNRWA teams in northern Gaza “due to telecommunications cuts.”
The Israel Defense Forces said they are assisting patients, personnel and hospital staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza “to other functioning hospitals in Gaza,” in a statement Tuesday. An Israeli agency that manages logistics inside of Gaza, including the flow of aid into Gaza, is leading the transfer of patients and staff, the IDF said.
Three hospitals in northern Gaza are inside of the zone where Israeli forces have asked people to evacuate.
The IDF also acknowledged they have been operating “in the Jabalia area” in northern Gaza for “over a week,” in a statement Tuesday. The IDF claims they conducted “targeted raids on dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites in the area, eliminated dozens of terrorists, and confiscated numerous weapons,” in the Jabaliya area during operations there, the statement said.
-ABC News’ Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller
US sends letter to Israel demanding it improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
U.S. officials sent a letter to Israeli officials demanding that Israel take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, or Israel will face consequences with a potential change in U.S. policy, two Israeli sources confirmed to ABC News.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Monday focusing on increasing the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza by the beginning of winter, facilitating the aid delivery route through Jordan and ending the “isolation” of northern Gaza.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law,” the letter stated.
The National Security Memorandum, or NSM-20, states the secretaries of State and Defense are “responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services” by the departments under “any security cooperation or security assistance authorities are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” according to the law.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed Austin and Blinken sent a letter to their Israeli counterparts over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, but refused to give additional details.
“I can confirm that Secretary Austin with Secretary Blinken, they co-signed a letter that went to their Israeli counterparts. This was personal, private correspondence, so I’m not going to get into more specifics of it, other than it was expressing concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” Singh said on Tuesday.
The letter was first reported by Israeli media and Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dorit Long and Matt Seyler
25% of Lebanon under Israeli evacuation orders, UN says
Over 25% of Lebanon is now under Israeli evacuation orders as Israeli airstrikes continue to increase the number of areas impacted, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
“We have over 25% of the country under a direct Israeli military evacuation order. Just yesterday, we had another 20 villages issued with an evacuation order in the south of the country,” Rema Imseis, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East, said Tuesday.
“In a country of that size, which is relatively small, and a population that’s estimated around 5 million people, you can imagine how dramatic it is that over 1 million people are now without shelter and on the move … being forced to flee their homes in search of safety,” Imseis said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
‘Impossible’ to separate conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza, Hezbollah leader says
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said it is “impossible to separate Lebanon’s front from Palestine,” in a recorded video address released on Tuesday.
There had been speculation over whether Hezbollah would be open to a cease-fire agreement that didn’t include Gaza.
Israeli officials have asserted that the aim in Lebanon is to return Israelis home to the north and separate the war in the north from the war in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
US troops arrive in Israel to support THAAD deployment
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Tuesday that American troops are already in Israel to support the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to the country.
“An advance team of U.S. military personnel and initial components” required to operate the system arrived in Israel on Monday, Ryder said.
“Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” he added.
“The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines,” Ryder said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
10 members of 1 family killed in Khan Younis strike
Ten members of the same family were killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza early on Tuesday, a health ministry official told ABC News.
The strike hit a house in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, at 12:30 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, local health officials said.
Ten members of the Abu Tai’ma family were killed, including three children aged 7, 8 and 11, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry told ABC News.
The Israel Defense Forces is yet to comment on the strike.
-ABC News’ Dia Ostaaz and Guy Davies
Israeli police officer killed in shooting attack
The Israel Police said in a statement Tuesday that an officer was killed in a shooting attack near the southern city of Ashdod.
The attacker shot the officer and then “continued on a shooting spree and wounded four more civilians,” police said. The attacker was then “neutralized by a civilian,” police said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Netanyahu listening to US ‘opinions’ in Iran attack planning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday “our national interests” will be the prime consideration in Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
Netanyahu was responding to a Washington Post report suggesting he had assured the U.S. that Israel would target Iranian military — and not nuclear or oil infrastructure — targets in its planned retaliation for Tehran’s recent missile barrage.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” the prime minister’s office said in a post on X.
Iran accuses Israel, US of ‘psychological operation’
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has denied “any role in the planning, decision-making, or execution” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, as Tehran braces for an expected Israeli response to its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
In a statement posted to social media, the mission said Iran’s assistance to the “Resistance Front” — which includes forces like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen — is “a matter of common knowledge and an obvious fact.”
