Israel's military carries out strikes in Lebanon and Gaza, killing
dozens of people
[November 20, 2025]
By HUSSEIN MALLA, BASSEM MROUE and WAFAA SHURAFA
SIDON, Lebanon (AP) — The Israeli military carried out barrages of
airstrikes in southern Lebanon Wednesday on what it said were Hezbollah
sites, including weapons storage facilities, after a drone strike
earlier in the day killed one person and wounded several others,
including students on a bus.
The new wave of strikes came a day after an airstrike killed 13 people
in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, the deadliest of
Israeli attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war
a year ago.
Meanwhile, after Israel reported its soldiers were fired on in southern
Gaza, health officials in the territory said Israeli strikes killed at
least 25 Palestinians in one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the
Oct. 10 ceasefire agreement took effect. Separately, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to a buffer zone in Syrian
territory that Israel seized last year.
Israel claims Hezbollah is regrouping
Israel's military warned Wednesday it would strike targets in several
villages in southern Lebanon, describing them as Hezbollah
infrastructure, and called on people to move away from the locations.
More than an hour later, strikes began in the villages of Shehour and
Deir Kifa.
Israel's military said Hezbollah was working to reestablish itself and
rebuild its capacity in southern Lebanon, without providing evidence. It
said the weapons' facilities targeted were embedded among civilians and
violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon. Israel agreed to a
ceasefire and withdraw from southern Lebanon last year and Lebanon
agreed to quell Hezbollah activity in the area.
Earlier Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on a car in the southern
Lebanese village of Tiri killed one person and wounded 11, including
students aboard a nearby bus, the Lebanese Health Ministry and state
media said. State-run National News Agency said the school bus happened
to be passing near the car that was hit.
Israel's military later said it killed a Hezbollah operative in the
drone strike.
In Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, just outside the port city of Sidon, life
appeared normal Wednesday. Lebanese authorities prevented journalists
from entering. At the scene of the strike, paramedics searched for human
remains around a wall that was stained with blood. Several cars were
burned and broken glass and debris littered the ground.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas training compound that was
being used to prepare an attack against Israel and its army. It added
that the Israeli army would continue to act against Hamas wherever it
operates.
Hamas denied in a statement that the sports playground that was hit was
its training compound.
Palestinian factions in refugee camps hand over weapons
Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps earlier this year
began handing over their weapons to the Lebanese state. The government
has said that it will also work on disarming Hezbollah, but Hezbollah
has rejected it as long as Israel continues to occupy several hills
along the border and carries out almost daily strikes.
The U.S. has recently increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on
disarming Hezbollah and canceled a planned trip to Washington this week
by Lebanese army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
A senior Lebanese army officer told The Associated Press that U.S.
officials were angered by an army statement on Sunday that blamed Israel
for destabilizing Lebanon and blocking the Lebanese military deployment
in south Lebanon. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he
wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas
attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in
solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of
Lebanon two months ago that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a
ground invasion.
That war, the most recent of several conflicts involving Hezbollah over
the past four decades, killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon,
including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion
worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people
died, including 80 soldiers.
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Palestinian rescue workers check the scene where an Israeli strike
on Tuesday night hit the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in
the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Israeli strikes kill 25 in Gaza
Gaza's Ministry of Health said that Israeli strikes killed 25
Palestinians and injured 77 since the afternoon in one of the
deadliest days since the Oct. 10 ceasefire took effect. Hospital
officials who received the bodies said they came from on both sides
of the yellow line established in last month’s ceasefire. The
boundary splits the enclave in two, leaving the border zone under
Israeli military control while the area beyond it is meant to serve
as a safe zone.
Officials at al-Ahli, Shifa, Nasser and Kuwaiti hospitals reported
they received the bodies of those killed from Gaza City, Khan Younis
and the Muwasi area, the southern Gaza displacement camp. An Israeli
strike also killed one person in Shijaiyah, a Gaza City neighborhood
outside the safe zone where Israeli forces remain deployed.
The Israeli military said its strikes responded to militants who had
opened fire on Israeli forces in Khan Younis earlier in the day. It
said no soldiers were killed.
On Wednesday Hamas condemned the Israeli strikes across Gaza City
and Khan Younis, calling them a “shocking massacre." In a statement,
the group denied firing toward Israeli troops.
Israeli strikes have decreased since the ceasefire agreement took
effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, though they have not
stopped entirely. After Wednesday evening's strikes, the ministry,
which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, has
reported more than 300 deaths since the truce began, an average of
more than seven per day. Each side has accused the other of
violating its terms, which include increasing the flow of aid into
Gaza and returning hostages — dead or alive — to Israel.
The deaths are among the more than 69,000 Palestinians killed since
Israel launched its sweeping offensive more than two years ago in
response to Hamas-led militants abducting 251 people and killing
around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack
that triggered the war. Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the
Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains
detailed records seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many
independent experts.
Netanyahu visits buffer zone within Syria
Top Israeli officials including Netanyahu traveled Wednesday into a
demilitarized buffer zone in Syria that Israel seized after the fall
of President Bashar Assad last year. “We attach immense importance
to our defensive and offensive capability here," Netanyahu said.
“This is a mission that can develop at any moment.”
Its December 2024 operations drew swift condemnation, with critics
accusing Israel of using Syria’s turmoil to expand its control of
the Golan Heights, which it captured and annexed in 1967 in a move
that is not recognized by most of the international community.
Israeli incursions in southern Syria have intensified in recent
months, with residents reporting forest destruction, advances onto
farmland and Israeli military checkpoints. The zone, which wraps the
Golan Heights, has also attracted interest from Israeli settlers.
Syria's new authorities have condemned Israel's incursions but said
they do not want to enter into a military confrontation. Syrian and
Israeli officials have been negotiating on a potential security
agreement to defuse tensions but the talks appear to have stalled.
The provocative visit by the prime minister drew fresh criticism
from Syria and neighboring countries.
In a statement, Syria's Foreign Ministry said the visit was an
attempt to entrench Israeli control and called it “a grave violation
of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
_____
Mroue reported from Beirut. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah,
Gaza Strip. Melanie Lidman and Abby Sewell in Tel Aviv, Israel and
Beirut, Lebanon contributed to this report.
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