Palestinian militant group Hamas said one of its members was killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon on Wednesday that state media said killed two people.

Since war erupted between Hamas and Israel in October, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with Israel, while Palestinian groups in Lebanon have also claimed cross-border attacks.

Hamas said a member of its armed wing in Lebanon, Hadi Mustafa from the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal city of Tyre, was killed in the strike.

An AFP photographer saw the mangled wreck of a car engulfed by flames near the camp.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said a Syrian passer-by was also killed.

A strike in January, which a US defence official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri and six militants in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold -- the most high-profile Hamas figure to be killed during the war.

In February, security sources told AFP a senior Hamas officer had survived an assassination attempt south of Beirut.

Israel has struck targets increasingly deep into Lebanese territory in response to cross-border fire. Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday and one on Monday, security sources said.

Since hostilities began, at least 321 people have been killed in Lebanon, mainly Hezbollah fighters but also including 55 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in the cross-border exchanges, the military says.

A pair of Israeli airstrikes deep into northeastern Lebanon kills at least two people, officials say

A pair of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in northeastern Lebanon killed at least two people and wounded 20, marking a continued escalation between Israel and Hezbollah over the war Israel is waging against Hamas militants in Gaza.

One of the airstrikes destroyed a warehouse that reportedly was used to store food.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes hit two Hezbollah sites and were in response to rocket attacks over northern Israel earlier in the day. Hezbollah said they struck several Israeli military positions, including two bases in northern Israel with a barrage of 100 Katyusha rockets on Tuesday.

The exchanges also followed Israeli strikes near the Lebanese city of Baalbek late on Monday night.

Initially, an official from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group told The Associated Press that one person was killed in the airstrikes in the town of Safri. A Lebanese security official later said at least two people were killed and 20 were wounded, nine of whom remain at a local hospital.

The official said it was unclear if the two killed were Hezbollah members or civilians. Both the security official and the Hezbollah figure spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Last month, at least two Hezbollah members were killed in airstrikes near Baalbek and another warehouse was destroyed. It had also stocked food that's is part of Hezbollah’s Sajjad Project, which sells food to people in the group's stronghold at prices lower than on the market.

Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah met with a top Hamas official, Khalil Hayeh, who was involved in negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza. Last week, Qatar and Egyptian-mediated efforts to broker a truce in Gaza before the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan broke down.

Since the Gaza war erupted after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage, there have been near-daily exchanges along the Lebanon-Israel border and international mediators have scrambled to prevent an all-out war in tiny Lebanon.

In Israel's subsequent offensive into Gaza, at least 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run coastal enclave. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

In the strikes near Baalbek late Monday, one person was killed and six were wounded.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Israeli jets bombed two Hezbollah compounds in northeastern Lebanon in retaliation for Hezbollah launching attacks on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said said the strikes near Baalbek targeted Hezbollah’s drone locations. The Iran-backed militant group had claimed on Monday attacking Israeli military units in northern Israel with explosive drones.

President Joe Biden's senior advisor Amos Hochstein had urged for a lasting cease-fire along the tense border when he visited Lebanon and Israel earlier this month.

Hezbollah has said that a cease-fire in Gaza would be the only way to restore calm along the Lebanon-Israel border, though Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last month that anyone who thinks a temporary cease-fire for Gaza will also apply to the northern front was “mistaken.”

Separately, Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib appeared to underscore the link between peace in Gaza and the volatile Lebanon-Israel border and urged in comments Tuesday for a “full implementation” of the U.N. Security Council resolution that brought an end to a brutal monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

“Full peace with Israel would come after they have peace with the Palestinians,” said Bou Habib.

Since the war in Gaza started, more than 220 Hezbollah fighters and nearly 40 Lebanese civilians have been killed on Lebanon's side while in Israel, nine soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed.

Rocket attacks as Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire over border

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiyam on March 12, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has carried out strikes in the northeast of Lebanon for a second consecutive day with Hezbollah firing 100 rockets back.

Iran-backed Hezbollah fired the 100 rockets as retaliation for Israeli strikes deep inside Lebanese territory last night that killed a civilian. The rocket attacks are not believed to have caused serious damage or casualties in Israel, but was one of the largest barrages in the five month conflict.

