Netanyahu residence targeted by drone, Hezbollah fires on northern Israel

Photo: Jack Guez Agence France-Presse Members of the Israeli armed forces walk near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was targeted by a drone from Lebanon.

Cyril Julien – Agence France-Presse and Jonathan Sawaya – Agence France-Presse Respectively in Jerusalem and Beirut

Published at 9:03

• Middle East

Israel announced Saturday that a drone strike from Lebanon had targeted the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the midst of an Israeli offensive against Lebanese Hezbollah, which has claimed responsibility for rocket fire on several regions in the north of the country.

In the northern Gaza Strip, an Israeli bombing left 33 dead in Jabalia, according to the Civil Defense, where the army is continuing its offensive aimed at crushing Hamas, decimated after a year of war and the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli soldiers.

The war that has been raging in the Palestinian territory since October 7, 2023, has spread to Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground offensive in the south of the country on September 30, supported by aerial bombardments, against Hezbollah, a powerful ally of Hamas also supported by Iran.

On Saturday, a drone was launched towards the private residence of Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea, a coastal city in central Israel, the Prime Minister's Office announced. Mr Netanyahu was absent and there were no casualties in the incident.

Warning sirens sounded in several cities in northern Israel. The army counted at least 115 projectiles fired from Lebanon.

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A man was killed by debris from a rocket near Acre, in northern Israel, and five people were injured in Kiryat Ata, about fifteen kilometers from Haifa, according to the rescue services.

Hezbollah announced that it had fired rockets at the Haifa region, the major port in northern Israel, as well as at the city of Safed, and had targeted a military base, saying it was responding to Israeli “aggressions” on Lebanon.

In Lebanon, an airstrike, which left two dead, hit the highway linking Beirut to the north of the country for the first time since the start of the war, according to the authorities.

The strike, which targeted a car, occurred in the Jounieh sector, a Christian area that had been spared until then.

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Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and allow the return to the north of its territory of some 60,000 inhabitants, displaced for a year by rocket fire. incessant rockets from the Islamist movement.

At least 1,418 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of massive Israeli bombings against Hezbollah on September 23, according to an AFP count based on official data.

The UN has recorded around 700,000 displaced people.

The war continues despite the presence in southern Lebanon of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force, which is unable to intervene between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, suggested on Saturday giving UNIFIL “a more robust mandate”, stressing that this would require a decision by the Security Council.

A “blurry” future

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has been leading an offensive since October 6 in the Jabalia region in the north, where it says Hamas seeks to rebuild his strength.

The Palestinian Islamist movement said Friday that the hostages held in Gaza would not be released until the Israeli offensive, launched in response to the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, “comes to a halt.”

Hamas said the death on Wednesday of Yahya Sinwar, considered the architect of the attack, would “strengthen” the movement.

According to the New York Times, which interviewed the medical examiner in charge of the autopsy in Israel, the Hamas leader was first seriously wounded in the arm during an exchange of fire, then killed by a bullet to the head.

Several airstrikes hit the Gaza Strip Saturday, including the Jabalia refugee camp, which was already targeted by the deadly bombing during the night.

Witnesses reported heavy gunfire and artillery bombardment on the camp, as well as strikes on the Bureij camp in the centre of the territory. According to doctors, Israeli forces bombed the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, in the north.

After US President Joe Biden, Josep Borrell said on Saturday that the death of the Hamas leader opened “a new perspective” for a ceasefire.

But analysts point out that the disappearance of Yahya Sinwar further disorganizes the movement, now scattered into small cells, complicating future negotiations.

“The negotiation efforts were previously all based on the idea that Sinwar had a link with most of those holding hostages, and that he could shape their actions,” summarized Jon Alterman, of the American think tank CSIS.

“The picture is much blurrier now and we should see various outcomes,” the expert added.

“Hell on Earth”

The families of the hostages, while welcoming the death of Yahya Sinouar, have also expressed their “deep concern” about the fate of their loved ones.

Of the 251 people kidnapped on the day of the Hamas attack, 97 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

This attack resulted in the death of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures, including hostages killed in captivity.

At least 42,519 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed so far in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

The small territory, under siege by Israel, is a veritable “hell on earth” for the one million children who live there, UNICEF said on Friday.

Against this explosive backdrop, Israel has vowed to retaliate for Iran’s missile attack on its territory on October 1.

Hamas is “alive and will remain so” despite the death of Yahya Sinwar, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday.