The Israeli military carried out air strikes throughout southern Lebanon on Sunday, as Hezbollah responded with a significant drone and rocket assault.
The Lebanese group stated that this offensive was in direct retaliation for the Israeli military’s assassination of its senior commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut earlier in July.
The escalation marks a sharp increase in hostilities between the two sides, rooted in long-standing tensions, particularly following Shukr’s killing, which Hezbollah views as a major provocation.
Israel said it had thwarted a large-scale Hezbollah attack, saying that its fighter jets had destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers “aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel.”
The Iran-backed Lebanese group countered that Israel was making “empty claims” of having thwarted an attack, and said its own operation for Sunday “was completed and accomplished”.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported at least one dead in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the country’s south. No casualties were immediately reported in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces carried out five massacres across the the Gaza Strip over the past 48 hours, according to the territory’s health ministry.
These attacks resulted in 69 deaths and 212 injuries, with the victims being treated at local hospitals.
As Israeli tanks and bulldozers pushed forward into the central city of Deir el-Balah, over 100,000 residents were forced to flee their homes within a span of two days.
At least 40,405 people have been killed and 93,468 others injured in the Gaza Strip since the onset of Israel’s war.
