Israel-Gaza war live: IDF says it is ready for ‘any scenario’ after death of senior Hamas leader | Israel-Gaza war

In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has said that “intensive battles” continue in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, and it claims to have located what it described as a “tunnel shaft” in a school.

On the Telegram messaging app, it wrote:

In Khan Younis, intensive battles against terrorist operatives are continuing. IDF ground troops identified a terrorist that attempted to plant an explosive device on a tank, and directed an IDF aircraft to strike the terrorist and three additional terrorists in the area. Furthermore, in Khan Younis, an IDF fighter jet struck an Islamic Jihad weapons production complex.

The statement also included the claim that “During searches in a school, the troops located a tunnel shaft and photos of weapons,” adding that “in Daraj Tuffah, IDF ground troops identified a terrorist cell operating drones used to observe IDF forces in the area. In coordination with IDF artillery and ground forces, a UAV struck the terrorist cell, and killed them.”

The claims have not been independently verified.

Iran has described the Israeli drone strike that killed the senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri late on Tuesday afternoon in Beirut as a “cowardly terrorist operation”.

The Times of Israel quotes Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, saying:

The Zionist regime has not achieved any of its goals after weeks of war crimes, genocide and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank, despite the direct support of the US.

The evil activity of the terror machine of this terrorist regime in other countries is a real threat to peace and security and a serious alarm for the security of the countries in the region.

He said the attack that killed Arouri inside Lebanon was a “cowardly terrorist operation”.

Israel has confirmed the death of another IDF solider overnight killed in fighting inside the Gaza Strip.

At least 174 Israeli soldiers have now been confirmed dead during the ground operation which began in late October. Local authorities in Gaza say over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed inside the territory by Israel’s military action since 7 October.

The Israeli army has said it is “prepared for any scenario” in the aftermath of a strike in Beirut that killed Hamas’s deputy chief.

The assassination has stoked fears the war in the Gaza could boil over into a wider regional conflict, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

A high-level security official in Lebanon told AFP that Saleh al-Aruri was killed along with his bodyguards in a strike by Israel. A second security official confirmed the information, while Hamas TV also reported Israel had killed Aruri in Lebanon.

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari did not directly comment on the killing, but said afterwards that the military was in “very high state of readiness in all arenas, in defence and offence. We are highly prepared for any scenario.”

The strike adds to widespread fears that the nearly three-month-old Israel-Hamas war could become a wider regional conflagration.

Hamas said Aruri’s death would not lead to its defeat, while its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah vowed the killing would not go unpunished, calling it “a serious assault on Lebanon … and a dangerous development”.

Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the killing and said it “aims to draw Lebanon” further into the war.

It has just gone 9am in Tel Aviv and Gaza. Welcome to our latest Israel-Gaza blog. I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be with you for the next while.

Israel’s military forces are ready for “any scenario” after the death of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri. Senior IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari made the comments to reporters after the assassination, without acknowledging his country’s involvement in the incident. “We are focused and remain focused on fighting against Hamas. We are on high readiness for any scenario”.

More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:

• Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, reportedly caused by a targeted Israeli drone strike. Israel has not accepted responsibility, but says “whoever did this… [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.

• Six people were killed in the explosion, reports say, including al-Arouri, a founder of Hamas’s military wing long targeted by Israel, and two leaders of Hamas’s elite military al-Qassam Brigades. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned a “new Israeli crime” and said the country was filing a complaint to the UN security council.

• Hezbollah said its finger “is on the trigger” as it promised vengeance for Arouri’s death, and later claimed it had launched a so-far unconfirmed missile attack on Israeli troops. The group said the attack in Beirut was “a serious assault on Lebanon… that will not go without a response or punishment” in a statement posted to Telegram.

• The French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to avoid escalation, “particularly in Lebanon”, after the strike. Agence France-Presse (AFP) is reporting that Macron spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz.

• Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has posted on X a number of hours ago about meeting families of the hostages who remain in Gaza, saying: “The effort is continuing. The contacts are being held; they have not been cut off. There was an ultimatum from Hamas; now it has been softened.”

• Meanwhile Hamas said it won’t release any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms. The group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, told Reuters he laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed. Haniyeh is demanding “a complete cessation of the aggression” by Israel.

• There’s growing friction between the US government and far-right ministers in Israel who have called for the rebuilding of Israeli settlements in Gaza, and for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to relocate to southern Lebanon. Such proposals, voiced by Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, two senior members of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, are abhorrent, the US state department said in a statement on Tuesday.

• Turkey arrested 34 people on suspicion of spying for Mossad on behalf of Israel. “The Israeli intelligence service is recruiting personnel to be used in acts against Palestinians residing in our country and their families.,” a government official said. Without providing evidence, the official said the suspects were also spreading fake news and disinformation, carrying out robberies and blackmail for Israeli intelligence.

• Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said military operations in the south of the Gaza Strip around Khan Younis were focused on areas above what he said was a tunnel network where Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding. “We are reaching them all ways. There already is engagement and there are hostages there too sadly,” he told Israeli troops in footage shown on Israeli television, Reuters said.

• At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry. It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

• Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign. Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.