Israeli airstrike targets senior Hezbollah operative as onslaught enters second day

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday met with Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, as Israel strikes Tehran's ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Macron began talks with Pezeshkian, a self-styled reformist in a cleric-run state which Israel sees as its archenemy, on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, according to news agency AFP.

Macron has already spoken twice by telephone with Pezeshkian as tensions rose between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant movement backed by Iran.

On August 7, Macron urged the Iranian president to avoid reprisals and work to prevent a military escalation after Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh died in a presumed Israeli operation as he visited Tehran for Pezeshkian's inauguration.

Pezeshkian on Monday cast Israel as seeking conflict, saying Iran held back on retaliating after Western powers spoke of progress in reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah announced on Telegram that their "mujahid leader," Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, known by his nom de guerre "Hajj Abu Musa," was killed earlier today.

Hezbollah did not provide details about the location or circumstances surrounding his death.

However, Israel had previously claimed responsibility for a strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which they said targeted and killed Qubaisi.

According to the Lebanese government, the attack resulted in six fatalities and left at least 15 others wounded.

The Israeli military asserted that Qubaisi had been behind recent rocket attacks launched against Israel.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a militia group based in Iraq, carried out an attack on Israel near the Jordan Valley, which borders Jordan.

The group claimed to have launched a squadron of drones at a target in the area, though they did not provide further details.

The Israeli military stated that there were no injuries from the attack but did not specify if any damage occurred.

Israeli media reported that alerts for hostile aircraft were activated in southern Israel near the Jordanian border.

Britain said on Tuesday that its nationals should leave Lebanon and continued to advise against all travel to the country, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.

"Around 700 UK troops will move to Cyprus in the coming hours, as the Government continues to prepare its contingency plans following significant escalation between Israel and Lebanon in recent days," the office said in a statement. 

An Israeli strike hit the Lebanese seaside town of Jiyyeh for the first time early on Wednesday, 75 kilometers north of the border with Israel, two security sources told news agency Reuters. 

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed disappointment on Tuesday with US President Joe Biden's remarks about the escalating crisis between Lebanon and Israel, but said he held out hope that Washington could still intervene to help.

"It was not strong. It is not promising and it would not solve this problem," Habib said of Biden's speech at the United Nations earlier in the day. "I (am) still hoping. The United States is the only country that can really make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon."

Habib spoke during an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

European Council President Charles Michel said Tuesday that Israel had the right to exist and defend itself but without inflicting "collective punishment" on civilians living in areas targeted by its military.

Western leaders have used the UN's centerpiece annual gathering in New York to call on Israel to exercise restraint in its military assaults on Lebanon and Gaza to prevent the eruption of a regional war.

"Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has the right to exist, and we support the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself," Michel said at an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"But defending itself, it doesn't mean collective punishment. It needs a principle of proportionality."

He spoke after Israeli strikes in Lebanon left 558 people dead on Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, and 1,835 wounded, according to Lebanese authorities.

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet at 22:00 GMT tomorrow to address the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Slovenia, which holds the council presidency for September.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced that it has opened two schools to shelter approximately 500 displaced Palestinians as Israeli bombardment of Lebanon continues.

The schools, Toubas School in Nahr al-Bared in the north and Siblin Training Centre in the south, are now providing refuge.

"We are doing everything we can to support those displaced during these difficult times, and we hope for a swift return to peace," said Dorothee Klaus, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon.

Klaus added that UNRWA is preparing a government facility in Beirut and plans to open a school in Sidon at the municipality’s request.

The recent escalation has forced thousands to flee southern Lebanon, with the death toll reaching at least 569, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

An Israeli academic has confirmed that he met with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier today in New York, as part of an interfaith dialogue hosted by the president.

Lior Sternfeld, an Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State, told Israeli news publication The Times of Israel that Pezeshkian was aware of his Israeli nationality, and that the UN delegation had been informed in advance, with the invitation remaining in place.

Sternfeld, author of presented the president with a copy of his book titled Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran.

Israel's Channel 12 reported that the meeting was also attended by several rabbis, alongside Muslim and Christian representatives.

Syrian air defences intercepted suspected Israeli missiles targeting the Mediterranean port city of Tartous, Syrian army sources told news agency Reuters, after witnesses said they heard multiple explosions.

Israel is striving for the campaign against Hezbollah to be as short as possible but is prepared for it to take time, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Tuesday.

Hagari showed video of a strike on a house where launchers were hidden and another strike on a building followed by secondary explosions.

