Drone strike launched from Lebanon towards Netanyahu’s house; Gaza hospitals under attack

At least 55 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israel in the sapce of an hour on Saturday morning, according to the Israeli military.

Sirens had begun to sound across Israel ahead of the latest wave of missiles, including in the port city of Haifa which has come under heavy fire from Hezbollah rockets in recent weeks.

NBC News staff in Israel said in the north, sirens were sounding non-stop Saturday morning for more than four hours. 

Dramatic footage released by the Israeli military that purport to show Yahya Sinwar’s final moments will be etched in the Palestinian national memory for generations to come: the defiance of Sinwar, covered in dust and with his right arm appearing to have been blown off, yet still fighting.

It’s an image that brings to mind an uncomfortable comparison to Israel’s national hero Joseph Trumpeldor, the one-armed Zionist resistance fighter.

Trumpeldor has become a mythical figure, an icon of Zionism and heroic patriotism. He died more than a century ago in the 1920 battle for Tel-Hai, but his legacy lives on, inspiring generation after generation of kids-turned-soldiers. His famous last words were said to be, “It’s good to die for our country.”

The phrase is displayed in children’s classrooms in Israel, written in textbooks and recited on Memorial Day. Songs were written about his famous final words and fervent fighting spirit. Streets named after Trumpeldor can be found in cities across Israel, and a lion’s monument stands where Trumpeldor fell. 

For many Israelis, though, it feels uncomfortable to draw a comparison between their iconic hero, the symbol of courageous Zionism, and Sinwar — the man who died trying to eradicate it.

Still, it’s not unreasonable to think that Sinwar’s fighting spirit in his last moments will leave a legacy inspiring generations to come — and the drone footage released by Israel showing it will likely serve as a digital monument to Palestinian resistance.

National security spokesperson John Kirby said Hamas is in a much weaker position than ever after the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar. Speaking to the press in Berlin, Kirby said this has created a unique opportunity to discuss a cease-fire and the return of hostages from Gaza.

“The military structure of Hamas has just been nearly decimated,” he said. “They are absolutely incapable, as you and I are speaking here today, of conducting another attack on the scale of Oct. 7.”

Still, Kirby warned, Hamas, while a “shadow of their former self,” could still be lethal and has enough capability left that it should not be underestimated.

“They still exist as a terrorist organization. They’re still in Gaza. They’re still holding hostages,” he said, adding that while there are no active negotiations taking place, this could change now.

“We have never stopped having conversations with our counterparts in Qatar and Egypt about the possibility of getting something started,” he said.

To hear an emboldened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tell it, killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is the “beginning of the end” of the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, a pivotal step in his long-term goal of destroying the militant group and returning the hostages taken on Oct. 7.

Sinwar’s Palestinian supporters do not see it that way. They were vowing Friday to redouble what they call the “resistance” against Israel, roused by a video claiming to show their leader’s final moments.

The images showed Sinwar not hiding in a tunnel surrounded by hostages — as Israeli officials often claimed he was — but aboveground and hurling a stick at a drone with his last ounce of strength. (NBC News has not independently confirmed it is Sinwar in the drone footage released by the Israeli military.)

Sinwar was not a hero for all Palestinians, some of whom rejected his brutal tactics — including the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack he masterminded — as counterproductive to the goal of peace and Palestinian statehood. But many others are reacting to his killing with a mix of grief and celebratory martyrdom. For them, this was a military commander fighting to the last, willing to sacrifice not only the lives of thousands of Israelis and tens of thousands of Palestinians — but also his own.

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Twelve months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just overseen his country’s worst defense failure ever and faced widespread anger at home and abroad.

After touting his security credentials for decades, the longtime leader was thought to be politically finished in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

On Friday, a day after announcing the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the six-term prime minister’s grip on power appeared stronger than it has been since the attack.

Whether coincidental or not, Sinwar’s killing caps another remarkable political recovery for a man pollsters and analysts have written off many times over the years. But with the assassination of Sinwar, the last senior architect of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, where does this leave Netanyahu?

“It leaves him in one sense in a strong position,” said Bronwen Maddox, CEO of the London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House.

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