Gaza live: Several dead including Hezbollah commander after Israeli strike on southern Beirut

Good morning MEE readers.

We have now launched a new live blog. To keep following our live updates on developments in Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region, check out the new blog here. 

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• The International Rescue Committee has warned that the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank is threatening to collapse the healthcare system in the territory

• Israel has submitted an objection to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, arguing they lack jurisdiction

• The United Nations condemned the recent detonation by Israel of hand-held devices by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, stating that the attack violated international law and could be considered a war crime

• US concerns over a potential Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon have increased following this week's deadly explosions of pagers and electronic devices used by Hezbollah, US defence sources told the Wall Street Journal

• The Lebanese group has announced that top military commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut today

• Jewish-American businessman Steven Eisman, a hedge fund manager known for betting on the collapse of the US housing market, faced backlash after writing on social media that he was “celebrating” the destruction of Gaza

The woman linked to the explosive pagers that detonated in Lebanon and Syria this week is reportedly under the protection of Hungarian secret services, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.

Beatrix Bsrsony-Arcidiacono confirmed that her daughter, Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, has remained out of the public eye since Tuesday's attacks, which targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah and are widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

Cristiana, identified as the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, has been connected to the manufacturing of the explosive devices, according to the Taiwanese trademark holder of the pagers.

Her mother disclosed that Cristiana had received threats and is "currently in a safe place under Hungarian secret service protection." She added that "the Hungarian secret services advised her not to speak to the media" during a phone interview from Sicily.

Badr Abdelatty emphasized the need to "exert all efforts to prevent further escalation in the region and restore stability in Lebanon" following a meeting with US envoy Amos Hochstein.

Hochstein has allegedly been working to reduce tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border. 

Iran has vowed to retaliate against those responsible for attacking its ambassador in Lebanon.

Iran's UN envoy, Amir Saeed Iravani, said that Israel had "crossed red lines" and that Tehran would ensure the attackers face consequences.

Iravani said that Iran is exercising maximum restraint but warned against the "foolish behaviour of the Zionist entity".

Jewish-American businessman Steven Eisman, a hedge fund manager known for betting on the collapse of the US housing market, faced backlash after writing on social media that he was “celebrating” the destruction of Gaza.

His comments, which he later retracted, were made in response to a graphic video showing burning buildings and people suffering from an Israeli attack.

The original post highlighted the lack of international concern. “The world is silent.” Eisman replied on Thursday, saying, “We are not silent. We are celebrating.”

The Lebanese group has announced that top military commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut today.

In two legal briefs filed on Friday, Israel says it is challenging both the legality of the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the court's jurisdiction. 

In May, the court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he is seeking arrest warrants for the two Israeli officials as well as three members of Hamas leadership: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh. 

Haniyeh has since been assassinated in Iran in an operation that Israel has not confirmed or denied, and the ICC has ended its court proceedings against him. And while Israel says it has killed Deif, Hamas has yet to confirm his demise. The ICC is seeking confirmation on the death to end their court proceedings.

Khan’s request for the warrants is based on what he believes are war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated from 7 Oct 2023 onwards, after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza. 

Read more: Israel submits legal challenge to ICC warrants, arguing it should investigate itself

The United Nations condemned the recent detonation by Israel of hand-held devices by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, stating that the attack violated international law and could be considered a war crime.

"International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trap devices disguised as harmless portable objects," said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, during a statement to the Security Council. He added, "It is a war crime to commit acts of violence aimed at spreading terror among civilians."

Robert Wood, the US deputy envoy to the United Nations, said that Washington had no involvement in recent attacks in Lebanon, while holding groups like Hezbollah responsible for the violence on the border with Israel.

“Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah’s attacks. No member of this council, facing a terrorist organization on its border, would tolerate daily rocket attacks on its territory and the displacement of tens of thousands of its people,” Wood told the UN Security Council.

He emphasised that the US “continues to believe a diplomatic resolution is the only way to create the conditions for displaced Lebanese and Israeli civilians to return to their homes with safety and security”.

Wood also criticised Iran, saying that "through its sustained supply of weapons and personnel to Hezbollah," the country “appears to have a different agenda.”

Iran's foreign ministry on Friday condemned an Israeli air strike in southern Beirut, which resulted in the death of a top Hezbollah commander along with several senior leaders of the group’s elite Radwan forces.

“The brutal and vicious air strike of the Zionist regime on Beirut... is a gross violation of international law and regulations, as well as the violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani in a statement.

The Israeli prime minister has made a brief statement following today’s attack on Beirut.

“Our goals are clear, and our actions speak for themselves,” Netanyahu said. 

Israel killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and at least 11 others in an air strike on a densely populated residential neighbourhood in Beirut on Friday.

Two Lebanese security sources told Middle East Eye that Aqil had been killed in the attack. Aqil was Hezbollah's second in command since the killing of Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on Beirut in July.

One of the sources said the Israeli strike targeted a meeting between members of Hezbollah's Radwan special forces and Abbas Brigades. 

According to source, the meeting was being held in a tunnel under a residential building, a location that was being used for the first time, which has raised Hezbollah's concerns about the extent Israel has infiltrated its ranks.

The source added that the meeting included prominent leaders from the two units, and its goal was to plan an operation in northern Israel's Galilee.

Read more: Israel kills Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil and 11 others in Beirut strike

Randa Slim, an analyst with the Middle East Institue, has warned that the killing of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil would be unlikely to strike a lethal blow to the organisation.

"And he’s of course very close to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah," she told MEE, adding that Aqil played a major role in Hezbollah's intervention in the Syrian war, where it supported President Bashar al-Assad.

“Israel's going after all the commanders one by one, and by doing that you are definitely weakening the infrastructure of the organisation, weakening the command and control structure."

"But it’s not going to kill Hezbollah, it’s not going to force them to capitulate.”

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed eight people.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Beirut's southern suburb killed eight people," leaving "59 injured, including eight in critical condition," the ministry said in a statement, after initially reporting three dead and 17 wounded.