Hamas Says Three Members Killed after Infiltrating into Israel from Lebanon

Rockets are launched from the coast of the Gaza Strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, Gaza City, 14 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Rockets are launched from the coast of the Gaza Strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, Gaza City, 14 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Hamas Says Three Members Killed after Infiltrating into Israel from Lebanon

Rockets are launched from the coast of the Gaza Strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, Gaza City, 14 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Rockets are launched from the coast of the Gaza Strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, Gaza City, 14 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, claimed responsibility in a statement on Sunday for yesterday’s infiltration from Lebanon towards Israel and announced that 3 of its fighters were killed after they managed to “penetrate into” Israel.

The group said its fighters managed to blow the border fence between the two countries and target the surveillance and access point inside occupied Palestine.

Clashes with Israeli forces caused losses on both sides, added Hamas, explaining that an Israeli aircraft targeted its fighters “during the clash” which led to their death, the Agence France-Presse reported.

On Saturday, for the second consecutive day, armed groups tried to infiltrate into Israel from Lebanon. The Israeli army said it detected “a terrorist commando trying to enter Israeli territory from Lebanon,” and that an Israeli patrol opened gunfire killing many of them.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee said Sunday that warplanes were able to kill Bilal al-Qudra, the commander of an elite Hamas unit in Khan Yunis, who was said to have been responsible for an attack by the movement in Nirim and Nir-Oz, according to the Arab World News Agency.

“Under the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet, warplanes were able to eliminate the so-called Bilal al-Qudra, commander of Hamas’ elite unit in the South Khan Yunis Battalion... A number of other activists in (Hamas) and (Islamic Jihad) were also eliminated,” Adraee said on X platform.

The spokesman stated that the Israeli army raided more than 100 targets last night in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, Khan Yunis, and western Jabalia to weaken Hamas’ capabilities.



Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
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Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid a push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu's office said.

After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation which included the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar in order to "advance" talks to return hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.

The mediators are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Families of Israeli hostages welcomed Netanyahu's decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as a "historic opportunity."

Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurances from Witkoff that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, Egyptian security sources said, though he did not give any details.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.

On Saturday, the Palestinian civil emergency service said eight people were killed, including two women and two children, in an Israeli airstrike on a former school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said the strike had targeted Hamas fighters who were operating at the school and that it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.

Later on Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said five people were killed and several others were wounded in two Israeli strikes. One of the two strikes killed three people in a house near the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas fighter "in that area" at that approximate time.