Netanyahu’s bedroom window hit, damaged during drone attack

Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence was hit and damaged during a drone attack over the weekend, according to footage and photos published by Israeli media.

They show damage to the bedroom window of the house in the coastal town of Caesarea, including a spiderweb of cracks and some burn marks. There were no injuries in the attack and neither Netanyahu nor his wife were in the home at the time.

In a video of the strike’s aftermath published by the London Telegraph, trees flattened by the blast could be seen lying across the garden. Burn marks were also visible on the property’s walls.

The New York Times reported that Israeli censors had allowed the release of the images showing the damage on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bedroom window was hit by a drone at the weekend. Neither him nor his wife were home at the time.Credit: Screenshot

Hezbollah’s chief spokesman Mohammed Afif took “full and exclusive responsibility” for the attack which Netanyahu and the Israeli government said was an attempt to kill him. He hinted that it might attempt future strikes on Netanyahu’s home.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate the Prime Minister, it’s clearly a grave mistake,” said David Mencer, Israeli government spokesman.

Israel’s military has at times struggled to intercept drones, which are smaller, fly more erratically and are harder to track and intercept. Last week, a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and wounded 67 others, the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Israel said overnight that one of its airstrikes outside Beirut earlier this month killed Hashem Safieddine, a Hezbollah official widely expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike last month.

There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

Safieddine was killed in early October in a strike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders, according to Israel, whose recent airstrikes in southern Lebanon have killed many of Hezbollah’s top leaders, leaving the group in disarray.

The Beirut suburb where Safieddine was killed was pummeled by a series of fresh airstrikes on Tuesday, including one that levelled a building it said housed Hezbollah facilities. The collapse sent smoke and debris flying into the air a few hundred meters from where a spokesperson for Hezbollah had just briefed journalists about the weekend drone attack that damaged Netanyahu’s house.

The airstrike came 40 minutes after Israel issued an evacuation warning for two buildings in the area that it said were used by Hezbollah. The Hezbollah press conference nearby was cut short, and an Associated Press photographer captured an image of a missile heading towards the building moments before it was destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Netanyahu overnight as part of his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. After Israel’s killing last week of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Blinken is trying to revive efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. So far, both Israel and Hamas appear to be digging in.

Air raid sirens echoed across Tel Aviv as Blinken prepared to end the visit. Smoke, apparently from an intercepted projectile, could be seen in the sky above the hotel where he was staying.

Blinken urged Israel on Wednesday to use the opportunity created by its success in dismantling much of Hamas’ capacity in Gaza and the death of Sinwar to reach a longer term solution in the conflict.

“Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success. And there are really two things left to do, get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow,” Blinken told reporters as he prepared to leave Israel for Riyadh on the next stage of his Middle East visit.

Blinken also stressed the need for Israel to do more to help increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Netanyahu’s office called his meeting with Blinken, which lasted more than two hours, “friendly and productive”.

Blinken landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries.

Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel

An Israeli airstrike late Monday in Beirut night destroyed several buildings across the street from the country’s largest public hospital, killing 18 people and wounding at least 60 others. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn’t targeted the hospital itself.

Associated Press reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis centre, which was full of patients at the time.

Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement.

The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors. Reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary.

The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military’s announcement the night before. The rest had left earlier because of repeated airstrikes in the surrounding neighbourhood.

“We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alame said. “There is nothing under the hospital.”

Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 63 people had been killed over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2546.

AP

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