TODAYKOREA=Jin Min-seok | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation to eliminate those who planned Hamas’s surprise attack nearly two years ago has entered its final phase.
Israel has intensified military pressure across the region, systematically targeting the leadership of Hamas and Iran-aligned militias in Gaza and Lebanon.
On May 17 (local time), AFP quoted Netanyahu at his weekly cabinet meeting saying, “We will eliminate every person who planned the massacre and the hostage-taking, down to the last one. We are very close to completing that mission.”
The Israeli military said on May 16 it killed Hamas’s Gaza leader and Al-Qassam Brigades commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad in an airstrike. Netanyahu described him as a “vile terrorist.”
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting roughly 250. Israel then launched a full-scale retaliation and has since killed key Hamas figures, including former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
Sinwar was identified as a principal architect of the Oct. 7 attack, and Deif long commanded Hamas’s military forces.
Israeli operations have expanded beyond Gaza into Lebanon. Israel has carried out airstrikes aimed at senior figures in the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah, and Israeli attacks have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Local Lebanese media reported that Israeli forces struck an apartment in the eastern city of Baalbek on the same day, killing Wadel Abdel Halim, a commander in the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad.
Lebanese authorities said the strike killed seven people, including Halim’s 17-year-old daughter and other children.
Israel has continued strikes targeting Hezbollah and Iran-aligned groups even after a cease-fire agreement with Lebanon.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon’s parliament, criticized Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel, saying they had reached a dead end that produced nothing but concessions.
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