"We will continue to show what Hezbollah has been doing over the past 20 years, in a vast project where they have turned thousands of civilian homes in southern Lebanon and not only in southern Lebanon, into terror bases, turning southern Lebanon into a combat zone," he said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that it launched an air attack with drones targeting Israel's Atlit navy base south of Haifa.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held a meeting with Israeli professor Lior Sternfeld as part of an interfaith dialogue during his visit to New York on Tuesday.

Sternfeld, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, confirmed the meeting to German press agency dpa, expressing hope that the recently elected reformist president—who assumed office in July—could guide Iran towards fostering peace in the Middle East.

Sternfeld, known for his extensive research on Judaism in Iran, has also written critical articles addressing Israel’s actions during the recent Gaza conflict.

Four Palestinians, including two children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to Gaza's civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal.

The strike targeted a residential home in the al-Tawam area, located northwest of Gaza City, which belonged to the Ahmed family.

This latest attack brings the total number of Palestinian casualties in Gaza today to 16.

Israel is open to ideas for de-escalating the conflict in Lebanon, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Tuesday, a day after the United States said it was exploring some "concrete ideas" with allies and partners.

"As we speak there are important forces trying to come up with ideas and we are open-minded for that," he told reporters.

"We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere ... We prefer a diplomatic solution."

Hezbollah unveiled its new Fadi 3 rocket on Tuesday, as the group said it targeted the Israeli army's Samson unit.

In a statement shared on the group's Telegram account, Hezbollah said that it launched the rockets at the Samson command and equipment unit "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza… and in defence of Lebanon and its people".

The development follows Hezbollah's unveiling on 22 September of the Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles, which it said it used against Israel's Ramat David airbase in response to deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanese regions. 

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Tuesday said Israel's war on the Gaza Strip was a "genocide" as he addressed world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

"The blatant aggression that befalls the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip today is the most barbaric, heinous and extensive aggression," he said, calling the offensive "a crime of genocide."

British Airways on Tuesday said it had suspended flights to Israel until Thursday as tensions rise between Hezbollah and Israel.

"We've been continually monitoring the situation in the Middle East and have taken the operational decision to cancel our flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Thursday, 26 September," said a statement from the airline which does not operate flights to Lebanon.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that the killing of women and children in Lebanon was "extraordinarily concerning," and called on Israel and Hezbollah to deescalate their conflict.

"The violence needs to stop. The women, the children killed in Lebanon is extraordinarily concerning," Trudeau told reporters in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly.

"We need to make sure there is deescalation, both by Israel and Hezbollah. We need to protect civilian lives. We need to make sure we're moving towards peace and stability in the entire region," Trudeau added.

The United Nations refugee agency expressed outrage on Tuesday after a staff member and a contractor were killed in Lebanon a day earlier, amid intense Israeli air strikes.

"UNHCR is outraged and deeply saddened by the killing of two beloved members of the UNHCR family in Lebanon," a statement said.

It identified them as Dina Darwiche, whose building was "hit by an Israeli missile" on Monday, and contractor Ali Basma, who south Lebanon's Ain Baal municipality in a statement said was among those killed when a building was "targeted".

Dina Darwiche, a UNHCR employee, has been killed alongside her son Jad in an Israeli strike that hit their residential building in Bekaa, Lebanon😞 pic.twitter.com/2XBdF4pnQ2

— Rayane Moussallem (@RioMoussallem) September 24, 2024

The death toll from Israel's two-day offensive on southern and eastern Lebanon and south of Beirut has reached 564, the country's caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is also coordinating the crisis response, said on Tuesday.

Israel's military said it was currently conducting "extensive strikes" on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

It did not immediately provide further details.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed the UN for inaction on Gaza, which he said has turned into "the world's largest children's and women's cemetery."

"Not only children but also the UN system is dying in Gaza," Erdogan told the UN General Assembly. "The truth, the values that the West claims to defend are dying ... I ask openly: Hey human rights organizations, aren't those in Gaza and West Bank human beings?"

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Israel and Hamas to finalise a months-old ceasefire proposal, telling the United Nations he was committed to ending the Gaza war.

"Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms," he said of the deal brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

The deal will "bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free from Hamas' grip, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war," Biden told the UN General Assembly.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged a diplomatic solution as Israel claims to be striking Hezbollah targets, warning against a "full-scale war" in Lebanon.