Israel later carried out another airstrike in Baalbek, which is around 60 miles away from its border and the southern frontlines, that is reported to have destroyed a food warehouse and killed a Hezbollah member. Israel said that it hit two command centres.

Hezbollah has said that a ceasefire in Gaza would be the only way to restore calm along the Lebanon-Israel border, though Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last month that anyone who thinks a temporary ceasefire for Gaza will also apply to the northern front was “mistaken.”

04:00 PM GMT

Today’s live blog is now closed

• It’s been an intense day of back and forth over the Israeli-Lebanese border, with Israel carrying out airstrikes against Hezbollah in the northeast of Lebanon for a second consecutive day. Hezbollah fired 100 rockets at Israel as retaliation for the killing of a civilian in the first day’s attacks and a series of missile attacks on various targets throughout the day. It marked a continued escalation to a conflict that diplomats are struggling to put an end to.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a swipe at his international allies as rifts continue to grow with the White House over the impending assault on Rafah. “You cannot say you support Israel’s right to defend itself, and then oppose Israel when it exercises that right.”

• US President Joe Biden has said he was devastated to learn that dual US-Israel citizen Itay Chen was killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. Chen, who was serving in the Israeli army near the Gaza border, was earlier believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.

• A truck filled with aid was denied access to Gaza after Israel discovered scissors packed inside medical kits, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency. Mr Lazzarini accused Israel of banning critical medical aid as the IDF also placed new restrictions on anesthesia medication and water cleaning tablets that they claim have a dual use. Israel denied the incident happened.

• Queen Rania of Jordan has blasted Israel’s war tactics and asked international allies to use their leverage to put a stop to the war in Gaza. Rania said that despite the efforts to provide aid in Gaza through airdrops, there is still an urgent need to help people survive the “Israeli-made” strategy of enforcing “deprivation by design”.

• In the daily update from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, the number of people who have died from malnutrition or dehydration has risen to 27.

• The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict warned Israel on Monday that the finding of “clear and convincing information” that some hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel were subjected to sexual violence “does not in any way legitimise further hostilities.”

• “We are not near to a Gaza ceasefire deal but remain hopeful,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said.

• US forces said they destroyed an underwater drone and nearly 20 ballistic missiles in a series of strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who threatened on Tuesday to step up their attacks in the Red Sea during Ramadan.

• A charity ship that has been docked in Cyprus for almost a month finally set sail for Gaza, taking almost 200 tonnes of aid in a pilot project to open a new sea route for aid to a population on the brink of famine. The aid will be distributed in northern Gaza.

03:56 PM GMT

Israeli missile falls near Lebanon’s most popular ski resort

An Israeli missile has reportedly landed in the Lebanese village of Hrajel, three kilometers west of the popular skiing destination Faraya.

The missile landed without exploding or causing any casualties, Tony Zoughaib, the Chairman of Hrajel’s Municipal Council told Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour.

The missile, which was “linked to a drone,” the official claimed, “obviously fell by mistake in the village, as it was heading towards the Bekaa for a raid.”

Zoughaib told L’Orient-Le Jour that the missile fell on “undeveloped land” in the Saoumaha district of the Christian village in Kesrouan. It landed around 50 meters from the main road at the entrance of the village and surrounded by houses. There were no casualties and no damage.

03:36 PM GMT

Casualty toll in Lebanon strike rises

A pair of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in northeastern Lebanon killed at least two people and wounded 20.

Initially, an official from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group told The Associated Press that one person was killed in the airstrikes in the town of Safri. A Lebanese security official later said at least two people were killed and 20 were wounded, nine of whom remain at a local hospital.

The official said it was unclear if the two killed were Hezbollah members or civilians.

03:23 PM GMT

Hezbollah announces five strikes on Israel across 45 minutes

In a day of intense back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah, the latter has just announced five attacks on northern Israel across a 45 minute period:

Two Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in northeastern Lebanon destroyed a warehouse, killed at least one person and wounded eight, marking a continued escalation between Israel and Hezbollah over the war Israel is waging against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The new focus on the Baalbek area, around 100km away from the Israeli border, will represent an escalation for Hezbollah.

