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.

ByJulia Reinstein, David Brennan, and Nadine El-Bawab
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 29, 2024, 10:11 AM EDT

Hezbollah confirms death of security commander

Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Nabil Qaouk in Beirut, Lebanon, after the Israel Defense Forces said it killed the head of Hezbollah's "preventive security unit" in an airstrike.

Nabil Qaouk was also a member of Hezbollah's Central Council, the IDF said.

The IDF said Qaouk was "considered to be close to the top of the terrorist organization Hezbollah and was directly involved in promoting terrorist acts against the state of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days."

An Israeli F-35 fighter jets flies over the northern city of Haifa on Sept. 26, 2024.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

-ABC News' David Brennan

Sep 29, 2024, 9:51 AM EDT

Hezbollah's leadership 'nearly decimated': Kirby

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on ABC News' "This Week" that Hezbollah's command structure has been "nearly decimated" and that thousands of the terrorist group's drones and missiles have been destroyed.

Lebanese and Palestinian men hold portraits of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as they shout slogans during a protest in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sept. 28, 2024.
Mohammed Zaatari/AP

"There's no question that the Hezbollah of today is not the Hezbollah that was even just a week ago," Kirby told ABC's Martha Raddatz.

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Sep 29, 2024, 8:18 AM EDT

IDF strikes Gaza school

The Israel Defense Forces said it conducted an airstrike on a school in Gaza, in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, to target "terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center."

Four people were killed and 15 were wounded, according to Gaza Civil Defense.

The death toll in Gaza since Oct. 7 now stands at 41,595, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Sep 29, 2024, 7:56 AM EDT

Hezbollah confirms death of commander Ali Karaki

Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that Ali Karaki -- the commander of the militant group's southern front -- was among those killed alongside leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday.

A rescuer fights the blaze amid the smoldering rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs, Sept. 27, 2024.
Ibrahim Amro/AFP via Getty Images

Karaki fought for Hezbollah since 1982, Hezbollah said in a statement. Karaki was "responsible for leading the southern front with all its axes and units" in the group's cross-border fighting with Israeli forces that began on Oct. 8, the statement added.

The Israel Defense Forces reported Karaki's death on Saturday in a statement detailing the strike that killed Nasrallah.

-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz and Victoria Beaule