Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza, killing dozens in dawn raids

An Israeli reserve soldier has died following wounds he suffered during Israel's invasion of south Lebanon two weeks ago, according to the Israeli military. In the same incident five other soldiers were killed and a dozen wounded.

Lebanon state media said the Israeli army on Friday detonated explosives planted inside houses in three border villages in south Lebanon.

"Since this morning, the Israeli enemy's army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area, with the aim of destroying residential homes there," the official National News Agency said, the latest in a string of similar incidents that have impacted the flashpoint border area.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he hoped US President-elect Donald Trump will tell Israel to "stop" its war efforts, suggesting a good start would be halting US arms support to Israel.

"Trump has made promises to end conflicts... We want that promise to be fulfilled and for Israel to be told to 'stop'," Erdogan told reporters on a return flight from Budapest, according to an official readout.

"Mr. Trump cutting off the arms support provided to Israel could be a good start in order to stop the Israeli aggression in Palestinian and Lebanese lands," he was cited as saying.

Turkey has fiercely criticised Israel's offensives in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and in Lebanon, and has halted trade with Israel as well as applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court. Israel strongly denies the genocide accusations.

Trump's presidency will seriously affect political and military balances in the Middle East region, Erdogan said, adding that pursuing current US policies would deepen deadlock in the region and spread the conflict.

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned against launching an "instinctive" response to Israeli air strikes on the Islamic republic last month.

"Israel aims to bring the conflict to Iran. We must act wisely to avoid its trap and not react instinctively," the adviser, Ali Larijani, told state television late Thursday.

"Our actions and reactions are strategically defined, so we must avoid instinctive or emotional responses and remain entirely rational," Larijani added.

The former parliament speaker also praised Nasrallah for accepting a ceasefire during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war rather than making an "emotional decision".

On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a potential ceasefire between Tehran's allies and Israel could affect Iran's response to the Israeli strikes from the 26 October.

Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump, will not return to the White House, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Kushner could advise on Middle East policy, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

(Reuters)

Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it targeted the "Stella Maris" naval base northwest of Haifa with a missile barrage, "in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy."

The group had on Thursday claimed another attack on the same area.

In a separate statement, the group claimed that it had also targeted the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, with missiles.

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70 percent of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

The UN count covers the first seven months of the Israel's war on the Gaza Strip that began more than a year ago.

The 8,119 victims verified by the UN Rights Office in that seven-month period is considerably lower than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the full 13 months of conflict.

But the UN breakdown of the victims' age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality," the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

"It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

Israel did not immediately comment on the report's findings.