Netanyahu residence targeted as Hezbollah launches barrage at Israel

Israel said a drone targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched a barrage of projectiles into Israel from its northern neighbour Lebanon.

On the southern front, Israel hammered Gaza with air strikes, with an overnight raid on Jabalia in the north killing 33 people, according to the besieged civil defence agency.

Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister and his wife were not at their residence in the central town of Caesarea during the drone attack and there were no injuries.

Earlier, the military said a drone launched from Lebanon had “hit a structure” in Caesarea.

Sirens blared across Israel throughout the morning as Hezbollah fired projectiles from various locations in Lebanon.

The Iran-backed group said it launched a large salvo of advanced rockets at a military base in Israel’s Haifa region.

A man in the northern Israeli port city of Acre died after being struck by shrapnel, the Magen David Adom emergency service said, while shrapnel also wounded five people in the Haifa city of Kiryat Ata.

Late last month Israel ramped up air strikes on Lebanon and deployed ground forces after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges.

Netanyahu said that while Sinwar’s killing did not spell the end of the war, it was “the beginning of the end”.

US President Joe Biden, along with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain, urged “the immediate necessity to bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians”.

In August, Netanyahu called Sinwar “the only obstacle to a hostage deal”.

Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of killed hostage Yoram Metzger, said with Sinwar dead it was “unacceptable” that hostages remained in captivity.

An Israeli autopsy found Sinwar was initially wounded in the arm by shrapnel, but killed by a gunshot to the head, the New York Times reported. The circumstances of the shot remain unclear.

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