Israel says it will target Hezbollah's financial arm, announces imminent attacks
Israel's military announced Sunday it will now take aim at the Lebanon-based Hezbollah's financial arm and plans to attack a "large number of targets" in the coming hours in Beirut and elsewhere.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said they will issue evacuation warnings for people in parts of Beirut, and "anyone who will be near the sites used to finance Hezbollah's terrorist activity is required to stay away from them immediately."
The strikes will target al-Qard al-Hassan "all over Lebanon," a senior Israeli intelligence official said. Al-Qard al-Hassan is a unit in Hezbollah that's used to pay operatives of the Iran-backed militant group and help buy arms, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with army regulations.
The registered nonprofit, sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, provides financial services and is also used by ordinary Lebanese.
The scope of the new Israeli evacuation warnings was not immediately clear.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on multiple homes in northern Gaza overnight and into Sunday morning left at least 87 people dead or missing, the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
It said another 40 people were wounded in the strikes on the town of Beit Lahiya, which was among Israel's first targets nearly a year ago.
Israel has been carrying out a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for the last two weeks, saying Hamas has regrouped there. Palestinian officials say hundreds of people have been killed and that the health sector in the north is on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is urging Israel to press for a cease-fire in Gaza following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week. Neither Israel nor Hamas has shown any renewed interest in such a deal. Months of negotiations led by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar sputtered to a halt in August.
Iran supports Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where a year of escalating tensions boiled over last month. Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon at the start of October.
On Saturday, a drone targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house, causing no casualties, as part of a barrage of incoming projectiles across the country's northern border. It wasn't clear if the house was hit.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had a call with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Saturday, the Pentagon said in a statement, during which they discussed "regional security developments" including the recent deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system. During the call, Austin told Gallant that he was "relieved" Netanyahu was safe after the drone attack.
Former President Donald Trump said during a rally on Saturday that he spoke with Netanyahu.
In a statement to CBS News, the prime minister's office confirmed the conversation took place and said Netanyahu "reiterated what he has also said publicly: Israel takes into account the issues the U.S. administration raises, but in the end, will make its decisions based on its national interests."
Israel has meanwhile ramped up strikes on southern neighborhoods of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, a crowded residential area. Hezbollah has a strong presence there, but it is also home to large numbers of civilians and people unaffiliated with the militant group.
Austin has called civilian casualties in Lebanon "far too high" in the Israel-Hezbollah war and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
There was no immediate comment on the strikes in Beit Lahiya from the Israeli military, which said it was "continuing to operate across Gaza in both aerial strikes and ground operations."
Among the dead were two parents and their four children, and a woman, her son and her daughter-in-law and their four children, according to Raheem Kheder, a medic. He said the strike flattened a multi-story building and at least four neighboring houses.
Doctors Without Borders, the international charity known by its French acronym MSF, called on Israeli forces "to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in North Gaza" after the Health Ministry said Israeli troops had fired on two hospitals over the weekend.
The military said it was operating near one of the hospitals but had not fired directly at it, and that it was looking into the other incident.
"The ever-worsening escalation of violence and non-stop Israeli military operations that we have been witnessing over the past two weeks in northern Gaza have horrifying consequences," said Anna Halford, an emergency coordinator for MSF.
"When hospitals are attacked, their infrastructure destroyed, and the electricity cut off, the lives of patients and medical staff are under threat."
The north has already suffered the heaviest destruction of the war and has been encircled by Israeli forces since late last year, following the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Most of the population fled last year, but around 400,000 people are believed to have remained in the north.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.