At least 10 killed in strike on Gaza school sheltering Palestinians, hospital source says
Israel said all three strikes targeted militants hiding in the schools.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, killing 16 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The Latin Patriarchate, owners of the school, said hundreds of people had packed the grounds.
Another UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat was hit on Monday, with a local hospital saying several people were taken for treatment.
Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.
The official spoke hours after an Israeli drone hit a car in Syria near the border with Lebanon, according to a war monitor and the Syrian pro-government radio Sham FM. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The Britain-based pro-opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two Hezbollah members in the car were killed in the strike, while a Syrian driver was critically wounded. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or from the Israeli military.
Hezbollah later identified the militant as Yasser Nemr Qranbish, although it did not disclose the circumstances of his death as is standard practice for Hezbollah combatants who are not in leadership roles.
Hezbollah supporters mourned his death on social media, calling him the “shield of the Sayyed”, in reference to his tenure as a bodyguard of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Later on Tuesday, Hezbollah announced that in retaliation for the killing, it fired tens of Katyusha rockets targeting an Israeli military base in the Golan Heights.
Qranbish had been mainly active in Syria over the recent years and involved in weapons shipments for Hezbollah, said an official with an Iran-backed group, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the information.
Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel after the outbreak of the war in October.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the tense Lebanon-Israel frontier have been displaced in the months-long war.
For years, Israel has launched frequent strikes on targets in Syria linked to Iran, its powerful regional backer, but rarely acknowledges them. The strikes have escalated over the past five months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and continuing clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hezbollah’s attacks have gradually escalated, with the group introducing new weapons. Hezbollah maintains it will stop its attacks once there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel has also struck deeper into Lebanon.
Late on Tuesday, Hezbollah released drone footage over the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, identifying Israeli military bases and strategic areas.
Soon after, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a post on X, formerly Twitter, said Hezbollah’s Nasrallah would be “considered the destroyer of Lebanon” if the Iran-backed group does not end its threats and attacks and withdraws from southern Lebanon.
Additional reporting by Associated Press