Israel Kills Hamas Official in Strike on Northern Lebanon

Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut's southern suburbs with a dozen airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters. Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict. The attack on the northern Beddawi camp killed Saeed Atallah Ali, an official with Hamas' military wing, along with his wife and two young daughters, the militant group said, per the AP. Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley.

Plumes of smoke dominated the skyline over Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs, the AP reports, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics, and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah commanders and military equipment and aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes. On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so." On Lebanon, he said, "We are not done yet."

Israel's military on Saturday said about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into its territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were slightly injured. At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency. The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads, and weapons storage facilities. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)