Israel at war: What happened on days 42-43?

Rocket sirens sounded across northern Israeli border towns on Saturday morning after a barrage of at least 25 rockets was fired from Lebanon, the IDF confirmed.

The Israeli military said it was striking the source of the fire, as well as several Hezbollah terror positions across the border. 

Sirens also sounded in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona later on Saturday. The IDF said it responded to the rocket fire.

The IDF strikes Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon on November 18, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI)

Hezbollah says it shot down Israeli drone

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it shot down an Israeli drone near the border in the early hours of Saturday.

Lebanese officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a building in an industrial area near the town of Nabatieh, one of the deepest Israeli strikes inside Lebanese territory since fighting resumed last month. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.

A top foreign policy adviser to the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Saturday that statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a longer term presence in Gaza were worrying.

"We hear now from the Israeli prime minister and indeed the Israeli president about the sort of longer term Israeli connection to Gaza. They are very worrying," Anwar Gargash said at the IISS Manama Security summit in Bahrain.

"This indicates that perhaps the lesson that we as the majority of people in region are taking away from the Gaza crisis which is the need to go back to the two state solution, we need to go back to an Israeli and Palestinian state living side by side. That lesson has perhaps not been the same."

Reserve officers in the IDF sounded the alarm over a collection of reports recently accumulated on disciplinary issues among Israeli soldiers in Gaza, which may lead to "serious incidents" in the Gaza Strip and endanger Israeli forces in the face of Hamas threats, they argued.

Among the alarming reports, a testimony of a tank commander claimed he observed soldiers playing soccer, swimming in the waters of Gazan beaches, spraying graffiti inscriptions on the walls of Palestinian houses, and planting trees brought from Israel.

Also, some unusual political statements by soldiers were recorded on social networks. One veteran in the IDF reserves told Walla! of one case in which he witnessed the arrival of fuel tanks deep in Gaza.

"A message was received about heavy vehicles (armored personnel carriers, tanks, bulldozers) engaging in a competition to see who will arrive at their destination first. There is no order. There is always one driver who wants to arrive first, or someone who bypasses the line, and then there is tension between them.

The IDF allowed the evacuation of Gazans at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Saturday following a request by the director, denying reports by Qatari-owned Al Jazeera that it had ordered the full evacuation of the hospital within an hour.

"At no point did the IDF ask to evacuate patients or medical teams," the Israeli military said, stressing the evacuation is being carried out under the hospital director's request. "[The IDF] has further offered to cooperate with any request for a medical evacuation."

Medical teams and patients who cannot or refuse to evacuate will remain in the hospital, it added. A doctor who spoke to Al Jazeera said it was "impossible" to evacuate patients at that time.

Hamas has announced the death of one of their officials from their political bureau, Ahmed Bahr, early Saturday morning, N12 reported citing Arabic media.

Bahr, 76, was the Vice President of the Palestinian Legislative Council, according to Arabic media, which claimed that he died on Friday from his injuries caused by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Bahr was also the Speaker of the Hamas parliament in Gaza, Walla reported.

This is a developing story.

Rocket sirens sounded across northern Israeli border towns on Saturday morning after a barrage of at least 25 rockets was fired from Lebanon, the IDF confirmed.

The Israeli military said it was striking the source of the fire, as well as several Hezbollah terror positions across the border. 

This is a developing story.

Only the Palestinian Authority can run Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war is over, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday.

"Hamas cannot be in control of Gaza any longer," Borrell told the Manama Dialogue, an annual conference on foreign and security policy in Bahrain.

"So who will be in control of Gaza? I think only one could do that - the Palestinian Authority," he said.

Jordan's foreign minister said on Saturday that he did not understand how Israel's goal of obliterating the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas it is fighting in Gaza could be achieved.

"Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There's a lot of military people here, I just don't understand how this objective can be realized," said Ayman Safadi.

Fears of displacement 

He warned Jordan would do "whatever it takes to stop" the displacement of Palestinians, amid heavy Israeli bombardment of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in retaliation for an October 7 attack by Hamas and other Islamist terrorists.

Israeli forces ordered the medical teams at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip to evacuate within an hour, according to a Saturday morning report by Al-Jazeera.

A doctor who spoke to the TV channel said it is "impossible" to evacuate patients at this time.

This is a developing story.

US President Joe Biden's top adviser on the Middle East said on Saturday the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas would lead to a surge in the delivery of humanitarian aid and significant pause in fighting in Gaza.

"The hostages are released, you will see a significant, significant change," Brett McGurk said at the IISS Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.

Bahrain's crown prince, speaking at the summit on Friday, called on Hamas to release Israeli women and children held hostage and for Israel in exchange to release from its prisons Palestinian women and children who he said were non-combatants.