Israel-Hezbollah latest: Netanyahu says would-be Hezbollah leader Safieddine killed in airstrike

Hezbollah officials are no longer demanding a truce in Gaza as a condition for reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon, rowing back from an oft-repeated promise to keep fighting until Israel halts its offensive on Hamas.

Ever since Hezbollah began launching missiles across Lebanon’s border a day after the October 7, 2023, Hezbollah officials have consistently said they would not stop until Israel ended the war in Gaza.

But Naim Qassem, the deputy leader of Hezbollah, broke that link in a televised speech on Tuesday, even as he promised to continue to stand with Hamas and Palestinians in their battle with Israel.

Qassem, now Hezbollah’s top official after its chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike, said he backed efforts by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a truce - without setting a precondition.

“We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire,” Qassem said. “If the enemy (Israel) continues its war, then the battlefield will decide.”

Two days earlier, two lower-ranking Hezbollah officials had also talked about a Lebanon truce without making a linkage with Gaza.

Hezbollah has not explicitly said it was shifting its position. The group did not comment for this story.

Lebanon’s health ministry has said 36 people were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli attacks on Monday.

The total number of people killed in Lebanon in Israeli attacks has now reached 2119 and 1019 have been wounded.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has canceled a visit to the Pentagon on Wednesday, amid reports Benjamin Netanyahu wanted first to speak with Joe Biden.

The surprise cancellation on Tuesday comes amid soaring tensions between Israel and Iran as Israel weighs options to respond to Tehran’s missile attack last week, its second this year against Israel.

The Pentagon declined to say why Gallant canceled his visit, and referred reporters to Israel‘s ministry of defense. Offices for Netanyahu and Gallant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We were just informed that Minister Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told a news briefing. Israel‘s Ynet news outlet reported that Gallant had hoped his U.S. visit would strengthen coordination on Iran but hours before departure, Netanyahu set two preconditions: the call with Biden and cabinet approval of the response to Iran.

Biden and his aides have spoken of a possible call with Netanyahu since the end of September. But the White House did not immediately respond to a query on whether such a call had now been scheduled.

In the weeks following the brutal Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 last year, Joe Biden made clear his two priorities. He said he wanted to ensure Israel had the means to go on the offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and to prevent a wider regional war that could drag in US forces.

He achieved the first by ensuring a steady flow of weapons and aid to Israel to the tune of $17.9 billion, without any conditions on their use. On the second, he failed dramatically.

In recent days, Israel has invaded Lebanon to its north and killed hundreds of civilians in a bombing campaign. The Houthis in Yemen are firing sporadic salvos towards Israel.

Iranian ballistic missiles rained down on Israel in the first week of October, and a fierce Israeli response is expected that could enflame the region further.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed by Israel in Gaza, many of them with US weapons, and the war still rages.

Relatives of hostages still held in Gaza marched to Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem at dawn, blaring an air raid siren to mark the exact time of the Hamas attack a year ago that altered so many lives forever, while warning they “won’t let [Netanyahu] rest until all of them are back”.

In the hopes of getting the Israeli prime minister’s attention, hundreds gathered outside his residence with a desperate plea for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

They sounded the haunting air raid siren for two minutes at 6.29am – the minute the act of terror by Hamas began, an attack which resulted in the killing of around 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251. An estimated 97 remain in Gaza, with the fate of most of them unknown.

In tearful speeches on the street outside, family members begged Mr Netanyahu to honour his promise of bringing their loved ones home. The Israeli leader has faced mounting criticism for the security lapses around the attack on 7 October and for not yet securing the release of the captives.

NHS medics volunteering in Gaza have warned of the “catastrophic” collapse of the healthcare system one year into the war, as they described trying to treat the wounded and sick amid shortages of everything from paracetamol to surgical gauze.

Nurses and doctors working in field hospitals run by the British medical charity UK-Med have called for immediate delivery of supplies and for health workers and facilities to be protected, as the world marks the grim milestone of one year at war.

UK-Med, which runs two facilities in the centre of Gaza, has treated 200,000 people and sees around 1,400 patients a day, but is struggling with overwhelming demand and a punishing lack of supplies.

Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them.

“We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah‘s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message.

Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hashem Safieddine, the man expected to replace the slain Nasrallah, had probably been “eliminated”. It was not immediately clear who Netanyahu meant by the “replacement of the replacement”.

Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli airstrike late last week. He has been a prime target for Israel, nurtured as an influential leader and potential heir.

“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Netanyahu said in the video message directed at the people of Lebanon.

“Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel also has a right to win. And Israel will win,” Netanyahu said.

He urged Lebanon to “take back your country” and return it to a path of peace and prosperity and take advantage of an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades.

“If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war,” he added. “Christians, Druze, Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites” all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.

“Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done,” Netanyahu added. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

- The Israeli military moved its 146th reserve troops, supported by an artillery battalion, to southwest Lebanon as it expanded its offensive throughout the country on Tuesday morning.

- Hezbollah launched around 135 missiles over northern Israel, mainly targeting Haifa, as Israel claimed it destroyed Hezbollah positions across southern Lebanon.

- Israel claimed it was likely Hassan Nasrallah’s successor Hashem Safieddine was killed in an airstrike on Beirut overnight.