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

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

ByDavid Brennan, Julia Reinstein, Nadine El-Bawab, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 17, 2024, 9:52 AM EDT

Israel 'checking the possibility' that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces are "checking the possibility" that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is one of the three militants it killed in Gaza on Thursday.

"At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed," the IDF wrote in a post to X. "In the building where the terrorists were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area. The forces that are operating in the area are continuing to operate with the required caution."

The head of the political wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar attends a rally in support of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images

The 62-year-old has served as Hamas' leader in Gaza since 2017 and assumed leadership of the group's political bureau after the Israeli assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran this July.

-ABC News' Guy Davies

Oct 17, 2024, 9:52 AM EDT

28 killed, 160 wounded in Israeli strike on school in northern Gaza

At least 28 people were killed and 160 others were wounded in an Israeli strike on the Abu Hussein School in northern Gaza where displaced people were sheltering, according to the Hamas-run Government Media Office.

In a statement, Hamas said Israel’s claims "that Abu Hussein School is being used for resistance purposes are mere lies, and it is a systematic policy of the enemy to justify its crime."

-ABC News' Samy Zyara

Oct 17, 2024, 7:25 AM EDT

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

Oct 17, 2024, 6:15 AM EDT

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.

A photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows a series of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel on Oct. 17, 2024.
Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images

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

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