“However, dragging Iran or Hezbollah into the Oct. 7 operation represents a fabricated conclusion and a cynical attempt to mislead public opinion — all aimed at covering up the Israeli regime’s major intelligence failure in relation to Hamas,” the mission said.
The mission accused “certain American media outlets” of having “morphed into tools for disseminating this psychological operation.”
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8 in support of Hamas. The group has vowed to continue its attacks until Israeli forces conclude a cease-fire in Gaza and withdraw from the devastated Palestinian territory.
Israel targeting civilian infrastructure in north Gaza, UNRWA chief says
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Tuesday that “two long weeks” of Israeli military operations have “all but collapsed” the health system in northern Gaza.
“Hundreds of Palestinians are reported killed, among them children,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “More than 400,000 people continue to be trapped in the area.”
“We are not able to reach our teams due to telecommunications cuts,” he added. “The U.N. has not been allowed to provide any assistance, including food” since Sept. 30, he said. “The two crossing points into northern Gaza have been closed since.”
The Israel Defense Forces is pressing its operation in north Gaza around the Jabalia refugee camp, which the Palestinian Civil Defense said has been put under “complete siege.” The IDF said Tuesday it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” there with the assistance of airstrikes.
Lazzarini said the camp is the worst affected part of northern Gaza. Around 50,000 people have fled, while basic UNRWA services have been interrupted or forced to halt, he added.
“Such attacks, the sabotage of civilian infrastructure and the deliberate denial of critical assistance continue to be used as a tactic by the Israeli authorities to force people to flee,” he said.
“Civilians are given no choice but to either leave or starve.”
“In Gaza, too many red lines have been crossed,” Lazzarini said. “What might constitute war crimes can still be prevented.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 230 strikes in Lebanon, Gaza in 24 hours
The Israel Defense Forces said in a Tuesday statement it struck “over 230 terrorist targets throughout the past day” as it continues its operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
The force claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat” and airstrikes in southern Lebanon, along with the dismantling of “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” and the discovery of “vast quantities of weaponry.”
In north Gaza, the IDF continued its intense operation around the Jabalia refugee camp. The Palestinian Civil Defense said the area has been put under “complete siege.”
The IDF said its forces “have eliminated dozens of terrorists over the past day” with the assistance of airstrikes.
Fighting is also ongoing in the south of the strip. There, “troops eliminated multiple terrorists and dismantled terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
100 US soldiers will go to Israel with THAAD deployment
On Monday, U.S. Army leaders said the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel will include approximately 100 soldiers to operate it.
“The THAAD deployment is going to have about 100 soldiers who will go over to Israel,” Christine Wormuth, the secretary of the U.S. Army said at the Army’s annual AUSA conference.
Wormuth did not provide operational or timing details about the deployment of the THAAD system or its deployment for security and force protection reasons.
“I think we should view this THAAD deployment as for what it is, which is another visible statement of our commitment to the security of Israel as it deals with everything that’s coming at it from Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” said Wormuth.
A U.S. official told ABC News that discussions about deploying the THADD system to Israel in order to shore up its defenses against ballistic missile barrages have been underway for months.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Shannon Kingston
Northern Gaza still waiting for food supplies, group says
Thirty trucks carrying flour and food entered Gaza on Monday, according to Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency that oversees logistical coordination within the Gaza Strip.
This aid was meant for northern Gaza, COGAT said. However, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme told ABC News it has not yet reached the people there.
“Israel is not denying the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said in response to an inquiry from ABC News.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
IDF claims it killed head of Hamas Aerial unit
Samer Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’ Aerial Unit, has been killed, the Israel Defense Forces claimed in a statement Monday.
Abu Daqqa was killed during an Israeli airstrike in September, the IDF said, but did not say where the attack took place.
— ABC News’ David Brenna and Julia Reinstein
54 killed, 258 wounded in Lebanon in past 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, 54 people have been killed and 258 have been wounded in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The total number of casualties since Israel’s increased attacks on Lebanon in mid-September is now 2,309 people killed and 10,782 people injured, the ministry said.
A situational report from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said 200 airstrikes and shellings were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 48 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a release Monday that they found an underground compound in southern Lebanon stocked with “weapons, ammunition and motorcycles ready to be used in an invasion into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller
Netanyahu: ‘We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon” while visiting the Golani camp, which was hit by a Hezbollah drone Sunday evening, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring dozens.
