Israeli Air Force jets buzzed the funeral of Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. “Israeli fighter jets were seen flying at low altitude over Beirut on Sunday during the funeral of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel,” the Israeli news website YNET reported Sunday.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday confirmed that the IDF planes were flying over Nasrallah’s funeral procession as a reminder to any terrorist wanting to harm the Jewish state. “Planes currently circling in the skies of Beirut over Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral are sending a clear message: Whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – this will be his end,’ Katz said.
The Israeli show of force over Beirut was accompanied by airstrikes on terrorist targets in Hezbollah-dominated western and southern Lebanon. “A short while ago, the IDF conducted a precise intelligence-based strike on a military site containing rocket launchers and weapons in Lebanese territory, in which Hezbollah activity was identified,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a press statement Sunday.
Hezbollah’s attempts to regroup and rearm in southern Lebanon was a violation of the ceasefire agreed by Israel in late November 2024, the IDF warned. “These activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization are in violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians,” the Israeli military declared. “The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”
Thousands of terrorists and their sympathizers appeared panicked as a formation of IAF jets buzzed the funeral gathering in an open-air stadium.
The Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported the Defense minister’s warning to Hezbollah:
Defense Minister Israel Katz referred to the Israeli Air Force planes circling in the skies over Beirut during the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah saying that this sends a clear and unambiguous message to the terrorist organization.”The Israeli Air Force planes that are now circling in the skies over Beirut over Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral are conveying a clear message: whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – that will be their end,” Katz said.He added: “You will specialize in funerals – and we in victories.”Nasrallah was eliminated in an airstrike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in the heart of Beirut in September 2024.
Nasrallah, who led the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah for over 32 years, was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike in September 2024. Israel targeted Nasrallah after Hezbollah waged a cross-border terrorist campaign for over a year following Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ‘indefinitely’ halted the release of at least 600 Palestinian terrorists unless Hamas stops staging deranged hostage release ‘ceremonies’ in Gaza.
“In light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday.
The delay in freeing Palestinian terrorists, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for their murderous crimes, could derail the hostages-for-terrorists deal, which will culminate in a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and may leave Hamas in control of the enclave.
According to the BBC, the “indefinitely delaying the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners [is] another potentially major setback in the ceasefire process.”
Phase one of the three-stage hostages-for-terrorists deal is set to end on March 1, when Hamas is expected to hand over the bodies of four hostages murdered in Gaza captivity.
The Times of Israel reported:
Israel is indefinitely delaying the release of Palestinian prisoners who had been slated to be freed Saturday as agreed in a hostage release deal with the Hamas terror group, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says in a statement.“In light of the repeated violations by Hamas — including the ceremonies that demean our hostages and the cynical use of our hostages for propaganda purposes — it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists planned for yesterday until the next release of hostages is guaranteed, and without the degrading ceremonies,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office reads.The statement could trigger Israel’s withdrawal from the ceasefire deal following the release of 25 living hostages and the bodies of four others, but with another 63 people still in Gaza, at least two dozen of them still alive.Four more bodies are slated to be released on Thursday in exchange for more prisoners, in the last planned transfer of the first stage of the agreement.There are currently no arrangements for another release of living hostages beyond a framework deal whose details remain to be hashed out and whose future remains very much in doubt.The move comes after Hamas held ceremonies for the release of five Jewish hostages Saturday, even forcing two still-captive Israelis to watch and record a propaganda video. A sixth hostage, who is not Jewish, was released without fanfare.
The disturbing display reached its lowest point when Hamas on Thursday handed over the dead bodies of four supposed Israeli hostages: 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two young boys.
Hamas erected a special stage and played joyful music on loudspeakers for the grotesque transfer, with dozens of masked terrorists filming the caskets. Thousands of cheerful Gazans, including children, showed up for the macabre event.
Israeli forensic examination later found that the Bibas brothers, Ariel (five-year-old ) and Kfir (nine-month-old), were murdered by Hamas terrorists with their bare hands. The Gaza-based terrorist group had handed over the body of a random Palestinian woman in place of their mother Shiri Bibas, in a desperate bid to cover up her brutal murder.
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