Hezbollah confirmed the death of the main candidate to succeed Hasan Nasrallah | The Israeli army had reportedly assassinated Hashem Safieddine on October 4

2024-10-24 03:01:00

Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday the death of Hashem Safieddine, a possible successor to Hasan Nasrallah at the helm of the Lebanese Islamist movement, after the Israeli army announced that it had “eliminated” him at the beginning of October in an attack near Beirut. In the meantime Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours against the Gaza Strip have left at least 74 dead and 130 injuredaccording to the report with hospital data published almost daily by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

“Most likely candidate” in succession

In a statement, Hezbollah denounced the death of the head of the executive council of the pro-Iranian movement “in a Zionist bombing” and added that he died together with other members of the Shiite party. The group indicated in the statement that the cleric “dedicated much of his life to the service of Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance and his community”, while underlining that he led the group’s executive council “with responsibility and ability”.

A source close to Hezbollah said Safieddine was “the most likely candidate” to succeed the late Nasrallah. The Israeli army confirmed on Tuesday that it had assassinated the prominent cleric in the October 4 attack, even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already announced Safieddine’s death and that of his possible replacement two weeks ago.

“We have addressed Nasrallah, his successor and most of Hezbollah’s leaders. We will address anyone who threatens civilians of the State of Israel,” said Avichay, Arab spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Dozens of Hezbollah leaders and senior officials have been killed by Israel in the past month as it began a massive bombing campaign against Lebanon that has left hundreds dead and displaced more than 1.2 million people.

One thousand healthcare workers killed

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began more than a year ago, 42,792 people have lost their lives and 100,412 have been injured in the devastated Gaza enclave, not counting the thousands of bodies still estimated to be buried under the rubble. . Last Wednesday, the director general of the Ministry of Health, Munir al Bursh, denounced that Israel has killed more than a thousand health workers across the Strip since the start of the offensive.

The attacks are now concentrated mainly in the northern area of ​​the enclave, where Israel maintains a siege that has already caused at least 770 deaths. A shelling on a family residence in the historic center of Jabalia, northern Gaza, killed at least 10 people on Tuesday morning, Palestinian media reported. And in Gaza City, also in the north, at least three people were killed in an attack on a school hosting thousands of displaced people, according to local sources.

Despite the deaths caused against civilians reported by Palestinian media, Israel guarantees that it has taken “numerous measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information”. It is not the first time that Israel has bombed schools in the already devastated Gaza Strip, transformed since the start of the offensive into shelters for thousands of displaced people left without their homes destroyed by Israeli attacks.

The Israeli military insists that Hamas “systematically abuses civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.” Israel’s siege prevents the World Health Organization (WHO) from continuing the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was supposed to be moved this Wednesday to the north of the enclave, after covering the south and center, and after that the first dose had been distributed in September.