On Tuesday, Hamas commended what it described as Iran's "heroic" missile strikes, launched in retaliation for the deaths of key regional leaders, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.

"We congratulate the heroic rocket launch carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, on large areas of our occupied territories, in response to the occupation's continuing crimes against the peoples of the region, and in retaliation for the blood of our nation's heroic martyrs," Hamas stated.

Iran unleashed a series of ballistic missiles targeting Israel on Tuesday, following Israeli military actions against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. In response, Israel vowed a "painful retaliation" against Iran. The missile strikes followed Israeli air raids that killed Hezbollah’s top leadership in Lebanon, including Nasrallah, a central figure in Iran’s military alliance in the region.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the attack was also in response to Israel’s assassination of former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, locked in nearly a year-long war with Israel, celebrated as they observed rockets heading toward Israel. However, some missiles fell within Gaza after being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, causing no reported casualties, according to witnesses.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians in central Gaza, killing at least three and wounding several others, medics reported. The Israeli military claimed they had fired on a group of "suspects" who posed a threat to their forces in the area.

In Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, an Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families, killing three, according to medics. Health authorities in Gaza reported that Israeli strikes across the region claimed at least 43 lives on Tuesday alone.

The conflict has been intensifying since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel nearly a year ago, in solidarity with Hamas following the group’s attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and over 250 hostages. The war has since devastated Gaza, displacing millions and killing over 41,600 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

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