Israeli airstrikes killed 12 Palestinians in central Gaza overnight Sunday as authorities arrested three suspects for firing flares at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence, highlighting escalating tensions both within Israel and across the region.
The strikes hit the refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij, killing six and four people respectively, while two others died in an attack on Gaza’s main north-south highway, according to officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. The camps, established after Israel’s creation in 1948, have become densely populated urban areas.
Simultaneously, Israeli warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh and a stronghold of Hezbollah, as Lebanese officials weigh a U.S.-brokered cease-fire proposal. The attacks included a rare strike on central Beirut, marking the first such action in weeks.
The domestic incident at Netanyahu’s Caesarea residence, where flares were fired while the prime minister and his family were away, prompted swift police action and political fallout. Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the attack, warning against “an escalation of the violence in the public sphere.” Officials suggested the perpetrators were domestic political opponents rather than external threats, though a Hezbollah drone had targeted the same residence last month.
The incidents occur amid mounting pressure on Netanyahu’s government over its handling of the war and hostage crisis. Critics blame the prime minister for security failures that enabled Hamas’s October 7 attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with a third presumed dead.
In Tel Aviv, protesters again gathered Saturday night demanding a cease-fire deal to secure the hostages’ release, reflecting growing domestic discord over the government’s war strategy.
The conflict has extracted a devastating toll on Gaza, where the Health Ministry reports approximately 43,800 Palestinian deaths, with women and children comprising more than half the casualties. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. About 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, with large sections of the territory reduced to rubble by Israeli military operations.
The simultaneous strikes in Lebanon and domestic political tensions underscore the complex challenges facing Netanyahu’s government as it pursues military objectives while managing increasing internal dissent and regional escalation risks.
