With the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar, Benjamin Netanyahu said he saw the “beginning of the end” of the war. But as the hours pass, hope fades. Hezbollah has even made it known that it intends to “step up a gear”.
The essentials
- Israel announced Thursday, October 17, that it had eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar during an Israeli army operation targeting a building in the Gaza Strip. “Mass murderer Yahya Sinouar, responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, has been eliminated,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a press statement. The body of the Palestinian militia leader has been identified.
- For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the death of the Hamas leader could mark “the beginning of the end” of the war waged for more than a year in Gaza against the Islamic organization after the October 7 attack. “This does not mean the end of the war in Gaza, but the beginning of the end,” he said on the night of Thursday to Friday.
- On the ground, Hezbollah announced it was moving “up a gear” in its war with Israel this Friday. The pro-Iranian movement has been firing missiles or rockets at the Jewish state for more than a year.
Latest updates
23:28 – Yahya Sinouar’s bodyguard killed in Gaza, says Israel
END OF LIVE – While Turkey presented its condolences to Hamas after the death of its leader, the Israeli army announced this Friday evening that it had killed the man responsible for protecting Yahya Sinouar. According to the IDF, the bodyguard died during a clash that occurred not far from the place where the Hamas boss died on Wednesday.
22:06 – “Suspicious air target” from Syria intercepted by Israel
The IDF, the Israeli army, confirmed the information from Hezbollah this Friday evening, indicating that new rocket attacks had been carried out from Lebanon. Some of them were intercepted in the north of the Jewish state. “The rest fell in an open area,” the Israeli army said. The IDF also reported a “suspicious aerial target” coming from Syria. She too could have been intercepted before arriving on the territory.
20:32 – The common call to “immediately” end the war in Gaza from Biden, Macron, Scholz and Starmer
In a joint statement, the American and French presidents, as well as the British Prime Minister and the German Chancellor, call this Friday evening, at the end of a meeting held in Berlin, to “end the war in Gaza and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the civilian population. They also once again condemned “the escalation of Iran’s attacks against Israel”.
19:12 – Hezbollah claims new rocket attacks in Israel
On Telegram, Lebanese Hezbollah claimed responsibility this Friday evening for rocket fire targeting the north of the city of Haifa, itself located in the north of the Hebrew state. In the process, a second message reached us, this time indicating that the coastal town of nearly 280,000 inhabitants had also been targeted.
17:44 – Yahya Sinouar’s death is an “opportunity”, says British Prime Minister
This Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that the death of the Hamas leader was an “opportunity” to move towards a ceasefire. Like the latest statements from Joe Biden and several Western leaders. He also recalled another objective: the release of hostages and better access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. He also discussed the subject with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, in particular, from Berlin.
17:08 – Hezbollah claims drone attack in Israel
Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues this Friday. Lebanese Hezbollah announced it had launched attack drones on soldiers in the northern Israeli town of Safed in a statement. The group also announces that this attack, which targeted “gatherings of soldiers” in the city, comes “in response to attacks by the Israeli enemy on villages” in southern Lebanon.
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42,500. This is the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist offensive on October 7, 2023 in Israel. A figure communicated by the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government on Monday October 14, 2024 and which reveals the intensity of the fighting which has lasted for more than a year now. Over the months, tensions intensified, and as of October 27, 2023, Israel extended its ground operation to Gaza. The objective for Netanyahu and the IDF is clear: to “annihilate” Hamas. A one-week ceasefire nevertheless took place in November 2023. After a significant leap forward, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first massive attack on Israel. Hamas ally, Iran then fired nearly 350 explosive drones and missiles at the Jewish state. An attack in response to missiles fired at the embassy in Damascus, Syria on April 1, in which 11 people lost their lives, including seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tuesday September 17, 2024, a new kind of attack broke into the war. Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies explode. Twelve deaths and nearly 3,000 injured have been recorded in Lebanon. Since its coordinated explosions, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon with air or ground raids. More than 1,000 people are killed in IDF strikes and thousands of Lebanese are forced to be displaced. On October 1, 2024, Iran responded by sending nearly 200 ballistic missiles directly to Israel. Since then, the two countries have been waging a merciless war. On October 8, 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, threatened Lebanon with “destruction and suffering like those we see in Gaza” if the population of the country does not ” “liberated” not from Hezbollah. Comments described as “provocation” by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Monday October 14, 2024, Lebanese Hezbollah threatened Israel with new attacks in a press release. As a reminder, Hezbollah had struck Haifa two days earlier, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring no fewer than 60. At the start of the week, the terrorist organization indicated that “the resistance (…) promises the enemy”. The raid carried out “south of Haifa is only a foretaste of what awaits him if he decides to continue his attacks against our people”, she threatens. According to Palestinian doctors cited by Associated Press, the courtyard of a hospital in the Gaza Strip was then bombed by the Israeli army, killing at least four people and causing a fire in a camp for displaced people.
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