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group has not confirmed it. Deif stood accused of planning, with Sinwar, the October 7 attack. With Hamas massively weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death, would deal a seismic blow to the organization. In a brief statement, the military said that during “operations in the Gaza Strip, three terrorists were eliminated”. A Zionist security official told AFP that the military was conducting a DNA test on a militant’s body. In a post on X, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the country would “reach every terrorist and eliminate them”. US President Joe Biden was briefed aboard Air Force One while heading to Germany and was being kept informed of developments, a US official said Thursday.

Zionist entity has been at war with Hamas since the October 7 attack. Zionist retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which the UN considers reliable. Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hamas and bring home all 251 hostages seized by militants in their cross-border onslaught. Zionist entity has since expanded the scope of its operations to Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah opened a front by launching low-intensity cross-border strikes that forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Netanyahu has vowed to battle Hezbollah until victory, and Zionists on Thursday launched strikes on the south Lebanese city of Tyre, where the militant group and its allies hold sway. Zionist entity also issued evacuation warnings for civilians in parts of Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold. It had earlier struck a Hezbollah target in Syria, according to a war monitor, while Zionist main ally the United States used heavy bombers to hit rebel targets in Yemen.

Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned against the expansion of regional conflict during a rare meeting in Cairo on Thursday. Araghchi is the first Iranian foreign minister to visit Cairo since 2013. The stop is part of his multi-country regional tour after Zionists vowed to strike back following an Iranian missile barrage against Zionist entity on October 1. According to a statement from Sisi’s office, the pair discussed “the need to stop regional escalation” and “intensifying efforts towards ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon”.

Iran’s official news agency said Sisi and Araghchi “agreed on the need to intensify efforts to end the crimes in Gaza and the aggression against Lebanon, assist the displaced and prevent the expansion of the Zionist regime’s warmongering reach,” in a reference to Zionist entity. After decades of strained ties, Tehran and Cairo have undertaken a slow rapprochement in recent years, with diplomatic exchanges increasing over the past year since the outbreak of the Gaza war. Egypt has historically played a mediator role between Zionist and Palestinian officials, including Iran-backed Hamas. But its efforts along with fellow mediators Qatar and the United States have failed to secure a ceasefire in the war, which has since spread to Lebanon where Iran arms and finances Hezbollah. Araghchi’s diplomatic tour, aiming to contain the wars in Gaza and Lebanon from spreading more widely, has already taken him to Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

He is expected next to visit Turkey, according to the Iranian foreign ministry. Iran’s barrage of around 200 missiles was, it said, in retaliation for the killing of two of Iran’s closest allies, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, as well as an Iranian general. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami on Thursday warned that Iran will hit Zionist entity “painfully” if it attacks Iranian targets. In a call with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, Araghchi said Tehran is ready for a “decisive and regretful” response if attacks. — AFP