Israel-Iran War: Hamas official killed in Israeli airstrike; thousands flee to Syria as tensions escalate | 10 updates

Palestinian militant group Hamas said that an Israeli strike killed one of its commanders in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Saturday.

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Here are the top ten updates:

1. As reported by AFP, Hamas identified the commander as Saeed Attallah Ali, who, along with his wife and two daughters, was killed in the “Zionist bombardment of his house” in the Beddawi camp near Tripoli.

2. The airstrike on Friday made the road impassable for vehicles, forcing people to walk to the Masnaa Border Crossing, where tens of thousands fleeing conflict in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. Israel initiated a ground incursion into Lebanon on Tuesday targeting the Hezbollah militant group while continuing its strikes in Gaza. The Israeli military reported that nine soldiers have died in the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon, AP reported.

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3. EAM S Jaishanka said, “Middle East is not opportunity. The Middle East is a cause of great concern and deep worry. The conflict is widening - what we saw as a terrorist attack, then the response, then we saw what happened in Gaza. Now you are seeing it in exchange in Lebanon, between Israel and Iran. The Houthis are firing on the Red Sea. This is actually costing us. It's not that somebody is neutral and you benefit.”

4. Jaishankar added, “Conflicts can be opportunistically used, I don't deny that, but I think in a globalized world which is so tight, conflict anywhere actually creates problems everywhere and some supply of some kind will get affected by this. So I would say honestly today, whether it is the conflict in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East West Asia, these are big factors of instability, big factors of concern. I think the entire world, including us, we are worried about it.”

5. According to local health officials, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with over half of the casualties being women and children. In a rare address on Friday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed that his allies in the region would continue to fight against Israel, defending Iran's recent missile strike on its adversary.

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6. This statement came after Iran's second direct attack on Israel and marked the first escalation since clashes between Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops intensified into a full-blown conflict in Lebanon.

7. "The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win," Khamenei said in Arabic. He charged that Israel was a "malicious regime" that would “not last long”.

8. Hezbollah reported early Saturday that it was engaged in ongoing clashes with Israeli troops along the Lebanon border, claiming to have forced Israeli soldiers to retreat.

9. Meanwhile, in Jordan and Bahrain—countries that maintain ties with Israel—crowds gathered after Friday prayers to express support for Hamas and Hezbollah. In Amman, demonstrators held posters celebrating the "glory and dignity" of the October 7 attack.

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10. US President Joe Biden on Friday, whose country is Israel's largest military supplier, urged Israel not to target Iran's oil facilities. This statement followed his earlier remarks about Washington "discussing" the possibility of such strikes. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed the view that Israel should "hit" Iran's nuclear sites.

(With inputs from agencies)