“I want to make it clear: We will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon — also in Beirut, all according to operational considerations. We have proven this in recent times, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu extended his condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and said he would visit the injured later on Monday.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Doctors Without Borders staffer killed in northern Gaza
A Doctors Without Borders staffer has been killed in northern Gaza, the organization announced Monday.
Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, 31, was struck by shrapnel Tuesday and died of injuries to his legs and chest two days later, according to the organization.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israeli forces for having “systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people.”
“He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital’s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility,” the organization said of Al Shalfouh.
Al Shalfouh joined Doctors Without Borders as a driver in March 2023, but had not been able to work for them recently as operations have been impacted by the war, the group said.
He is the seventh Doctors Without Borders staffer to be killed in Gaza since the war began, the organization added.
“We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” the NGO said. “In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.”
Americans in Lebanon should ‘depart now,’ embassy says
American citizens in Lebanon “are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a new alert Monday.
The embassy has been urging Americans to depart Lebanon via commercial flights in recent weeks. Monday’s warning was the starkest yet.
The embassy noted it had helped add thousands of extra seats to commercial flights to help Americans leave amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Much of this capacity has gone unused,” Monday’s alert said. “Please understand that these additional flights will not continue indefinitely.”
“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the embassy said.
“These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation,” the notice read.
The embassy has been warning citizens not to travel to Lebanon since July.
Airstrike kills 18 in north Lebanon, Red Cross says
Eighteen people were killed and four wounded in an airstrike in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross wrote on X.Seven Red Cross teams were dispatched to the area in the Zgharta district, the organization said. “Our teams are working to provide first aid and evacuate the wounded,” it added.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
Hezbollah launches dozens of cross-border attacks, marking daily record
Hezbollah issued 38 statements claiming cross-border attacks into Israel on Sunday — the highest tally since renewed fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023, per ABC News’ count.
The attacks included the drone strike on an Israel Defense Forces training base in northern Israel, which killed four soldiers and injured 55.
Hezbollah has expanded its attacks into Israel despite the IDF’s monthslong campaign of targeted killings of top commanders and airstrikes on Hezbollah military facilities and weapons caches.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Guy Davies
IDF claims killing of Hezbollah anti-tank commander
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile forces.
The IDF said in a statement posted to social media that Muhammad Kamal Naim was killed in an airstrike in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.
Naim, it said, was responsible for the elite Radwan Force’s anti-tank weapons.
Naim “was responsible for planning and carrying out many terrorist plots, including firing anti-tank missiles at the Israeli rear,” the IDF wrote.
Israel kills 20 in strike on UNRWA school, health ministry says
At least 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
The school was being used to shelter displaced people in Nuseirat camp, health authorities said. It was bombed on Sunday.
The school was earmarked for use in the planned second round of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign, which was due to begin on Monday.
-ABC News Diaa Ostaz and Guy Davies
10 killed amid ‘total siege’ in northern Gaza
Ten people were killed in shelling at an aid distribution center in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Monday morning, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip.
The area has been the focus of intense recent Israeli military activity, with the Israel Defense Forces reporting fierce fighting with Hamas militants there.
The IDF has ordered residents of northern Gaza — of whom there are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 — to leave the region, which it has classified as a military zone.
Hamas is urging residents to stay, suggesting Israel will not allow those who leave to return.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said there was a “complete siege” of Jabalia. Aid agencies have said that no food has been allowed to enter the north of Gaza since Oct. 1.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Guy Davies
Israel to probe deadly drone attack on troops, Gallant says
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the scene of a deadly Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel on Monday, telling soldiers there the incident “was a difficult event with painful results.”
Four troops were killed and 55 wounded in Sunday’s attack on the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
“We must investigate it, study the details and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” Gallant said, according to a Defense Ministry readout.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks,” he added
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF claims 200 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its warplanes targeted around 200 “Hezbollah terror targets” in its continuing operation against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon.
The targets included “launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts, terrorist infrastructure and weapons storage facilities containing launchers, anti-tank missiles, RPG launchers and munitions,” the IDF wrote on X.
Ground forces, meanwhile, “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes” in their ongoing cross-border incursion, the force reported.
The IDF is still describing its ground operation as consisting of “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern areas close to the border.
Airstrikes, though, continue across southern Lebanon. Around a quarter of all Lebanese territory is under IDF evacuation orders and some 1.2 million civilians are displaced, according to the government in Beirut.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base ‘painful,’ commander says
The Israel Defense Forces identified the four soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on a training base in the north of the country on Sunday.
