Israel struck the group’s leader

Israeli attacks on the Hezbollah militant group and the death of dozens of women and children in a border village near the southern hemisphere

In a matter of hours, an Israeli air strike killed a family of nine in a Lebanon border village and authorities in Lebanon said they were struggling with a wave of tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Israel spent the week trying to kill Hezbollah’s senior leadership. But an attempt to assassinate Nasrallah — successful or not — would be a major escalation. The US had no warning of the strikes, according to the Pentagon.

Netanyahu said he would continue degrading Hezbollah until Israel achieved it’s goals and that it would dim hopes for a cease-fire.

Hezbollah’s war against Israel in 2006 caused heavy damage to parts of their country, which has now led to fears that a repeat will happen. They fear that Lebanon could be as bad as Gaza because of Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes early Friday, Health Minister Firass Abiad said, bringing the death toll in Lebanon this week to more than 720. He said there were many women and children dead.

Netanyahu’s decision to come to New York and set the record straight: Netanyahu defies calls for a cease-fire at the U.N., as Israel strikes Lebanon

The Israeli premier met with his Dutch counterpart during one of several meetings in New York this week, and raised the proceedings currently underway at the court. Netanyahu insisted during the conversation that the prosecutor’s actions were a political proceeding based on false libels that endanger every democracy, according to his office.

As the Israeli military calls up further reserves close to the northern border and responds to Hezbollah rocket fire with dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon, Netanyahu also remains at the center of a high-profile demand for an arrest warrant against him, issued by the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Danny Danon said the government was pushing for certain terms in any deal. He said outside the Security Council on Friday that they prefer diplomacy over force in the war. “And the goals are to allow the citizens of Israel, 70,000 refugees to move back to their homes. To get Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar brokered the cease-fire in Gaza. This form of obstruction has happened again in the recent cease-fire proposal by the U.S. and France, according to Israeli media outlets.

Critics have often in recent months said that Netanyahu — whose political savvy has helped him survive repeatedly to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister in history — will agree to show negotiating flexibility during private meetings, before issuing public statements that block progress during peace talks.

But his trip had been planned well in advance, and though his arrival in New York for the annual General Assembly had been slightly delayed due to domestic considerations, he told the audience of dignitaries and world leaders that he had “decided to come here and set the record straight.”

Source: Netanyahu defies calls for a cease-fire at the U.N., as Israel strikes Lebanon

Israeli Defense of Israel During the Hamas Attack: The U.N. Report of the Collision at Haret Hreik

Abbas told delegates that Israel did not deserve its U.N. membership, given that its government has, in his words, “exploited” the Oct. 7 The international community considers the Hamas attack in Israel to be war crimes. Israel has denied committing genocide or other war crimes, arguing that it is fighting to defeat militant groups and defend itself from further attacks.

For days, Arab leaders including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had been assailing the behavior of the Israeli military in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

The delegates of the UN left in protest at the start of his address, after he called the UN a swamp of antisemitic bile.

In a fiery speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is “winning” on multiple fronts and would attack Iran and its proxies anywhere in the Middle East, even as Israeli air force jets were preparing to pound a complex of buildings in central Beirut that Israel says serve as a headquarters for the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel had moved thousands of troops toward the border.

The United Nations said the fighting has displaced 211,000 people, including 85,000 now staying in public schools and other shelters. Airstrikes have forced the closing of 20 primary health care centers and the interruption of clean water for 300,000 people.

The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.

Israel didn’t say how many bombs were used or what type they were, but the blast leveled a bigger area than the city block. The Israeli army has in its arsenal 2,000-pound, American-made “Bunker Buster” guided bombs designed specifically for hitting subterranean targets.

Footage showed rescue workers clambering over large slabs of concrete, surrounded by high piles of twisted metal and wreckage. One crater was caused by a car being knocked into it. A stream of residents carrying their belongings were seen fleeing along a main road out of the district.

The Haret Hreik district, which is in the Dahiyeh area of the city, was reduced to rubble by a series of blasts at around nightfall. A wall of billowing black and orange smoke came into the sky as windows were rattled, and houses were shaking 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Lebanon.

Netanyahu told reporters about the blasts after his U.N. address. A military aide whispered into his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing.

Hezbollah and Hamas: the future of the jihadist movement in Lebanon from a high-barrier to the border

The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.

The Health Ministry of Lebanon said six people were killed and 91 were wounded. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war.

Hezbollah has a large number of experienced fighters despite how many commanders it has been killed by Israel, said Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah’s top official. Hezbollah will continue fighting until Israel stops its offensive in Gaza, he said.

People in the giant crowd waved their fists in the air and chanted, “We will never accept humiliation,” as they marched marched behind the three coffins, wrapped in the group’s yellow flag.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah officials and their supporters are still defiant. Not long before the explosions Friday evening, thousands gathered in another part of Beirut’s suburbs for the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier strikes, including the head of the group’s drone unit, Mohammed Surour.

Civil defense workers pulled the bodies of Hiba Ataya and her mother Sabah Olyan from the ruins of a building that was brought down by a strike.

In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.