Israel strikes pound Lebanon, Gaza with scores killed

Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Lebanese officials said they were studying a US truce proposal.

An Israeli strike on neighbouring Syria earlier this week killed two Islamic Jihad leaders, the Palestinian militant group, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, confirmed.

Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are all backed by Israel's arch-enemy Iran, which on Friday said it supported a swift end to the nearly two-month war in Lebanon.

Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops after almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants over the Gaza war.

AFPTV footage showed fresh strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, following calls from the Israeli army for residents to evacuate.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported four strikes during the day and further "heavy strikes" in the early evening.

NNA also reported a strike on the southern city of Tyre, in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins.

Deadly strikes in Baalbek were also reported. Six people were killed, and 11 people were reportedly wounded.

Among the injured were five children, two of whom were in critical condition, the ministry said.

Strikes earlier on Saturday killed two medics in south Lebanon, including one in Borj Rahal and another in Kfartebnit, and injured four other rescue workers, with two still missing, the ministry said.

In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.

"They weren't involved with any (armed) party... they were just waiting to answer calls for help," said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.

Hezbollah claimed several rocket attacks on northern Israel, targeting military sites including a naval base in the Haifa area.

The Israeli military said "approximately 65 projectiles" had crossed the border.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, when Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire.

'Massive explosion'

In Gaza, the Israeli military continued to heavily target the northern areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the targets of an intense offensive since early October.

Israel says its renewed operations in the ravaged north were meant to stop Hamas militants from regrouping.

A UN-backed assessment at the weekend warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, and UN figures showed the Israeli operation had forced at least 100,000 people to flee.

Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week that said its displacement of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity", as well as findings from a UN Special Committee that pointed to warfare practices that "are consistent with the characteristics of genocide".

The Gaza health ministry said at least 35 people were killed in the territory in the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war to 43,799.

Israel's atrocities in the Gaza Strip have been labelled as a genocide by UN experts, world leaders and leading NGOs.

The civil defence agency reported 23 people killed in strikes across Gaza on Saturday.

In Rafah, Jamil al-Masry said a house was hit, causing "a massive explosion".

"We went to the house, only to find it in ruins, with fire raging and smoke and dust everywhere," he told AFP.

Iranian support

In a rare claim of responsibility for a strike on Syria, Israel said it targeted the Islamic Jihad group on Thursday.

On Saturday the group confirmed in a statement that "prominent leader" Abdel Aziz Minawi and external relations chief Rasmi Yusuf Abu Issa were killed in the air raid on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area.

As diplomacy aimed at ending the Gaza war has stalled, a top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.

A second Lebanese official, similarly requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said he was "optimistic" about the talks.

Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran was "looking for solutions".