Sgt. Omri Tamari, Sgt. Yosef Hieb, Sgt. Yoav Agmon and Sgt. Amitay Alon were killed, an IDF press release said. The strike occurred at the Golani Training Base close to the town of Binyamina, some 20 miles south of Haifa.
Around 55 more are reported to have been injured.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi addressed Golani Brigade troops on Sunday night following the attack.
“We are at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful,” the commander said according to a post on the IDF’s official Telegram channel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel strike on Gaza hospital kills 4, wounds dozens
At least four people were killed and 40 others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the compound. Israel accuses Hamas of routine use of civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes — a charge Hamas denies.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Defense Secretary Austin discusses safety of UNIFIL forces with Israel’s Gallant
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant by phone on Sunday to express his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and discuss the IDF’s military operations in Lebanon.
According to a readout of the call from the Pentagon, Austin, “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border as soon as feasible.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon established by the U.N. Security Council.
The conversation comes after the IDF has repeatedly fired on the UNIFIL headquarters in southern Lebanon.
Additionally, Secretary Austin “reaffirmed the deep U.S. commitment to Israel’s security,” which he says is demonstrated by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
According to the Department of Defense, THAAD employs interceptor missiles, using “hit-to-kill” technology, to destroy threat missiles.
During the call, Austin “again raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it,” the Pentagon said.
At least 3 killed in IDF strike on Gaza hospital
At least three people were killed and dozens more were injured after Israel Defense Forces struck Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the U.S. military announced it is moving more forces to the Middle East.
The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal while Israel anticipates possible retaliatory action from Iran or Hezbollah following multiple assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in recent weeks.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Latest on the state of play for high-stakes Gaza cease-fire talks
On the eve of what is supposed to be a critical, final push to seal the Gaza cease-fire/hostage release deal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is working the phones with key mediators as the U.S. works to make sure negotiations will indeed press on.
In his conversations with his Qatari and Egyptian counterparts, Blinken discussed efforts to reach an agreement and stressed that “no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach a deal,” according to readouts of the calls.
This comes as Hamas continues to assert that it will not participate in the talks in Doha, Qatar — accusing Israel of moving the goal posts and insisting it will only move forward with the version of the deal it agreed to in early July.
Qatar has assured the Biden administration that it will drum up some sort of Hamas representative to fill the group’s seat at the negotiating table, U.S. officials said. However, Qatar has made no promise about the quality of said representation. Getting messages to Hamas’ ultimate power and deciding vote, Yahya Sinwar, can take days or even weeks, so to be effective in the talks, the intermediary needs to have a good idea of what Sinwar might ultimately sign off on and what’s a nonstarter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting on maintaining operational control over the Philadelphi Corridor — a narrow strip of land separating Gaza from Egypt — through the duration of any cease-fire, as well as implementing additional procedures for Gazans that would be returning to their homes in the North, according to officials familiar with the matter.
As for Hamas, the group has called for more than two dozen changes to the framework that was rolled out in May, which U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted is “nearly identical” to a deal Hamas previously agreed to.
Regarding Iran, U.S. officials don’t have a crystal-clear view of Tehran’s position, but the administration does put stock into the idea that Iran doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize a peace deal and sees the looming talks as a potential reason there hasn’t yet been retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Two Hezbollah fighters killed, IDF and Hezbollah say
Israeli forces said they killed two Hezbollah members in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Hezbollah also confirmed the death of two of their fighters in statements released on Wednesday.
The IDF said an Israeli Air Force aircraft “eliminated two Hezbollah terrorists” in the area of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu gives negotiating team more flexibility: Israeli official
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expanded the mandate and positions of the Israeli negotiators, an Israeli official told ABC News, giving the team more flexibility ahead of the cease-fire talks in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday.
The development comes as he faces growing criticism to reach a cease-fire deal.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
White House expects cease-fire talks to ‘move forward as planned’
The White House expects Thursday’s cease-fire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, to “move forward as planned” and said the announcement of Hamas not sending a delegation is just “public posturing” in advance of those discussions.
“We expect these talks to move forward as planned. [CIA] Director [Bill] Burns and Brett McGurk, [White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa], will both travel to Qatar for these discussions. There’s always a lot of public posturing in advance. We’ve seen that before. It’s not new of these talks, and I’m not going to certainly weigh in on any of that, just like I’m not going to discuss the details of the negotiation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday.
