Israeli strike targets Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Obeida in Gaza City; fate unknown | Live

🔴 Gaza: Abu Obeida targeted by Israeli army, fate still unknown

Several Israeli media outlets report that the target of an Israeli strike on Gaza City was the well-known spokesperson of Hamas’s armed wing, known by his nom de guerre, Abu Obeida. A symbol of the war in Gaza, he always appears masked in his televised addresses, wearing a red keffiyeh bound with the headband of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Haaretz confirmed that Abu Obeida was the target of the strike. “The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet announced that an Air Force drone struck Gaza City, targeting Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida,” the left-leaning Israeli newspaper wrote. His fate remains unknown at this stage.

Read his portrait here for more on Abu Obeida.

According to the Houthi Defense Minister, quoted by the Al-Masirah news agency, the group is “ready to confront Israel,” Reuters reported.

Earlier in the day, Al-Masirah confirmed that Thursday’s Israeli strikes on Sanaa, Yemen, had killed the Prime Minister and several members of the government.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Tel Aviv believes that, in addition to the Houthi Prime Minister, the Director of the Political Bureau, the government spokesperson, the cabinet secretary, the Justice Minister, the Economy and Trade Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Agriculture Minister and the Information Minister were killed on Thursday. According to the outlet, the Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister were not killed in the strikes on Sanaa.

Credit: Stefano Rellandini / AFP

Several thousand people demonstrate for Gaza on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival

A demonstration bringing together several thousand people to denounce the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza began this afternoon on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival, an AFP journalist observed.

In the march, organized at the call of left-wing groups from the Venetian region, placards called for a boycott of Israel and to “end the genocide,” amid numerous Palestinian flags.

⚡ The United States refuses to grant U.N. visas to 80 Palestinians, including Abbas, according to a U.S. official

The United States has refused or revoked visas for about 80 Palestinians, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, for the U.N. General Assembly in September in New York, where Paris will advocate for the recognition of a Palestinian state, a U.S. State Department official told AFP on Saturday.

U.S. diplomacy announced Friday evening that its “Secretary of State Marco Rubio is revoking and refusing to grant visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA).” The official clarified on Saturday that Mahmoud “Abbas is affected by this measure, along with about 80 other PA officials.”

Thursday’s Israeli strikes on Sanaa, Yemen, killed the Prime Minister and several members of the Houthi government, the rebel news agency confirmed, according to Reuters.

Reports of the Prime Minister’s death had been circulated yesterday by media opposed to the rebels, but were not confirmed.

Photo obtained by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah

A small Israeli drone has been found in a house's garden in the town of Bint Jbeil, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

For Red Cross chief, mass evacuation of Gaza City “impossible”

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has denounced Israeli plans for a mass evacuation of Gaza City, stressing that it would be “impossible” to carry out in a “safe and dignified” way, AFP reports.

“It is impossible to carry out a mass evacuation of Gaza City in a safe and dignified manner under current conditions,” Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.

“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive movement of people that no area of the Gaza Strip is capable of absorbing, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” she added.

Spy device with camera found between Rmeish and Yaroun

A spy device equipped with a camera was discovered on the road connecting the villages of Rmeish and Yaroun, in the Bint Jbeil district. The army is working to dismantle it, reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Muntasser Abdallah.

Hezbollah MP: ‘Hezbollah will not give up its weapons’

Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzeddine said today in Shehabieh (Sour district, southern Lebanon) that Hezbollah will not give up its weapons. “As a son of the region and of the resistance, we will not surrender our arms,” he stressed during a ceremony, urging the Lebanese government “to step back and reflect on what happened” after receiving the U.S. response “which only defends Israeli interests and ensures Israel’s security,” and “to reconsider the disarmament decision, because these weapons are Lebanon’s strength and the means to defend it.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announce arrest of eight suspected Mossad spies

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced they had arrested eight people suspected of attempting to pass on coordinates of key sites and information on senior military officials to Israel’s Mossad, Reuters reports citing Iranian state media.

