Israeli military forces have conducted multiple strikes against alleged Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, as well as a suspected Hezbollah site in Lebanon, on January 31, killing at least 26 people according to initial estimates.

It remains unclear whether the Israeli strikes on Gaza and Lebanon are linked to a coordinated military operation with the United States in the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf, as Washington continues to build up its military for a potential strike on Iran.

The IDF released a statement on the Gaza strike saying, "In response to the violation of the ceasefire agreement yesterday (January 30), in which eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah, the IDF and ISA have, thus far, struck four commanders and additional terrorists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations across the Gaza Strip."

"In addition, the IDF struck a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site, and two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip," the IDF continued.

The IDF presser added, "The terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip systematically violate international law, brutally exploiting civilian infrastructure and the Gazan population as human shields for terrorist activities."

Gaza's health authorities reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted a Hamas-run police station and killed 26 people, while the number of injured has been reported in the dozens, according to initial reports from media on the ground in the Palestinian enclave. 

Following the Gaza strike, the IDF confirmed a secondary strike in southern Lebanon saying, "A short while ago, in response to Hezbollah's repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the Markaba area in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military’s statement read it announced at 12:12 UTC.

The attacks on both Palestinian and Lebanese militant positions follow two separate explosions in southern Iran, which killed at least four people, according to local authorities. Investigators claimed that those events in Iran were not military or security in nature but in fact a gas explosion; bne IntelliNews was unable to verify further details. 

An Israeli security source later told Haaretz that Israel had no involvement in the Iranian explosions amid speculation of an impending US attack on Iran. "We are monitoring, it is not ours or from us. We are also not aware of an American attack; it is not clear what the source is," the source stated.