The Republican called Netanyahu last week and “congratulated him on the intense and determined operations that Israel carried out against Hezbollah”, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The ballistic missile attack came weeks after Israel’s military intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon wiping out the majority of Hezbollah’s high-ranking commanders including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In July, a strike in Tehran assassinated Hamas’ political leader, Ismael Haniyeh, and Iran blamed Israel. Iran is the main sponsor of the Lebanese militant group and Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu has repeatedly looked past the Biden administration’s calls for ceasefires, but their discussion was “direct and very productive”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements.
On Thursday the Israel Defence Force said it had eliminated Adham Jahout, a member of Hezbollah’s “Golan Terrorist Network” in the area of Quneitra in Syria.
The IDF said Jahout’s role was to relay information from Syrian regime sources to Hezbollah and transmit intelligence gathered on the Syrian front to facilitate operations against Israel in the Golan Heights.
Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the area, a move not recognised by most countries.
Syrian state TV said early Israel had carried out airstrikes targeting an industrial site in the Syrian city of Homs and a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama, causing “some material damage”. Explosions were also heard in Daraa.
Meanwhile, Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials said, as the death toll in the year-long war passed 42,000.
Palestinians walk through the destruction from the Israeli offensive in Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in February. Israel has struck the area again this week.Credit: AP
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday and another 14 from communities further north. The toll was probably higher as there were bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that could not be accessed, it said.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were operating in Jabaliya to prevent Hamas from regrouping and had killed about 100 militants, without providing evidence.
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A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023.
An Israeli airstrike hit a Lebanese Civil Defence centre in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, killing five paramedics, civil defence spokesperson Elie Khairallah said.
The Lebanese Health Ministry also confirmed the news in a statement, saying Israel has “renewed its targeting of rescue and ambulance crews tonight, disregarding international laws, norms and humanitarian conventions”.
There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.
Among victims was Abdullah al-Moussawi, head of the Tyre regional civil defence centre, Khairallah said. The ministry said teams continued to search for survivors in the rubble.
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As of last Thursday, the ministry reported more than 100 paramedics had been killed by Israeli airstrikes since last October and 225 wounded, with significant damage to emergency infrastructure, including 128 ambulances and fire trucks destroyed, as well as damage to nine hospitals and 45 medical centres in Lebanon. Israel’s operation in Lebanon has killed more than 2100 people, most of them in the past few weeks, and forced 1.2 million from their homes.
The IDF said it had intercepted a drone that approached Israel over the Red Sea but did not cross into Israeli territory, minutes after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it had targeted Israel’s Eilat with drones.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is on a tour of the region to drum up support for opposing Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza. He met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Wednesday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
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