People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin

The Israeli military on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, in a strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital that came despite a year-long ceasefire.

His killing was announced by Israel’s military. Hezbollah later confirmed his death, hailing him as “the great jihadist commander” who had “worked to confront the Israeli enemy until the last moment of his blessed life.”

Israel had already eliminated most of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s leadership during a war that raged between October 2023 and November 2024, when a US-brokered truce was agreed.

But Tabtabai, who was appointed as the group’s chief of staff after its recent war with Israel, was killed in a rare post-ceasefire operation against a senior Hezbollah figure.

MILITARY LEADER ROSE THROUGH HEZBOLLAH’S RANKS

Tabtabai was born in Lebanon in 1968 to a father with Iranian roots and a Lebanese mother, according to a senior Lebanese security source. He was not a founding member of Hezbollah but was part of its “second generation,” deploying with the group to fight alongside its allies in Syria and Yemen, the source said.

Israel’s military said Tabtabai joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and held several senior posts, including in its Radwan Force, an elite fighting unit. Israel killed most Radwan figures last year ahead of its ground invasion into Lebanon.

During last year’s war, Tabtabai led Hezbollah’s operations division and rose in rank as other top commanders were eliminated, the Israeli military’s statement said.

Once the ceasefire came into force, Tabtabai was appointed chief of staff and “worked extensively to restore their readiness for war with Israel,” according to the statement.

The Lebanese security source confirmed Tabtabai was swiftly promoted as other top Hezbollah officials were killed, and had been appointed chief of staff over the last year.

The Alma Center, a security research and teaching organization in Israel, said Tabtabai had survived other Israeli attacks both in Syria and during the war in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and senior ministry officials will present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Sunday with the state budget and planned structural reforms for 2026, Smotrich’s office said.

“The Finance Minister will present to the Prime Minister the necessary measures to ensure continued economic growth and to combat the high cost of living,” it said.

It added that cabinet ministers would vote on the budget on Dec. 4 but it is unlikely the budget would be approved by year end.

According to Israeli law, the budget must be approved by parliament by the end of March or new elections are triggered.

Its final approval faces an uphill battle that could ultimately lead to new elections.

The government has splintered in the past two years over the Gaza war, the ceasefire which has halted it and demands by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to exempt Jewish seminary students from mandatory military service.

Palestinian women look out of a window near the site of Saturday’s Israeli strike in the Central Gaza Strip, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

A senior Hamas delegation met Egypt’s intelligence chief in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the ceasefire agreement and the situation in Gaza, the group said, as both Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group continue to trade accusations of truce violations.

Egypt, Qatar and the US have been mediating between Hamas and Israel, securing the ceasefire that came into effect last month.

In a statement, the group said it reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in its meeting with Egypt’s intelligence chief, but accused Israel of “continued violations” that it said threatened to undermine the deal.

Hamas, whose delegation included its exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya, called for a “clear and defined mechanism” under the supervision of mediators to document and halt any breaches of the deal.

The movement said it also discussed with Egypt ways to urgently resolve the issue of Hamas members in Rafah tunnels, adding that communication with them had been cut off.

Reuters reported earlier this month that mediators were trying to address the fate of a group of Hamas fighters holed up in tunnel networks in Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the country’s military killed five senior Hamas members on Saturday after a fighter was sent into Israeli-controlled Gaza territory to attack Israeli soldiers there.