BEIRUT (AP) — An official from the militant group was killed Sunday in the first Israeli airstrike on central Beirut, the main spokesman for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group told The Associated Press.

Israel Strike in Gaza Strip Palestinian health officials said it had previously killed 12 people.

The Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said Mohammed Afif was killed in the attack in central Beirut.

Afif became especially visible after Israel escalated military tensions in September. Assassination of long-time Hezbollah leader Hassan NasrallahHe was also killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israeli warplanes struck the southern suburbs of Beirut after the army warned people to evacuate from large numbers of buildings. The Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence in the area known as Dahiyeh, and the attacks took place while Lebanese officials were on duty. They are evaluating the US-brokered ceasefire offer.

Also Sunday, Israeli police said they arrested three suspects after shots were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.

Authorities said Netanyahu and his family were not at home when two flares were fired during the night and there were no injuries. Drone launched by Hezbollah hit the house last monthEven when Netanyahu and his family are away.

Police did not provide detailed information about the suspects behind the flares, but officials pointed out domestic political critics of Netanyahu. Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the incident and warned against “escalation of violence in public spaces.”

Netanyahu has faced mass protests for months over his rule. Hostage crisis caused by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack To Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Critics blame Netanyahu for security and intelligence failures that allowed the attack to take place. No agreement reached with Hamas The release of many hostages currently held in Gaza. Israelis demonstrated once again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, demanding a ceasefire agreement that would bring them back.

12 people killed in night attacks in central Gaza

Israeli attacks killed six people in Nuseyrat and four in Bureij, two refugee camps built in central Gaza. 1948 war surrounding Israel’s founding.

According to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al Balah, where all 12 bodies were found, two more people were killed in the attack on Gaza’s main north-south highway.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants attacked Israel The killing of approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on October 7, 2023, and He kidnapped 250 more people. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and about a third of them are believed to be dead.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says approximately 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said more than half of the deaths were women and children. Approximately 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are Palestinian displacedAnd large areas of the region were leveled With Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

Israeli warplanes hit south of Beirut

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings on X about an hour before the attacks in southern Beirut early Sunday. Local media reported that church bells were ringing in and around the area to warn residents. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the attack that caused Afif’s death, a building belonging to the Arab socialist Baath party was hit in the center of Beirut. This was the first strike in the central part of the city in weeks. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw four dead bodies and four injured people.

After the attack without any warning, people were seen running away from the neighborhood. The Israeli army has not yet made a statement about the attack.

The Israeli military also renewed its call on Sunday for residents of more than a dozen villages in southern Lebanon to flee. ground troops advanced further north.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones at Israel the day after Hamas’ attack in 2023, and launched retaliatory airstrikes. The conflict gradually escalated and escalated into all-out war in September. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on October 1.

Hezbollah continued to fire dozens of missiles into Israel every day and expanded its range into the central part of the country. Rocket bombardment of the northern city of Haifa on Saturday damaged a synagogue and injured two civilians.

More than 3 thousand 400 people lost their lives More than 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been driven from their homes, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. It is not known how many of those killed were Hezbollah fighters.

On the Israeli side, Hezbollah’s airstrikes killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused nearly 60,000 people to flee northern communities.

Netanyahu ally wants to revive divisive plans to overhaul judiciary

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin evaluated the torch attack on Netanyahu’s house and called for the revival of Israel. Plans to overhaul Israeli judiciaryAn event that led to months of mass protests before the war.

“It is time to give full support to the restoration of the justice system and law enforcement, and to put an end to anarchy, attacks, denials and attempts to harm the prime minister,” he said in the statement.

Supporters said the judicial changes aim to strengthen democracy by limiting the powers of unelected judges and delegating more power to elected officials. Competitors see the overhaul as a Netanyahu’s seizure of powerHe is on trial on corruption charges and assault on a prominent observer.

Many Israelis believe that the violent internal divisions caused by the attempted overhaul weakened the country and its military ahead of the Hamas offensive.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, in his post on the X channel, blasted Levin’s suggestion and said that he “strongly condemned” the firing of a flare at Netanyahu’s house.

“Levin should go home with the rest of this irresponsible government,” Lapid wrote. “We will not allow it to turn Israel into an undemocratic state.”

Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.

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