"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible," Biden said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

Lebanon has extended the closure of schools and other educational institutions to the end of this week amid Israel's offensive.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denounced the United Nations' "inaction" against Israel, describing it as "senseless and incomprehensible", amid surging tensions across the Middle East.

"In my meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, I said the UN inaction against the crimes of the occupying regime is senseless and incomprehensible," he said in a post on social media platform X, adding that "I expressed my deep concern about the spread of the conflict in the entire Middle East."

Hezbollah urged Lebanese to discard Israel leaflets dropped over the country's east on Tuesday, warning against scanning barcodes that it said could compromise personal data.

"The Zionist enemy is dropping leaflets with barcodes in the Beqaa region and may drop them elsewhere," the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

"Please do not open or circulate the barcode. You must destroy it immediately," the statement said, warning the code could "take all your information".

It is reported that leaflets were dropped in Lebanon, shown here. The details shared in the document match up with known information. The QR code leads to a website with further information. | @docinkc pic.twitter.com/0OqVjgOTEN

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) September 23, 2024

The UN chief warned world leaders on Tuesday that Lebanon was on "the brink" as clashes escalated between Israel and Hezbollah ahead of US President Joe Biden's final appearance at the global body's signature annual event.

The gathering of dozens of world leaders, the high point of the diplomatic calendar, comes as Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes killed 558 people - 50 of them children.

"We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

As world leaders gathered in Manhattan for the annual flurry of speeches and face-to-face diplomacy, UN Security Council member France called Monday for an emergency meeting on the crisis engulfing the Middle East.

As the toll in Lebanon climbed, focus shifted away from the situation in Gaza, and the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell warned "we are almost in a full-fledged war."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday called for restraint and de-escalation on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

"I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Middle East today. I call again for all parties to step back from the brink," Starmer said in a speech at the Labour Party's conference in Liverpool, northwest England.

The Israeli airstrike on a Beirut southern suburb killed Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, according to two security sources in Lebanon.

Qubaisi was a leading member in the group's rocket division.

The Lebanese health ministry has said at least 6 people were killed and 15 were wounded in Tuesday's Israeli airstrike on Ghobeiry in the southern Beirut suburbs.

At least five people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on Ghobeiry, south of Beirut, Alaraby TV has reported.

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 22 Palestinians on Tuesday, medics said, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Israeli tanks advanced in the northern and western areas of Rafah, battling fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to residents and statement published by the two Palestinian groups. Residents said the Israeli army blew up several homes in eastern and central areas of the city.

The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked the invading forces with anti-tank rockets, detonated already planted bombs and mortar fire.

Palestinian health officials said the 22 people were killed in several Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza Strip. In one of the strikes, six Palestinians were killed, including three women, in a house in Nuseirat, one of the territory's eight historic refugee camps, they said.

There has been no comment from the Israeli military.

An Israeli airstrike targeted a Hezbollah commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, two security sources in Lebanon said, as Israel struck the area for a second consecutive day.

The sources declined to identify who had been targeted in the strike and said his fate was unknown, but Israeli media claimed it was an operative called Talal Hamieh.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a "targeted strike in Beirut," giving no details.

The airstrike hit a building in the usually busy Ghobeiry district. One of the security sources shared a photo showing damage to the top floor of the five-storey building.

الصور الأولية للقصف الإسرائيلي على منطقة الغبيري في الضاحية الجنوبية.. والأنباء عن اغتيال قيادي في حزب الله.#الغبيري #الضاحية_الجنوبية #بيروت pic.twitter.com/5LD8VfeJVJ

— صوت العرب (@sawtalarabb1) September 24, 2024

The Hezbollah operative targeted by an Israeli airstrike in a southern Beirut suburb is Talal Hamieh, according to Israeli media reports.

His fate remains unknown.

This is the fifth attack on Beirut's southern suburbs since Hezbollah-Israel began fighting last year.

A Lebanese security source said an Israeli strike hit south of Beirut Tuesday, with the Israel army confirming it carried out a strike near the Lebanese capital.

"An Israeli strike targeted two floors in a residential building in the Ghobeiri area," the security source said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The Israeli military did not immediately give further details. "The IDF (military) conducted a targeted strike in Beirut. Details to follow," it said.

Images shared online showed a building partially destroyed from the attack, which has allegedly targeted a Hezbollah operative.

لحظة شن طيران الاحتلال غارة على مبنى في منطقة الغبيري بالضاحية الجنوبية.

