Hezbollah launches mass aerial attack after Israel kills officer

The Lebanon-based terror group said it fired over 200 projectiles into Israel territory on Thursday morning, after the Israel Defense Forces said they had killed one of the group’s senior officers. Some of the projectiles were shot down by IDF aerial defense systems and sparked several fires to break out in northern Israel. A 38-year-old Israeli Army reservist was reportedly killed in the attack. The Israeli Air Force launched retaliatory strikes on several Hezbollah posts in southern Lebanon following the early morning barrage.

How high-ranking was the commander killed to merit this retaliation? IDF forces eliminated terror Sr. Commander Muhammad Neamah Naser, who it described as one of the most significant Hezbollah figures, in a Wednesday strike. Naser led missile and rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and military from southwestern Lebanon, according to the IDF. He also orchestrated a large number of terror attacks on Israel before the war, the IDF said.

Are strikes still happening in Gaza?  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday told President Biden he was working to finish negotiations for a cease-fire with the release of the hostages held by Hamas. Meanwhile, the IDF has continued battling the terrorists across the Gaza Strip this week with airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah to Gaza City in the north. The Israeli Air Force struck two United Nations’ Palestinian refugee schools in north Gaza on Thursday morning, according to the IDF. Hamas insurgents were using the schools as hideouts and operational bases against Israel, the IDF said. Israeli forces surveyed the area ahead of time to arrange its attack with precision and reduce civilian harm, the IAF said. Around 300,000 of the UN’s Gaza students have been out of school for nearly nine months, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees posted after the strike.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report on Israeli hostages and their families suing the UN Palestinian refugee agency.