Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Nasrallah killed for tying Hezbollah cause to Gaza war

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday.

Last Updated: September 29, 2024, 2:21 PM EDT

Israel is firing strikes into Lebanon as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.

Israel believes it has eliminated around 30 top Hezbollah leaders over the last several weeks, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday, U.S. and Israeli officials said.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Sep 23, 2024, 1:44 AM EDT

IDF previews new strikes on targets 'throughout Lebanon'

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned Lebanese border residents that more Israeli strikes are planned against Hezbollah "terrorist infrastructure" -- specifically on homes hiding missiles.

In a statement and accompanying video released on Monday morning, Hagari accused Hezbollah of using residential properties to house and fire cruise missiles.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon on Sept. 23, 2024.
Aziz Taher/Reuters

"The terrorists create a designated opening for the missile launch," Hagari said, showing footage of a purported strike on a building being prepared for an attack by a Hezbollah operative.

"Shortly, the IDF will engage in extensive, precise strikes against terror targets which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon," Hagari added.

"We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm's way for their own safety."

-ABC News' Dana Savir and Joe Simonetti

Sep 23, 2024, 12:06 AM EDT

IDF striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Israeli forces are "currently conducting extensive strikes" on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the IDF said in a release early Monday morning local time.

No further details were immediately available.

-ABC News' Bruno Nota

Sep 22, 2024, 11:28 PM EDT

Israeli fighter jets intercept drone fired from Iraq

Israeli Air Force fighter jets "successfully intercepted" a drone that was fired from Iraq and approached its territory early Monday morning local time, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

"Following the sirens that sounded between 04:45 and 04:54 in the Southern Golan area, IAF fighter jets successfully intercepted a UAV that was fired from Iraq and approached Israeli territory from Syria," the IDF said.

No injuries were reported, according to the IDF.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq took responsibility for a drone attack towards Israel early Monday morning in a statement posted on Telegram.

This is the second time drones fired from Iraq towards Israel have been intercepted by the IDF between Sunday and Monday.

-ABC News' Bruno Nota

Sep 22, 2024, 6:05 PM EDT

Netanyahu considering plan to force civilians out of northern Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering implementing a plan that would involve forcing all Palestinian civilians to leave northern Gaza, and then refusing to allow any aid in to the remaining people, laying siege to the area, according to a former general for the IDF.

News that Netanyahu was considering the plan was first reported by CNN on Sunday.

The plan was formulated by a group of retired Israeli generals, led by Giora Eiland, who was head of Israel's National Security Council from 2004 to 2006.

It does not address whether Palestinians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza in the future if Israel were to carry out the plan.

Eiland told ABC News he presented the plan in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, last week. A press readout of that meeting said the head of the committee Eiland spoke to said he would speak with Netanyahu about the plan.

Eiland said he believes there is "wide political and military support for the plan,” and that while he hasn't spoken to Netanyahu personally, he's spoken to people close to the prime minister. "The PM knows the plan and is considering to adopt it," Eiland told ABC News.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller