Israel at war: What happened on days 42-43?

Rocket sirens sounded across northern Israeli border towns on Saturday morning after a barrage of at least 25 rockets was fired from Lebanon, the IDF confirmed.

The Israeli military said it was striking the source of the fire, as well as several Hezbollah terror positions across the border. 

Sirens also sounded in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona later on Saturday. The IDF said it responded to the rocket fire.

The IDF strikes Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon on November 18, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI)

Hezbollah says it shot down Israeli drone

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it shot down an Israeli drone near the border in the early hours of Saturday.

Lebanese officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a building in an industrial area near the town of Nabatieh, one of the deepest Israeli strikes inside Lebanese territory since fighting resumed last month. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.

Telecom services have been partially restored in the Gaza Strip after the entry of a limited quantity of fuel through UNRWA, Gaza's main telecommunications companies Paltel and Jawwal said in a statement on Friday.

Israel imposed a strict blockade on all goods entering Hamas-controlled Gaza when it launched a military campaign in response to the Palestinian terrorist group's October 7 rampage, in which its fighters killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.

Israeli police investigation revised the death toll at the Nova music festival committed by Hamas to be at least 350 people, Israeli media reported.

This is a developing story.

The crown prince of Gulf Arab state Bahrain on Friday called for a "hostage trade" between Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and Israel in order to achieve a break in hostilities that he said could lead to an end to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa also said that security would not be realized without a two-state solution, in which he described the United States as "indispensable" in achieving.

"It is a time for straight talking," he said, urging Hamas to release Israeli women and children held hostage in Gaza and for Israel in exchange to release from its prisons Palestinian women and children, who he described as non-combatants.

"The intention is to break so people can take stock, can bury their dead, people can finally start to grieve and maybe people can start to ask themselves about the intelligence failure that led to this crisis in the first place," he said

Fellow Gulf Arab state Qatar has been leading mediation efforts between the Islamist terrorist group and Israeli officials for the release of more than 240 hostages.

"We have located underground infrastructure and information about the hostages," IDF spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Friday. "In the past day, we have taken over the Al-Burkan outpost.

"Fighting in Gaza is fighting in a complex environment that requires time," he continued. "We are determined to move forward, destroy and kill terrorists, and dismantle the military infrastructure of Hamas."

"The IDF operates with clear goals for the war. This operation is on the ground, the air, and from the sea. We are determined to keep moving forward. This will happen wherever Hamas is, which includes the southern Gaza Strip. It will happen at a time, place, and under conditions that are favorable to us."

According to him, the IDF is deepening the activity at the Al-Shifa Hospital.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday said he had received a joint request from five countries to investigate the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Prosecutor Karim Kahn said the referral had come from South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti. South Africa said the request was made "to ensure that the ICC pays urgent attention to the grave situation in Palestine."

The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into "the situation in the State of Palestine" for alleged war crimes committed since June 13, 2014.

Investigating the accusations

Last month, Kahn said that his office had jurisdiction both over Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and any crimes committed as part of Israel's response including bombings in the Gaza Strip.

Because an investigation was already underway, Friday's request will have limited practical impact.

Israel has faced so many threats, from the October 7 invasion, to ongoing rocket fire from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen, to the ongoing holding of almost 240 hostages by Hamas, that it has been hard to keep an eye on whether Israel is living up to its obligations regarding protecting Palestinians in the West Bank and securing the rights of Palestinians it detains generally.

Closing in on around 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war started. Most have been killed by the IDF, and many were terrorists (see Thursday’s Gush Etzion terrorist attack), but anecdotally more than 10 were either killed by settlers or by IDF troops under circumstances that the IDF itself is probing as possibly problematic or criminal.

On top of those killed, there have been clear-as-day cases of IDF soldiers or settlers beating or otherwise humiliating Palestinians.

The US and allies of Israel in the European Union are up in arms on the issue, and it could even affect how long they give Israel to continue the Gaza war.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed with US President Joe Biden in a phone call developments in Gaza, a statement from Amiri Diwan said on Friday.

 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday said he had received a request from five countries to investigate the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Prosecutor Karim Kahn said the referral had come from South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti.

The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into "the situation in the State of Palestine" for alleged war crimes committed since 13 June 2014.