Drone attack launched on Netanyahu’s house, Israeli government says

Attempted strike on Netanyahu’s home comes after more than 50 killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu’s plane was landing in September but the missile was intercepted (Getty Images)

A drone has been launched towards the private home of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coastal town of Caesarea, the Israeli government has said.

There were no casualties and neither the PM or his wife were home at the time, his spokesperson said in a statement.

It comes as more than 50 people in Gaza, including children, were killed in several Israeli strikes, in less than 24 hours, according to hospital officials..

Sirens wailed on Saturday morning in Israel, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon, including a drone launched towards Mr Netanyahu's house, the Israeli government said.

Yemen's Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion Airport when Mr Netanyahu's plane was landing in September but the missile was intercepted.

More strikes pounded Gaza on Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli strikes hit the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and that forces opened fire at the hospital’s building and its courtyard, causing panic among patients and medical staff.

At Al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, strikes hit the building’s top floors, injuring several staff members, the hospital said in a statement.

Girls walk past destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip this week (AFP via Getty Images)

Three houses in Jabaliya were struck overnight on Friday, killing at least 30 people, more than half of them women and children, Fares Abu Hamza, head of the health ministry’s ambulance and emergency service, said. At least 80 people were injured.

In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed, including two children, when a house was hit in the town of Zawayda, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken.

Another strike killed 11 people, all from the same family, in the Maghazi refugee camp, the same hospital said. Associated Press journalists counted the bodies from both strikes at the hospital.

The war has destroyed vast swathes of Gaza, displacing about 90 per cent of its population of 2.3 million people, and leaving them struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel.

Israel's military said some 55 projectiles were fired in two separate barrages at northern Israel from Lebanon on Saturday morning. Four people were injured, one of whom had moderate wounds from falling shrapnel, Israel's medical services said.

A 50-year-old man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel, Israel's emergency services said. In a separate statement, the emergency services said four people were injured from the strikes. It was unclear if the man killed was one of the injured.

Israel's war with Lebanon's Hezbollah - a Hamas ally backed by Iran - has intensified in recent weeks. On Friday, Hezbollah said it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel.

The militant group's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier in October.

Israel also said on Saturday that it had killed Hezbollah's deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.

In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle on a main highway north of Beirut, killing two people. It was unclear who was in the car when it was struck.

Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks at a press conference for Quds (Jerusalem) day in Gaza City in 2019 (AFP via Getty Images)

A standoff is also ensuing between Israel and Hamas, which it's fighting in Gaza, with both signalling resistance to ending the war after the death of Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar this week.

Since Israel claimed Sinwar's death on Thursday, confirmed by a top Hamas official on Friday, Hamas has reiterated its stance that the hostages taken from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The staunch position pushed back against a statement by Netanyahu that his country's military will keep fighting until the hostages are released, and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming.

Sinwar is seen as the chief architect of the 7 October attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 Israelis, while another 251 people were taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, with more than half being women and children.

Additional reporting by Associated Press