IDF says it struck terror targets in Lebanon and Gaza amid ceasefires
Military says it hit Hezbollah sites in the north, and suspects planting bombs and engaging in other malign activities in the Strip
The Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes on Friday night in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted Hezbollah military sites. It also struck several suspects in Gaza that it said were acting against Israeli forces.
In Lebanon, the army said it hit a Hezbollah operative and sites used to store weapons and rocket launchers, adding that the strikes were carried out due to the threat they posed to Israel.
The operative was “involved in the rehabilitation of terror infrastructure and directing Hezbollah terror operations in southern Lebanon,” the military said.
“The weapons and the rocket launchers in the military sites posed a threat to the State of Israel and constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF said.
Lebanese media showed the results of an Israeli strike on a car between the southern Lebanon towns of Khirbet Selm and al-Jumayjimah. One person was reported killed and another seriously injured.
The strikes came days after the army carried out a drone strike in the Tyre area of Lebanon, saying it killed a Hezbollah commander involved in advancing attacks against Israel amid the ceasefire. The commander, Haidar Hashem, was responsible for the naval forces in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, according to the military.
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In northern Gaza on Friday night, the IDF said it carried out a drone strike targeting a group of suspects planting a bomb near Israeli troops.
Palestinian media report two dead in the strike in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood.
Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border amid the ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
On Saturday, the IDF said it detected and tracked a drone flying from Israel into the southern Gaza Strip overnight. In the morning, after the device was picked up by suspects in southern Gaza, an Israeli Air Force drone carried out an airstrike against them, the army said.
According to Palestinian media, two people were killed in the strike.
Also on Saturday, the IDF announced that a tree-planting event planned for Monday morning near the Gaza border had been called off following a fresh assessment of the security situation.
The event by the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) near Be’eri was to dedicate a new forest commemorating those killed during the October 7 onslaught and in the war. Hundreds of bereaved families were set to participate. The event had already been postponed by the IDF once last month.
The military said that there were no other changes to the civilian guidelines.
In recent weeks, there have been several attempts to smuggle contraband into the Gaza Strip, with the IDF saying suspects on the Israeli side load up drones with weapons or drugs and fly them over the border.
The strikes in Lebanon and Gaza come amid ceasefires on both war fronts, but Israel has said it will continue to act against terror operatives who are in breach of the truces and who pose a threat to its forces.
A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops. The fighting came after the terror group opened fire on the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, in support of ally Hamas, which had invaded Israel from Gaza a day earlier. The persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.
Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and threatening Israel.
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that began on January 19, which has seen 33 Israelis returned. They are now in talks to extend it, though Jerusalem has warned it could soon resume fighting if Hamas does not continue to release hostages.
Agencies contributed to this report.
