Israel moves 98th elite brigade from Gaza to Lebanese front

The Israeli army decided Wednesday to transfer the 98th elite brigade from the Gaza Strip to the northern border with Lebanon.

The move comes amid a heightened alert in Israel in anticipation of a possible response from Hezbollah following mass pager explosions in Lebanon.

"With peak readiness on the northern front, the Israeli army decided to move the elite 98th brigade there," according to Israeli Army Radio. "The brigade was originally scheduled to continue fighting in Gaza, but it was decided in recent days to transfer it north."

Kan, the Israeli state-run broadcasting authority, noted that the brigade left Khan Younis in southern Gaza three weeks ago to an unspecified location in the enclave.

It pointed out that the brigade includes three divisions of armored forces, paratroopers and commandos.

Earlier Wednesday, a new wave of wireless communications device explosions in Lebanon killed at least nine people and injured more than 300, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. For the past two days, similar incidents have killed 21 victims and injured more than 3,000.

Hadi Hachem, Lebanon's ambassador to the UN, described the pager blasts as an "aggression which rises to a war crime," warning that the explosions would exacerbate the conflict.

There was no comment from Israel on the blasts, but Hezbollah vowed to retaliate against Israel.

The pager blasts came amid mounting border escalation between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group, which have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Tel Aviv's deadly war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 victims, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7.