Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded defiant as he vowed that his country would "win this war" after an attack drone reportedly crashed near a home he owns in the Israeli coastal town of Caesarea.
An Israeli government spokesman accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of launching the drone and targeting the Israeli leader. The home is one of Netanyahu's private residences, while his official residence is in Jerusalem.
The spokesman told dpa that neither Netanyahu nor his wife were at the residence at the time of the attack, without providing further details on the exact location of the strike.
Bloody fighting involving Israeli forces as well as Israeli airstrikes continued in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The Israeli military said numerous Hezbollah fighters were killed in southern Lebanon, while numerous airstrikes shook the suburbs of Beirut.
The fighting was continuing despite hopes expressed by some world leaders in recent days that Israel's recent killing of Yehya al-Sinwar, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, could be used as an opportunity to pressure Israel and Hamas to finally end the devastating conflict in Gaza.
Hezbollah, a potent political and military force in Lebanon which is allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has been attacking northern Israel almost daily since the start of the Gaza war in October last year.
Over the past few months, Israeli forces also killed al-Sinwar's predecessor as Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and the long-time head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah announced a "new phase of escalation" after news of al-Sinwar's death.
Airstrikes around Beirut, fighting in Lebanon
The Lebanese news agency NNA reported that the Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik was hit by a series of airstrikes, with images showing large clouds of smoke rising from the densely populated area.
An Israeli military spokesman had previously called on the residents of Haret Hreik to flee the area.
Haret Hreik is part of Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, which have historically been a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militia. The adjacent neighbourhood of Bourj al-Barajneh and the city of Shuwayfat were also reportedly shaken by explosions.
Israel last attacked the neighbourhood three days ago. Many of the residents of the densely populated residential area have already fled from Israeli strikes.
Further Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, including in a mainly Christian northern suburb of Beirut that had not previously been targeted left a number of others dead, according to Lebanese reports.
In fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said Hezbollah's deputy commander in the Bint Jbeil area, Nasser Abed al-Aziz, was among those killed during fighting near the shared border on Saturday.
Israeli ground troops supported by the air force also killed numerous fighters and unearthed weapons depots of the Iranian-backed militia, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added.
The information could not immediately be independently verified.
Fighting continues in Gaza
In the Gaza Strip, there was fierce fighting in both the southern city of Rafah and in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to both the IDF and Palestinian reports.
Arabic-language leaflets dropped by the IDF on Gaza said those who lay down their arms and hand over the hostages kidnapped from Israel will not be harmed, and also included a photo of al-Sinwar's body, according to people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis who spoke to dpa by telephone.
Netanyahu made a similar appeal on Thursday, while also threatening to "settle the score" with anyone who harmed the hostages.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Saturday at least 30 dead and at least 50 injured in Jabalia due to Israeli attacks overnight. Palestinian sources said that all three hospitals there had been forced to cease operations by the latest attacks.
Israeli tanks have also taken up positions around the Indonesian Hospital, added Munir al-Borsh from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas.
The IDF said Israeli troops killed several "terrorists" in operations in both Jabalia and Rafah.
Since the Gaza war began more than a year ago, over 42,000 people have already been killed, according to Palestinian sources.
These figures, which cannot be independently verified, are considered largely credible, and according to the United Nations, most of the deceased are women and children.
Conditions for civilians still holding out in Jabalia are appalling, reports said. The dead and injured often cannot be retrieved for a long time due to the fighting. In addition, there is hardly any food or clean drinking water left.
Many people have ignored the Israeli military's call to go south because they fear they would also be attacked there.
Iran not giving in, supreme leader says
Iran, too, vowed to continue the fight against its arch-enemy, two days after Israel announced its forces had killed al-Sinwar in southern Gaza following a year-long manhunt.
Al-Sinwar's death was "painful, but the Axis of Resistance [against Israel] will live on and continue the fight," Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on his official website on Saturday.
Al-Sinwar was a colourful personality of the resistance, "who has now ascended to the heaven of martyrs," Khamenei said.
The slain Hamas leader is considered the mastermind behind the massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead and triggered the current Gaza war.
Experts see the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as a bitter setback for Iran, which is closely allied with both Islamist groups.
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