Top US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv late Monday as part of a regional tour seeking to avert regional escalation as Israel pounded Hamas-ruled Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah said an Israeli strike killed a top commander.
Palestinian reported fierce ground combat in southern Gaza, where Israel says its focus has shifted along with the territory’s centre three months into its war with Hamas.
Sirens sounded Monday in central and southern Israel to warn of incoming rocket fire. And while battles raged in the besieged Gaza Strip, the situation to Israel’s north has also caused increasing regional and global concern.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have engaged in regular cross-border fire during the war that began on October 7 with Hamas’s unprecedented attack against Israel.
On Monday, Hezbollah announced the killing of a “commander” for the first time since October, naming him as Wissam Hassan Tawil.
A security official in Lebanon, requesting anonymity for security reasons, said Tawil “had a leading role in managing Hezbollah’s operations in the south,” and was killed there by an Israeli strike targeting his car.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah “military sites” in Lebanon on Monday, but did not immediately comment on Tawil’s death.
His is the second high-profile killing in Lebanon this month, following a strike in a Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah last week which killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, heightening fears of the conflict spreading.
On Monday the Israeli army also said it had killed a “central figure” in Syria responsible for Hamas rocket attacks, naming him as Hassan Akasha.
The October 7 attack by Hamas which triggered the war resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Hamas, considered a “terrorist” group by the United States and European Union, also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain captive, Israel says. At least 25 are believed to have been killed.
Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion that have killed at least 23,084 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Source: Arab News
