By Yusuf Alioglu and Gulsen Topcu
ISTANBUL (AA) – The military wing of Palestinian resistance group Hamas has announced that one of its field commanders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday.
The Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed in a statement that Hussein Mahmoud al-Nader, a field commander from Marjayoun town in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh Governorate, was killed in an airstrike on Monday evening.
Earlier, Hamas reported that 40 rockets were fired from Lebanese territory into northern Israel, indicating a significant escalation in hostilities between the two sides.
Israeli local news outlets, citing military sources, claimed that 20 rockets were launched from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted and others landed in open areas.
Israel has launched a barrage of airstrikes into southern and eastern Lebanon, with Lebanese health authorities saying that at least 492 people have been killed, including 35 children, and 1,645 injured in the attacks since Monday morning, which have also forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,400 people, the majority of whom are women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Lebanon, ignoring the international community's warnings that they would risk spreading the Gaza conflict to other regions.