The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that Fateh Sherif, who was killed in an Israeli air strike today, was the leader of Hamas in Lebanon while also employed as a school principal by UNRWA, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

Preparations were underway late Monday for Israel to invade Lebanon “the moment that the security cabinet approves” the military operation, meaning within hours, Israeli sources say.

Israeli special forces have been carrying out targeted raids into southern Lebanon, probing Hezbollah’s border tunnels and gathering intelligence in an effort to weaken Hezbollah’s capabilities, ahead of a potential broader ground incursion expected soon, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Israel last week secured an $8.7 billion US weapons package to support its fighting against Iranian proxies Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthi insurgents in Yemen, All Israel News (AIN) reports.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, said early Monday that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the first such attack within the Lebanese capital’s city limits.

Israel’s military has confirmed Saturday that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and “most” senior leaders of the Iran-backed Islamic group.

The Israeli Air Force carried out massive targeted airstrikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut as part of efforts to eliminate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli and U.S. sources say.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah that Israel will continue to fight till the Jewish nation can live in peace, and he called for closer ties with Saudi Arabia.

The head of one of Hezbollah’s arial forces has been killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, security sources say.

Making no mention of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group that the Israelis have been battling since October 8, the United States, Britain, EU, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others on Wednesday called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire between “Lebanon and Israel” for diplomats to find a solution to the crisis.

Hezbollah confirmed it fired “a ballistic missile” toward the Tel Aviv area Wednesday, targeting the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they intercepted the rocket.

Scientists have grown a 10 feet (3 meters) tall tree from a 1,000-year-old ancient seed which possibly belonged to a lineage that produced the healing balm referred to as ‘tsori’ in the Old Testament of the Bible, Live Science reports. The study of the tree dubbed ‘Sheba’ was published in the journal Communications Biology on September 10.

An Israeli airstrike targeted a Hezbollah commander in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Tuesday, reportedly killing six people, while Israel faced more than 100 rockets fired from Lebanon, several sources said.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in southern Lebanon as massive Israeli airstrikes targeting the Islamic, Iran-backed Hezbollah group killed hundreds, witnesses and officials said.

The United States confirmed Monday that it is rushing additional troops to the Middle East as rapidly escalating violence between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon raised concern clashes could turn into a full-scale regional war.