Hezbollah claims responsibility for the attack on Netanyahu’s house. 7 “Iranian spies” arrested –

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the recent attack on Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea. Last Saturday a drone launched from Lebanon hit the private residence of the Israeli prime minister, who was not present in the building at the time. In a message reported by the Beirut media, the organization spoke of “full and exclusive responsibility in the operation”. The Israeli media released images of the damage to the house, ‘freeing’ them from previous military censorship. Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces announced that during the night they had hit a Hezbollah naval base in Beirut with rockets and, with fighters, a dozen of the organization’s command posts in Tyre, southern Lebanon. As for the night raid conducted near the Hariri hospital in Beirut, Israel clarified that it did not target the medical facility. The toll, at the moment, speaks of 18 victims, including four children. The Israeli army then reported that a military base in Tel Aviv and a naval base in Haifa were targeted by Hezbollah rockets in the early hours of the day.

And tensions are also increasing at the intelligence level. Israeli police and the Shin Bet announced that seven East Jerusalem residents were arrested on suspicion of being Iranian spies and planning attacks in Israel, including the murders of a nuclear scientist and a mayor. The suspects are all aged between 19 and 23. The leader of the gang, a 23-year-old named Rami Alian, was reportedly recruited by an Iranian agent. None of the suspects had a criminal record. The cell, according to Israeli officials, was active for about two years and members were assigned various missions for a fee, including graffiti calling for the release of hostages in Gaza and vandalism in Jerusalem. Alian would have been given a photo and the address of the scientist, with the promise of receiving 200 thousand shekels (almost 49 thousand euros) if he managed to kill him. According to the authorities, the man began preparations for the act but the cell was arrested before it could proceed. Meanwhile, Antony Blinken has arrived in Jerusalem, on his eleventh trip to the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Gaza. The US Secretary of State met Netanyahu and will stop in other Arab countries, including Jordan and Doha. In the meeting, Blinken “stressed the need to capitalize on Israel’s successful action to bring Sinwar to justice, securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza,” the US State Department reported, also underlining that Blinken “discussed the importance of charting a new path in the post-conflict period, one that allows Palestinians to rebuild their lives and provides governance, security and reconstruction in Gaza.”

Truce and the future in the Middle East were also discussed at the meeting of the G7 Development Ministers in Pescara. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will do the honors. “Peace is not yet close, we are working to speed up the process,” he declared. “I am a little more optimistic after Israel’s victory against Hamas. I believe that, as Netanyahu said, we are close to the end of the war.” The deputy prime minister explained that during his visit to Israel he obtained “the assurance that Italian trucks will pass and will be able to enter Gaza: we will have a facilitated route for humanitarian aid coming from Italy”. Regarding the future of Gaza, the Foreign Minister is thinking “of a sort of conference for reconstruction: all civilian populations, regardless of nationality, must be helped”. Italy will do its part by allocating 25 million euros in support to Gaza and Lebanon. In Pescara, where the economy minister of the Palestinian National Authority Alamour is present, Tajani expressed maximum support for the PNA, “for us the only representative of the people of Palestine”. Tajani then had a meeting with the permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations in Rome, Orli Gil, reiterating his condemnation of the “brutal attack by Hamas on 7 October” and the “unrelenting” request for a “ceasefire, release of hostages and an acceleration of humanitarian aid” and with the Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. The deputy prime minister remarked on Italy’s “extraordinary political success” at the summit. “For the first time we have brought together Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese. Achieving peace through dialogue.”