The latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.
Israeli strike kills elite Hezbollah commander
ADVERTISEMENTAn Israeli airstrike killed an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday.
It is the latest in a series of escalatory attacks that have raised fears fighting in Gaza could spill over into the region.
The strike on an SUV killed Wissam al-Tawil, commander of a secretive Hezbollah unit that operates along the border, according to a Lebanese security official speaking on the condition of anonymity.
He was a veteran of the Iranian-backed Lebanese force who took part in the 2006 cross-border kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, an official in the group said.
He is the most senior Hezbollah militant killed since Hamas’ 7 October attack in southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza.
Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in clashes along the border almost every day since war broke out. Fighting has, however, escalated since an Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas leader last week in Beirut.
Dr Bashir Saade, a lecturer in politics and religion at the University of Stirling, previously told Euronews that it was not in Hezbollah’s interest to “escalate things” in Lebanon, fearing regional war and kickback from the Lebanese public.
However, he said Israel may have an interest in “provoking” opposing groups to “convince the US to “escalate regionally”.
Saade doubted the effectiveness of targeted strikes in undermining Hezbollah.
“Resistance groups’ leaders have been targeted for decades and it hasn’t affected the ability of Hezbollah or others to operate,” he told Euronews in January.
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‘Sickening scenes’ in Gaza hospitals
Medics, patients and displaced people fled from central Gaza’s main hospital as fighting drew closer, witnesses said on Monday.
Losing the facility would be another major blow to a health system shattered by three months of war.
Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups withdrew from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, saying it was too dangerous amid Israeli bombardment, drone strikes and sniper fire.
That spread panic among people sheltering there. Thousands left, joining the hundreds of thousands who have fled further south, said a hospital staffer, Omar al-Darawi.
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, which are struggling to treat the continuous flow of wounded from Israeli strikes. Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional, according to the UN humanitarian office.
The Al-Aqsa hospital was struck multiple times in recent days, al-Darawi said.
ADVERTISEMENTWorld Health Organization staff who visited Sunday saw “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The bloodbath in Gaza must end.”