Israel and Hezbollah trade heavy fire overnight after deadly attacks in Lebanon, Gaza

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Twelve people were arrested in six different Iranian provinces for being "operatives collaborating with the Zionist regime [Israel]" and planning acts against the country's security, the Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday, according to the Student News Network.

We are well prepared for next stages planned in the coming days, Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi said Sunday.

He added that Hezbollah will keep getting hit "until it understands that we will return our citizens to their homes safely."

Israel's army chief on Sunday vowed to "hit anyone who threatens" Israelis, saying the military's ongoing operation against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group was a "message" to the country's foes in the region and beyond.

"This operation against Hezbollah's chain of command is a clear message to Hezbollah but it is also a message to the Middle East and beyond: We will hit anyone who threatens the citizens of the state of Israel," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a video statement.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that it was "clear" neither side of the grinding war in Gaza was interested in a halt to fighting.

"It is for me clear that both sides are not interested in a ceasefire. And that is a tragedy, because this is a war that must stop," Guterres told US broadcaster CNN, adding that "neither the government of Israel nor Hamas really want the ceasefire."

The death toll from the Friday Israeli airstrike on a southern Beirut suburb has risen to 51, Lebanon's Civil Defence said Sunday.

The European Union is "extremely concerned" about an escalation of the conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and is calling for an "urgent" ceasefire, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday.

"The European Union is extremely concerned about an escalation in Lebanon after the attacks Friday in Beirut," Borrell said in a statement, calling for a "ceasefire" along the demarcation line separating them, "as well as in Gaza".

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Sunday called for an "immediate ceasefire" after a "worrying escalation" between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, as heightening cross-border tensions led to fears of an all-out war.

"Our message to all parties is clear: we need an immediate ceasefire from both sides so that we can get to a political settlement, so that Israelis and Lebanese civilians can return to their homes and live in peace and security," Lammy said in a speech at the Labour party's annual conference.

Hezbollah deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem said that the group had entered a new phase of its battle with Israel which he described as an "open-ended battle of reckoning," in comments made on Sunday during a funeral for a top commander killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Beirut on Friday.

He added that his group was ready for "all military possibilities."

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Israeli forces would continue to pursue their war goals, which since earlier this week formally include returning the residents of the north to their homes.

In a statement issued by his office, Gallant said "Hezbollah has begun experiencing the impact" of Israel's military capabilities, "and they sense that they are being pursued".

Military actions "will continue until we reach a point where we may ensure the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their homes," he said.

"This is our goal, this is our mission, and we will employ the means necessary to achieve it."

Hamas on Sunday praised Hezbollah after the group launched overnight rocket strikes at northern Israel in response to a wave of deadly Israeli attacks in Lebanon this week.

"Hamas saluted the resistance fighters in Lebanon for their resilience and bravery in facing the Zionist war machine and for their determination to continue fighting in support of the Palestinian people and their resistance in Gaza and the West Bank," the Palestinian group said in a statement.

A regional military escalation is not in Israel's "best interest," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday, as heightening cross-border tensions between Israel and Lebanon have led to fears of an all-out war.

"We don't believe that escalating this military conflict is in their best interest," Kirby said on ABC's "This Week" programme, adding that the United States was "saying this directly to our Israeli counterparts."

Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera condemned a Sunday raid by Israeli forces on its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and the issuing of a 45-day closure order.

The Qatar-funded channel said in a statement it "vehemently condemns and denounces this criminal act".

It rejected what it called "unfounded allegations presented by Israeli authorities to justify these illegal raids".

Al Jazeera said the raid by Israeli forces, which was broadcast on the channel, and the seizure of its equipment was "not only an attack on Al Jazeera but an affront to press freedom and the very principles of journalism".

"These oppressive measures are clearly intended to prevent the world from witnessing the reality of the situation in the occupied territories and the ongoing war on Gaza and the devastating impact on innocent civilians," it added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will "not tolerate" attacks on Israel after Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets from Lebanon overnight, in retaliation to a wave of deadly Israeli attacks this week.

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday, as Israel said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

In separate statements, the health ministry said one person was killed in "Israel enemy" strikes in three different south Lebanon villages.

