Live: Strike announced in Israel amid mounting anger at Netanyahu
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A Hezbollah official has said that the group's retaliatory strike for the Israeli assassination of its top commander, Fuad Shukr, on 30 July was "delayed by political considerations", including the continuing ceasefire talks.
In written comments reported by media outlets, the official added that the group had “worked” to ensure its response would not trigger a full-scale war.
Yemen's Houthi group has hailed Hezbollah's retaliatory strikes on Israel as a "powerful and effective response" and congratulated the group for reaffirming that "the resistance is capable, steadfast, and sincere in its promises and threats".
The Houthis' political bureau said in a statement that "the Yemeni response is inevitably coming, and the coming days and nights and the battlefield will prove this”.
Lebanon's Hezbollah has said in a statement on Telegram that two of its members were killed in the wave of Israeli strikes this morning.
The European Hospital has restarted operations after shutting down for 50 days amid Israeli attacks, the enclave's health ministry has reported.
A delegation chaired by Dr Mohammed Zaqout, the director-general of hospitals at the ministry, assessed the readiness of emergency, radiology, pharmacy, catheterisation, cardiology, paediatric and administrative departments.
We reported earlier that an Israeli air strike had targeted an apartment near the al-Oyoun intersection west of Gaza City, killing several Palestinians and injuring others.
The Palestinian Civil Defence has reported that its emergency teams recovered the bodies of three members of the al-Saloul family from the apartment following the attack.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has announced the launch of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza for over 640,000 children under 10 years old. The campaign will be conducted in coordination with WHO, Unicef and other partners, the agency said.
In a post on X, the agency said Unicef was bringing 1.2bn doses of polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV) to Gaza.
Today, @UNICEF is bringing 1.2 million doses of polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV) to #Gaza. With @WHO, @UNRWA and other partners, we plan to vaccinate more than 640,000 children. #ForEveryChild, Health. pic.twitter.com/NtbnzReUXI
— UNICEF Palestine (@UNICEFpalestine) August 25, 2024
Israeli settlers have established a new outpost south west of Jericho, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources.
According to the sources, settlers stormed the Deir Quruntal area and set up a tent.
Last Thursday, settlers set up another outpost near the al-Auja spring, north of Jericho, according to Wafa.
As of the end of June, 17 settler outposts have been established on Palestinian territories since the beginning of 2024, with 11 of these having been approved by the authorities.
Hamas has praised Hezbollah's "strong and focused" retaliatory attacks on Israeli positions, saying it was a "slap in the face" for Tel Aviv.
In a statement, the group condemned Israel's attacks on Lebanon as a “blatant violation of all international charters and norms", adding that Hezbollah's retaliation sent a message that Tel Aviv's “terrorism and crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples will not pass without a response, and will not achieve its goals and aggressive plans".
At least 19 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern and central Gaza, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.
They reported that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Araba area north of Rafah city.
Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Telegram that its fighters detonated explosives in tunnels near military sites east of Deir el-Balah, killing and wounding several Israeli soldiers.
At least 40,405 people have been killed and another 93,468 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October, the enclave's health ministry is reporting.
It added that, of that figure, 71 Palestinians had been killed and 112 wounded in the last 24 hours.
Israel has banned coverage of damage inflicted by Hezbollah strikes this morning, the Telegraph is reporting.
The government issued a censorship decree on Sunday requiring reporters to obtain permission before publishing “damage caused by rocket attacks to strategic national infrastructure or to military bases” to avoid “harm to Israeli forces on the ground”.
Israeli forces said that their initial assessments of the targeted sites had found "very little damage" from the attacks.
According to a BBC report, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to produce evidence that rockets hit targets in Israel.
The Israeli military has destroyed almost 70 percent of the buildings during its incursion into Hamad City in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, an area made up of residential blocks.
“Hamad City is almost a distress area, close to 70 percent of the buildings are destroyed. Our crews are hoping to recover some of the bodies. But the civil defence crews lack heavy machinery. We really need it in these situations,” Yamen Abu Salaima, a civil defence spokesman in Khan Younis, told Al Jazeera.
"صارت مدينة أشباح.. كانت أجمل مدينة فيكِ يا غزة".. دمار كبير بمدينة حمد بفعل غارات الاحتلال#فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/8jyBMgkFhm
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 24, 2024
Israel's President Isaac Herzog has praised the army's strikes on Hezbollah targets this morning and affirmed the country’s “right and duty to defend itself and its citizens".
“This is once again an opportunity to express our gratitude and support for our daughters and sons in the Israel Defence Forces, as well as in the security, emergency, and rescue services, for their relentless efforts across all battlefronts,” Herzog said in a post on X.
Several Palestinians have been killed and injured in Israeli shelling targeting areas west of Gaza City, Wafa news agency is reporting.
The agency said, citing eyewitnesses, that Israeli fighter jets targeted a residential block near the al-Oyoun intersection west of Gaza City, resulting in an unconfirmed number of casualties.
