Israel-Gaza updates: US Embassy says American injured by Hezbollah rocket fire
IDF official admits insurgency will be long and difficult.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Latest headlines:
IDF admits it'll be fighting Hamas insurgency in Gaza for 5 years
Israel is planning for a long insurgency against Hamas, saying it expects Hamas to still exist in five years, but it said the group is no longer capable of perpetrating an Oct. 7-style attack.
"Will you and me be talking five years from now about Hamas as a terror organization in Gaza? The answer is yes," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari told ABC News.
Hagari is the first Israeli official to publicly admit that the insurgency will be long and difficult, in stark contrast to the bombast of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who continues to vow the quick destruction of Hamas.
Gaza, and even to some degree Hezbollah, are "perpetual wars" distracting Israel from what he called their main enemy, Iran, a senior Israeli official told ABC News.
-ABC News' Matt Gutman
16 killed in strike on Gaza school, police unit
Sixteen people were killed and 50 others injured in a strike on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The school housed displaced people and had a mobile police unit inside it.
Israel has not yet commented on the strike, ABC News has asked the IDF for comment.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Israel conducts strikes in Lebanon overnight
The Israel Defence Forces said on Saturday that it struck "a number" of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded with an aerial attack on what they said was a military position in the north on Saturday morning.
The IDF said the drone was intercepted and the remnants fell in an open area.
Netanyahu visits Air Force following strikes from Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the operational headquarters of the Air Force Thursday following strikes from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
"In the midst of the difficult campaign against Lebanon, we established a principle -- whoever hurts us will bleed on his head," Netanyahu told the soldiers. "We put it into practice. We know the road is still long, but we are determined to restore security to the north and return the residents safely to their homes."
Hezbollah militants said they fired more than 200 rockets toward Israel earlier Thursday. Fires broke out in several areas of northern Israel due to UAVs and shrapnel from interceptions of the projectiles falling in the area, the Israel Defense Forces said. No one was seriously injured.
One person was killed in Houla in Marjayoun after an Israeli drone attacked a house, the Lebanese national news agency NNA reported.
-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz and Jordana Miller