03:02 PM GMT

‘You cannot say you support Israel’s right to defend itself, and then oppose Israel when it exercises that right’: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a swipe at his international allies as rifts continue to grow with the White House over the impending assault on Rafah.

Speaking to delegates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbying group in Washington, Netanyahu reportedly said:

Despite the international concern that a military offensive in Rafah will cause mass civilian casualties, Netanyahu vowed to press on, saying that otherwise Hamas will “regroup, rearm, and reconquer Gaza”.

“That is an intolerable threat to our future, and we will not accept it. We will destroy Hamas, free our hostages, and ensure that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel again,” he is quoted as saying in Times of Israel.

02:53 PM GMT

WFP succeeds in aid delivery to northern Gaza for first time in four weeks

02:45 PM GMT

Israeli forces kill Jordanian in West Bank, says Palestinian foreign ministry

A Jordanian citizen has died after being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities said on Tuesday, with the military accusing the man of aiding a militant.

Tawfiq Aed Fawaz Hussein, 25, was shot at Zeita junction north of the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday, the Palestinian foreign ministry said.

“He was injured in the leg and the occupation forces left him bleeding inside the ambulance for more than an hour and a half before he died,” the ministry said in a statement.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said Hussein was suspected of being an accomplice of a Palestinian militant, Muhammad Jabar, who was killed by troops on Monday.

Jabar “was armed with a weapon and a ready-to-use explosive device” and was preparing to carry out a suicide attack in Israel, according to the military.

There was no immediate comment from Jordan, which in 1994 became the second Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

A Palestinian security source, requesting anonymity, said Hussein hailed from the Jordanian city of Russeifa and had come to visit relatives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm.

At least 427 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli army or settlers since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

02:33 PM GMT

Aid drops continue over Gaza

02:29 PM GMT

Aid groups sue Denmark over arms exports to Israel

Four humanitarian organisations on Tuesday said they were suing Denmark to get it to stop its weapons exports to Israel.

The lawsuit was filed against the national police and the foreign ministry.

“Denmark should not be sending weapons to Israel when there is a reasonable suspicion that it is committing war crimes in Gaza,” Tim Whyte, the secretary general of Action Aid Denmark, one of the organisations behind the lawsuit, said in a statement.

“We need to get the court’s word on Denmark’s responsibility,” he said.

Investigative journalism website Danwatch revealed in November that Israel’s F-35s were equipped with parts made by the Danish group Terma.

The three other organisations behind the legal action were the Danish branches of Amnesty International, Oxfam and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq.

The lawsuit came almost a month after a Dutch court ordered the Netherlands to stop exporting F-35 parts to Israel.

In mid-February, a Dutch appeals court judge ruled that there was “a clear risk that serious violations of humanitarian law of war are committed in the Gaza Strip with Israel’s F-35 fighter planes”.

Several similar lawsuits are underway in other countries, including in Canada where the foreign and justice ministers have been targeted.

But London’s High Court last month rejected a similar petition to suspend British arms exports to Israel.

02:20 PM GMT

Israeli far-right national security minister calls for war against Hezbollah in Lebanon

“Gallant, the army is your responsibility. What are you waiting for? More than 100 missiles, 100 launches on the State of Israel and you sit quietly? Let’s start reacting, attacking, war — now,” Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on X, referring to Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister.

In the Israeli government’s daily briefing, spokesperson David Mencer confirmed that 70 of the 100 rockets Hezbollah fired this morning had been fired on northern Israel and 30 at the Israeli-occupied, disputed Golan Heights.

Israeli warplanes struck deep into Lebanon for a second consecutive day today, hitting a facility belonging to Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley and killing at least one member of the Iran-backed group.

02:10 PM GMT

Israel says it has attacked 4,500 Hezbollah targets in past five months

In the past five months of the war, Israel claims it has targeted 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria, in data released by the army today.

“In the last 5 months, the IDF forces, led by the Northern Command’s fire center and the Air Force, attacked more than 1,200 targets from the air and more than 3,100 targets from the ground of Hezbollah in the territory of Lebanon and Syria,” the IDF website says. Israel has not yet carried out a ground invasion in Lebanon but is referring to artillery and tank fire.

