The Israeli military has disclosed that it is on “very high alert” along the country’s northern border with Lebanon and will “respond to every event” on the border.
Fighting between the Hezbollah group and the Israeli army on the Israel-Lebanon border has intensified as Israel continues to bombard Gaza.
Since the October 7 attack from Hamas, Hezbollah has repeatedly said that it would be monitoring the situation and would only get involved if it felt it needed to.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has already warned Hezbollah against opening a second war front with Israel, saying that doing so would bring Israeli counter-strikes of “unimaginable” magnitude that would wreak devastation upon Lebanon.
The Israeli military also announced on Friday, November 3, 2023, that its war planes, artillery and navy struck Hamas targets overnight, killing several militants including Mustafa Dalul, a Hamas commander it said had directed fighting in Gaza.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.
In one Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, a local journalist working for the official Palestine TV and at least nine of his immediate family were killed in their house, relatives and health officials said.
Additionally, the Israeli army revealed that it arrested 37 people, including 17 Hamas members, in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank.
In an overnight military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, the army said that they confronted Palestinian fighters and killed “several” of them.
In Nablus, Israeli forces said that they destroyed the apartment of Hamas member Khaled Harusha who they accused of having participated in a shooting in February where two Israelis were killed in the Palestinian town of Huwara.
The Israeli army also said that it confiscated weapons in al-Fawwar and Qalandiya refugee camps, and in the Turmus Aya village.
It added that since October 7, about 1,260 people have been arrested across the occupied Palestinian territories, including suspected 760 Hamas members.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that its troops and tanks were encountering mines and booby traps as they advanced in Gaza.
Israel said it has lost 23 soldiers in the offensive.
Abu Ubaida, Spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, said in a televised speech that Israel’s death toll in Gaza was much higher.
“Your soldiers will return in black bags,” he said.
Hezbollah leader to speak on Friday afternoon
Hezbollah Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, is slated to make a highly anticipated speech.
His speech will break weeks of silence on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. It also comes in the wake of a rise in violence on Israel’s northern border.
Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it had simultaneously attacked 19 positions in Israel that evening. The clashes have so far been mostly contained to the frontier, and Hezbollah has used only a fraction of the firepower that Nasrallah has been threatening with Israel for years.
According to some estimates, about 50 Hezbollah fighters have died since October 7 in exchanges in which it has tried to target Israeli positions with anti-tank missiles.
U.S National Security Spokesperson, John Kirby said of Nasrallah’s speech, “I don’t believe we’ve seen any indication yet specifically that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force. So we’ll see what he has to say.”
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