Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed in a televised address on Tuesday that his group's response to last week's Israeli attacks would be "strong and effective", adding that Hezbollah would act either alone or with its regional allies. The news came as Hamas said it had chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the October 7 attacks, as its new leader. Sinwar replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran last week in a presumed Israeli strike, sending regional tensions soaring. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
- Hamas said on Tuesday it had chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the October 7 attacks, as its new leader. Sinwar replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran last week in a presumed Israeli strike.
- Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed in a televised address on Tuesday that his group's response to last week's Israeli attacks would be "strong and effective", adding that Hezbollah would act either alone or with its regional allies.
- Palestinian officials said on Tuesday that 12 Palestinians were killed during Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, as world leaders try to stop tensions in the Middle East from boiling over into a regional war.
- Israeli warplanes flew low over the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, with witnesses saying they could see the planes with the naked eye and creating one of the largest sonic booms heard by residents in years.
- At least 39,653 Palestinians have been killed and 91,535 injured in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Hamas-led October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
Yesterday's key developments:
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Monday called for an urgent de-escalation in the Middle East amid growing fears of an Iranian attack on Israel.
- Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed Monday in an Israeli strike on the country's south, where Hezbollah has been trading near-daily fire with Israel since the start of the Gaza war in October.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