هذا الجنون والسعار الهجمي البربري الصهيوني هو دليل إفلاس هذا الكيان المأزرم المهزوم. pic.twitter.com/SmtAyV4B7i

— حـيـدر الـمـوســوي || Hayder Al-Musawi (@haydaralmusawy) September 24, 2024

Israel has struck Ghobeiry in Beirut's southern suburbs with an airstrike - more to follow

Some 500 people have crossed from Lebanon to war-torn Syria, a Syrian security official told AFP Tuesday, fleeing the deadliest Israeli bombardment since Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating war in 2006.

"Around 500 people crossed the border through the Qusayr and Dabousiya crossings between 4 pm (1300 GMT) and midnight" Monday, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

"Vehicles were still crossing in the early hours of the morning, with people heading towards friends' and acquaintances' homes in the Homs countryside and in the city of Homs," he said.

The Israeli military said it has begun a new wave of airstrikes "against Hezbollah targets" in south Lebanon.

Israel's military chief said on Tuesday that Hezbollah must not be given a break and that attacks on the Iran-backed group in Lebanon would be accelerated.

"The situation requires continued, intense action in all arenas," said Military Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi after holding a security assessment.

German airline group Lufthansa said Tuesday it had extended the suspension of flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv and Iranian capital Tehran up to and including October 14.

Lufthansa continued to "monitor the situation closely and will assess it further in the coming days", the group said on its website as the escalation in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah threatened to destabilise the region. Flights to Beirut remain suspended until October 26, Lufthansa added.

Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday that national carrier EgyptAir canceled flights to and from the Lebanese capital Beirut starting Tuesday, September 24, amid ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Lebanon said Tuesday the death toll from Israeli bombardment a day earlier had risen to 558, including 50 children, in the deadliest day of violence since Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006.

"So far, the health ministry has recorded 558 deaths, including 50 children and 94 women," Health Minister Firas Abyad said, adding that "the vast majority, if not all of those killed in yesterday's attacks were unarmed people in their homes."

French flag carrier Air France on Tuesday announced it was extending a suspension of flights to and from Beirut to October 1, after the deadliest day of Israeli bombing in Lebanon since 2006.

An Air France spokesman said in a statement to AFP that flights to the Lebanese capital were suspended due to the "security situation". Flights to and from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, which Air France had suspended last week, were operating "normally" after resuming at the weekend, the spokesman added.

Sending a warning does not make it OK to strike civilians, the UN Human Rights Office said, commenting on Israeli text messages sent to Lebanese on Monday telling them to evacuate.

The United Nations said Tuesday that tens of thousands of people had fled their homes in south Lebanon since Monday, amid Israeli air strikes.

"We are gravely concerned about the serious escalation in the attacks that we saw yesterday," UN refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters in Geneva.

"Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow," he said.

"This is a region that has already been devastated by war and a country that knows suffering all too well," Saltmarsh said.

"The toll on civilians is unacceptable."

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, also said the agency was "extremely alarmed by the sharp escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Shamdasani called on "all parties to immediately cease the violence and to ensure the protection of civilians".

The UN children's agency meanwhile decried the impact on young people in Lebanon.

"We are warning today that any further escalation in this conflict will be absolutely catastrophic for all children in Lebanon," said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Lebanon, speaking via video link from Beirut.

"Yesterday was Lebanon's worst day in 18 years. This violence has to stop immediately, or the consequences will be unconscionable."

The U.N. human rights chief on Tuesday called on anyone with influence in the Middle East or elsewhere to seek to avert any further escalation in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, voicing alarm at the sharp escalation.

"UN High Commissioner Volker Türk calls on all States and actors with influence in the region and beyond to avert further escalation and do everything they can to ensure full respect for international law," Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for Turk said at a Geneva press briefing. "The methods and means of warfare that are being used raises very serious concerns about whether this is compliant with international humanitarian law," she added.

Asked about reports that Israel had warned people through phone messages ahead of the strikes, she said: "Whether you've sent out a warning you're telling civilians to flee, doesn't make it OK to then strike those areas, knowing full well that the impact on civilians will be huge..." At the same press briefing, Abdinasir Abubakar, a WHO official in Lebanon, said that some hospitals in the country were "overwhelmed" by the thousands of wounded people arriving. Four healthcare workers had been killed on Monday, he added.

"We have some evidence, and we have some documentation that shows that at least there were some attacks on health facilities, even the ambulances as well," he told the briefing, condemning the impact on Lebanon's fragile health sector.

