An Israeli strike on a building in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, has reportedly killed Mohammad Afif, spokesperson for the Hezbollah militant group.

Although Hezbollah is yet to speak on the development, Al-Jadeed, Lebanese broadcaster, reported that Afif was in the building when the attack happened.

The broadcaster aired footage of a building whose upper floors had collapsed onto the first storey, with civil defence workers at the scene.

Lebanese security sources also confirmed to Reuters that the Sunday attack killed the Hezbollah media relations head.

The Lebanese health ministry said one person died in the strike and three were injured.

The Israeli military has also not commented on Afif’s reported elimination. Still, if confirmed, he would be the latest senior Hezbollah figure to have been targeted amid Israel’s intensified focus on the group.

Afif was a long-time media advisor to Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s former leader who was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27.

Afif managed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the Iran-backed group’s media relations office.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire for over a year since the group began launching rockets at Israeli military targets after Hamas, its Palestinian ally, carried out a surprise attack on the Jewish nation.

In September, Israel dramatically escalated and expanded its military campaign in Lebanon, heavily bombing parts of the country including the southern suburbs of Beirut alongside ground incursions along the border.

The increased pressure on Hezbollah has raised concerns from world leaders about a wider prolonged war in the Middle East.

A United States man, Anthony Nephew, shot himself, his wife, ex-partner, and two children after the November 5 election that brought President-elect Donald Trump into office.

According to authorities who spoke to the New York Post on Sunday, the 46-year-old Minnesota father had expressed anger over Trump’s election.

The shooter, aged 46, had a “pattern of mental health issues,” Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said on Friday — one day after authorities found five people dead inside two homes in the city.

Authorities found Anthony Nephew’s ex-partner, Erin Abramson, 47, and their son, Jacob Nephew, 15, dead from apparent gunshot wounds inside their home on Thursday afternoon, police said.

After identifying Anthony Nephew as a suspect, police found his 45-year-old wife, Kathryn Nephew, and their 7-year-old son, Oliver Nephew, dead from gunshot wounds inside their family home nearby.

Before the tragedy, Anthony Nephew had been sharing left-wing and anti-Trump posts on his Facebook account.

“My mental health and the world can no longer peacefully coexist, and a lot of the reason is religion,” Anthony Nephew wrote in July.

“I am terrified of religious zealots inflicting their misguided beliefs on me and my family. I have intrusive thoughts of being burned at the stake as a witch or crucified on a burning cross.

“Having people actually believe that I or my child are Satan, or the anti-Christ, or whatever their favourite boogeyman they are afraid of this week.”

In another post, he accused Republicans of “making it harder for women to leave” abusive relationships.

“Gilead here we come,” he wrote, referencing The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel turned Hulu series in which women, stripped of their rights, are forced to reproduce for the ruling class.

Anthony Nephew also shared other political posts, including an image of former President Barack Obama, Trump, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris. The word “hate” was under Trump’s face, while the words “hope,” “heal,” and “grow” corresponded with the Democratic politicians.

“Not that anyone cares, but as an Independent voter, I would really like to see both the political parties in our country pick better candidates,” he wrote in July. “We can do better than a binary choice between fascism and not fascism.”

Anthony Nephew had previously issued a chilling warning about his struggles with mental health, writing in an op-ed for the Duluth News Tribune in 2021, “For millions of Americans, a breakdown leads to suicide — or homicide before suicide.”

“Mental health in this country is stigmatised, ignored, or treated as a burden for the individual to bear alone, with little help and even less understanding,” he wrote.

“Americans deny they have mental health struggles — because they have to, because they’re told to, or because they don’t realise their mind is broken.”

Police said there is no ongoing threat to the community.

The United Nations Human Rights Office says nearly 70 percent of verified fatalities from Israel’s continuous bombardment of Gaza are women and children. 

The agency stated this in a report published on Friday.

The report contains a detailed analysis of the effect of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip from November 2023 to April 2024.

The UN agency said it verified the details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza during the period.

At least 2,036 of the casualties were women, while 3,588 were children — 1,865 boys and 1,723 girls. The ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds.

The report said over 7,607 — about 80 percent — were killed in residential buildings, adding that the high death toll was due to Israel’s use of weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas.

However, some deaths may have been the result of errant projectiles by Palestinian armed groups.

The UN agency said it found “breaches of international law that in many instances could amount to war crimes”.

“The International Court of Justice, in its series of orders on provisional measures, underscored the international obligations of Israel to prevent, protect against and punish acts of genocide and associated prohibited conduct,” the report says.

Volker Türk, chief of the UN’s Human Rights Office, said there is “wanton disregard” for the international law surrounding wars and the action “has led to the current extremes of human suffering”.

“The rules of war, in force now for 160 years, were designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict,” he said.

“Their wanton disregard has led to the current extremes of human suffering which we continue to see today.

“It seems inconceivable that the parties to the conflict refuse to apply universally accepted and binding norms developed to preserve the very bare minimum of humanity.”

Israel’s age-long conflict with Palestine took a fresh dimension on October 7, 2023. Some members of Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, invaded Israel and killed over 1,000 people, with many kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

The Israeli government began an attack and occupation of Northern Gaza as a reprisal.