Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of Israel's south on Sunday as Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza.

Hamas fighters, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through barricades around Gaza early Saturday to rampage through nearby communities in Israel. They took captives back into the coastal enclave, including women, children and the elderly, while Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza and its prime minister said the country was at war. Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said at least 300 people were killed, including 26 soldiers. The health ministry in Gaza meanwhile said that at least 313 Palestinians have been killed and 1,990 wounded since the start of fighting.

Hezbollah on Sunday said it fired “a large number of artillery shells and guided missiles” at three Israeli military posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms as part of "liberating what's left of occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance."

Israel responded by firing artillery shells at areas in south Lebanon as one of its drones struck “Hezbollah infrastructure” in the Shebaa Farms area in response to the early morning attack. The "infrastructure" turned out to be the tent that Hezbollah had erected in the summer in the disputed area. The move had sparked months of tensions with Israel and the U.N. has been working to persuade Hezbollah to remove the tent.

Hundreds of people took to the streets Saturday in some Lebanese areas and in the country’s Palestinian refugee camps in celebration of Hamas’ unprecedented operation that has stunned Israel.

In the Bourj al-Barajneh camp south of Beirut, residents danced in the streets, while young men in the northern city of Tripoli distributed celebratory sweets to passersby in the streets.

Hezbollah congratulated Hamas Saturday, praising the Palestinian "heroic" and "victorious" infiltration into southern Israel.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it is following up with the Palestinian factions on the operation, and called on Israel to "draw lessons" from it.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has met in Abu Dhabi with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohamed expressed his wishes for Lebanon to “enjoy stability, security, and prosperity and achieve development that meets the aspirations of its people,” UAE’s state news agency WAM reported.

Army troops were deployed overnight around a sewing factory where a major clash erupted between Lebanese and Syrian men.

The clash erupted on Thursday night near the Saint Maron Church in Dora after a road accident between a motorcyclist and a woman driving an SUV. The woman called the owner of a sewing factory, who's apparently a friend or a sibling. When the fight broke out, the factory's Syrian workers rushed to help their boss, witnesses said.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on Thursday snapped back anew at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the latter’s criticism of the military’s handling of the Syrian refugee crisis.

“Today the army is facing various and increasing challenges on the various levels, whether inside the country or along the border. And despite the economic crisis and its repercussions, army personnel are carrying out their duties with all due enthusiasm and conviction and to the fullest, in all the missions assigned to them on land, at sea and in the air,” Aoun said.

The man who opened fire at the U.S. embassy in Awkar following a dispute with a guard had also shot at a compound containing foreign embassies in Beirut, the Internal Security Forces said on Thursday.

“Following further interrogation, he also confessed to shooting at the embassies compound in the Zokak al-Blat area on the night of August 25, 2023, justifying what he did by saying that he had a verbal clash with a convoy that was passing several days earlier on the Ring highway after which the convoy continued its journey and entered the aforementioned compound,” an ISF statement said.

French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian would only return to Lebanon if Lebanese parties agree to discuss a third option, political sources said.

The sources revealed to al-Liwaa newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that Le Drian wants the political parties to waive their conditions and counter-conditions, in order to break the presidential impasse.

The 28th edition of the European Film Festival in Lebanon has closed at Galaxy Grand Cinemas with the short film competition award ceremony, followed by the Avant-premiere of Lebanese feature film “Riverbed”.

Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Sandra De Waele, awarded the Best Short Film Prize equally to three short films selected by an international jury, in the presence of Ambassador of Poland, Przemysław Niesiołowski, Director of Goethe- Institut Libanon, Anne Eberhard, and Cinema project manager at Institut français du Liban, Leïlah Gruas-Girling: