Israeli army announces killing of Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army announces that it has killed a commander of an elite Hezbollah unit, on the night of Sunday April 7 to Monday April 8, during a raid on southern Lebanon. Israeli hunters “struck and eliminated Ali Ahmad Hussein, the commander of the al-Radwan forces of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the al-Houjair region”, specify the Israeli forces in a press release. On Monday, Hezbollah also announced the death of Ali Ahmad Hussein, his nom de guerre Abbas Jaafar, without specifying where he was killed. Follow our live stream.

The Israeli army is “preparing” for an offensive in Rafah. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured Sunday that his troops “are preparing to continue their missions (…) in the Rafah area”, a town on the Egyptian border where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are gathered, the majority displaced. The international community has been warning for several months about the risks for civilians of an operation in Rafah.

Israeli troops withdrew from Khan Yunis. A few hours earlier on Sunday, Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Younes, another town in the south of the Gaza Strip, in order to “to prepare for future operations” according to the army. Immediately after this Israeli withdrawal, dozens of Palestinian refugees in Rafah headed back towards Khan Younes, according to AFP.

Israel close to victory against Hamas, says Benjamin Netanyahu. Six months after the October 7 attacks in Israel and the start of Israeli reprisals in Gaza, the Prime Minister assured that the Israeli army was “one step from victory” in its war against Hamas. “The price to pay is painful and heartbreaking”declared the leader in his government’s war cabinet on Sunday. “There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. It will not happen”he continued.

A “more than catastrophic” situation in Gaza. In the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, “millions of lives are threatened by hunger”, Jagan Chapagain, director general of the IFRC, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, recalled on Sunday. “A flood of humanitarian aid must absolutely reach those who need it. Not tomorrow, but now.”