Israel-Hamas war latest: Israel says it killed one of Hezbollah's commanders in Beirut strike

Israel struck the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday and said it killed the militant commander allegedly behind a rocket strike that killed 12 youths. The attack on a Beirut apartment building left at least three others killed and dozens wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed heavy retaliation against Hezbollah for Saturday's strike, though Hezbollah has denied any role in the attack.

Meanwhile, tensions remained high in Israel as soldiers appeared before a military court Tuesday over allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at a facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war.

Hard-line nationalists in Netanyahu’s government and others have protested. An investigation by The Associated Press has exposed abysmal conditions at Sde Teiman, where most of the thousands detained in Gaza have been held. Israeli authorities have generally denied abuses in detention facilities for Palestinians.

More bodies and further destruction were found after Israeli forces withdrew from parts of Khan Younis in Gaza. The territory's Health Ministry says over 39,300 people have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked the war. Some diseases run rampant in appalling conditions in overcrowded tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The sanitation system has collapsed, leaving pools of sewage.

Here’s the latest:

Israel says its airstrike killed a top Hezbollah military commander

JERUSALEM — Israel says its airstrike Tuesday on a Beirut apartment building killed the Hezbollah commander who was allegedly behind a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. At least three other people were killed.

Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the commander’s death. The Israeli strike killed a woman and two children and wounded dozens of other people in escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group.

An Israeli official said the target was Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah military commander whom the U.S. blames for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of the strike with the media. Shukur is also suspected in other strikes that killed Israeli civilians.

Lebanon’s public health ministry said Tuesday’s strike in a southern suburb of Beirut wounded 74 people, some of them seriously.

Harris says she ‘unequicovably' supports Israel’s right to defend itself

ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris says she “unequivocally” supports Israel’s right to defend itself hours after Israel's air strike on a Beirut apartment building. Israel has said the strike was aimed at a Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the deaths of 12 youths in a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said “I unequivocally support Israel’s right to remain secure and to defend the security of Israel.”

“What we know, in particular, is it has the right to defend itself against the terrorist organization, which is exactly what Hezbollah is,” she added.

Speaking to reporters as she arrived in Atlanta ahead of a campaign rally, Harris added that “we still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks, and we will continue to do that work.”

Iran-backed Iraqi militia group hit by strike

BAGHDAD — A strike near a base of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia southwest of Baghdad killed at least one militant and wounded two others, two militants familiar with the incident told The Associated Press.

The attack comes days after an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias dubbed “the Islamic Resistance” resumed rocket attacks on U.S. military bases in the country and in eastern Syria.

The militants spoke about the attack on Jurf al-Sakher on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The attack came hours after Israel said it launched a strike in a southern Beirut suburb in Lebanon targeting a Hezbollah militant commander.

The United States has claimed responsibility for strikes targeting Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq, but has not immediately commented on the matter.

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Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report.

1 killed, 68 injured in Israeli strike on Beirut building, Lebanon officials say

Israel's rocket strike on a Beirut apartment building Tuesday killed one person and wounded 68 others, including five who are in critical condition, Lebanon’s public health ministry said.

The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at the Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the deaths of 12 youths in a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, as well as the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians hit in other strikes. It was not immediately clear if the intended target of Tuesday’s strike was hit.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said 17 wounded were taken to the private Bahman Hospital, while 14 were taken to Hezbollah’s Rasoul Aazam hospital.

“The Israeli enemy has committed a great stupid act in size, timing and circumstances by targeting an entirely civilian area,” Hezbollah official Ali Ammar told Al-Manar TV. “The Israeli enemy will pay a price for this sooner or later.”

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli attack, saying it hit a few meters from one of the largest hospitals in the capital.

Israeli strike hit a Beirut apartment building next to a hospital

BEIRUT — Israel's rocket strike on Beirut hit an apartment building next to a hospital, collapsing half of the targeted building. The hospital sustained minor damage, while the surrounding streets were littered with debris and broken glass. Paramedics could be seen carrying several injured people out of the damaged buildings.

A forklift was in the middle of the street, reaching to the top floors of the destroyed building, while utility crews removed fallen power lines. Crowds gathered to inspect the damages and check on their families. Some of them chanted in support of Hezbollah.

A resident of the suburb whose home is about 200 meters (220 yards) away said that dust from the explosion “covered everything,” and that the glass in his son’s apartment was broken.

“Then people went down on the streets,” he said. “Everyone has family. They went to check on them. It was a lot of destruction.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concerns about his security at a tense moment.

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Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Beirut.

Eighty-five ‘sick and severely injured’ Palestinians evacuated from Gaza

JERUSALEM — The World Health Organization said it evacuated 85 “sick and severely injured” Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

The U.N. health agency said the evacuation, which was coordinated with the UAE government, included 50 adults and 35 children, all of whom were transported across Kerem Shalom crossing and into Israel. They then departed the country from Ramon Airport in Israel’s deep south.

Of the 85 evacuees, 53 were cancer patients while an additional 63 family members and companions accompanied them.

Some 5,000 people have been evacuated outside of the war-stricken enclave for treatment since the breakout of the war, with over 80% receiving care in Egypt, Qatar and the UAE, the U.N. agency said.

Rafah crossing, which connects Gaza and Egypt, had been the main exit point for Palestinians leaving the war-stricken enclave and entry point for humanitarian aid, but has not been operational since Israel launched its ground offensive on areas of the southern city in early May.

“We hope this paves the way for the establishment of evacuation corridors via all possible routes, including the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings to Egypt and Jordan, and from there to other countries,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

At least one person killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

BEIRUT — Israel's rocket strike on a Beirut suburb Tuesday killed at least one person, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

The news outlet reported that the strike, carried out with a drone that launched three rockets, killed one woman and wounded several other people, some of them seriously. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. Bahman Hospital near the site of the blast called on people to donate blood.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted the Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the deaths of 12 children and teens in a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, as well as the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians hit in other strikes.

The airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik damaged several buildings, but it was not immediately clear if any Hezbollah official was hit.

Senior U.S. officials arrive in Saudi Arabia for talks

WASHINGTON — Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday amid heightened anxiety in the U.S. about the escalating tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

McGurk is leading a senior-level group of administration officials that includes representatives from the State Department and Pentagon for the talks, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the travels that the administration hadn’t formally announced.

McGurk has shuttled regularly between Washington and Middle East capitals since Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack on Israel spurring the war in Gaza.

The latest visit comes after Israel had launched retaliatory strikes earlier this month against Houthi rebels in Yemen carried out a drone attack on Tel Aviv.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen and forced the internationally recognized government to flee from Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in support of government forces, and in time the conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

McGurk is expected to travel on to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on the increasingly complicated situation and ongoing efforts to seal a U.S-backed cease-fire and hostage deal aimed at freeing remaining captives being held by Hamas in Gaza.