“The intense attacks in the north harm Hezbollah’s air and ground capabilities as well as its top command. The IDF is constantly working to push Hezbollah’s forces and its forces out of southern Lebanon and has carried out significant attacks in this area.”

The targets include weapons depots, buildings used by Hezbollah for attacks, more than 150 observation posts along the border, some 70 command centres, more than 50 significant rocket launching positions, and dozens of squads carrying out anti-tank missile attacks, the IDF says.

The Telegraph cannot immediately verify the claims.

Israel said that some 300 Hezbollah members had been killed in total. Counts by local media have reached 243.

02:00 PM GMT

Biden ‘devastated’ to learn of death of Itay Chen

US President Joe Biden has said he was devastated to learn that dual US-Israel citizen Itay Chen was killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

Chen, who was serving in the Israeli army near the Gaza border, was earlier believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.

01:47 PM GMT

Israeli airstrikes on Saraaine, 12 miles from Hezbollah bastion Baalbek, this afternoon

The escalation of cross-border fire with the powerful Hezbollah movement has raised fears of spiralling violence. The strikes near Baalbek are around 100 km away from the Israeli border.

It was not immediately clear if the person killed was a fighter or a civilian.

01:33 PM GMT

Pictured: Iftar in Gaza

01:30 PM GMT

Back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah continues

Hezbollah has announced further attacks on Israel as both sides mark a continued escalation of a conflict that diplomats are struggling to stop.

The group announced a strike at 2pm that “targeted the spy devices at the Birkat Risha site with appropriate weapons and hit them directly.”

They then announced a second attack at 2:25pm [12:25 UK time] that “targeted the spy devices at the Jal al-Alam site with appropriate weapons and hit them directly.”

Israel has carried out strikes in the northeast of Lebanon in Baalbek for a second consecutive day, with Hezbollah firing more than 100 rockets into northern Israel. The second set of strikes, the IDF said, were in retaliation for the rocket attack.

A Lebanese security official said at least eight people were wounded.

The violence marked an uptick of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has been fought in parallel to the Gaza war and fuelled fears of an all-out conflict between the heavily armed adversaries.

The conflict has oscillated day by day, but strikes by both sides have broadly intensified over time and targeted a wider range of areas.

01:23 PM GMT

Israel blocks aid trucks from Gaza over medical kit scissors

A truck filled with aid was denied access to Gaza after Israel discovered scissors packed inside medical kits, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency.

Lazzarini accused Israel of banning critical medical aid as the IDF also placed new restrictions on anesthesia medication and water cleaning tablets that they claim have a dual use.

As Ramadan began on Monday, Israel was also accused by aid groups of blocking dates from crossing into Gaza over the risk that the stones could be used as weapons.

“The clearance of humanitarian supplies and the delivery of basic and critical items need to be facilitated and accelerated,” Mr Lazzarini said. “The lives of two million people depend on that, there is no time to waste.”

Israel denied that the incident happened, publicly responding to Mr Lazzarini on social media saying that “lying is a sign of desperation.”

An aid ship loaded with some 200 tonnes of food set sail for Gaza on Tuesday in a pilot program for the opening of a sea corridor to the territory, in a separate programme from that announced by the US which could take weeks to set up.

01:01 PM GMT

Queen Rania blasts Israel’s ‘deprivation by design’ on CNN

Queen Rania of Jordan last night blasted Israel’s war tactics and asked international allies to use their leverage to put a stop to the war in Gaza.

“This has been a slow-motion mass murder of children, five months in the making. Children who were thriving and healthy just months ago are wasting away in front of their parents. Now, starvation is a very slow, cruel and painful death. Your muscles shrink, your immune system shuts down, your organs give out,” Queen Rania Al Abdullah said in an interview on CNN from King Abdullah II airbase, where Jordan has been coordinating airdrops from.

“Imagine being a parent having to go through that, witness your child going through that, not being able to do anything to help. It is absolutely shameful, outrageous and entirely predictable what’s happening in Gaza today because it was deliberate,” she said.

Rania added that despite the efforts to provide aid in Gaza through airdrops, there is still an urgent need to help people survive the “Israeli-made” strategy of enforcing “deprivation by design”.

