Jerusalem:

Israel said on Sunday that Hamas had violated a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect one week ago and has so far resulted in the release of seven hostages and dozens of Palestinian prisoners.

“During the execution of the second phase of the swap yesterday, Hamas committed two violations. Arbel Yehud, a civilian hostage who was scheduled for release on Saturday, has not been freed, and the detailed list of all hostages’ statuses has not been provided,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

1. On Saturday night, Hezbollah fired at least 10 missiles into northern towns and cities of Israel’s Jezreel Valley, the Times of Israel reported. This was the deepest incursion by Hezbollah rockets into Israeli territory since the conflict began in early October. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted most of the missiles, but one man in his 60s suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.
2. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the missile barrage and stated that it had aimed at the Ramat David Airbase. Located 50 km from the Lebanon border, the airbase is a key strategic site for the Israeli Air Force. 
3. In response, Israeli jets carried out a series of retaliatory strikes across southern Lebanon. The IDF reported that its airstrikes targeted at least 110 Hezbollah positions, including rocket launchers and operational facilities. The IDF claims it successfully disrupted Hezbollah’s preparations for further rocket launches.
4. The IDF stated that their Saturday afternoon air raids hit approximately 290 Hezbollah sites, including thousands of rocket launcher barrels, as part of their strategy to dismantle Hezbollah’s rocket-firing capabilities. These preemptive strikes were launched to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch large-scale attacks on Israeli territory.
5. The intensification of Israeli airstrikes follows Hezbollah’s earlier attack on Israeli military targets, including seven positions in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Israel’s military reported that Hezbollah had fired about 90 rockets at Israeli forces during these engagements.
6. In addition to military targets, Israel conducted an airstrike on southern Beirut, killing senior Hezbollah commanders. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the strike left 37 people dead. Among those killed were three children and seven women. Hezbollah confirmed that Ibrahim Aqil, the head of its elite Radwan Force, and other high-ranking commanders were among the dead. 
7. Following the loss of its commanders, Hezbollah vowed retaliation. Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, another high-ranking Hezbollah commander, was also killed in the same Israeli strike. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the attack, calling it an act of war, and promised retribution against Israel.
8. The United Nations has expressed concern over the situation, calling for “maximum restraint” from all parties. Germany and other nations have urged an immediate de-escalation. International mediators, particularly from the United States, are working to prevent the Israel-Hezbollah conflict from spiralling into a regional war.
9. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of the country’s war objectives, including the return of northern Israeli residents, who have been forced to evacuate due to Hezbollah’s attacks. Netanyahu said the military’s focus was on dismantling Hezbollah’s ability to pose a threat to Israel’s northern borders, stating that the country’s actions speak for themselves.
10. Amid the heightened conflict, the US State Department has issued an advisory for American citizens in Lebanon, urging them to leave the country while commercial flights are still available. The US raised its travel advisory for Lebanon in July following another Israeli strike that killed a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Iran held funeral processions on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh after he was killed in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel.

The Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead the prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Doha, having earlier threatened a “harsh punishment” for his killing.

ALSO READ: What does Haniyeh’s death mean for Israel-Iran rivalry?

In the capital’s city centre, mourning crowds carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags gathered at Tehran University on Thursday morning, according to an AFP correspondent.

Haniyeh’s death was announced the day before by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who said he and his bodyguard were killed in a strike on their accommodation in the Iranian capital at 2.00 a.m. on Wednesday.

It came just hours after Israel targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, sending fears of a wider regional war soaring.

Israel has declined to comment on the Tehran strike.

Our duty to seek revenge: Khamenei

Khamenei, who has the final say in Iran’s political affairs, said after Haniyeh’s death that it was “our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The Hamas leader was in Tehran for the inauguration ceremony of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

The Iranian president said Wednesday that “the Zionists (Israel) will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act”.

Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk also vowed retaliation, saying: “The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered.”

The international community, however, called for de-escalation and a focus on securing a ceasefire in Gaza.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the strikes in Tehran and Beirut represented a “dangerous escalation”.

All efforts, he said, should be “leading to a ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Wednesday that a ceasefire in Gaza was still the “imperative”, with White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later adding that the twin killings “don’t help” regional tensions.

Truce talks threatened

From the early hours of Wednesday, crowds took to the streets in cities across Iran and the Middle East to condemn Haniyeh’s killing, with hundreds gathering in Tehran’s Palestine Square to chant “Death to Israel, Death to America”.

The Islamic republic has not yet published any information on the exact location of the strike.

