IDF soldiers conducted targeted searches for the terrorist who murdered 30-year-old Tzeela Gez in Bruchin on Wednesday night, in the village of Bruchin near the scene of the attack, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, the IDF located and arrested several suspects who were connected to the attack.
During operations in northern Gaza, the IDF troops from the Northern Brigade, under Division 252, eliminated dozens of terrorists and destroyed multiple terror infrastructures, the IDF announced Saturday.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that as the IDF expands its operations in Gaza, the Hamas delegation in Doha has announced its intention to resume negotiations on a hostage deal.
The IDF killed a Hezbollah commander from the terrorist organization's Shaqif area on Saturday morning in the Mazraat Jemjim, near the city of Tyre, the military stated.
The IDF statement came hours after the the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news outlet reported that an Israeli drone struck a car on Abu al-Aswad Street.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump's comments on his country during his Gulf visit were "not worth responding to."
Khamenei said that Trump was lying when he said he wants peace, citing statements by the US president during his trip to the Gulf that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or "something bad's going to happen."
Officials from the new Syrian leadership and Israel had recently held direct talks in Azerbaijan, an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations told CNN in a report on Friday.
Among the Israeli officials was the IDF Operations Directorate chief, Maj.-Gen. Oded Basyuk, according to CNN's source. The IDF official met with representatives of the new Syrian government alongside Turkish officials.
The IDF launched airstrikes against terror targets in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Smoke can be seen from the areas that were struck.
Following IDF strikes at two Houthi-controlled ports on Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to assassinate Houthi leaders in a statement.
"As we said: If the Houthis continue to fire missiles toward the State of Israel, they will suffer painful blows — and we will also target terror leaders as we have done with Deif and the Sinwars in Gaza, Nasrallah in Beirut, and Haniyeh in Tehran. We will hunt down and eliminate Abd al-Malik al-Houthi in Yemen as well," he said.
In this statement, he referenced the two Sinwars, the previous Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was confirmed killed in mid-October, and his successor, Mohammed Sinwar, whose death has not yet been confirmed. The IDF attempted to assassinate him on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that these strikes are just the beginning. "There will be more to come. We are not willing to sit idly by and allow the Houthis to harm us. We will strike them much harder, including their leadership and all the infrastructure that enables them to harm us.”
The IDF began a wide-scale operation to evacuate the Palestinian population from northern Gaza on Friday ahead of a significant ground operation as part of the effort to topple Hamas rule and return the hostages.
In recent hours, reports have been received from the Gaza Strip about leaflets being distributed from the air, calling on civilians to evacuate the area immediately.
The leaflets distributed by the IDF in northern Gaza read, among other things: “Urgent warning! To everyone in this area, whether in a shelter, a tent, or a building, you are in a dangerous combat zone, and the area is not safe! Evacuate immediately southward.”
The move is intended to prepare the ground for the next phase of the operation, which is a broad ground offensive against Hamas.
The IDF clarified that the operation will be carried out gradually, alongside a large-scale mobilization of reserve forces, which is currently underway.
The IDF struck the Hodeidah and Al-Salif ports in Yemen on Friday, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
The military said that these ports are used for transferring weapons and are "another example of the cynical use and exploitation of civilian infrastructure by the Houthi terrorist regime to advance terrorism."
The strikes were carried out by 15 Israeli air force fighter jets, and over 35 munitions were dropped on the ports.
The strikes will likely put these ports out of operational use for a month, according to IDF estimates. The targets that were hit were more international and more central for the Houthis than what the US hit when it was striking Houthi targets in Yemen.
