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:
Hezbollah fires 200 rockets, drones toward Israel
Hezbollah militants said they fired more than 200 rockets and drones toward Israel on Thursday.
Sirens and alerts began sounding throughout northern Israel early on Thursday, officials said.
As the sirens began "numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory," the Israel Defense Forces said.
Israel's Iron Dome defenses intercepted "several" of those projectiles, including uncrewed drones, the IDF said.
"As a result of UAVs and shrapnel from the interceptions falling in the area, fires broke out in a number of areas in northern Israel," the IDF said. "The Israel Fire and Rescue Services are currently operating to extinguish the fires."
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Kevin Shalvey
Israel assassinates highest ranking Hezbollah commander since Oct. 8
Israel assassinated the commander of Hezbollah's Aziz Unit, based in southern Lebanon, Israel claimed and Hezbollah acknowledged.
Muhammad Ni’Mah Nasser is one of the most senior commanders killed since Hezbollah began firing at Israel in solidarity with Gaza on Oct. 8.
Hezbollah has responded with around 100 rockets in the last three hours, according to the IDF. No major damage has been reported.
Both sides have said they are ready for war and that they are ready to ink a peace deal brokered by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein. A senior Hezbollah official said this week it can only sign the deal after Israel reaches a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza.
-ABC News' Matt Gutman
European Gaza Hospital now empty following evacuation orders: WHO
All patients and medical staff have left European Gaza Hospital in southern Gaza, following evacuation orders from the Israel Defense Forces in Khan Younis, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The hospital, which had 320 patients, is "now completely empty," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"It is devastating to see the 650-bed-capacity hospital out of service at a time when access to health care is urgently needed," he said in a statement while calling on the hospital to be made operational "immediately."
Most patients were being referred to Nasser Medical Complex, which is now at full capacity and facing a shortage of medical supplies, the WHO said.
Evacuation order is largest in Gaza since October: UN
The Israel Defense Forces' evacuation order for a region in southern Gaza on Monday was the largest such order since October 2023, according to the United Nations.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East estimated that 250,000 people are impacted by the evacuation order in Khan Younis. The evacuation zone covers 117 square kilometers, according to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
"[The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] underscores that an evacuation of such a massive scale will only heighten the suffering of civilians and drive humanitarian needs even higher," Dujarric said in a statement Tuesday. "People are left with the impossible choice of having to relocate, some most likely for the second or even the third time, to areas that have barely any space or services, or stay in an area where they know the fighting will take place."
The IDF said it ordered Palestinians to evacuate amid its response to a rocket attack that came from the area involving approximately 20 projectiles, some of which fell inside southern Israel.