12:32 PM GMT

IDF announces death of US-Israeli soldier Itay Chen

The Israeli military has announced the death of Itay Chen, a US-Israeli IDF soldier, who they say was captured and killed by Hamas on October 7.

Chen served in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion, and his body was taken from the Gaza border, following a battle with Hamas as they came across the Israeli border.

The 19-year-old was on active duty as part of a tank unit at the Nahal Oz army base when the October 7 attacks broke out.

According to Israeli media Chen’s family will not hold a funeral or sit shiva, the traditional seven-day Jewish mourning, until his body is returned from Gaza.

His family were told on October 9 that he was “missing in action.” His death was announced based on new intelligence.

He was one of six US citizens thought to have been held alive in Gaza.

12:12 PM GMT

Israel gives operational update in Gaza

12:01 PM GMT

Israel confirms hitting northeast Lebanon for second consecutive day

The IDF confirmed that it carried out further airstrikes in the Baalbek area in northeastern Lebanon in recent hours, targeting what it said were two Hezbollah command centers.

“Hezbollah used these sites to store significant assets used to strengthen its weapons arsenal,” the IDF said.

The strikes were retaliation to the barrage of more than 100 rockets that Hezbollah fired into northern Israel this morning, which in itself was retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Baalbek last night that killed a civilian.

The strikes in Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold, represent the deepest that Israel has targeted inside Lebanon. It is around 100km away from the area that Israel is demanding Hezbollah retreat to.

11:39 AM GMT

Gaza’s death toll from malnutrition and dehydration rises

In the daily update from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, the number of people who have died from malnutrition or dehydration has risen to 27.

In the past 24 hours, the ministry said, 72 people have been killed and 129 injured. It brings the total to 31,184 dead and 72,889 injured. More than 70 per cent of the victims are women and children, the statement said.

“Bombing gatherings of hungry people has become a daily routine practiced by the occupation and seen by the international community on screens,” Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday.

“Hunger will claim the lives of all residents in northern Gaza. Aid is very scarce. The price of a meal could mean certain death. Help the people of the north. Don’t leave them prey to hunger, bombing, and disease.”

11:35 AM GMT

A somber Ramadan in Gaza as desperate children wait for food aid

11:29 AM GMT

Imminent famine takes centre stage in Gaza

Five months into Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, it is not the sheer number of people killed there - over 30,000 now - but the imminent famine that is taking centre stage, writes Nataliya Vasilyeva.

Gaza’s Palestinians are literally running out of food. Many residents in the most-damaged north of Gaza have taken to eating animal food and plants to get by.

Hundreds of trucks with food and medication have been sitting on the Egyptian side of the border waiting to cross. The Israeli military, however, takes a while to clear the cargo, either turning back the shipments due to suspected “dual use” items - like scissors, most recently -  or creating bottlenecks. On good days, Israel allows over 200 trucks into Gaza, just over a third of pre-war levels of supplies.

Two more border crossings from Israel into northern Gaza could turn around the situation dramatically if Israel agreed to open them for supplies, aid groups say.

But Israel’s overwhelmingly hard-line public opinion, egged on by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies, makes it hard for the Israeli government to give the green light to the plan without losing face.

Washington’s decision to build a floating pier off Gaza appears to be a sign of desperation as the Biden administration is losing hope in getting concessions from the increasingly intransigent Netanyahu.

The pier, however, could take up to two months to build, and it is not clear how this plane could stave off famine in Gaza which the UN says is now imminent.

11:27 AM GMT

UN envoy: Finding that some hostages were victims of sexual violence doesn’t justify Israeli attacks

The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict warned Israel on Monday that the finding of “clear and convincing information” that some hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel were subjected to sexual violence “does not in any way legitimise further hostilities.”

“In fact, it creates a moral imperative for a humanitarian cease-fire to end the unspeakable suffering imposed on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and bring about the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Pramila Patten told the UN Security Council.

“Continuation of hostilities can, in no way, protect them,” she said. “It can only expose them to further risk of violence, including sexual violence.”

Patten was speaking at a council meeting sought by Israel and called by the United States, United Kingdom and France to focus on her recent report, which also found “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, sexualized torture, and other cruel and inhumane acts against women during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people and led to 250 others being taken hostage.