Qatar Airways and flydubai suspended flights to Beirut for two days on Tuesday as tensions escalated between Israel and Hezbollah after the deadliest bombardment of Lebanon since 2006.

Qatar Airways, the national flag-carrier which operates two flights a day to the Lebanese capital, cancelled services on Tuesday and Wednesday.

flydubai, the state-owned, low-cost sister airline to Dubai-based giant Emirates, also cancelled its daily flights on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon had the potential to completely destabilise the Middle East and widen the conflict there.

When asked about the Israeli strikes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call:

"This is an event that is potentially extremely dangerous when it comes to the expansion of the conflict, to the complete destabilisation of the region. Of course, this is of extreme concern to us."

Russia has deepened ties with Hezbollah patron Iran since the start of its war in Ukraine and questioned the proportionality of Israel's bombing of Gaza and the number of civilians killed, straining ties with Israel.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it carried out more air strikes on Hezbollah weapons facilities and warehouses as it bombarded southern Lebanon.

"Over the past few hours, the IAF struck Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon including launchers, terrorist infrastructure sites and buildings in which weapons were stored," the military said in a statement, referring to the Israeli air force.

Gaza's health ministry said on Tuesday that at least 41,467 people have been killed in Israel's offensive, now in its 12th month.

The toll includes 12 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 95,921 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7.

Israeli firefighting teams are reportedly trying to put out multiple blazes which broke out in the border town of Qiryat Shemona after it was hit by dozens of Hezbollah missiles Tuesday.

#BREAKING #NEWS #HEZBOLLAH

OCCUPATION media:

Fire breaks out in Kiryat Shmona following the latest shelling from Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/bf7HYVa63U

— El'Gido (@Elg1do) September 24, 2024

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq militia grouping has claimed it carried out an attack with Al-Arfad drones on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. 

The Iran-backed militia said in a Telegram statement this morning that the attack comes "in support of our people in Palestine and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly".

The group also posted a video purportedly showing the launch of the drones used in the attack.

مشاهد من اطلاق المقاومة الاسلامية في العراق طائرات مسيرة "أرفد" باتجاه هدفاً في الجولان المحتل.#هلا_بأولاد_علي pic.twitter.com/4VwUHoSedZ

— علياء الرافضية 🇵🇸🇮🇷 (@Shensawee) September 24, 2024

Some hospitals are "overwhelmed" by thousands wounded in Israeli airstrikes: WHO official in Lebanon

At least 35 children have been killed so far in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, more missing under the rubble: UNICEF official

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that its ally Hezbollah "cannot stand alone" against Israel, which killed nearly 500 people in Lebanon the previous day in its deadliest bombardment since 2006.

"Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, by European countries and the United States," Pezeshkian said in an interview with CNN translated from Farsi to English.

Lebanese caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati’s office said he would fly to New York, where the United Nations General Assembly is taking place, "for further contacts" following the escalated wave of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Monday.

The Lebanese health ministry says 500 people have been killed and 1,650 injured in Israel's airstrikes since Monday.

Hamas has condemned the recent Israeli  "wide-scale and brutal aggression" against Lebanon.

"It is a war crime, which reflects the Nazi nature of the Zionist enemy and the predicament in which Netanyahu finds himself due to his failed policies and his refusal to halt the genocide in Gaza," Hamas said in a Telegram statement late on Monday.

The group called on the International Criminal Court to take the necessary measures to prosecute and arrest the Israeli leaders as "war criminals".

"We hold the US administration fully responsible for the ongoing massacres committed by the Zionist occupation and its Nazi government in Palestine and Lebanon, as this aggression would not have occurred without the full US support and cover," the group added.

A number of towns in northern Israel were targeted by Hezbollah missiles Tuesday morning in response to the deadly Israeli air campaign in Lebanon.

🇮🇱🇱🇧🚨#BREAKING: HEZBOLLAH LAUNCHES ATTACKS ON SEVERAL ISRAELI CITIES

Rockets have struck several areas in Israel, including direct hits in Kiryat Tivon, southeast of Haifa, Haifa, Tiberias, and Safed.

Fires broke out in Ein Zeitim following rocket attacks, while sirens sounded… pic.twitter.com/QcXmJmKBLL

— Raw Talk (@TalkNewz) September 23, 2024

Hezbollah said it launched dozens of missiles Tuesday morning on the northern Israeli town of Qiryat Shemona, located near the Lebanese border.

