Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Netanyahu claims UN peacekeepers acting as 'human shields' for Hezbollah
U.N. peacekeepers claim IDF tanks breached their base in southern Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces continued intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The uptick in offensive operations came days after Israel marked the anniversary of Hamas' Oct. 7 assault and as Israeli leaders planned their response to last week's Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Key Headlines
- 51 killed, 174 injured in Lebanon on Saturday: Lebanese Ministry of Health
- Gallant describes southern Lebanon villages as 'military targets'
- Pentagon will deploy THAAD air defense system to Israel
- UN claims IDF tanks forcefully breached its peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon
- Netanyahu claims UN peacekeepers acting as 'human shields' for Hezbollah
2 Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli strike in Kafra, army says
Two Lebanese soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike in Kafra in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said in a post on X Friday.
Nearly 60 airstrikes were recorded in various parts of Lebanon over the past 24 hours, largely concentrated in the south, according to a situation report from the Lebanese prime minister's office on Friday.
Sixty people were killed and another 168 injured in the past 24 hours in Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Friday. Since the beginning of the increased fighting in mid-September, 2,229 people have been killed and 10,380 others injured, it said.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz
Sirens go off in central Israel for 'hostile aircraft infiltration': IDF
Sirens went off in several areas of central Israel "regarding a hostile aircraft infiltration," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday.
"Interception attempts were conducted. The details are under review," the IDF said.
-ABC News' Clark Bentson and Dorit Long
2 missions to northern Gaza denied, WHO says
Two World Health Organization missions to northern Gaza were "impeded and denied" on Friday, according to Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The team was "unable to carry out the medical evacuation of patients" from three hospitals in northern Gaza "due to delays of over 10 hours at checkpoints," Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.
"This week seven WHO missions to northern Gaza were denied or impeded," Ghebreyesus said.
Doctors Without Borders said "thousands" of people are trapped in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as Israeli forces attack the area.
"Israeli forces issued evacuation orders on 7 October in Jabalia camp while carrying out attacks at the same time, preventing people from leaving the area safely. Forced evacuations of homes and bombing of neighborhoods by the Israeli forces is turning north Gaza into uninhabitable ruins," the organization said on X.
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman
Body of IRGC general killed in Israeli airstrike found in Beirut
The body of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general was discovered in the Dahieh area of Beirut, the IRGC announced on Iranian state TV Friday.
Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander for operations of the IRGC, was killed on Sept. 27 in the same Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah.
Nilforoushan was sanctioned by the U.S. for his role in suppressing protests in Iran.
A public funeral and burial will be held when Nilforoushan's body is returned to Iran, the IRGC said.
-ABC News' Hami Hamedi