What we know
- A drone strike was launched from Lebanon toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, Israel, this morning. Netanyahu was not there at the time and no casualties were reported.
- The attack came after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Thursday, prompting a declaration from Lebanese ally Hezbollah that they would escalate fighting against Israel.
- Sirens sounded for seveal hours across northern Israel this morning, and one man was killed in the Israeli port city of Acre, as Hezbollah launched more than 180 rockets over the border today.
- Israel sent more troops into northern Gaza and called up a reserve brigade to northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. Despite hopes that Sinwar's death might spur a cease-fire and hostage deal, Netanyahu told Israelis, “The war, my dear ones, is not yet over.”
- Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 50 people in the last day, according to the Associated Press, bringing the health ministry's office death toll in Gaza to over 42,500. Three hospitals are under fire, the ministry says, as the deadly weekslong siege of the Jabaliya refugee camp continues.
Five killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon
Five people were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Two people were killed by an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area near Jounieh, a town just north of Beirut, the ministry said. The individuals were in a car that was impacted by the strike.
It was the first such attack on the area in the violence between Israel and Hezbollah, Reuters reported. Jounieh is a coastal, Christian-majority town.
Three people were killed in an attack on Zefta, a village in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, the health ministry said. One person was also wounded.
Beirut suburb hit by strikes after IDF issues evacuation orders
Air strikes have hit a suburb in Lebanon's capital Beirut this afternoon, less than an hour after the IDF ordered residents to evacuate the area.
Lebanon’s state-run national news agency said that a building in Haret Hreik was struck twice, and a plume of smoke was also seen rising from the area.
IDF spokesperson Avicahy Adraee had earlier given evacuation orders for the area.
Adraee issued multiple evacuation warnings today to residents in parts of southern Beirut, warning of future military operations in the area.
Spokesperson Avichay Adraee also ordered residents located in Choueifet Al-Umara and Borj El Brajneh to leave, saying they were "near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah," and urged people to evacuate.
Two patients die due to IDF siege, health ministry says
Two patients have died inside the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza due to Israel's siege on the area, according to the local health ministry.
It said the patients died "as a result of the hospital's siege and the power outage and lack of medical supplies."
In a statement earlier today, the IDF confirmed operations near the Indonesian Hospital, but said that there was “no intentional fire directed at it.”
Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss how the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will impact a potential cease-fire agreement.
Once thought a haven from Israeli strikes, a Christian town in Lebanon is now a scene of carnage
The scene of carnage in northern Lebanon showed heartbreaking snippets of everyday family life.
A dead baby inside a destroyed pickup truck; a child’s severed arm buried in nearby rubble; toddler clothing and books shredded; flies swarming as officials collected body parts, some too small for body bags ending up in clear ziplock bags.
Pervading everything, the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh mixed with concrete dust at the scene where 23 people including two children were killed, according to local officials.
This was the aftermath of an airstrike Monday on the Lebanese Christian village of Aitou that Israel said had targeted a position held by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.
Until then, this region of hilly olive groves and winding, sea-view roads had been a relative haven, one that felt far away from the war dominating Beirut and the country’s south.
Just last week, the area “was calm; everything was quiet,” Illy Edwan told NBC News as he surveyed the wreckage of his villa, which was reduced to rubble in the blast, its insulation and inner structure ripped to pieces, an adjacent vehicle twisted open like a burnt pretzel.
“My house used to be three-story, but look at it today,” he added.
Thousands flee Jabaliya camp as Israel deepens offensive
Hundreds are dead and thousands more have been forced to flee northern Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp as the IDF deepens its offensive in the area and sends more troops to fight.
The IDF laid siege to the camp 15 days ago, surrounding it with tanks while raining down artillery fire. It has blown up roads and houses, and trampled through suburbs and residential districts home to tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
Hamas said today that the IDF was continuing to bomb a UN-run primary school which houses displaced in people in Jabaliya, just two days after 22 people were killed in attacks on the building, according to local medics.
Yesterday, air strikes killed at least 33 people after hitting houses inside the camp, Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, said.
He said women, children and the elderly are among the 400 people killed by the IDF in 15 days, with rescuers struggling to reach victims buried in the rubble. More than 20,000 people have been forced to flee the camp, says UNRWA, the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian relief.
The IDF said troops are “operating in the area of Jabaliya against operatives and terrorist infrastructure,” and that yesterday it had sent another army unit to support forces in the area.
Six loud booms heard over Beirut
At least six booms could be heard in Beirut just now, and a plume of smoke is rising from Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Dahiya. This is an increased pace of bombing compared to the last several days.
The war across Gaza continues unabated, UNRWA chief says, pleading for peace
The war in Gaza "continues unabated," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the U.N.'s agency for Palestinian relief said, days after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, raising a fleeting hope it could bring an end to the war.
At least 20,000 people had been forced to flee northern Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp as Israel deepens its offensive in the region, Lazzarini said, and there are shortages of the most basic needs, like food, water and blankets. Only a dozen trucks of flour were allowed to enter Gaza City this week, he said, "by far not enough."
It’s time to end the war and "show political will," he said. "Time for a way out of the mayhem and destruction. Time to invest in peace."
Israeli man dead after shrapnel hits car, police say
An Israeli man was killed today after shrapnel from a missile barrage hit his car in the northern city of Acre, Israeli police said.
The police said a number of projectiles and fragments fell in the Acre area, including on route 22 where the car was struck. Another person is in moderate condition after they were injured by shrapnel near the commercial center in Ein Hafaretz.
The IDF said earlier that at least 55 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israel in the space of an hour.
Police called on the public not to to approach or touch the remains of rockets.
Death toll in Gaza reaches past 42,500, health ministry says
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 42,519 since Oct. 7, the local Health Ministry said today, with 19 people killed and 91 injured in the last 24 hours.