Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: 87 killed in Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia

Hezbollah in Lebanon launches rocket attacks on Israel, IDF says.

Last Updated: October 20, 2024, 3:20 PM EDT

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was killed this week in a firefight with Israeli forces, officials said.

The development comes as Israel continues intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The uptick in offensive operations came as Israeli leaders planned their response to Iran's latest ballistic missile attack.

Oct 14, 2024, 4:59 AM EDT

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.

An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile towards southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel on Oct. 13, 2024.
Leo Correa/AP

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

Oct 14, 2024, 4:01 AM EDT

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.

An Israeli soldier stands by after a military helicopter dropped off patients injured in a drone attack from Lebanon at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, on Oct. 13, 2024.
Rami Shlush/Reuters

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

Oct 14, 2024, 3:59 AM EDT

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.

Palestinians react to a fire after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

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

Oct 13, 2024, 11:17 PM EDT

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."

Israeli soldiers aboard a military vehicle at an undisclosed location, near the border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Oct. 11, 2024.
Atef Safadi//EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

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.

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