Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's house attacked in drone strike from Lebanon

Tel Aviv: Israel’s government said a drone was launched toward the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, on Saturday, with no casualties reported.

Sirens wailed Saturday morning in Israel, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon, with a possibility of drone attack, the Israeli government said.

Neither he nor his wife were home and there were no casualties, said a spokesperson in a statement.

In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu’s plane was landing. The missile was intercepted.

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

On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him.

“Hamas is alive and will stay alive,” Khamenei said.

Since Israel claimed Sinwar’s death Thursday and a top Hamas political official confirmed the death Friday, Hamas has reiterated its stance that the hostages they took from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a cease-fire 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.

Saturday’s strikes into Israel come as its war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah — a Hamas ally backed by Iran — has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah said Friday that 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.

In Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza demanded the Israeli government use Sinwar’s killing as a way to restart negotiations to bring home their loved ones. There are about 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom Israel says are dead.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a house in a central town killed at least 10 people, according to hospital officials. (AP)