Air-raid sirens heard right now in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shemona, northern occupied Palestine, following a new wave of rockets from Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/bt89bjKPUG

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 24, 2024

Israel conducted a fresh wave of airstrikes Tuesday morning on villages in the Baalbek district in the northern Beqaa governorate, in east Lebanon.

Beirut's international airport says 30 flights have been cancelled to and from the airport due to the security situation.

Palestinian officials say Israel’s strikes early Tuesday killed at least seven people in the Gaza Strip's southern city of Khan Younis. At least 15 others, including women and children, were injured in the strikes, they said.

The civil defense said the dead include five people who were killed in a strike on the Abu Harb family house in the Qizan al-Najjar area. The strike also wounded at least 10 others, it said.

Another strike hit a house in the Tahlia area in Khan Younis, killing at least two people and wounding five others, according to the rescue service. The casualties from both strikes were confirmed in hospital records in Khan Younis.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he termed "indiscriminate attacks against civilians", Beijing's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Meeting his Lebanese counterpart in New York, Wang said: "We pay close attention to developments in the region, especially the recent explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon, and firmly oppose indiscriminate attacks against civilians."

Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China "strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations".

"No matter how the situation changes, we will always stand on the side of justice, on the side of our Arab brothers, including Lebanon," Wang told Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.

"Armed force does not represent truth, and might only undermines peace," Wang said.

"Countering violence with violence will not solve the problems in the Middle East and will only lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster," he added.

China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew.

The Israeli military said more than 50 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Tuesday morning, as it pounded south and east Lebanon with new strikes.

Between 9:36 am (0636 GMT) and 09:44 am, more than 50 projectiles crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, the military said. "The majority of the projectiles were intercepted," it said in a statement.

Turkey slammed Israel's recent attacks on Lebanon as "efforts to drag the region into chaos" on Monday, calling for international measures against them and a halt to support for Israel.

In a statement late on Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said countries that "unconditionally support Israel" were helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "shed blood for his political interests".

"It is imperative that all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security, especially the United Nations Security Council, as well as the international community, take the necessary measures without delay," it said.

The escalation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah is almost a full-fledged war, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday.

"This situation is extremely dangerous and worrying. I can say that we are almost in a full-fledged war," Josep Borrell told reporters.

"If this is not a war situation, I don't know what you would call it," he said, citing the increasing number of civilian casualties and the intensity of military strikes.

Borrell said efforts to reduce tensions were ongoing, but Europe's worst fears about a spillover were becoming a reality.

He said civilians were paying a high price and all diplomatic efforts were needed to prevent a full-blown war.

"Here in New York is the moment to do that. Everybody has to put all their capacity to stop this path to war," he said.

France on Monday requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss Lebanon after Israel launched a major cross-border attack following nearly a year of clashes with Hezbollah.

"I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, calling on all sides to "avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone," especially civilians.

The United States is presenting "concrete" ideas to ease the crisis in Lebanon, a US official said Monday, while voicing opposition to any Israeli ground invasion to target Hezbollah.

"We've got some concrete ideas we're going to be discussing with allies and partners this week to try to figure out the way forward on this," the senior US official said as world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States wanted to find an "off-ramp that will first and foremost prevent further escalation in the fighting."

He voiced hope that the US proposals would "reduce tensions and will segue into a diplomatic process that allows communities on both sides of the border - on both sides of the Blue Line - to safely return home in the near future."

The official declined to describe the concrete ideas in detail but said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials would be discussing them during his meetings at the General Assembly.

The official renewed opposition by the United States to a ground invasion by Israel, which has allegedly been pounding sites in Lebanon associated with the Shia movement Hezbollah.

"I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously," he said.

"We obviously do not believe that a ground invasion of Lebanon is going to contribute to reducing tensions in the region, to preventing an escalatory spiral of violence, and that's in part why we are so focused on utilizing this week to explore these ideas and see if we can develop this off-ramp," he said.

Hamas' armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said that its field commander in southern Lebanon, Mahmoud al Nader, was killed in an Israeli air strike on south Lebanon on Monday.

At least 492 were killed and 1,645 wounded in Israeli air strikes on Lebanon since Monday morning, the Lebanese health ministry said, adding that 35 children and 58 women were among those killed.

The toll is expected to climb with continued Israeli attacks.

Lebanon's MTV channel reported last night that the ministry's figures were from three hours earlier, citing information that the toll had risen further.