"Temporary appointment. Not for long," Gallant wrote in a post on X alongside a photograph of Qassem, whom Hezbollah had earlier named as assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah's successor. In a separate post in Hebrew, Gallant wrote that the "countdown has begun".
Gallant, who visited the Israeli military's northern command on Tuesday, said in a later statement that he estimated Hezbollah's rocket arsenal to have been mostly destroyed by Israeli attacks.
"I estimate the residual capacity of (Hezbollah) projectiles and rockets to be in the order of 20 percent, and it is no longer organised in a way that it can fire volleys," he said.
On Tuesday, around 60 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah into Israel as of 15:00 (1300 GMT), the military said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Hezbollah has fired between 180 and 200 rockets on some days, according to figures provided by the Israeli military.
The military has also carried out intense air strikes on Hezbollah's weapons production and storage facilities inside Lebanon.
Gallant said that tens of thousands of soldiers had succeeded in pushing Hezbollah "out of all the villages along the border and destroyed infrastructure of all types that were there".
"These things create a different reality in Lebanon and in the region as well", he said.
Regional analysts have said previously that Hezbollah possessed an arsenal of approximately 150,000 rockets before it began fighting Israel on its northern border in October last year following Hamas's October 7, 2023 on Israel.
It has unspecified number of anti-aircraft, anti-tank and anti-ship missiles as well as ballistic missiles capable of accurately targeting deep inside Israeli territory.
Israel army says four soldiers killed in north Gaza fighting
Jerusalem (AFP) Oct 29, 2024 -
The Israeli army said Tuesday that four of its soldiers fell in combat in the northern Gaza Strip during a single incident in which one other soldier was severely wounded.
"During the incident in which Captain Yehonatan (Joni) Keren, Staff Sergeant Aviv Gilboa, Staff Sergeant Nisim Meytal and Staff Sergeant Naor Haimov fell, an officer in the Multidimensional Unit (888) was severely injured," the army said in a statement, adding the wounded officer was evacuated to hospital.
According to the army, 367 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the military campaign in Gaza since the start of the ground operation in the Palestinian territory on 27 October last year.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, which include hostages who died or were killed in captivity.
At least 43,061 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in the Israeli offensive on Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
Gaza rescuers say 93 people killed in Israel air strike in north
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Oct 29, 2024 -
Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that an overnight Israeli air strike killed 93 people in a residential building in the northern district of Beit Lahia.
"The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahia has risen to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP in an updated toll.
The Israeli military said it was "looking into the reports".
"The explosion happened at night and I first thought it was shelling, but when I went out after sunrise I saw people pulling bodies, limbs and the wounded from under the rubble," said Rabie al-Shandagly, 30, who had taken refuge in a nearby school in Beit Lahia.
"Most of the victims are women and children, and people are trying to save the injured, but there are no hospitals or proper medical care," he told AFP.
On Tuesday, Palestinians searched through the rubble of the building and removed the dead, while others mourned over the bodies of relatives.
In one AFP image, a charred body with long hair hung out of a window of the building in Beit Lahia.
An AFP journalist saw several bodies wrapped in white shrouds, blankets and sheets as rescuers and relatives pulled them from the rubble of the building.
Relatives were also seen burying bodies, while rescuers continued to search the rubble for survivors.
"The enemy has committed another horrific massacre against our people, and northern Gaza is being subjected to a campaign of ethnic cleansing and systematic displacement," Hamas said in a statement condemning the Beit Lahia attack.
- 'Nothing left' -
The bodies of 15 people killed in the strike were brought to Kamal Adwan Hospital, its director Hussam Abu Safia told AFP.
He said 35 wounded people, most of them children, were being treated at the hospital.
"We are still receiving a number of martyrs and wounded," Safia said, adding that the hospital was struggling to treat patients due to a lack of staff and medicines.
"There is nothing left in the Kamal Adwan Hospital except first aid materials after the army arrested our medical team and workers when they invaded the hospital during the military operation in Jabalia," Safia said.
Last week, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli troops had stormed the hospital, while the Israeli military said it was operating around it.
The World Health Organization said its teams managed to return to Kamal Adwan hospital on Monday and provided information about the situation there.
"They have found one orthopaedic surgeon, one paediatrician, a chief nurse and a handful of young doctors, and junior doctors and nurses try to attend to some 100-150 patients," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
"This shows how difficult it is to provide any sort of aid in north Gaza."
Since October 6, the military has conducted a sweeping air and ground assault in northern Gaza, particularly in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, in what it describes as an operation to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, the military said it had carried out several ground and air strikes in Jabalia over the past day, killing around 40 militants.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee northern Gaza since the onslaught began, while the civil defence agency has reported hundreds of deaths.
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