Israel attacks Beirut, targets Hezbollah chief of staff
The IDF said Haitham Ali Tabataba'i was killed in the strike.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials reiterated their intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations Security Council vote to authorize the U.S. plan for post-war Gaza on Monday.
There are three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.
The ceasefire is broadly holding in Gaza, with Israeli forces inside the strip having pulled back to the so-called "yellow line." Still, renewed Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians in the past week.
Elsewhere, Israel is continuing strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and on Sunday launched an airstrike in the capital Beirut. The Israel Defense Forces is also continuing raids in parts of the occupied West Bank.
Key Headlines
- Hezbollah confirms leader was killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Strike in Lebanon killed Hezbollah chief of staff, IDF says
- 5 killed, 28 injured in Israeli strike on Lebanon, says Lebanon Health Ministry
- Israel attacks Beirut, targets 'key' Hezbollah figure
- 24 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, officials say
Israel claims killing of Hezbollah member in south Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday claimed the killing of what it said was a Hezbollah local representative in southern Lebanon.
The IDF posted a video to X showing what it said was the killing of Muhammad Ali Shuaikh. The IDF claimed Shuaikh was "a local representative of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the village of Al-Mansouri."
The IDF alleged that Shuaikh "was responsible for the connection between the organization and the residents of the village on military and economic issues."
Israel is continuing regular airstrikes in southern Lebanon targeting what it says are Hezbollah members and infrastructure.
The continued strikes come despite a ceasefire deal signed one year ago, under the terms of which both Hezbollah and Israel agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon. Israeli forces are still deployed to five positions in the south of the country.
The IDF said on Sunday that its forces are continuing operations in Lebanon to "locate and dismantle terrorist infrastructure."
The IDF also claimed to have struck five "terrorist targets" and killed three Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon over the past week.
IDF blames bad weather for firing on UN troops in Lebanon
Israeli forces fired at United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon -- UNIFIL -- troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson confirmed.
IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said on X that the incident occurred in the El Hamames area in southern Lebanon, when IDF troops fired "warning shots" at "two suspects."
"After a review, it was determined that the suspects were U.N. soldiers who were conducting a patrol in the area and were classified as suspects due to poor weather conditions," Shoshani said. "The incident is under examination."
UNIFIL said earlier on Sunday that its personnel came under Israeli fire "from a Merkava tank from near a position Israel has established in Lebanese territory."
"Heavy machine gun rounds hit approximately five meters from the peacekeepers, who were on foot and had to take shelter in the terrain," UNIFIL said.
"Peacekeepers asked for the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL's liaison channels," the force added. "They were able to leave safely thirty minutes later, when the Merkava tank withdrew inside the IDF position." There were no casualties, UNIFIL said.
"Yet again, we call on the IDF to cease any aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers, who are working to support the return to the stability that both Israel and Lebanon say they seek," UNIFIL said.
Netanyahu says Israel will block Palestinian state, won't hear 'lectures'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Sunday cabinet meeting that his government's opposition to Palestinian statehood "has not changed one bit," as Israeli officials mobilize against a U.S.-backed United Nations Security Council resolution that is expected to go to a vote on Monday.
The U.S. is hoping to secure consensus on its plan for post-war Gaza, but Israeli leaders have pushed back on any hint of future Palestinian statehood. Regional U.S. partners like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey are all advocating for a credible path to Palestinian statehood as part of any settlement.
The U.S. draft resolution says that after reforms to the Palestinian Authority are "faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood."
According to a readout published by his office on Sunday, Netanyahu said, "Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory west of the Jordan [River], this opposition is existing, valid and has not changed one bit."
"I have been rebuffing these attempts for decades and I am doing it both against pressures from outside and against pressures from within," the prime minister said. "So, I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz wrote in The Washington Post on Friday that a "refusal to back this resolution is a vote either for the continued reign of Hamas terrorists or for the return to war with Israel, condemning the region and its people to perpetual conflict."
"Every departure from this path, be it by those who wish to play political games or to re-litigate the past, will come with a real human cost," Waltz wrote.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Somayeh Malekian
'No Palestinian state,' defense minister says ahead of UN vote
Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated the Israeli government's intention to block any independent Palestinian state in a post to X on Sunday, ahead of Monday's planned United Nations Security Council vote on key elements of the Gaza ceasefire.
Katz's latest remarks come as discussions over the next phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire continue. Phase one of the agreement came into force in October, facilitating the return of living and dead hostages from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Phase two will focus on demilitarization and security measures, which include the proposed formation of an international security force to oversee Hamas' disarmament.
"Israel's policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established," Katz wrote. "Gaza will be de-fortified down to the last tunnel and Hamas will be disarmed in the yellow side by the IDF and in the old Gaza by the international force -- or by the IDF," he added.
The "yellow side" was a reference to the so-called "yellow line," a demarcation line inside Gaza to which the IDF withdrew per last month's ceasefire deal.
The Israel Defense Forces will also "remain at the peak of Mount Hermon and in the security zone," Katz said, referring to the strategic mountaintop area just inside Syria's border occupied by IDF troops earlier this year.
Reports this week suggested Israeli concern over possible U.S. pressure to withdraw from the mountain following Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's recent White House visit.