IDF raids Assad era military outpost, US deputy Middle East envoy meets Lebanese officials

US deputy special envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, concluded her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday, after arriving in Beirut on Friday for her second visit to Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office in January, Al-Monitor reported Friday night. Her last visit was in February.

She is also scheduled to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that was signed in November, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Ortagus will demand that Lebanese authorities establish a clear schedule for Hezbollah’s disarmament, Al-Monitor reported, citing local reports. She is also expected to push for the beginning of talks between Israel and Lebanon on the demarcation of their border, currently marked by the blue line drawn by the United Nations in 2000. 

The IDF expanded ground operations in Gaza overnight Friday, in the North and South, and took control of several areas in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Rafah, and the Morag Axis.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Israeli air force and artillery batteries operated to target terrorist objectives and support the operating troops.

On Friday evening, both ground troops and the Israeli air force struck in Rafah, Khan Yunis, Shuja'iya, Gaza City, and Beit Hanoun.

The New York Times obtained a video recording on a cell phone of one of the killed paramedics, who was found with 14 other aid workers in a mass grave in Rafah in late March, that shows that the ambulances and fire truck the workers were traveling in were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on when Israeli troops fired at them, the NYT reported Friday evening. 

Earlier in the week, an Israeli military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, reportedly told the NYT that the IDF did not “randomly attack” an ambulance,” but that several vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals toward Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot.

He also said that the majority of those killed were terrorists, according to the NYT.

The IDF said it is conducting an investigation into this incident on Thursday, Reuters reported. The military said its Southern Command had transferred the investigation to a general staff mechanism outside the chain of command to establish what had happened and "hold accountable people if we need to."

Despite US President Donald Trump’s claim that recent strikes on Yemen had “decimated” the Houthis, government officials have reportedly quietly acknowledged in private that the attacks have been less effective than anticipated, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Pentagon officials reportedly acknowledged that the US was struggling to hit the Houthis’ underground arsenal. 

Despite limited success, the attacks have grown fiercer under the Trump administration, the NYT report detailed, with attacks reportedly stronger than what the US defense department is willing to admit.

Half of the living hostages are in areas that the IDF has attempted to evacuate recently, Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement on Friday.

"We have decided not to move these captives from those areas and to keep them under strict security measures - but their lives are in extreme danger," he said.

"If Israel is concerned for the lives of these hostages, Netanyahu must immediately enter negotiations for their release," he continued. "The Netanyahu government bears full responsibility for the lives of the hostages. If it truly cared about them, it would have honored the agreement signed in January, and most of them would likely already be home."

Hamas has been collaborating with Bedouins in the Negev to smuggle drones into the Gaza Strip for the past several weeks, N12 reported on Friday.

Each drone is smuggled into the Gaza Strip at a rate of one million dollars per drone; at least ten drones have been delivered.

The drones are worth only NIS 100 to 150 each and can carry up to 70 kilograms of cargo.

Hamas is expected to modify the drone for military use in combat against IDF troops.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday and discuss the new tariffs imposed on Israel, the nuclear crisis with Iran, and the war in Gaza, four sources familiar with the matter told Walla.

If the visit does go ahead, Netanyahu will not return to Israel from Budapest, where he has been staying since Wednesday night. Instead, he will fly to Washington on Sunday.

Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since the US president announced his tariff plan that rocked America and the global economy.

Egypt has submitted another proposal idea to Hamas as a way to bridge the existing gaps between Israeli and Hamas hostage deal proposals, Kan News reported on Friday.

According to the report, the proposal falls somewhere between Hamas's original proposal, which called for the release of five living hostages, and the Israeli proposal, which called for the release of 11 living hostages.

This is a developing story.

The IDF and Shin Bet struck and eliminated Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Awad, a senior commander in the Military Intelligence Array in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Friday.

He was affiliated with senior commanders of the Palestinian Mujahideen terrorist organization.

On October 7, Awad infiltrated the Israeli community of Nir Oz multiple times. He was one of the leaders of the massacre and was likely personally involved in the abductions and brutal murders of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas.

Additionally, he played a role in the abduction and burial of Gaddi Haggai and Judy Weinstein. He was also involved in the abductions of Thai citizens.