Here are the latest updates from day 266 of the war:
■ Sergeant Eyal Shynes, 19, from Kibbutz Afik, who served in the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade, was killed in southern Gaza on Thursday, the IDF reported.
■ U.S. intelligence estimates a large-scale confrontation will break out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in the coming weeks, if a cease-fire and hostage-release deal isn’t procured, according to a Politico report.
■ The U.S. is reportedly moving U.S. military assets closer to Israel and Lebanon to be ready to evacuate Americans if fighting with Hezbollah worsens.
■ The Israeli army said it killed two Hezbollah operatives in an airstrike in southern Lebanon Thursday night, and overnight it attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
■ Sources say Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is set to backtrack on his decision to freeze the transfer to Ramallah of tax revenue that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority and is expected to cancel the freeze on the transfer of guarantees to Israeli banks that work with the PA.
■ Israeli authorities say 68 people – sick and injured children plus their companions – have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt in the first medical evacuation since May, when the territory’s sole travel crossing was shut down.
■ Palestinian emergency services said three of their workers were killed in an Israeli strike in al-Bureij, in central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
■ U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Thursday that the U.S. is imposing sanctions on 11 entities associated with Iran’s nuclear program.
■ Fires broke out in open areas near Ein Zeitim and Biriya Forest in northern Israel, after a barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon toward Safed. Nine firefighting teams operated in both locations, along with rescue teams who helped civilians who were stuck in elevators after power cuts in the area. Four people suffered minor injuries due to smoke inhalation in the fire in Biriya.