Israel closes humanitarian route through Rafah
Israeli forces “temporarily” closed the humanitarian route in the area of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Tuesday, saying Hamas operatives “opened fire” toward the route.
This is the second time the IDF has closed this route in the past week.
The route is an 8-mile road going from the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah, north near Khan Younis and the humanitarian zone.
Hamas not attending cease-fire negotiations in Qatar
Hamas said it will not be attending cease-fire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday.
“The movement demands a clear commitment from the occupation to what was agreed upon on July 2, according to the clarifications conveyed by the mediators, and if that happens, the movement is ready to enter into the mechanisms for implementing the agreement,” Hamas Political Bureau Member Dr. Suhail al-Hindi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed TV.
Israel to send delegation to Qatar to negotiate cease-fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the sending of an Israeli delegation to Doha, Qatar, on Thursday to continue negotiations for a cease-fire agreement.
This comes as Netanyahu is receiving pushback internally and externally amid reports he changed the parameters of what he would agree to.
Biden expects Iran to hold off on retaliatory attack if a cease-fire deal is reached
President Joe Biden addressed the rising tensions in the Middle East Tuesday after U.S. officials warned Iran could launch a retaliatory attack on Israel as early as “this week.”
Biden told reporters he expects Iran to hold off on carrying out a retaliatory attack against Israel if a cease-fire deal with Hamas is reached.
“That’s my expectation, but we’ll see,” Biden said after arriving in New Orleans, LA.
Last week, Biden along with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar jointly called for Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement that would free hostages and end the war in Gaza.
Hamas leaders declined the new set of cease-fire conditions on Sunday, asking for negotiations to resume around what was presented in July.
US approves $20 billion more in arms sales to Israel
The U.S. State Department has signed off on several large arms transfers to Israel, notifying Congress on Tuesday that it has approved the sale of more than $20 billion worth of weaponry and military equipment.
All of the sales surpass the value threshold that requires the State Department to formally notify Congress 15 days before initiating the transfer process. Congress can move to reject the transaction by adopting a joint resolution of disapproval within that timeframe.
Some of the items aren’t scheduled to arrive in Israel for years.
Israeli forces kill two Hezbollah fighters, IDF says
Israeli forces killed two Hezbollah fighters from its Southern Front on Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement. Hezbollah has confirmed the death of two of their fighters on Tuesday.
These attacks come as Israel awaits a response from Hezbollah and Iran for killings in recent weeks.
CIA director, Biden aide to head to Middle East to salvage hostage talks
Several U.S. officials are headed to the Middle East this week in a bid to de-escalate regional tensions and try to salvage hostage negotiations, as the window for a deal appears to be closing.
CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to arrive in Doha, Qatar, this week, where he will lead a crucial meeting on the hostages, according to a U.S. official. It’s not clear, however, whether a representative of Hamas will attend.
Meanwhile, Brett McGurk, Biden’s top adviser on the Middle East at the White House, was expected to travel separately to Cairo, according to the U.S. official.
Axios first reported the travel plans for Burns and McGurk, noting that McGurk’s plan was to nail down a security plan for the Egypt-Gaza border.
The diplomatic trip also comes as the U.S. has been scrambling to revive a coalition of countries that helped to defend Israel last April during an attack by Iran.
Israel has been bracing for Iran to launch a retaliatory attack following the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Tehran.
The U.S. official acknowledged “there have been complications” with getting some of the Arab countries on board but added they’ve been “able to put in place preparations” to defend Israel successfully.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Western leaders call on Iran to ‘stand down’
The leaders of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy called on Iran to “stand down” and expressed their support for Israel’s defense “against Iranian aggression” during a call on Monday, according to a joint statement released by the White House.
“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place,” the statement said.
The leaders also expressed their support for ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, according to the statement.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Hostage deal talks expected to move forward: State Department
As the Middle East continues its uneasy wait for Iran’s response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the State Department is pressing on with its high-stakes diplomatic campaign to constrain military action from Tehran amid fresh waves of uncertainty.
“We continue to work diplomatically to prevent any major escalation in this conflict,” deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Monday. “We obviously don’t want to see any kind of attack or response happen in the first place.”
