Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

Ehud Olmert, who was Israel's prime minister from 2006 to 2009, has admitted that Israel was responsible for the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the former  head of Hezbollah's military wing.

Mughniyeh was assassinated in Damascus in February 2008.

"We didn't discuss this before, but I think it's time to talk about it now," Olmert told Israel's Channel 13 News.

"Sixteen years ago, we eliminated the mastermind who built this entire army, Imad Mughniyeh."

A projectile fired from Lebanon has crashed in the area of Mitzpe Hagit in the occupied West Bank and caused fires, according to the Israeli military.

The Israeli ambulance service said there were no casualties, according to Al Jazeera.

The military said: "“The fallen projectile was identified in the area of Mitzpe Hagit.

"Israeli Fire and Rescue services are currently operating to extinguish fires caused by the fallen projectile in the area."

Turkey's foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has said Turkey believes Israel will continue its attacks in Lebanon and will spread its war on Gaza to the wider region. 

Speaking to Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber, he added that the "helplessness" of the United States and other Western countries is allowing Israel's campaign to continue.

Fidan also said Nasrallah will be hard to replace.

France's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, has called for an end to Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.

In a statement issued following a call with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Barrot also called on Hezbollah and Iran not to take action that could escalate the situation.

A US diplomat in the region briefed by Israeli officials has told Middle East Eye that Israel is "on the verge of launching a ground invasion of Lebanon."

"They are saying that a ground invasion is necessary not just to return Israelis to the north, but to stop Tel Aviv from being struck," the diplomat added.

Meanwhile Frank Lowenstein, a former special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the Obama administration, told MEE that the Biden administration probably hopes that Israel's bombing on Hezbollah will get the group to delink itself from Hamas in Gaza.

"When it became clear that there was not going to be a ceasefire in Gaza or Lebanon, the best the Biden administration could hope for was for Israel to destroy as much of Hezbollah’s military capability as possible from air," Lowenstein said.

Read more: Nasrallah killing risks dragging the US into a war it says it tried to avert

A recorded radio message shows Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar commending the pilots responsible for Friday's strike on Beirut which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 

"You have brought her a display of strength and victory," Bar is heard saying.

"We really hope we have mutilated here this terrorist organisation."

Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar commended the pilots responsible for Friday’s strike on Beirut, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a recorded radio message delivered at the moment of the strike. pic.twitter.com/qNxG8xp7aJ

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 28, 2024

Yemen's Houthis have said they have fired a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

They said it was aimed to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's return to Israel from the United Nations General Assembly in New York. 

The Israeli military said the missile has been intercepted, according to Reuters. 

The Houthis had fired another missile at Israel on Friday, which was also intercepted. 

The leader of Yemen's Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has said in a televised speech that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's death "will not be in vain".

"These great sacrifices and great injustices will not be wasted," he added, saying his fighters are "improving performance".

The Houthis said on Friday they would continue to attack Israel until its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza stop. 

Najib Mikati, Lebanon's interim prime minister, has condemned Israel's air strikes on the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of Beirut on Friday. 

In a televised statement, he urged the Lebanese people to "stand united in the face of aggression", and announced that state-run institutions will be closed on Monday.

An atmosphere of shock and extreme grief hit central Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square on Saturday as people learnt of Nasrallah’s death, Middle East Eye's Nader Durgham reports. 

As the news spread, a man started screaming at the top of his lungs and stomping the ground in Martyr's Square, while, a few metres away, a woman could be heard wailing and crying in front of the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque.

Most of those in the square were there after fleeing Israel’s relentless bombing of the capital's southern suburbs, commonly known as Dahiyeh.

Read more: Shock and grief as Beirut’s displaced receive news of Nasrallah’s death

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has declared five days of public mourning for slain Hezbollah chief Nasrallah. 

"I … offer my condolences for the martyrdom of the great Nasrallah and his martyred companions and announce five days of public mourning in Islamic Iran," Khamenei said in a statement.

Former Lebanese President Michel Aoun has issued a statement mourning Hezbollah leader Nasrallah's death.

Aoun, a Christian, was an army commander between 1948 and 1988, and then served as president between 2016 and 2022. 

He said that "Lebanon loses a distinguished and sincere leader who led the national resistance on the paths of victory and liberation".

He added: "While I personally lose an honorable friend with whom I had several encounters for the benefit of Lebanon and its people, I see that the dangers our country is witnessing as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression require us to rise to the highest level of national solidarity that protects and fortifies our unity, because in it lies true salvation.

"May God grant the great martyr a spacious place in His paradise, and condolences to his family, to the resistance, to all who loved him, and to all of Lebanon."

US President Joe Biden has called Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Nasrullah a "measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."

He said: "The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas's massacre on October 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a 'northern front' against Israel."

Biden added that the US "fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups."

"Just yesterday, I directed my Secretary of Defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war."

Russia has issued a statement saying Israel's actions in Lebanon will "almost inevitably provoke a new outburst of violence.

"Thus, it bears full responsibility for the subsequent escalation."

The Russian foreign ministry condemned Nasrallah's killing, calling it "yet another political assassination" by Israel" and warning the act was "fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East".

"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is gravely concerned by the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut over the past 24 hours. This cycle of violence must end now, and all parties must move back from the brink. The Lebanese people, the Israeli people, and the entire region cannot afford all-out war,” said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesperson.

“Antonio Guterres urges the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and to immediately return to a cessation of hostilities. He also reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held there," he added.