TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) 鈥� A Hezbollah official says the militant group鈥檚 main spokesman has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said Mohammed Afif was killed in the strike on Sunday.
Afif had been especially visible after Israel鈥檚 military escalation in September and following the assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP鈥檚 earlier story follows below.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) 鈥� Israeli overnight killed 12 people, Palestinian medical officials said Sunday. Israeli police meanwhile arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.
In Lebanon, Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut after the military warned people to evacuate from several buildings.
The Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence in the area, known as the Dahiyeh, and the strikes came as Lebanese officials . One of the strikes hit central Beirut for the first time in weeks.
Netanyahu and his family were not at the residence when two flares were fired at it overnight, and there were no injuries, authorities said. A drone launched by Hezbollah , also when Netanyahu and his family were away.
The police did not provide details about the suspects behind the flares, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu. Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the incident and warned against 鈥渁n escalation of the violence in the public sphere.鈥�
Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests over his handling of into Israel, which ignited the ongoing war in Gaza.
Critics blame Netanyahu for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the attack to happen and for to release scores of hostages still held inside Gaza. Israelis rallied again in the city of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a cease-fire deal to return them.
Overnight strikes in central Gaza kill 12
Israeli strikes killed six people in Nuseirat and another four in Bureij, two built-up refugee camps in central Gaza dating back to .
Another two people were killed in a strike on Gaza鈥檚 main north-south highway, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, which received all 12 bodies.
The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people 鈥� mostly civilians 鈥� and . Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says around 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities. Around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians , and by Israeli bombardment and ground operations.
Israeli warplanes pound southern Beirut
The Israeli military posted evacuation warnings on X about an hour before the strikes on southern Beirut, which came early Sunday. Local media reported church bells ringing in and around the area to alert residents. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
One of the strikes hit a building in central Beirut belonging to the Arab socialist Baath party. It was the first strike in the central part of the city in weeks. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw four lifeless bodies and four wounded people.
People could be seen fleeing the neighborhood after the strike, which came without warning. There was no immediate comment on the strike from the Israeli military.
The Israeli military also renewed calls on Sunday for residents in over a dozen villages in southern Lebanon to flee as .
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas鈥� 2023 attack, drawing retaliatory airstrikes. The conflict steadily escalated and erupted into all-out war in September. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Hezbollah has continued to fire dozens of projectiles into Israel each day and has expanded their range to the central part of the country. A rocket barrage on the northern city of Haifa on Saturday damaged a synagogue and wounded two civilians.
in Lebanon, according to the country鈥檚 Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.
On the Israeli side, Hezbollah鈥檚 aerial attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee from communities in the north.
Netanyahu ally wants to revive divisive plans to overhaul judiciary
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin seized on the flare attack on Netanyahu's home to call for a revival of , which had sparked months of mass protests before the war.
鈥淭he time has come to provide full support for the restoration of the justice system and the law enforcement systems, and to put an end to anarchy, rampage, refusal, and attempts to harm the prime minister,鈥� he said in a statement.
Supporters said the judiciary changes aim to strengthen democracy by circumscribing the authority of unelected judges and turning over more powers to elected officials. Opponents see the overhaul as a , who is on trial on corruption charges and for an assault on a key watchdog.
Many Israelis believe the fierce internal divisions caused by the attempted overhaul had weakened the country and its military ahead of the Hamas assault.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said in a post on X that he 鈥渟trongly condemns鈥� the firing of flares at Netanyahu鈥檚 home while blasting Levin鈥檚 proposal.
鈥淟evin should go home with rest of this irresponsible government,鈥� Lapid wrote. 鈥淲e will not let him turn Israel into an undemocratic state.鈥�
___
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Chehayeb from Beirut.
___
Find more of AP鈥檚 war coverage at
Natalie Melzer, Wafaa Shurafa And Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press
