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
Dozens killed in airstrikes in Lebanon in past 24 hours
Dozens of people were killed in the past 24 hours in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Twenty-eight people were killed and another 113 injured, bringing the total casualties since the increased fighting began in mid-September to 2,169 fatalities and 10,212 injuries, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
There were 61 airstrikes recorded in the past 24 hours in various parts of Lebanon, largely in the south, according to the Lebanese prime minister's situation report on Thursday.
The Israeli Defense Forces issued a warning to sites "in and near southern villages" in Lebanon on Thursday as it continues its campaign against Hezbollah.
Israeli forces struck more than 110 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past day, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz and Dorit Long
Netanyahu to meet security cabinet Thursday
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with his security cabinet on Thursday evening local time.
Israeli media reported that Israel's planned retaliation against Iran for its Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack is among the topics to be discussed.
Netanyahu and other officials have vowed a significant response to the barrage, which Tehran justified as a "legal, rational and legitimate response" to Israeli strikes and targeted killings in Iran and Lebanon.
"Iran made a big mistake tonight -- and it will pay for it," Netanyahu said shortly after Iran's Oct. 1 attack.
This week, Netanyahu said Israel is the "one force in the world that stands in Iran's way to conquest." He added, "It's not only our fight, it's the free world's fight."
Netanyahu spoke with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the conversation between the two leaders was "direct" and "productive."
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
Israeli fire injures UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, mission says
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Thursday that Israeli forces fired on three peacekeeper bases in the south of the country, injuring two troops.
"UNIFIL's Naqoura headquarters and nearby positions have been repeatedly hit" amid fighting between Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah in the area, the mission said in a post to X.
Two peacekeepers were injured at the Naqoura position "after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower," the mission wrote, "directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital."
Elsewhere, UNIFIL said IDF fire on its camp in Labbouneh hit the entrance to a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communications system.
The IDF also fired at and disabled the perimeter-monitoring cameras at Labbouneh, UNIFIL said. An IDF drone was observed above the position, the mission added.
"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701," UNIFIL said, referring to the 2006 U.N. Security Council agreement that sought to end the last major cross-border war between Israel and Hezbollah.
"We are following up with the IDF on these matters," it added.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz
28 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school
At least 28 Palestinians were killed in a single attack on a school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Children are believed to be among the casualties in the attack on the Rufaydah school. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting a Hamas "command and control center" in what it called a "precise strike."
The strike occurred in the central region of the devastated strip, where Palestinians from the north have been ordered to evacuate by the IDF.
In the north, Israel is continuing an intense military operation in the Jabalia refugee camp, which is now sealed off and under IDF siege. This is the fourth major IDF operation in Jabalia since the start of the war.
The IDF, meanwhile, said it downed a drone launched into Israel from Gaza, with no injuries reported.
-ABC News' Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Zoe Magee, Jordana Miller, Victoria Beaule and Joe Simonetti.