Deadly Lebanon Clash

JERUSALEM: Three gunmen who crossed into Israel from Lebanon and two Israelis were killed in clashes and a strike along the frontier between the two countries as the Israeli-Hamas war entered its 100th day on Sunday.

The Israeli military said troops patrolling a contested border area “identified a terrorist cell who crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and fired at the forces”.

Three gunmen who clashed with three troops were shot dead, the army said, while five other soldiers were wounded in the firefight.

Hamas ally Hezbollah said it carried out several attacks on the Israeli-Lebanese border on Sunday including in Kfar Yuval, where it claimed to target Israeli soldiers.

“What has the enemy achieved in 100 days, other than killing?” asked Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech.

Israel’s military has said its forces have dismantled the Hamas command structure in Gaza’s north.

On Sunday, the military said it had struck rocket-launching pits in Gaza’s north and hit targets across the strip, including the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a government budget meeting on Sunday that additional security expenditures were needed.

“We must conduct this war, and it will yet take many months,” he said.

The 100th day was also marked by more civilian deaths in Gaza and casualties in the West Bank, while relatives of dozens of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas still await their freedom.

Israelis held rallies in Tel Aviv on Sunday to mark the 100 days of captivity for the Gaza hostages.

“I don’t think we imagined a situation where we would be here on the 100th day,” said Gili Dvash Yeshurun, who attended the commemoration.

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, said many of the hostages are likely to have been killed recently.

“The rest are in great danger every hour and the enemy’s leadership and army bear full responsibility,” he said in a televised statement.

It came as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed earlier Sunday that the IDF would free the hostages.

“We will not let the world forget. We will not leave them behind,” he said.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since early October, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including two shot dead when their car broke through a checkpoint, sources on both sides said.