Defense Minister Israel Katz publicly admitted for the first time that Israel is responsible for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed at the end of July in Tehran. Until now, Israel had avoided commenting on the matter.

Hassan Nasrallah meanwhile was the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah - he was assassinated in Beirut in September as Israel dramatically escalated its military campaign against Hezbollah, with which it had been trading near daily cross-border fire since the day after the 7 October attacks.