Israel's leader says arming "clans in Gaza" to help fight Hamas will save lives. Opposition leaders say the weapons "will eventually be turned against" Israelis.

If Mr Abu Shabab’s motives are grubby, they are at least easy to understand. He is neither an ideologue nor a do-gooder; he is a criminal. Joining forces with Israel, at a time when Israel is the only conduit for aid into Gaza, is a logical next step for him.

The Israeli military on Sunday released video it said showed the underground rooms where they found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar who is believed to have died in tunnels under a Gaza hospital last month.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged only that Israel had been working with “clans.” But the opposition leader warned that the “weapons going into Gaza will eventually be pointed at Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Israeli troops entered southwestern Syria in the early hours of Thursday and arrested several people who the Israeli military said were members of Palestinian militant group Hamas but which Syria's interior ministry said were civilians.

Israel suffered the most catastrophic assault in its history when Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,000 people and took hundreds of others hostage. Almost a year later, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah,

He was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader killed by Israel last year. Hamas did not immediately respond to the claim of his death.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said Iran, its strategic ally, was "paying the price" for supporting militant groups in Gaza in their decades-long struggle against Israel, after Israel launched large-scale attacks on Friday against Iran.