Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

Egypt's foreign minister has condemned Israel's "serious escalation" in Lebanon, following the military's announcement that it had launched a ground incursion into the country - claims that were denied by Hezbollah.

Badr Abdelaty said in a statement that the move could produce "dire insecurity and humanitarian consequences" in the region. He added that Egypt would reject a new status quo that violates Lebanon's sovereignty.

At least 19 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, including five women and three children, AP news agency is reporting citing Palestinian medical officials.

According to AP, the bodies of 11 people arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital after a strike targeting Nuseirat refugee camp.

The agency also reported that eight were killed in a strike targeting a vehicle in a tent camp near Khan Younis.

Wafa news agency reported earlier that 11 people were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a tent sheltering displaced people west of Khan Younis. 

Another three Palestinians were killed in another attack on a car west of Khan Younis, according to Wafa.

Israeli strikes targeting Damascus have killed three people and injured nine others, Syria's Defence Ministry has reported.

The ministry added that air defences intercepted most of the missiles. Among those killed was a television news anchor, Safaa Ahmad.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis to heed safety instructions from the home front command amid US warnings that Iran is preparing to launch an attack on Israel.

A new air strike has hit Beirut's southern suburbs, Reuters is reporting citing a witness.

This comes as the Israeli army claimed a "precise strike" in the capital.

The White House has said that it has indications that Iran is preparing to launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel.

A White House spokesperson said that the US is supporting preparations to defend Israel against such an attack, and warned that the strike would carry severe consequences for Iran.

Reporting by Reuters

A rocket fired from Lebanon has struck an industrial area in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi, Haaretz is reporting citing the local council.

Casualties and damage resulting from the attack are currently not known.

The Israeli army has said it is calling up four additional reserve brigades for operational missions on the northern border with Lebanon.

“This will enable the continuation of operational activity against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and the achievement of operational goals, including the safe return of residents of northern Israel to their homes,” the military said in a statement.

Reporting by Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged Ankara's support for Lebanon amid the ongoing Israeli attacks.

"We will never leave our Lebanese brothers on their own in these difficult days and will support them with all our means," Erdogan said in a speech at the reopening of the Turkish parliament following its summer recess.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said that the military has conducted dozens of raids in southern Lebanon since its war on Gaza began in October.

Hagari claimed that the raids had uncovered Hezbollah tunnels and weapon caches under homes, as well as invasion plans.

He added that during these raids, "the military forces gathered valuable intelligence and thoroughly destroyed and neutralized weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced weapons produced in Iran".

The Israeli army ordered tens of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes and head 60km away from the border region on Tuesday, hours after launching what it said was a ground invasion.

The Israeli military's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, wrote on the social media platform X that the inhabitants of 26 towns had to immediately leave their homes and head north of the Awali River for their "own safety."

"[The Israeli army] does not want to harm you, and for your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately," Adraee said.

"Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, installations and combat equipment is putting his life in danger. Any home used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted," he added.

Read more: Israel orders tens of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes and head 60km north

The Israeli army has said that 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel in the last few hours.

Around 15 targeted the Upper Galillee region, and another 15 at the Western Galillee.

According to an Israeli military statement, all the rockets landed in open areas, and no casualties were reported.

Around 600 people have fled from the Christian town of Ain Ebl and sought refuge in a monastery near the Israeli-Lebanese border following Israeli evacuation orders, Reuters is reporting citing local sources.

Ain Ebl and at least 20 other villlages were instructed to evacuate their homes immediately by an Israeli military spoksperson.

The residents told Reuters that they had fled to the monastery in the town of Rmeish and are awaiting an army convoy to escort them to Beirut.

Reporting by Reuters

Eleven Palestinians, including a woman and a child, have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting a tent sheltering displaced people west of Khan Younis city, Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to the agency, the Zenoun family were sheltering in the tent. The 11 fatalities were transferred to Nasser Hospital.

Separately, three other Palestinians were killed in another attack on a car west of Khan Younis.

It is no longer possible to keep track of the murderous meanderings of Israel in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and now Lebanon, or its hit-and-runs in Syria, Iran, Yemen and God only knows where else. 

The garrison state increasingly looks like one of the militarised Transformers in sci-fi action films, with deadly weapons sticking out of each limb. Before the world had a full grasp of its still-unfolding genocide in Gaza, it began yet another slaughter in Lebanon. 

On behalf of its US and European benefactors and beneficiaries, the Israeli settler colony projects spectacular but vacuous power - and the world is left struggling to make sense of this campaign of terror.

Take, for example, the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who chaired the political bureau of Hamas, in Tehran this past July. This extrajudicial killing was among a series of subversive attacks carried out in recent years by Israel and the US against Iranians and other “enemies”. 

In 2020, the Trump administration ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, using methods perfected during the Obama presidency. Later that year, Israel killed top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. 

The US and Israel are in an obvious military and intelligence alliance that aims to promote the colonial and imperial interests of both parties in hostile territory, as the native inhabitants, including Palestinians, resist their barefaced barbarism.

Soon after the assassination of Haniyeh, Iran vowed to retaliate, as the US swiftly announced that it would defend Israel - as if that were not the status quo - and deployed more military hardware to the region.

During its more recent war on Lebanon in late September, Israel also killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general and a number of senior commanders.

As a result, Iran is now in the spotlight as to what, if anything, it is willing to do to show the world it is anything but an opportunist benefactor and beneficiary of other nations’ resistance efforts.

Read more: Why hasn't Iran retaliated against Israel? by Hamid Dabashi