Drone strike launched near Benjamin Netanyahu’s house, Israel says; no injuries were reported

A drone was launched towards it Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu home on Saturday, the Israeli government said.

Siren sounded on Saturday morning, warning of fire from Lebanon. The plane was launched near Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, but neither he nor his wife were at home, his spokesman said in a statement. No one was injured.

No information was provided about where the drone was launched or who might be responsible for the attempted attack. Israel did not say whether the drone was intercepted or landed elsewhere.

It is the second strike against Netanyahu in recent months. In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu’s plane landed. The arrow was caught.

Hezbollah did not claim responsibility but said it had fired several rockets into Israel. This scandal came as Israel is expected to respond to the attack earlier this month by Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Hamas.

Israel attacked at least 10 planes in the southern Beirut area known as Dahiyeh, which is home to many Hezbollah offices, Lebanese authorities said. The Israeli army claimed to have hit Hezbollah.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, the Pentagon said in a statement, where they discussed “security developments in the region” including the recent deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense program. During the call, Austin told Gallant he was “relieved” Netanyahu was safe after the drone attack.

Currently, in Gazamore than 50 people have been killed in several Israeli strikes, including children, in less than 24 hours, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press reporter.

Saturday’s strikes in Israel come as its war in Lebanon with Hezbollah has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah said on Friday it plans to launch a new phase of combat by sending missiles and drones to Israel. The terrorist group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops to Lebanon in early October.

The Israeli military said about 200 projectiles were fired Saturday into Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah said it planned to send more missiles and explosive drones.

A 50-year-old man was hit by explosives and died in northern Israel, while four other people were injured, Israeli health officials said.

Israel also said on Saturday it had killed a Hezbollah deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid directed the attack on Israel

In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a car on a highway north of Beirut, killing two people. It was not clear who was in the car when it was hit.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building east of Baaloul city killed five people, including the mayor of nearby Sohmor. An Israeli military official confirmed that the IDF had hit targets in the Bekaa Valley.

There is also a standoff between Israel and Hamas, which is fighting in Gaza, with both showing resistance to ending the war after Death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week. On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a tragic loss but noted that Hamas had continued despite the killing of other Palestinian terrorist leaders before him.

“Hamas is alive and will continue to live,” Khamenei said.

Since Israel announced Sinwar’s death on Thursday and a senior Hamas political official confirmed his death on Friday, Hamas has reiterated its position that captives taken from Israel last year he will not be released until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. The position reversed Netanyahu’s statement that his country’s military would continue to fight until the hostages were released, and would remain in Gaza to prevent a weakened Hamas from re-arming.

Israel says Sinwar was the mastermind behind a 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped another 250. Israel’s attack on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who are doing so. The separatists did not count the civilians but said that more than half of the dead were women and children.

More strikes hit Gaza on Saturday. The Ministry of Health in Palestine said in a statement that Israeli strikes hit the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya, and the forces opened fire on the hospital building and its courtyard, causing panic among patients and health workers. At Al-Awda Hospital, Jabaliya, strikes took place on the top floor, injuring many workers, the hospital said in a statement.

In the center of Gaza, at least ten people, including two children, were killed when a house was hit in the town of Zawayda, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where the injured were admitted. An AP reporter counted the bodies at the hospital. Another strike killed 11 people, all from the same family, in the Maghazi refugee camp, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where they were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the hospital.

On Friday night, at least three houses were hit in northern Gaza killing at least 30 people, more than half of them women and children, said Fares Abu Hamza, the head of ambulances and emergencies at the health ministry. Homes were hit in Jabaliya and at least 80 people were injured.

War He has destroyed a large part of Gazadisplaced nearly 90% of its 2.3 million people, and left them struggling for food, water, medicine and fuel.

Sinwar’s killing was seen as an opportunity to meet with the Israeli military on Wednesday, and could change the dynamics of the war in Gaza as Israel pressures Hezbollah with ground troops in southern Lebanon and airstrikes in other parts of the country. .

Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas politically in Gaza, and killing Sinwar was a military priority. But Netanyahu said in a speech on Thursday night announcing the massacre that “our war is not over.”

Nevertheless, the governments allied with Israel and the citizens of Gaza grew weary he expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for the end of the war.

In Israel, families of hostages still being held in Gaza want the Israeli government to use Sinwar’s killing as a way to restart negotiations to bring their loved ones home. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 30 of whom Israel says have died.