Multiple officials within the State Department said they are still cautiously optimistic that Iran will limit the scope of its retaliation, but that they increasingly expect the country will strike at Israel before Thursday — the date the Biden administration, along with Egypt and Qatar, set to relaunch hostage/cease-fire deal talks in hopes of bringing Israel and Hamas back to the table for a final push.
A joint statement issued by the mediators last week was designed not only to pressure the parties involved, but as a message to Iran that an agreement was in the offing meant to persuade the country against military action that could scuttle a deal, according to an official.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also publicly warned Monday that Iranian military action could impede progress at a critical point in the negotiations.
However, Hamas’ earlier announcement that it would not participate in the round of negotiations and public infighting among top Israeli officials have cast significant doubt over whether the Thursday meeting will even happen — undercutting the administration’s intended message to Tehran.
At the podium Monday, Patel said mediators “fully expect talks to move forward as they should” in order to “bring this deal to conclusion.”
He declined to say whether Hamas or Israel was the bigger impediment.
“I’m not going to color it one way or the other,” Patel said while noting that “the prime minister of Israel immediately welcomed this initiative and confirmed that the Israeli team will be there, and they’ll be prepared to finalize the details of implementing the deal.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Retaliatory attack on Israel could come ‘this week’: Kirby
A United States assessment shows a retaliatory attack by Iran and its proxies against Israel could be launched “this week,” the White House said Monday.
“We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here. Could be this week,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “We’re continuing to watch it very, very closely.”
Kirby said it’s difficult to ascertain what a potential attack could look like at this time but that “we have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks.”
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters on Monday that Israel remains “on high alert.”
“We take seriously the threats of our enemies and that is why we are on high alert offensively and defensively,” he said.
Hagari said the IDF will “work hard to give the public time to get organized.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Netanyahu accuses defense minister of ‘adopting anti-Israel narrative’
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to take a swing at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset committee meeting about Israel’s response to ongoing cross-border tensions with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“I hear all the heroes with the war drums, the ‘absolute victory’ and this gibberish,” Gallant reportedly said, alluding to Netanyahu’s slogan through the war, according to Israeli media.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement shortly after, saying Gallant too is bound by the policy of “absolute victory.”
“When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he hurts the chances of reaching a deal for the release of the abductees,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said. “He should have attacked [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, who refuses to send a delegation to the negotiations, and who was and remains the only obstacle to the kidnapping deal.”
National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz warned about internal divisions in Israel during an address on Monday.
“If we don’t come to our senses, there will be a civil war here,” Gantz said.
He said there have been “heroes,” from soldiers to volunteers, in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack, but also “leadership that dissolves, networks that poison the well from which we live.”
“The patriotic Israeli majority should stop the hatred and make amends,” Gantz said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah says it is still determined to attack Israel
While the weekend passed with no direct retaliation from Hezbollah for the killings of several top leaders by Israeli strikes, the group said it still plans to strike.
“The response is coming and inevitable and there is no turning back from it,” Ali Damoush, the deputy chairman of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, said Monday.
The Hezbollah official saif America, Great Britain, Germany and everyone who supplies Israel with weapons is a partner in the Gaza massacres.
“Israel does not find any practical and serious response to its massacres, and this is what encourages it to continue committing crimes and massacres, and without effective pressure Netanyahu will not stop his crimes,” Damoush claimed.
Israeli Air Force bans travel abroad
Amid fears that an attack from Iran may be imminent, the commander of Israel’s Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, has issued an order barring servicemembers from traveling abroad. The directive applies to career officers and non-commissioned officers, not conscripts, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
US is ‘strengthening’ military force in Middle East over ‘escalating’ tensions
The U.S. is “strengthening” its capabilities in the Middle East by sending an additional guided missile submarine to the region “in light of escalating regional tensions,” according to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder issued on Sunday.
The update comes the same day Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
“Secretary Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel,” according to the statement.
Secretary Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, equipped with F-35C fighters, to accelerate its transit to the Middle East, which was previously expected to get there by the end of the month.
The Lincoln was already en route to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but will now add to the capabilities of the Roosevelt
Additionally, Austin has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Middle East.
The statement doesn’t say how soon the Lincoln or the USS Georgia will arrive in the region.
Israeli forces intercept ‘projectiles’ crossing from Lebanon, no injuries: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted approximately 30 “projectiles” that were identified as crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel early Monday morning local time, the IDF said in a statement.
No injuries were reported from the attacks, the IDF said.