Hezbollah on Sunday announced two fighters had been killed, without specifying where they died.

At least 41, 431 Palestinians have been killed and 95,818 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had "landed a series of blows on Hezbollah" after a night of intense cross-border fire and attacks this week in Lebanon.

"In recent days, we have landed a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I assure you it will get the message," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"No country can tolerate attacks on its citizens, attacks on its cities. And we, the State of Israel, will not tolerate it either," he said, vowing to return residents of northern Israel displaced by nearly a year of fighting to their homes.

An Israeli airstrike killed seven people in a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City on Sunday, Palestinian health officials said.

The strike hit Kafr Qasem School in Beach camp at around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT), the officials said. Among those killed was Majed Saleh, the director of Gaza's Public Works and Housing Ministry, they added.

The Israeli military, as always, claimed it had targeted militants operating from the compound. Hamas has regularly denied Israeli accusations that it uses hospitals and other civilians buildings for military purposes in the near year-old war.

Six other Palestinians were killed in separate airstrikes in central and southern parts of Gaza, the medics said. They put the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes so far on Sunday at 16.

A UN official warned of imminent regional "catastrophe" from the worsening violence on the Israel-Lebanon front.

"With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer," United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on social media platform X.

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order.

Israel's government last week announced it was revoking the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country, four months after banning the channel from operating inside Israel.

Israel's military said on Sunday that it intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" launched from the east, and that no damage or injuries were reported.

Earlier, an official in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a grouping of Iran-backed armed factions, said they launched cruise missile and explosive drone attacks at Israel.

An Iraqi coalition of pro-Iran armed groups claimed on Sunday a drone attack against Israel, where the military said it had intercepted "multiple suspicious aerial targets" coming from Iraq overnight.

"The fighters of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq targeted on Sunday morning a strategic location in the occupied territories using drones," the Iraqi coalition said in a statement on Telegram, referring to Israel, and adding it was carried out "in support of our people in Gaza".

The attack caused no injuries, according to the Israeli military.

Hezbollah said its fighters targeted military production facilities and an air base in northern Israel on Sunday after Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon.

The group said in a statement that the rocket fire at the area of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa was part of its response to attacks this week carried out by Israel.

"In an initial response" to the explosions of pagers and two-way radios on Tuesday and Wednesday, Hezbollah "bombed the Rafael military industry complexes" in northern Israel with "dozens" of Katyusha, Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets, the group said.

Hezbollah also said it targeted the "Ramat David base and airport", around 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the border, twice overnight with "dozens" of Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets "in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted different Lebanese regions and killed many civilians".

The Ramat David site is among the deepest inside Israeli territory that the group has said it has targeted in nearly a year of cross-border exchanges.

The Israeli military said more than 100 projectiles were fired early Sunday from Lebanon, forcing hundreds of thousands to take cover.

"Hundreds of thousands of people had to take refuge in bomb shelters at that time across northern Israel," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told AFP.

The death toll from an Israeli air strike that targeted Hezbollah military commanders in a Beirut southern suburb this week has risen to 45, Lebanon's health ministry said Sunday.

"The number of dead has risen to 45 people," a ministry statement said, updating an earlier toll of 37 from the Friday attack.

It said "work continues to remove the rubble for the third day in a row" and that DNA sampling would be used to determine the identities of some of the bodies.

Israel's civil defence agency on Sunday ordered all schools in the country's north closed following rocket fire by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and intensifying cross-border violence.

The military's Home Front Command said schools and other educational institutions and activities would not be permitted in the north until at least Monday at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT).

The Israeli military said more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon early Sunday, with fire services working to put out blazes sparked by falling munitions in Israel's north.

The military said that "approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon" shortly before 5:00 am (0200 GMT), followed by a barrage of "approximately 85 projectiles" launched from Lebanon after 6:00 am (0300 GMT).

Rockets were also fired during the night, the military said. Israel's medical emergency service Magen David Adom said in a statement that four people were wounded from shrapnels during the night.

The military also reported attacks from the east.

During the night, "multiple suspicious aerial targets" approached Israel from the direction of Iraq, the military said, adding they were intercepted and caused no injuries.