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Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Israel planning limited ground operation in Lebanon

The operation could begin "immediately," according to a senior U.S. official.

Last Updated: September 30, 2024, 9:54 AM 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.

9:51 AM EDT

'Nowhere' Israel cannot reach, Netanyahu warns Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to anti-government sentiment in Iran on Monday, telling the Iranian people: "With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you -- the noble Persian people -- closer to the abyss."

Israeli Prime Minister addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 27, 2024.
Pamela Smith/AP

"Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza," the prime minister said in a video statement posted to social media.

"Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war. Every day, their puppets are eliminated."

"Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask [Hassan] Nasrallah," Netanyahu said, referring to the Hamas military commander -- whose death the group has not confirmed -- and the former Hezbollah leader. Israel claims Deif was killed in Gaza in July, while Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on Friday.

"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu said.

"Iran's tyrants don't care about your future," Netanyahu continued. "When Iran is finally free -- and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think -- everything will be different."

"Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace," Netanyahu said. "The people of Iran should know -- Israel stands with you."

Tehran has not yet responded to Netanyahu's statement. But on Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said his country would not deploy volunteer troops to Lebanon in response to Israel's expanding campaign there against Hezbollah.

"We believe that the governments and nations of the region have the necessary ability and authority to defend themselves," he said. "We have not had any request from anyone, and we know that they do not need deployment of human forces from our side."

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Somayeh Malekian

7:20 AM EDT

Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in airstrike, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it killed Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, the head of Hamas' Lebanon branch, in an overnight airstrike.

"Sharif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives," the IDF said in a statement.

"He was also responsible for Hamas' efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons."

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

5:58 AM EDT

Deadly strike hits central Beirut for first time in 18 years

An overnight precision strike on an apartment building in the Cola neighborhood was the first such strike in central Beirut for 18 years.

Four people were killed, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group.

People gather outside an apartment building hit by an Israeli airstrike in the Cola district of Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 30, 2024.
Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images

Israel did not immediately claim the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti

5:53 AM EDT

Hezbollah deputy gives first statement since Nasrallah assassination

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, addressed followers Monday in the first leadership statement since Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, delivers an address from an unknown location on Sept. 30, 2024, days after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Al Manar Tv/via Reuters

"The mujahadeen will continue," Qassem said of the militant group's fighters, their work informed by "what [Nasrallah] designed."

Qassem did not announce a replacement for Nasrallah, but said Hezbollah's next leader will be chosen "sooner rather than later."

Details of Nasrallah's funeral are still unconfirmed. A three-day mourning period in Lebanon began on Monday.

-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti

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