“The IDF is striking the sources of fire,” the IDF added.
(LONDON) — The unassuming pager took its place in the annals of Israeli covert operations history in September, when thousands of the credit card-sized devices served as tiny Trojan horses for explosive charges as they were held by likely Hezbollah operatives.
The pager detonations in Lebanon and Syria on Sept. 17 were followed by the explosion — around 24 hours later — of walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah as a communications network after its beepers were compromised.
The attacks, which killed 37 people and wounded 2,931 according to Lebanese authorities, were several years in the making, a source told ABC News.
“The disruption and damage they wrought was unprecedented in the history of the resistance in Lebanon,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — himself killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Sept. 27 — said.
Sources confirmed to ABC News that Israel was responsible for the pager explosions.
Israel — which rarely confirms or denies responsibility for covert operations or attacks on foreign soil — offered no confirmation of responsibility for the attacks. President Isaac Herzog even told Sky News he “rejects out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation.”
Orna Mizrahi of the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Israel told ABC News that the communication devices operations stand out due to “the amount of people that were eliminated.”
“We don’t call it assassination; we call it elimination,” said Mizrahi, who previously served in the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Research Division and in the prime minister’s office as deputy national security adviser for foreign policy.
The attacks represent a world-first, Mizrahi said.
“It’s a real invention,” she said.
As to the criticism of the mass detonation of the devices, Mizrahi responded: “The terrorists are the only ones that used them. So, it is like a bullet in the hand of your enemy. But it wasn’t a bullet. It was something that was exploding in their hands.”
The operation drew on a long history of audacious — though not always successful or discriminate — covert Israeli targeted killings all over the Middle East. Though Israel generally does not confirm involvement in such operations, top Israeli officials have made clear their position against what they deem to be threats to national security.
As Israel’s outgoing spy chief Yossi Cohen said in 2021 regarding reported targeted killings in Iran: “If the man constitutes a capability that endangers the citizens of Israel, he must stop existing.”
Mizrahi said those conducting such “elimination” operations usually do so based on one or more of three criteria. The target might be a “very important terrorist” with significant influence and capabilities, she said.
The target may be a long-standing one, with plans put in place and those executing them waiting for the right moment to strike, Mizrahi added.
Or, the eventual target may be identified as part of an imminent attack “and you want to intercept it and to stop it,” she added.
“It’s always people that are from what we understand is a terror organization, that are threatening Israel or in the midst of launching some kind of attack against Israel,” Mizrahi said.
“We don’t eliminate people just like that,” she added, noting that Israeli forces will “usually” want to ensure “there is very little collateral damage, not too many civilians.”
Past operations have been abandoned due to the likelihood of civilian casualties, Mizrahi said.
“When you are in a war, you cannot be so cautious,” she added.
A bloody history
Within years of the country’s bloody, but ultimately successful, War of Independence in 1948, Israel’s clandestine services were waging assassination campaigns against the many surrounding forces and states deemed threats to the young nation’s survival.
Its military and intelligence services were staffed by many who participated in the Jewish insurgency against the entity known as Mandatory Palestine, the British-run territory designated by the League of Nations in the aftermath of World War II.
In 1956, for example, parcel bombs were used to kill Egyptian military officials Col. Mustafa Hafez and Lt. Col. Salah Mustafa in Egypt and Jordan, respectively, both of whom organized Palestinian militant raids into Israel.
As Israeli identity and policy were forged in the crucible of war, insurgency and terrorism, the country’s clandestine operations took on greater ingenuity and complexity — though direct methods of killing have remained in regular use through the nation’s 76 years, spanning the technological spectrum from shootings to airstrikes.
September’s explosions in Lebanon will go down as one of the most unusual attacks in Israeli — or wider international covert operations — history, given the delivery method of the explosives, the number of those killed or wounded and the intimate access to Hezbollah it demonstrated.
But it was not the first time Israel sought to turn everyday items into weapons. In 1972, for example, Palestine Liberation Organization cadre Bassam Abu Sharif — a former senior advisor to PLO chief Yasser Arafat — lost four fingers plus the use of one ear and one eye when a book sent to him by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, exploded in his hands in Beirut. Israel never officially took responsibility.
The killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Palestinian Black September militant group set in motion a brutal and sprawling revenge campaign — known as Operation Wrath of God — that would see Mossad operatives turn unassuming items into weapons.
