Elderly woman killed in Israeli strike on Lebanon

Israeli strikes have killed a woman in her eighties in a south Lebanon village early on Thursday morning, Lebanese state media said.

The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen regular exchanges of fire, mainly between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, since the war on Gaza began on October 7.

Rescuers who transported the pair to the hospital confirmed her death to AFP, also blaming Israel for the strike.

"Hostile bombing in the town of Maroun al-Ras this morning killed a woman and wounded her husband," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said.

Israeli artillery shells struck residential neighbourhoods in the town, hitting the house of the couple in their eighties, the agency added.

Israeli forces said the air force had carried out retaliatory strikes on Hezbollah targets, including a site from which the group launched an attack on Wednesday night, and that Israel had shelled several launch sites in southern Lebanon

On Monday, Hezbollah had vowed that any Israeli attacks on civilians "will be reciprocated".

The group said it launched a series of attacks, including "incendiary rockets", on forested areas of northern Israel early Thursday in retaliation for Israeli assaults on Lebanese groves.

Rights groups and Lebanese officials have repeatedly accused Israel of white phosphorus attacks- an incendiary weapon that can cause serious burns if it hits people.

More than 140 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also a Lebanese soldier and 19 civilians, including three journalists.

On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed, according to Israeli officials.

The hostilities have raised fears of a regional conflagration.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met senior officials in Beirut, a day after visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank, as part of efforts to de-escalate border tensions.

The unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 killed around 1,140 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory ground and air offensive has killed at least 20,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas, while residents of south Lebanon say Israel's retaliatory bombardments have increased in intensity.