🔴Live: Top Hamas official confirms death of Yahya Sinwar

Jordan Muslim Brotherhood claim attackers killed by Israeli army as members

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan on Friday said that two attackers who were killed by the Israeli army after crossing the border were members of the Islamist group.

The attackers were “members of the group and always participated in events in solidarity with Gaza and in support of the resistance”, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Moath al-Khawaldeh told AFP.

Hezbollah says launched drones at troops in north Israel city

Hezbollah said it launched attack drones at troops stationed in the north Israeli town of Safed on Friday, in response to Israeli strikes on its strongholds in south Lebanon.

The Iran-backed group said it launched an attack “with a squadron of attack drones on gatherings of enemy soldiers in the occupied city of Safed,” in response to attacks on villages in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway.

Putin: Palestinian leader Abbas invited to BRICS summit in Russia next week

Russia has invited the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to take part in a BRICS summit in Kazan next week, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Putin also reaffirmed Russia’s support for a two-state solution in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and said the issue would be discussed at next week’s summit.

The BRICS grouping has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

Sinwar killing represents an ‘inflection point’ for possible Gaza ceasefire, White House says

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was the chief obstacle to securing a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict and his killing by Israel’s defense force creates an “inflection point” that could accelerate talks to wind down the war, White House spokesperson John Kirby said.

Sinwar was the architect of the group’s cross-border raids on Oct. 7, 2023, that became the deadliest day in Israel’s history and triggered the Gaza war. His killing marks a huge success for Israel and a pivotal event in the yearlong conflict.

Hezbollah vows continued Palestinian support after Hamas chief’s death

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, at war with Israel, on Friday mourned the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

“We offer our deepest condolences,” the movement said in a statement, vowing to continue “support for our Palestinian people”.

UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon staying put despite Israeli warnings to move

Forces in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon are maintaining their positions despite warnings from Israeli Defense Forces to move away, a spokesman for the UN force said Friday.

Andrea Tenenti of UNIFIL, the interim force in Lebanon, says a “unanimous” decision was taken by its 50 troop-contributing countries and the Security Council for it to hold its positions as part of its aim to monitor the conflict and work to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches needy civilians.

“The IDF has repeatedly targeted our positions, endangering the safety of our troops, in addition to Hezbollah launching rockets toward Israel from near our positions, which also puts our peacekeepers in danger,” Tenenti told a UN news briefing in Geneva by video.

Yemen’s Houthis mourn killing of Hamas chief Sinwar

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Friday they mourned Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following his killing by the Israeli military in Gaza.

“My sincere condolences and great blessings to the Hamas movement and the dear Palestinian people for the great leader Yahya Sinwar receiving the medal of martyrdom,” a spokesman for the rebel group wrote on X, adding that “Gaza and the Palestinian cause are destined for victory, no matter how great the sacrifices”.

Italian PM visits Lebanon after UNIFIL incidents

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Lebanon on Friday, her office said, the first head of state or government to visit since an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah last month.

The premier was welcomed at Beirut international airport by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom she was due to hold talks before making a joint statement to the press.

Italy has around 1,000 troops as part of the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon which has come under repeated fire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war in recent days. 

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 42,500

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 42,500 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 62 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,546 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Iran says slain Hamas chief an ‘inspiration’ for Middle East

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, remains an inspiration for militants fighting Israel across the Middle East.

“His fate—beautifully pictured in his last image—is not a deterrent but a source of inspiration for resistance fighters across the region, Palestinian and non-Palestinian,” Araghchi said on X, adding that “the cause for liberation of Palestine from occupation is more alive than ever.”

• Hamas confirmed the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, and vowed it will not release the hostages it seized on October 7 until the Gaza war ends.

• Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza, where rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble

• US President Joe Biden and European leaders are expected to renew calls for a Gaza truce during his farewell visit to Germany

• Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu said the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was the ‘beginning of the end’ of the war in Gaza.

• At least 42,500 Palestinians have been killed and 99,546 wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry 

Hamas says it will not free hostages until Gaza war ends

The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday said it won’t release hostages until Israel ends it’s war on Gaza, withdraws from the territory and frees jailed Palestinians.

The hostages “will not return… unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from it, and our heroic prisoners are released from the occupation’s prisons”, Qatar-based Khalil al-Haya said in a video statement.

Top Hamas political official confirms the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar

A top political leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, on Friday confirmed the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Al-Hayyaa, in a televised statement, reiterated the Palestinian militant group’s stance that it will not release Israeli hostages captured in the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel until there is a cease-fire in the yearlong war in Gaza.

“Those prisoners will not return to you before the end of the aggression on Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza,” he said.

Israel army says deploying additional brigade to Lebanon border

The Israel army said that it will deploy an additional brigade to its northern border as it continues to combat Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. 

“In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF (army) is calling up an additional reserve brigade for operational missions in the northern arena,” near the Lebanese border, a military statement said.

UNIFIL vows to stay in Lebanon despite several ‘deliberate’ Israeli attacks

A UNIFIL peacekeeping mission spokesperson denounced several direct, deliberate attacks by Israeli forces in recent days and said it had found evidence of the possible use of white phosphorous near one of its bases.

“We need to stay, they asked us to move,” said UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti by video link from Beirut.

“The devastation and destruction of many villages along the Blue Line, and even beyond, is shocking,” he said, referring to a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Asked about the downing of a drone near its ship off the Lebanese coast on Thursday, he said: “The drone was coming from the south but circling around the ship and getting very, very close, a few metres away from the ship.”

Biden says Sinwar death ‘opportunity to seek path to peace’

US President Joe Biden said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a “moment of justice” and “an opportunity to seek a path to peace” in Gaza.

Biden said Sinwar, considered the architect of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has “the blood of Americans and Israelis, Palestinians and Germans and so many others on his hands”.

The US president, speaking in Berlin, said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas”.

Scholz says hopes Hamas leader’s death could lead to Gaza ceasefire

“With the death of the Hamas leader Sinwar… hopefully the concrete prospect will now open up for a ceasefire and an agreement to release the hostages in Gaza,” Scholz said during a visit by US President Joe Biden.

Israel sends more troops into north Gaza

The Israeli military sent another army unit to support its forces operating in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, where residents said tanks blew up roads and houses as they thrust further into the territory.

Hamas official says group ‘cannot be eliminated’ but does not confirm Sinwar’s death

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group cannot be eliminated with the killing of its leaders, but stopped short of confirming the death of its chief, Yahya Sinwar.

“Hamas is a liberation movement led by people looking for freedom and dignity, and this cannot be eliminated,” Basem Naim, senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP. 

In a statement, he listed several Hamas leaders killed in the past, and said their deaths had boosted the group’s popularity. 

“It seems that Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people,” Naim said.

“Hamas each time became stronger and more popular, and these leaders became an icon for future generations to continue the journey towards a free Palestine.”