JERUSALEM (AP) — Air raid sirens were activated on Saturday to alert of fire coming from Lebanon. The army said dozens of projectiles were launched. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that a drone targeted his residence in the coastal city of Caesarea, although neither the prime minister nor his wife were in the property.
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In addition to the drone launched against Netanyahu's private residence, the Israeli army said that by Saturday morning about 180 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon.
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A 50-year-old man died after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel, and four people were injured, according to Israeli medical services.
In Kiryat Ata, a city in the northern part of the country, the air raid sirens were sounding as residents ran for shelter and intercepted missiles exploded in the sky. A projectile fell in the area and AP journalists saw burnt vehicles and damage to a building. Itzik Billet, commander of the Haifa area, said that nine people reported minor injuries.
The fire department stated that they were working to extinguish several fires caused by missiles in the Shlomi area, less than a kilometer (mile) from the border with Lebanon.
Israel's war against Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and with the backing of Iran, has intensified in recent weeks. The militia announced on Friday that it planned to start a new phase in the fighting by launching more guided missiles and explosive drones into Israeli territory.
Israel attacks Gaza while Hamas refuses to release the hostages
The confrontation between Israel and Hamas, who have been fighting in Gaza for over a year, also continues and both sides are reluctant to end the war after the death of the leader of the insurgent group, Yahya Sinwar, this week.
On Friday, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that his passing was a painful loss, but emphasized that Hamas has continued on despite the losses of other leaders before him. "Hamas is alive and will remain alive," Khamenei stated.
Since Israel announced the death of Sinwar on Thursday and a high-ranking political official from the group confirmed it on Friday, Hamas has reiterated its position that the hostages it captured in Israel a year ago will not be released unless there is a ceasefire in the Strip and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. Their stance was in response to a statement by Netanyahu in which he indicated that his army will continue to fight until the hostages are released and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming.
Sinwar was the main architect of the Hamas assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and about 250 were kidnapped.
More incidents were reported in Gaza on Saturday. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that Israeli attacks reached the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and that troops opened fire in the building and courtyard, causing panic among patients and staff at the center.
At the Awda hospital in Jabaliya, in the northern part of the besieged enclave, the attacks also reached the upper floors and injured several workers, the center said in a statement.
Three homes in Jabaliya were attacked during the night and there were at least 30 dead, more than half of them women and children, said Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ambulance and emergency service at the Ministry of Health.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, at least 10 people lost their lives, including two children, when a house was hit in the town of Zawayda, according to the Martyrs of al-Aqsa hospital, where the victims were taken. Another operation killed 11 people from the same family in the Maghazi refugee camp, the center added.