Thousands rally in Tel Aviv after Netanyahu sacks defense minister

IN BRIEF

• Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv to protest the sacking of defense minister Yoav Gallant, calling on his successor Israel Katz to prioritize a hostage deal to return the captives still held in Gaza. READ MORE BELOW

• Israeli's new defense minister Israel Katz vowed to "defeat" Hezbollah so that people displaced from northern Israel could return home.

• Lebanese rescuers scoured a destroyed apartment building south of Beirut on Wednesday for bodies or survivors after a deadly Israeli strike. READ MORE BELOW

• Hezbollah said it had fired a salvo of missiles on Wednesday at an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli media reported a rocket had landed near the airport. READ MORE BELOW

• Israel's military carried out strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh after issuing evacuation orders for specific neighborhoods in the city. 

• Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri - a Hezbollah ally and diplomatic interlocutor - met the U.S. and Saudi ambassadors to Lebanon on Wednesday to discuss political developments.

• Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that only developments on the battlefield, not political moves, would bring an end to the hostilities between the Lebanese armed group and the Israeli military.

IN DETAIL

Thousands in Tel Aviv protest Israel defense minister's sacking

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv late Tuesday to protest the sacking of defense minister Yoav Gallant, calling on his successor Israel Katz to prioritize a hostage deal to return the captives still held in Gaza. 

Chanting slogans against the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demonstrators carrying Israeli flags gathered in the commercial hub shortly after Gallant's dismissal was announced.

Protesters also blocked traffic and lit fires on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, with some wearing "Bring them home now!" T-shirts referring to the hostages. 

Foreign minister Israel Katz took over the defense portfolio on Tuesday, after Netanyahu fired Gallant over eroded trust over the past months of the Gaza war.

An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over the sacking and urged Katz to "prioritize" a deal to free the captives.

"We expect the incoming defense minister, Israel Katz, to prioritize a hostage deal... to secure the immediate release of all hostages," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

Gallant also called on the government to bring home the hostages, saying in a televised speech: "We must do this quickly, while they are still alive."

Opposition leaders from across Israel's political spectrum called a joint news conference to criticize the sacking, saying Netanyahu's action threatened national security at a time of conflict.

"He had the choice between disgrace and war, and he chose disgrace," said former prime minister Yair Lapid. "Our soldiers cannot trust him. The citizens of Israel cannot trust him."

Leading opposition figure Benny Gantz, who quit Netanyahu's government in June over its lack of a post-war plan for Gaza, called the timing of the move "absolute security negligence."

Lebanese rescuers search site of deadly Israeli strike

Lebanese rescuers scoured a destroyed apartment building south of Beirut for bodies or survivors after a deadly Israeli strike, as exchanges of fire between Israel and armed group Hezbollah pressed on.

Hezbollah said it had fired a salvo of missiles on Wednesday at an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Sirens sounded in northern and central Israel and Israeli media reported a rocket had landed near the airport.

The airports authority said it was continuing to operate as usual and Israel's leading airline El Al said none of its planes were damaged from rockets hitting near central Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged hostilities for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has significantly escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing on swathes of Lebanon's south and making ground incursions into border villages.

The strike on Tuesday on Barja hit a multi-story apartment building on a hilltop, shearing off segments of the floors and exposing inner walls and staircases. Lebanon's health ministry said just before midnight that the strike had killed 20 people and wounded 14, but said the toll could still rise. 

Moussa Zahran, who lived on one of the upper floors of the building, returned on Wednesday morning to sift through the ruins of his home. His burned feet were wrapped in gauze and his son and wife were in hospital after being wounded in the strike.

"These rocks that you see weigh 100 kilos, they fell on a 13 kilo kid," he said, referring to his son and the apartment wall that had collapsed onto him during the strike.

It was not immediately clear if the strike was targeting a member of Hezbollah. There was no evacuation warning ahead of the air raid.