Drone targets Netanyahu’s house during new barrages with Hezbollah
JERUSALEM — Israel’s government said a drone targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house Saturday, with no casualties, as fighting with Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Gaza -based Hamas showed no pause after the killing of the Hamas architect of last year’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Israel’s military said dozens of projectiles were launched from Lebanon a day after Hezbollah announced a new phase in fighting. Netanyahu’s office said the drone targeted his house in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea. Neither he nor his wife was there. It wasn’t clear if the house was hit.
“The proxies of Iran who today tried to assassinate me and my wife made a bitter mistake,” Netanyahu said.
Hezbollah didn’t claim responsibility but said it carried out several rocket attacks on Israel. The barrage came as Israel is expected to respond to an attack earlier this month by Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas.
Israel in turn carried out at least 10 airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, a heavily populated area home to Hezbollah’s offices, Lebanese authorities said. Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets.
The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the intensifying Israel-Hezbollah war and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
In Gaza, Israeli forces fired at hospitals in the Palestinian enclave’s battered north, and strikes killed more than 50 people, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press reporter there.
“The possibility of war in the region remains a serious concern,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said while visiting Turkey. Group of Seven defense ministers warned against escalation and “all-out war.”
Israel’s military said about 200 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah said it planned to send more guided missiles and exploding drones. The terrorist group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon this month.
A 50-year-old man was hit by shrapnel and killed in northern Israel, and four other people were wounded, Israel’s medical services said.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in eastern Baaloul village killed five people, including the mayor of nearby Sohmor village. An Israeli military official confirmed that the IDF struck targets in the Bekaa Valley.
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle on a highway north of Beirut, killing two people. Israel also said it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.
Israel has issued near-daily warnings for people to leave buildings and villages in parts of Lebanon.
Israel’s military on Saturday dropped leaflets in southern Gaza showing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dead, blood running down his forehead. “Sinwar destroyed your lives,” it said. “Whoever lays down his weapons and returns the kidnapped people to us, we will allow him to leave and live in peace.”
Israel and Hamas have signaled resistance to ending the war after Sinwar’s killing. Hamas has reiterated that the hostages won’t be released until there is a cease-fire and Israeli troops withdraw. Netanyahu says Israel’s military will fight until the hostages are released, and will remain in Gaza to prevent Hamas from regrouping.