As US Moderates Netanyahu's Rampage, Israel Bombs Gaza and Fighter Jets Strike Lebanon
Tensions between the United States (US) and Iran have slightly eased with media reports from Axios regarding discussions on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for peace between the two countries. However, new violence has erupted, triggered by actions from Israel.
In two recent AFP reports on Thursday (7/5/2026), Israel carried out attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of at least a dozen people.
Attacks in Gaza
Gaza health officials stated that Israeli attacks killed six people across the Palestinian territory on Wednesday. The strikes also injured several others, including the son of Hamas’s chief negotiator.
Although a ceasefire was agreed upon in October, Gaza remains plagued by daily violence due to ongoing Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, the Israeli military and Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.
“Five people have been killed since this morning in occupation attacks in the Gaza Strip,” said the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas.
Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City reported receiving three dead and several injured after an Israeli drone strike in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City. A separate attack was reported in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing one person and injuring 10 others, including the son of Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, according to the hospital and security sources.
“Azzam Khalil al-Hayya was seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike,” a security source told AFP.
“Two more people were killed and more than a dozen injured in Israeli attacks in other parts of the territory,” the civil defence agency and hospitals stated.
“One of the two was a Hamas police officer,” according to security sources.
The ceasefire has largely halted the Gaza war that began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. However, violence continues, with at least 837 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations (UN).
Attacks in Lebanon
A senior commander from Hezbollah’s elite forces was also killed in an Israeli strike on the southern outskirts of Beirut on Wednesday. This was the first attack in the area in nearly a month.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his military had targeted a “Hezbollah Radwan Force commander”.
Meanwhile, sources close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that “Malek Ballout, operations commander in the Radwan Force”, had been killed. The government-run Lebanese National News Agency reported that “Israeli fighter jets launched strikes targeting Ghobeiri” in the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
An AFP correspondent saw a building buried under rubble after the attack, while people were leaving the area with their belongings. Many residents of the southern suburbs had fled after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war in March and have not returned despite the ceasefire in effect since 17 April.
Beirut and its southern suburbs had been spared from Israeli attacks since 8 April, when massive Israeli strikes across the country killed more than 350 people. Wednesday’s attack came as US President Donald Trump stated there was a “very good chance” of reaching a peace deal with Iran.