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Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: Drone strike targets Netanyahu's house

Israeli leaders blamed Iran for Saturday's drone attack.

Last Updated: October 20, 2024, 3:39 AM 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 15, 2024, 7:30 AM EDT

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.

Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a shooting on the Yavne interchange, near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, on Oct. 15, 2024.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

The attacker shot the officer and then "continued on a shooting spree" and wounded three more civilians, police said. The attacker was then "neutralized by a civilian," police said.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

Oct 15, 2024, 6:18 AM EDT

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, on Sept. 27, 2024.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

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.

Oct 15, 2024, 4:35 AM EDT

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.

Oct 15, 2024, 4:11 AM EDT

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.

Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee areas north of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Oct. 12, 2024.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

"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

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