donshafi911@IAmTheFaceOfTruth🔻

 

Evening recap

Hello Middle East Eye readers. On Thursday, Israel announced that its military killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city.

Hamas has yet to comment on the killing, but Israel said that it identified Sinwar's body using DNA testing. Later, Israel released drone footage purportedly showing the Hamas leader's final moments, where he was found in military garb and with a severed arm.

The footage as well as Israel's description of his killing run contrary to Israel's claims that Sinwar was hiding among Israeli captives in Hamas's intricate tunnel system underneath Gaza.

US President Joe Biden's administration has said that the killing of Sinwar could help bring an end to Israel's war on Gaza.

However, in a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting in Gaza, and former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said that Israel would continue to operate in Gaza "for years".

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hezbollah said that it has killed 55 Israeli soldiers and wounded another 500, while also destroying 20 Israeli tanks and two Hermes drones.

The Lebanese movement announced that it was transitioning into a "new and escalating phase" in its fight against Israel.

Here's what else you need to know about today's developments:

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a trip to the Middle East in the coming days, in an attempt to push for a hostage deal in Gaza.

• The Palestinian civil defence has said that at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

• The Israeli military announced that five of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.

• In its updated death toll, the Lebanese health ministry has said that 2,412 people have been killed by Israeli forces since last October, while a further 11,285 have been wounded.

• Fadi al-Wahidi, the Palestinian journalist who was shot by Israeli forces last week, has now slipped into a coma.

• Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in al-Rayyan in Rafah by detonating a "booby-trapped" tunnel.

• The Biden administration said it was going to authorise certain Lebanese nationals currently in the US to apply for Temporary Protected Status, allowing them to remain for the next 18 months and apply for work permits.