Israel Lebanon latest: Another Hezbollah chief ‘killed’ in Israeli strike as Iran vows revenge over Nasrallah’s death

In his first public remarks since the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu said: “He wasn’t another terrorist. He was the terrorist.”

He said Nasrallah’s killing would help bring displaced Israelis back to their homes in the north and would pressure Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

But with the threat of retaliation high, he said the coming days will bring “significant challenges” and warned Iran against trying to strike.

“There is no place in Iran or in the Middle East that Israel’s long arm cannot reach,” he said. “Today you know how much that is true.”

Hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon have been displaced by the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, a Lebanese cabinet minister spearheading the country’s emergency response said.

Environment minister Nasser Yassin said the government estimates that about 250,000 people have left their homes and taken refuge in government-run shelters and informal ones. However, he told the Associated Press the total number is about “four times as many directly affected and/or displaced outside the shelters.”

The United Nations said that, as of Friday, 211,319 people were forced to relocate – even prior to the intensive Israeli airstrikes over Beirut’s southern suburbs over the past two days.

The Lebanese government has converted schools and other facilities into temporary shelters. But still many are sleeping on the streets or in public squares, as the government and non-governmental organisations try to find them places to stay.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said said that his country has “no option but the diplomatic option” in response to Israel’s attacks.

Mr Mikati gave the response during a televised speech, when asked about diplomatic efforts to end Israel’s escalation against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Israel’s killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Lebanon “will not go unanswered”, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi has warned.

In Beirut, some displaced families spent the night on the benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront. On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffle bag of clothes had rolled out mats to sleep on and made tea for themselves.

“You won’t be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people – we will stay here. We won’t leave. This is our country and we’re staying,” said Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident jogging through the area.

Israeli strikes have killed at least four people in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian officials.

Two people were killed in separate strikes early on Sunday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the nearby Awda Hospital, which received the bodies. It said another six people were wounded.

In northern Gaza, first responders recovered two bodies after a strike on a house early on Sunday, according to Gaza’s civil defence authority, which operates under the Hamas-run government.

Lebanon’s information minister said during a cabinet session on Sunday that diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire with Israel were still “under way”.

The Israeli military has said that it killed senior Hezbollah figure Nabil Kaouk amid an ongoing exchange of strikes between the two sides.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on Kaouk’s fate, but supporters have been posting mourning messages for him since Saturday.

A former commander who led Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon during Israel’s 18-year occupation, Kaouk then held positions on Hezbollah’s executive council.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has said that militant groups will keep confronting Israel with Tehran’s help following the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, state media reported.

“We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance,” said Mr Qalibaf, referring to the alliance known as the Axis of Resistance, built over decades with Iranian support, which includes Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

He also issued a warning to the United States, saying: “The US is complicit in all of these crimes and … has to accept the repercussions,” he said.

Also commenting on Nasrallah’s killing, Iranian Foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Israel “will not rest” and the action would not go unanswered, state media reported on Sunday. He said the region was in a dangerous situation.

Iran Revolutionary Guards’ deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, Iranian media reported on Saturday.