Israel claims to have killed senior Hezbollah commander

Tel Aviv [Israel], July 26 (ANI): The Israel Defence Forces on Saturday said they killed Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail, a senior Hezbollah commander in the Bint Jbeil sector.

The IDF said that Ismail was involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon.

In a post on X, the IDF said, "ELIMINATED: Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail, a senior Hezbollah commander in the Bint Jbeil sector, involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon. The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel."



Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz visited the home of the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, vowing to aid their brethren in Syria. Visiting the village of Julis, Katz said the military would work to provide medical assistance to the Druze of southern Syria, which suffered deadly attacks from Bedouin tribes earlier this month, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry.

A boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid supplies approached the Gaza Strip, according to the organizers. The Handala boat, with 15 activists, set sail from Sicily earlier this month, a month after Israel intercepted a different vessel that had made a high-profile attempt to break the maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip, as per the Times of Israel.

Handala is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which also dispatched the earlier boat, the Madleen, on a mission to challenge Israel's blockade on the Strip.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told former hostages and hostage families yesterday that the Trump administration needs to "rethink" its strategy regarding solving the war in Gaza, after being unable to end the conflict since coming into office in January, The Times of Israel reported.

Rubio said that it was necessary to "come to the president with new options" on strategy regarding the war, the report quotes him as saying, without detailing what those options may be.

Captivity survivors and hostage families met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, as per The Times of Israel.