IDF vows to strike heavily across Middle East after Iranian assault

Some 181 ballistic missiles were launched onto Israel on Tuesday night by Iran, the Jerusalem Post understands, leading to 1,800 rocket sirens sounding across the country. 

A Palestinian worker from Gaza was reportedly killed as a result of fragments of rockets that fell in the city of Jericho in the West Bank, according to Israeli media.

Magen David Adom's CEO Eli Bin announced that there was a direct hit to a building in north Tel Aviv on George Wise Street. MDA confirmed that three people had been wounded by falls in Tel Aviv.

A strike also hit a home in Tel Sheva, according to Maariv.

Multiple other falls were recorded in Tel Aviv, Dimona, Nabatim, Hora, Hod Hasharon, Beersheba, and Rishon Lezion.

Israeli air defenses shot down dozens of missiles that flew over Syria, Syrian army sources told Reuters. 

Video footage from KAN showed falling fragments of interceptors and missiles in the Dead Sea.

תיעוד: נפילת שברי מיירטים וטילים בים המלח@rubih67
(צילום: יובל אפריאט) pic.twitter.com/ojN9RY8hGA

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 1, 2024

The IDF published a series of pictures and videos showing the attacks on Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon.

IDF troops can be seen entering villages and overgrown areas, breaking into underground areas along the border, and uncovering weapons caches and terrorist compounds.

During operations, they gathered intelligence and destroyed weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced Iranian-made weapons.

The Northern Command, in cooperation with the Military Intelligence Directorate, led dozens of raids by IDF troops on Hezbollah's combat bases in southern Lebanon.

The operations were intended to weaken Hezbollah's special Radwan Force and prevent it from attacking Israel. 

The IDF also took several pieces of Hezbollah offensive weaponry into Israel for further analysis.

This is a developing story.

One IDF soldier was severely wounded, and three others were moderately wounded in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Nablus in the West Bank, the military said on Tuesday. 

During an operation in the Balata refugee camp, terrorists opened fire at the troops, wounding the four soldiers. The troops killed one of the terrorists and wounded an additional one, the military added,

In a separate operation, troops killed terrorist Abed Shahin, who reportedly carried out terror activities against the troops and operated to enlist a terror squad that would carry out further terror activities.  

More than 10,000 people in the Gaza Strip still need medical evacuation while more than 41,000 people have been killed in the last 12 months of the war, UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge told a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

The head of Hezbollah's media office, Mohammad Afif, said on Tuesday that no Israeli troops have entered Lebanese territory and warned that the group's strikes on Tel Aviv hours earlier were "only the beginning."

In a written statement to Reuters, Afif said Hezbollah had not engaged in "direct ground clashes" with Israeli troops but that it would be ready to do so.

"Israel should cease conducting ground raids in southern Lebanon to avoid an escalation of the conflict enveloping the region," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Tuesday.

Since February 2022, Spain has commanded the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and deployed 650 troops along the southern Lebanese border with Israel.

Israel and the United States agreed on the importance of dismantling Hezbollah's attack infrastructure along the Israel-Lebanon border, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Twitter/X on Tuesday after speaking to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin overnight.

One man in his 50s and another in his 30s were wounded following sirens that sounded in central Israel on Tuesday, Magen David Adom (MDA) said.

The man in his 50s sustained moderate wounds from shrapnel, according to the MDA. The man in his 30s reportedly sustained light wounds.

The MDA added that its paramedics provided medical care and transferred the two men, a bus driver and a private vehicle driver, to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva.

Paramedics also reportedly provided treatment on-site to several individuals suffering from anxiety. 

The Israel Air Force conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists operating in a command and control center in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, the military said on Tuesday.

The command center was embedded in what had previously been the "Shejaiya" UNRWA school, the IDF noted, adding that Hamas terrorists used the location to plan and carry out terror activities against IDF troops and Israeli territory.

The IDF also stated that, prior to the strike, it took measures to prevent civilian harm, including the use of aerial surveillance to gather intelligence and employing precision munitions.