DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops launched a new assault Friday into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, targeting Hamas terrorists who the military claims still operate there.
Israeli evacuation orders triggered an exodus of Palestinians from the eastern districts of Khan Younis.
With tensions running high along the Israel-Lebanon border, an Israeli drone strike on Friday crashed into an SUV in the Lebanese city of Sidon, killing a Hamas official identified as Samer al-Haj on the main road to the southern port city, Lebanon’s state media reported.
The explosion engulfed al-Haj’s car in flames just outside the sprawling Palestinian refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh, where Lebanese media reported that he oversaw security matters. Israel confirmed it targeted al-Haj, describing him as a senior Hamas commander and accusing him of recruiting terrorists to attack Israel as well as directing rocket launches.
The Israeli military said Friday its warplanes struck 30 Hamas targets in Khan Younis, including fighters and weapons storage sites. It said troops were searching for Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure while fighting “above and below ground.”
International diplomats have been scrambling to prevent an escalation and seal a deal to stop the fighting in Gaza and release the hostages still captive in the enclave.
In a joint statement, the United States, Egypt and Qatar called for the new round of talks, to be held either in Doha or Cairo, and pressed both sides to move ahead.
“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay,” they said, adding that the negotiators have already finalized a framework for the deal.
Israel says it aims to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, in which terrorists from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others. After a round of release exchanges in November, Israel says 111 hostages remain in Gaza, including 39 bodies.
Israel’s military said Friday that its forces were still battling Hamas fighters in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, in an assault there that has lasted three months.
Meanwhile, four suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists targeted a Liberian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.
The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the terrorist group targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the oil tanker Delta Blue on Thursday, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.
The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.
Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle,” Ambrey said.
A fourth attack saw another suspected Houthi missile splash in the water near the vessel, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center.