While Iran has blamed the attack on its arch-foe, Israel has declined to comment on Haniyeh’s death. It did, however, claim the killing of Shukr, whom it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

The killings come with regional tensions already inflamed by the war in Gaza, a conflict that has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

One of those groups, Yemen’s Huthi rebels, “declared three days of mourning” for Haniyeh, with political leader Mahdi al-Mashat expressing “condolences to the Palestinian people and Hamas” over his killing, according to the group’s Saba news agency.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, meanwhile, spoke by phone after the attack with his acting Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri to discuss “the latest developments in the region”.

The UN Security Council also convened an emergency meeting Wednesday at Iran’s request to discuss the strike, with Tehran’s envoy Amir Saeid Iravani urging members to take “immediate action to ensure accountability for these violations of international law”.

Hamas has for months been indirectly negotiating a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange deal with Israel, with Egypt, Qatar and the United States facilitating the talks.

Analysts told AFP that Haniyeh was a moderating influence within the Islamist group, and that while he would be replaced, the dynamics within Hamas could change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack that ignited war in Gaza.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,445 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The prime minister of key ceasefire broker Qatar said Haniyeh’s killing had thrown the whole mediation process into doubt.

“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in a post on social media site X.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood votes against resolution during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, on April 18, 2024
| Photo Credit: AP

Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned on April 19 the U.S. veto that ended a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership.

“Hamas condemns the American veto at the Security Council of the draft resolution granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations,” the Gaza Strip rulers said in a statement, which comes amid growing international concern over the toll inflicted by the war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Iran-Israel Crisis updates April 19, 2024

The veto by Israel’s main ally and military backer had been expected ahead of the vote, which took place more than six months into Israel’s offensive in Gaza, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants.

Twelve countries voted in favour of the draft resolution, which was introduced by Algeria and “recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”. Britain and Switzerland abstained.

New Delhi:

Climate activist Greta Thunberg’s support for Gaza has drawn a sharp response from Israel. On Friday, Greta posted a picture on X, formerly Twitter, in which four activists, including herself, held placards expressing solidarity with Palestine and Gaza.

Reacting to Ms Thunberg’s post, Israel, through its official X handle, took a dig at the climate activist saying that Hamas doesn’t use sustainable materials for their rockets, “which have butchered innocent Israelis”.

“The victims of the Hamas massacre could have been your friends. Speak up,” the post added

Israel also used pictures of three 19-year-old Israelis, who were killed allegedly in a Hamas attack.

.@GretaThunberg, Hamas doesn’t use sustainable materials for their rockets which have BUTCHERED innocent Israelis .

The victims of the Hamas massacre could have been your friends.

Speak up. https://t.co/giHNJxeF6Npic.twitter.com/Z4orsm2UjD

— Israel ישראל ???????? (@Israel) October 20, 2023

The response came after Ms Thunberg, in her post, was seen with a placard that read, “Stand with Gaza.”

Another activist called for a “Free Palestine,” while two other women held placards with messages, “This Jew supports Palestine” and “Climate justice now!”

“Week 270. Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected,” Greta Thunberg wrote in the caption.

Week 270. Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.#FreePalestine#IStandWithPalestine#StandWithGaza#FridaysForFuture
Thread???? pic.twitter.com/0hVtya0yWO

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) October 20, 2023

Some users, however, came to Ms Thunberg’s defense. They pointed out that her expression of support was for Gaza, not necessarily for Hamas. One user wrote, “Your subconscious and true ideals leaked. She said Gaza, not Hamas. This says a lot. good luck editing this next.”

your subconscious and true ideals leaked. she said gaza, not hamas. this says a lot. good luck editing this next.

— ashen ???? (@notashenone) October 20, 2023

Another person accused Israel of “playing the victim card.” 

Stop playing the victim card

— — GEROMAN — time will tell – ???? — (@GeromanAT) October 21, 2023

A user accused Israel of similar actions and brought up concerns about the environmental sustainability of the air and watercraft used by the IDF in the context of restricting movement and impacting Palestinians in the region. “The air and watercrafts used by the IDF to restrict movement and BUTCHER innocent Palestinians in the largest open-air prison for 75 years aren’t made of sustainable materials,” read the comment.

Ms Thunberg’s statement came 270 weeks after she initiated her Friday school strike, which later ignited the global school strikes movement.

Oh I can do this too.

The air and watercrafts used by the IDF to restrict movement and BUTCHER innocent Palestinians in the largest open air prison for 75 years aren’t made of sustainable materials.

— Talia Jane ‍???? (@taliaotg) October 20, 2023

The United Nations revealed that in just 10 days, around 4,200 people have lost their lives and more than a million people have been forced to leave their homes due to the Israel-Hamas war.