Patten told the council that when she visited the West Bank she didn’t receive any reports of rape, but instances of sexual violence during the detention of both Palestinian men and women were raised.

These included invasive body searches, unwanted touching of intimate areas, beatings in the genital areas, threats to men of rape against their women family members, “and inappropriate strip searches and prolonged forced nudity of detainees,” she said.

11:16 AM GMT

Israel carries out more strikes on Lebanon’s Baalbek

Israel has carried out another strike in the Baalbek area of Lebanon in the past hour, local security sources have told The Telegraph.

The strike hit on the outskirts of Nabi Chit, which is around 80 kilometres away from the Israeli border and the southern frontlines. Israel last night carried out multiple airstrikes around Baalbek, as the deepening strikes renew fear of an all-out conflict breaking out.

Hezbollah affiliated media is reporting that Israel carried out two strikes in the Bekaa region in the past hour.

10:49 AM GMT

Italian navy ship shoots down two drones in the Red Sea

An Italian military vessel serving in the European Union’s naval mission in the Red Sea has shot down two drones, Italy’s Defence Staff said on Tuesday.

In a statement, it described the incidents involving the Italian Navy’s “Caio Duilio” destroyer as acts of self-defence, without elaborating. The same ship had shot down another drone earlier this month.

10:47 AM GMT

‘Not near a Gaza ceasefire,’ says Qatar

Qatar is working to establish a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and not a short-term truce of a few days, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said today.

“We are not near to a Gaza ceasefire deal but remain hopeful,” he added at a press conference in Doha.

Israel has remained steadfast that negotiations must focus on a temporary truce as its goal is the complete destruction of Hamas and the return of all hostages. Hamas, on the other hand, has said that any deal will be conditional on a full Israeli withdrawal.

10:44 AM GMT

UK deploys HMS Diamond warship to Red Sea to protect shipping

Britain will deploy its HMS Diamond warship to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to take over from HMS Richmond in defending commercial shipping in the region, the government said on Tuesday.

“Britain continues to be at the forefront of the international response to the Houthis’ dangerous attacks on commercial vessels, which have claimed the lives of international mariners,” Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

10:28 AM GMT

Gaza doctors tell BBC that Israeli troops beat and humiliated them following hospital raid

Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were blindfolded, detained, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at their hospital last month.

10:06 AM GMT

Israel could see Netanyahu ousted from power, US predicts

Benjamin Netanyahu could be ousted from office over public “distrust” of his strategy in Gaza, US intelligence agencies have said.

A joint report by 18 agencies on the global threat level, published on Monday, found that the Israeli prime minister was facing significant opposition to his “hard-line policies on Palestinian and security issues”.

On Saturday, protesters clashed with police in Tel Aviv in two separate demonstrations calling on Mr Netanyahu to do more to secure the hostages’ release.
The annual threat assessment by the US director of national intelligence said that the opposition to Mr Netanyahu may have the power to topple his government in favour of a “more moderate” leader.

“Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-Right and ultra orthodox parties that pursued hard-line policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy,” the report said.

“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.

“A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”

09:44 AM GMT

Talks to end US-led coalition in Iraq may take till after US elections

Talks between the United States and Iraq on ending the US-led military coalition in the country may not be concluded until after the US presidential elections in November, a senior Iraqi government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Washington and Baghdad in January initiated talks to reassess the US-led coalition in Iraq, formed in 2014 to help fight the Islamic State after the extremist Sunni Muslim militant group overran large parts of the country.

The decision came after U.S forces and Shi’ite armed groups had engaged in tit-for-tat attacks amid regional conflict linked to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Those attacks have now ceased for over a month to allow breathing space for the negotiations.

Backed by Shi’ite Muslim parties and armed groups, the government in Baghdad, a rare ally of both Tehran and Washington, is trying to prevent the country again becoming a battlefield for foreign powers.

The technical talks via a joint military commission are seen by politicians as a way to buy time amid differing views over how the countries’ military relationship should evolve.

Hardline Iraqi Shi’ite armed groups have called for an immediate exit of US forces while more moderate Shi’ite factions and Sunni and Kurdish parties are concerned their departure could lead to a power vacuum.

09:30 AM GMT

Construction of the jetty in Gaza is underway for World Central Kitchen aid delivery