Israel says it will target Hezbollah's financial arm and announces imminent strikes in Lebanon

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's military announced Sunday it will now take aim at the Lebanon-based Hezbollah's financial arm and planned to attack a “large number of targets” in the coming hours in Beirut and elsewhere. Explosions began in Beirut's southern suburbs about an hour later.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said “anyone who will be near the sites used to finance Hezbollah’s terrorist activity is required to stay away from them immediately.” Evacuation warnings affected southern Beirut, the eastern Bekaa valley and parts of southern Lebanon.

The strikes will target al-Qard al-Hassan "all over Lebanon,” a senior Israeli intelligence official said. Al-Qard al-Hassan is a unit in Hezbollah that's used to pay operatives of the Iran-backed militant group and help buy arms, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with army regulations.

The registered nonprofit, sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, provides financial services and is also used by ordinary Lebanese. Its name in Arabic means “the benevolent loan,” and Hezbollah has used it to entrench its support among the Shiite population in a country where state and financial institutions have failed in recent years.

Al-Qard al-Hassan in a statement called the decision to target it a sign of Israel’s “bankruptcy” and assured customers it had taken “measures” to ensure their funds were safe.

A year of escalating tensions and frequent cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the war in Gaza turned into all-out war last month. Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon early this month.

Israel's announcement came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the Israel-Hezbollah war, and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.

Iran supports the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and the United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents indicating that Israel was moving military assets into place for a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1, according to three U.S. officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Israel has increased strikes on southern neighborhoods of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, a crowded residential area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It is also home to many civilians unaffiliated with the militant group.

In southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said three soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle. There was no immediate comment on that from the Israeli military, which said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past day and continued ground operations there.

Lebanon’s army has largely kept to the sidelines in the war. The military is a respected institution in Lebanon, but isn't powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend the country from an Israeli invasion.

Israel's military said Hezbollah fired more than 170 rockets into the country on Sunday. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said three people were slightly injured from a fire sparked by a rocket attack on the northern city of Safed.

In the middle is the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, which said Israeli forces on Sunday “deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a U.N. position” in southern Lebanon. It again resisted Israeli pressure to leave its positions.

Israeli strikes on homes in the northern Gaza Strip overnight and into Sunday left at least 87 people dead or missing, the territory’s Health Ministry said, as a large-scale operation continued against Hamas militants said to be regrouping.

The ministry said another 40 people were wounded in the strikes on the town of Beit Lahiya, which was among the first targets of Israel’s ground invasion nearly a year ago. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas target.

The U.S. is urging Israel to press for a cease-fire in Gaza following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week. But neither Israel nor Hamas has shown interest in such a deal after negotiations sputtered to a halt in August.

Among the dead from the strikes in Beit Lahiya were parents and eight children, according to Raheem Kheder, a medic. He said the strike flattened a multistory building and at least four neighboring houses.

The Israeli military said it used precise munitions against a Hamas target.

In central Gaza, Six people, including a child, were killed when a strike hit a car in Deir al-Balah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials said. The bodies were counted by AP journalists.

Doctors Without Borders, the international charity known by its French acronym MSF, called on Israeli forces to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza after the Health Ministry said that Israeli troops had fired on two hospitals over the weekend.

Israel's military said that it was operating near one hospital but hadn't fired directly at it.

Internet connectivity went down in northern Gaza late Saturday, making it difficult to gather information about strikes and complicating rescue efforts.

Gaza's north has suffered the heaviest destruction of the war, and has been encircled by Israeli forces since late last year.

Israel ordered the entire population of the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate to the south in the war's opening weeks and reiterated those instructions this month. Most of the population fled last year, but around 400,000 people are believed to have remained.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don't distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

Samy Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Zeke Miller, Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians mourn as they carry the bodies of relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir el-Balah, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A young Palestinian mourns his relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir el-Balah, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

CORRECTS DATE A Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated in a hospital in Deir el-Balah, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated in a hospital in Deir al Balah, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People pass by a newly painted graffiti depicting Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar, days after he was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

An Israeli army tank maneuvers near the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Israeli police officers stand next to a site of a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit an area near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli police officers stand next to a site of a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit an area near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Members of the Israeli forces watch a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit an area near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Smoke rises to the sky as fire burns in a site next to houses after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a location near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A Israeli police officer walks past site of a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit an area near the town of Rosh Pinna, northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Workers clean a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A worker cleans a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Workers clean a street as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Workers clean a street under a giant portrait of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two crew members who were missing following the crash of a fighter jet in mountainous terrain in Washington during a routine training flight have been declared dead, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

The EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron crashed east of Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon, according to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Search teams, including a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, launched from the air station to try to find the crew and crash site.

Army Special Forces soldiers trained in mountaineering, high-angle rescue and technical communications were brought in to reach the wreckage, which was located Wednesday by an aerial crew resting at about 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area east of Mount Rainier, officials said.

The aviators' names won’t be released until a day after their next of kin have been notified, the Navy said in a statement Sunday, adding that search and rescue efforts have shifted into a long-term salvage and recovery operation as the cause of the crash is still being investigated.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” said Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of the aviators’ Electronic Attack Squadron. “Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators. ... We are grateful for the ongoing teamwork to safely recover the deceased.”

Locating the missing crew members “as quickly and as safely as possible” had been top priority, Capt. David Ganci, commander, Electronic Attack Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Thursday.

The EA-18G Growler is similar to the F/A-18F Super Hornet and includes sophisticated electronic warfare devices. Most of the Growler squadrons are based at Whidbey Island. One squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

The “Zappers” were recently deployed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The search took place near Mount Rainier, a towering active volcano that is blanketed in snowfields and glaciers year-round.

The first production of the Growler was delivered to Whidbey Island in 2008. In the past 15 years, the Growler has operated around the globe supporting major actions, the Navy said. The plane seats a pilot in front and an electronics operator behind them.

“The EA-18G Growler aircraft we fly represents the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy’s first line of defense in hostile environments,” the Navy said on its website. Each aircraft costs about $67 million.

Military aircraft training exercises can be dangerous and sometimes result in crashes, injuries and deaths.

In May, an F-35 fighter jet on its way from Texas to Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles crashed after the pilot stopped to refuel in New Mexico. The pilot was the only person on board in that case and was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Last year, eight U.S. Air Force special Operations Command service members were killed when a CV-22B Osprey aircraft they were flying in crashed off the coast of Japan.

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This story has been updated to correct the Navy says it has declared the crew members dead, not found them dead.

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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn contributed to this report from Denver.

EA-18G Growlers, with some of San Juan Islands in the background, prepare for an exercise at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, March 10, 2016. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP)

FILE - Mount Rainier is pictured Sept. 21, 2023, at Mount Rainier National Park, from Sunrise, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

An EA-18G Growler engine's thrust with afterburner propels its takeoff with a loud roar from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island during an exercise, March 10, 2016. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP)

An EA-18G Growler takes off from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island during an exercise, March 10, 2016. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP)