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Israel Hits 400 Sites in Lebanon as Hezbollah Pummels Northern Israel
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel’s border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ayal Margolin
JNS.org — Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted massive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Monday morning to prevent the Iranian-backed terror army from firing rockets across the border.
As of Monday afternoon, the IAF had attacked more than 400 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Alongside the update, the army published a video of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approving the attacks from the military’s underground command room at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned that the IAF strikes would continue in the immediate time frame and criticized Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, accusing the terror leader of “dragging Lebanon and the entire region into escalation.”
Addressing the possibility of ground maneuvers in Lebanon, he said that “we will do whatever is necessary to return residents [of northern Israel] to their homes. We have detailed plans, which we have presented to the political leadership.”
Hagari on Monday morning warned Lebanese civilians living along the border that Hezbollah was using their homes to store weapons and that for their safety they should evacuate immediately.
He also revealed during the press briefing that terrorists had recently attempted to launch a cruise missile from a civilian residence, which was thwarted, providing documentation of the preventive strike.
The cruise missile was a DR-3 model with a flight range of 124 miles (200 km.) carrying a warhead of up to 661 pounds (300 kg.), according to the IDF.
“I have recorded a clear message for all residents of Southern Lebanon — in the past few hours, we identified an intention to attack Israel, and soon we will strike,” said Hagari.
IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari exposing Hezbollah’s way of firing missiles from civilian homes, and how the IDF plans on dismantling it: pic.twitter.com/smkfjv6VDh
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 23, 2024
“For more than 20 years, Hezbollah has placed weapons inside homes and armed them, turning southern Lebanon into a combat zone. We are monitoring this activity, locating the weapons and destroying them in precise strikes. We urge you to move away from them immediately, for your safety. Hezbollah is endangering you,” said Hagari.
The IDF sent text messages to residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah buildings, and Hagari’s video message was subtitled in Arabic: “Anyone who is near or inside houses where Hezbollah is hiding weapons is requested to move away from them immediately.”
Jerusalem has ramped up its rhetoric and escalated attacks on Hezbollah since recently adding the return of residents to the north as an official war goal. More than 60,000 Israelis remain internally displaced after nearly a year of near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks by Hezbollah in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah-affiliated media in Lebanon reported on injuries from the widespread Israeli attacks, which reached deep into Lebanese territory in the Bekaa Valley.
Meanwhile, rocket alarms were heard in the Safed area of Israel’s Upper Galilee, with many explosions heard and dozens of interceptions reported. A major barrage was also reported deep into the Lower Galilee.
The Magen David Adom medical emergency response group said two Israelis sustained light wounds when a rocket hit in the area of the Golani intersection, located in the Lower Galilee between Tiberias and Nazareth. The men, 25 and 59, were evacuated to Poria Medical Center (Baruch Padeh Medical Center) near Tiberias for treatment.
In Giv’at Avni, located adjacent to the Sea of Galilee, a fire broke out after a Hezbollah rocket scored a direct hit on a house, local media reported. The residents had barricaded themselves in their bomb shelter and emerged unharmed following the attacks, according to the reports.
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the IAF strikes in Lebanon in a statement.
“Supporting the Air Force, the IDF, and the security forces in their operation in Lebanon. The time has come. Be strong and courageous, and act — do not fear or be dismayed until all the residents of the north return to their homes safely,” the Yesh Atid Party leader tweeted.
The post Israel Hits 400 Sites in Lebanon as Hezbollah Pummels Northern Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.