The suspects are accused of providing intelligence to the Israeli agency during Israel’s June war against Iran, when the Israeli state attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed high-ranking military commanders and civilians.

In a statement, the Guards said the suspects received specialized Mossad training via online platforms. They were reportedly arrested in northeastern Iran, and equipment intended for making launchers, bombs, explosives and traps was seized.

At least 18 Palestinians killed in Gaza since dawn; girl dies of malnutrition

At least 18 Palestinians, including four seeking aid, have been killed by Israeli forces since dawn, and a young girl has died of malnutrition, according to al-Jazeera.

At least 18 Palestinians killed in Gaza since dawn; girl dies of malnutrition

At least 18 Palestinians, including four seeking aid, have been killed by Israeli forces since dawn, and a young girl has died of malnutrition, according to al-Jazeera.

Gaza: Kaja Kallas ‘not very optimistic’ on EU sanctions against Israel

E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged she was “not very optimistic” about the possibility that the 27 E.U. states would sanction Israel, despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, AFP reports. “I am not very optimistic, and we are certainly not going to adopt decisions today [Saturday],” she said in Copenhagen before a meeting of the E.U.’s 27 foreign ministers. “This sends the signal that we are divided,” Kallas lamented.

The European Commission proposed suspending E.U. funding to Israeli start-ups, but “even that measure,” considered relatively “lenient,” was not approved by the 27 due to their divisions, the Estonian leader stressed.

Gaza: Kaja Kallas ‘not very optimistic’ on EU sanctions against Israel

E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged she was “not very optimistic” about the possibility that the 27 E.U. states would sanction Israel, despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, AFP reports. “I am not very optimistic, and we are certainly not going to adopt decisions today [Saturday],” she said in Copenhagen before a meeting of the E.U.’s 27 foreign ministers. “This sends the signal that we are divided,” Kallas lamented.

The European Commission proposed suspending E.U. funding to Israeli start-ups, but “even that measure,” considered relatively “lenient,” was not approved by the 27 due to their divisions, the Estonian leader stressed.

Southern Lebanon: Israeli army detonates building between Ramieh and Beit Lif

The Israeli army detonated a building overnight, after midnight, located between Ramieh and Beit Lif along the border in Bint Jbeil district, according to our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah. The explosion was heard across the area.

Southern Lebanon: Maroun al-Ras residents refuse any rubble clearance

Residents of Maroun al-Ras, a border village in southern Lebanon heavily damaged by the Israeli army, have refused any “attempt to clear rubble” in the locality, calling the ruins “living witnesses of Israeli crimes.” Clearing them would be, in their view, “an attempt to erase traces of these crimes while attacks continue and no serious reconstruction is in sight,” they added, denouncing what they called Israel’s attempt to “exploit” the rubble for its expansionist ambitions and plans to establish buffer zones.

They emphasized they advocate for a return to their lands that is “complete, dignified and safe, not to emptied lands awaiting occupation by the enemy.”

“We call on our Lebanese state to assume its responsibilities and protect our rights, rejecting any foreign intervention aiming to alter our locality’s borders, empty it, or detach parts of it.”

Israeli soldiers injured in explosion on military vehicle in Gaza City

The Israeli army reported that one soldier was moderately injured and several others lightly injured in Gaza when a device exploded near an Israeli armored troop transport in the Zeitoun neighborhood, according to Haaretz.

Al-Jazeera, citing Israeli media, reported that at least seven soldiers were injured in recent attacks in Gaza, including three seriously, one of which was related to the incident mentioned by the Israeli army.

Earlier in the morning, the army’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, denied reports of “heroic battles” by Hamas in Gaza, saying the rumors aim to boost the morale of the group’s leaders, members, and supporters “who know they will inevitably be defeated.”

Welcome to our live coverage of Middle East events

In Gaza, where the Israeli army continues its bloody offensive and prepares to occupy the main city; in Lebanon, where Israel continues bombardments and targeted strikes; and in Iran and Syria.