Israel strikes central Beirut as IDF announces ‘elimination’ of Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza months ago

Israel continues its operation in Lebanon on Thursday, days after an Iranian missile attack against Israel and a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, for which Hamas has claimed responsibility.

An Israeli air strike targeted “the intelligence headquarters of the terrorist organization Hezbollah” in central Beirut, according to a post on X by the Israeli Air Force, a branch of Israel’s military. The post was written in Hebrew and translated to English.

A building targeted by the air strike was in Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood, the Times of Israel reported, which is less than a 15 minute walk from the Lebanese Parliament. There were at least six deaths reported, according to some media sources, like the Times and NBC News, although the exact number and identities of those killed could not be independently confirmed.

The Israeli air strike in Lebanon comes after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel Wednesday morning, following a missile attack by its ally Iran on Tuesday night.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “big mistake” and said that Iran “will pay for it.”

On Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told CNN that Israel’s response to the Iranian attack would be “very strong” and “painful.” However, it would have to be calculated because “we don’t want to see a full war with Iran.”

“We have shown our capabilities when we fought Hamas in Gaza, and we are fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. They better look at what happened in Beirut and in Gaza before they start a war with us,” said Danon.

On Thursday morning, the Israeli military confirmed they killed terrorist Aziz Salha, who lynched two Israeli soldiers in October 2000.

The soldiers, Sergeant First Class (Res.) Yosef Avrahami and Corporal (Res.) Vadim Norzhich, had inadvertently ended up in city of Ramallah in the West Back, which was controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the Times of Israel reported.

Salha took part in their “brutal lynching,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. He became the subject of an infamous photograph, in which he is shown holding up his bloodied hands in the window of a police station, where the soldiers were killed.

Salha was detained in 2001 and exiled to Gaza in 2011, the Times reported, when Israel exchanged more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit was captured by Hamas and held as a prisoner in Gaza for five years.

After being exiled, Salha was “involved in terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria and remained involved in Hamas terrorist activities,” the IDF said.

Three prominent Hamas leaders were killed roughly three months ago, the IDF and Israel Foreign Ministry announced on X Thursday. The IDF and Israeli Security Agency (ISA) “eliminated” the terrorists in a joint effort.

The head of Hamas in Gaza Rawhi Mushtaha, commander of Hamas’ general security mechanism Sami Oudeh, and Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas’ political bureau and Hamas’ Labor Committee, were fatally struck by Israeli fighter jets, according to a statement by the IDF.

They had been hiding in a “fortified and equipped underground compound in northern Gaza,” the IDF said.

“The compound served as a Hamas command and control center and enabled senior operatives to remain inside of it for extended periods of time.”

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