Israel has sent more troops into Lebanon after a night of escalation brought the Middle East a step closer to war.
On Tuesday evening, in a move anticipated by officials, nearly 200 missiles were launched from Iran into Israel.
The attack, coming in retaliation for Israel’s campaign of strikes against Hezbollah including the killing of its leader, marks a significant escalation in the region.
Middle East latest: Follow live updates
Most of the missiles were intercepted, Israel said, with US help, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond, labelling the attack a “major mistake”.
The two countries have since traded threats as allies and onlookers, including the UK, called for a step back amid fears of regional war breaking out.
Then on Wednesday, the Israeli military said that infantry and armoured units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon.
It claimed actions there would remain limited and localised but concerns of a ground invasion remain.
However, Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammad Afif said the group was “only in the first round” of fighting following the most recent wave of clashes in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, across Gaza, Israeli attacks claimed at least 60 lives, medics said, according to Reuters, adding that Israeli tanks had advanced in the southern areas of Khan Younis.
In other developments:
• UN general secretary Antonio Guterres has been banned from Israel.
• An Israeli squad commander was killed in Lebanon, the IDF said.
• A Lebanese soldier was injured in an Israeli drone strike, according to the country’s army.
• Iran’s supreme leader has said the West is “the source of war and instability” in the region.
• Three people have been arrested after blasts, likely caused by hand grenades, near the Israeli embassy in Denmark.
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‘I’ve never seen anything like it before’
More Israeli troops in southern Lebanon
Israel said on Tuesday that commando and paratrooper units had crossed their northern border into southern Lebanon.
It subsequently added that special forces units had been carrying out cross-border raids against Hezbollah targets for months.
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But, the recent addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and the 6th Infantry Brigade, suggests that the operation has moved beyond limited commando raids.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed its ground operation is largely aimed at destroying Hezbollah tunnels and infrastructure on the border, with no plans for a wider operation.
Smoke rises from neighbourhoods hit by Israeli airstrikes in Dahieh, Beirut. Pic: AP
People check the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut on Wednesday. Pic: AP
Over the past two weeks, Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon, with almost a quarter of them women and children, according to the country’s health ministry, as over one million people have been displaced.
Most recently, the IDF warned people to evacuate from another 50 villages in southern Lebanon, in a UN-declared buffer zone.
‘At least 60 killed’ in Gaza overnight
Israeli military strikes overnight killed at least 60 Palestinians, medics said, adding that Israeli tanks briefly advanced in the south of the enclave.
Israeli tanks carried out a raid in areas in eastern and central Khan Younis, before partially retreating, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media.
Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
Palestinian boys sit on piles of debris at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli strikes on houses, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis.
Pic: Reuters
The European Hospital in Khan Younis said it received bodies after Israeli strikes in the city, with hospital records showing that seven women and 12 children, one as young as 22 months old, were among those killed.
Dr Saleh al Hams, head of the nursing department at the hospital, said he had seen dozens of dead and wounded people in his facility from around 3am local time.
He warned the number of dead could rise.
Israel carried out a massive offensive earlier this year that left much of Gaza’s second city in ruins.
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Houthis target Israeli military posts
Meanwhile, Houthis have targeted military posts deep inside Israel amid the escalating tensions.
Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the group, said on Wednesday that it had used three winged ‘Quds 5’ rockets.
Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’ – of which the Houthis are an important part
The group said continuous support for Israel from the US and UK would put their own interests “under fire”.
“We will not hesitate in broadening our military operations against the Israeli enemy and who is behind it until the aggression against Gaza and Lebanon ends,” Mr Saree added.
Antonio Guterres banned from Israel
In a move likely to deepen the already wide rift between Israel and the UN, foreign minister Israel Katz declared the UN general secretary Antonio Guterres “persona non grata”, as he banned him from entering the country.
It is not immediately apparent if Mr Katz has the power to do this, but he accused Mr Guterres of having an anti-Israel bias after not referring to Iran in a statement made on Tuesday.
In a speech after the move, Mr Guterres said he “strongly condemns” the Iranian attack on Israel and warned that the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence” in the Middle East “must stop”.
“Time is running out,” he told the organisation’s security council.
Later on Wednesday, the IDF said seven soldiers had been killed in combat, a day after the start of a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
The IDF identified the soldiers as Captain Harel Ettinger, Captain Itai Ariel Giat, Major Noam Barzilai, Major Or Mansour, Major Nezer Itkin, Sergeant Alamkan Tarfa, and Sergeant Ido Breuer.
This came after Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22, a squad commander in the “Egoz” unit, was the first death announced since Israel’s most recent attacks against Hezbollah began.
