According to Reuters, a series of Hezbollah facilities in the suburbs of Beirut (Lebanon) were bombed after the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on October 19.
Netanyahu said the drone was launched from Lebanon and he was not at home at the time of the attack. The Israeli prime minister said Hezbollah had made a “grave mistake” and blamed Iran, Israel’s top target for revenge, for the attack.
Before launching the attack, the Israeli army issued an evacuation order for four residential areas in the suburbs of Beirut and urged residents to keep a safe distance. The attack took place on the night of October 19 (local time), targeting a weapons storage facility and a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters.
Also on October 19, a high-rise building in the city of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was hit by a hail of bombs from Israeli aircraft, killing at least 73 people and injuring many others, according to local media and medical sources.
Israel is being strongly condemned by authorities in Gaza because most of the victims were women and children.
An Israeli official said the casualty figure was exaggerated because it did not match what the military reported after reviewing the damage from the October 19 attack on northern Gaza.
Many hoped that a new ceasefire in Gaza would be agreed after the death of leader Yahya Sinwar on October 17. However, that could not happen as Israel and Hamas continued to declare that the war would continue.
A series of leaflets containing Yahya Sinwar's image and the message "Hamas will no longer rule Gaza" were dropped from Israeli planes on October 19.