Mossad’s long-established policy of public silence meant it never claimed even the most sophisticated assassinations credited to the agency. But David Kimche, the former deputy head of Mossad, explained of the retaliation campaign: “The aim was not so much revenge but mainly to make them frightened.”
“We wanted to make them look over their shoulders and feel that we are upon them. And therefore, we tried not to do things by just shooting a guy in the street — that’s easy,” he said.
Mahmoud Hamshari — the PLO’s representative in Paris — for example, died of wounds sustained in his Paris apartment in December 1972, when Mossad agents detonated explosives packed into the base of his telephone.
Hussein Al Bashir, a representative of Palestinian group Fatah, was killed the following month in Cyprus by a bomb concealed in his hotel bed.
Death by communication device was a common theme in the years after Hamshari’s killing.
In 1996, for example, internal security agency Shin Bet tricked Yahya Ayyash — an infamous Hamas bombmaker accused of killing dozens of Israelis — into accepting a call using a cellphone given to him by a Palestinian collaborator. The phone detonated as he held it to his head, killing him instantly.
Samih Malabi, a member of Fatah’s Tanzim militant wing, was also killed by an exploding cellphone in 2000.
Another three Palestinians and alleged militants — Osama Fatih al-Jawabra, Iyad Mohammed Hardan and Muhammad Ishteiwi Abayat — were killed by explosions in phone booths in 2001 and 2002.
Among one of the highest profile assassinations was a joint Mossad-CIA operation targeting Imad Mughniyah — Hezbollah’s international operations chief — who was killed in a suburb of Damascus in 2008. Neither Mossad nor the CIA ever took credit publicly.
A bomb concealed in a car’s spare tire exploded as Mughniyah walked past. It was detonated remotely by agents in Tel Aviv, using operatives on the ground in the Syrian capital to guide the plot’s final execution, according to a Washington Post report citing five former U.S. intelligence officials.
In Iran, too, the hand of Israeli intelligence is credited with several high-profile killings. Israel was behind a rash of assassinations of nuclear scientists between 2007 and 2012 — often using magnetic car bombs or via drive-by shootings, according to Iran.
So, too, was it responsible for the killing of the alleged head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, reportedly assassinated on a highway outside Tehran by a remote-controlled machine gun in 2020.
Israel’s highest-profile recent killing — that of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July — reportedly relied not on an innocuous item but on deep penetration of enemy security networks.
Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted in a guesthouse he often used when visiting the Iranian capital.
The operation bypassed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ protection of the building, emplacing the device two months before Haniyeh’s visit, according to reporting in the The New York Times citing five anonymous Middle Eastern officials.
Blowback and civilian casualties
For all their ingenuity, Israel’s targeted killings also brought civilian casualties, political embarrassment and diplomatic blowback.
It remains unclear how many civilians were among the thousands injured in the recent device explosions in Lebanon and Syria. At least two children were among the dead. Additional civilians were killed in the subsequent Beirut airstrike that assassinated Hezbollah operations chief Ibrahim Aqil and 14 other members, Lebanese authorities said.
Among the most infamous bungled efforts was Israel’s attempted assassination of Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal in Jordan in 1997. Mossad agents using fake Canadian passports poisoned Mashaal outside of Hamas’ office in the capital Amman by holding a device to his ear.
Several agents were subsequently captured and, as Mashaal’s condition deteriorated, Jordan’s King Hussein — with the backing of then President Bill Clinton — pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into providing the antidote and saving Mashaal’s life.
Israel’s Wrath of God operations from 1972 onwards caused several notable civilian casualties. The commando squads hunting Palestinian militant leaders in Beirut in April 1973 killed two Lebanese police officers and one Italian citizen in their search for targets. Among them was Black September operations leader Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, whose wife was also killed.
In July 1973, Mossad brought chaos to the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer in their search for Black September operations chief Ali Hassan Salameh.
Ahmed Bouchiki, a Moroccan waiter, was shot dead after agents falsely identified him as Salameh. Five Mossad agents were eventually convicted of the killing, and not returned to Israel until 1975.
A follow-up effort took place at a house in the southern Spanish city of Tarifa. Mossad agents reportedly killed a security guard but did not locate Salameh.
Israel finally killed Salameh in Beirut in 1979, detonating a bomb attached to a parked car as his convoy passed. Salameh died shortly after in hospital.
As well as his four bodyguards, the blast killed four bystanders and injured 16 more. Among the dead were a British student and a German nun.