Israel-Hamas war latest: Israel threatens ground operation after long-range Hezbollah missile attack

The Israeli military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, the Israeli army chief said Wednesday as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel, including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. It was the group’s farthest strike yet. Israel said it intercepted the projectile, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Addressing troops on the northern border, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the latest airstrikes were designed to ”prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”

It was not clear whether Halevi was referring to a ground operation, airstrikes or some other form of retaliation against Hezbollah, which is Lebanon’s strongest political force and, with backing from Iran, is widely considered the top paramilitary group in the Arab world.

The Israeli military has said in recent days it had no immediate plans for a ground invasion. Halevi’s comments were the strongest yet suggesting troops could move in.

With hostilities intensifying, the Israeli military said Wednesday it would activate two reserve brigades for missions in the north — another sign that Israel plans tougher action.

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign.

The Lebanese health minister said Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed more than 72 people. That raised the death toll from the past three days to 636, with more than 2,000 people wounded, prompting thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Also on Wednesday, a drone hit the port of the southern Israeli city of Eilat an Iran-backed militia in Iraq claimed responsibility.

___

Here’s the latest:

French citizen living near Lebanon's coastal city Tyre is killed in building collapse after powerful explosion

BEIRUT — The French embassy in Lebanon said in a statement that an 87-year-old French citizen living near the coastal city of Tyre was killed on Monday after the building in which he was living collapsed following a “powerful explosion” nearby.

More than 600 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past three days, the highest death toll since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The statement said no other French citizens were known to have been killed.

Lebanese official says aim of talks is to reach a deal that begins with a 4-week cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah

A Lebanese official said that there are serious efforts, led by the United States, to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The official, who has knowledge of the negotiations and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the press on the matter, said the aim of negotiations is to reach a temporary four-week cease-fire.

Talks are ongoing in New York where Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati is attending the UN General Assembly.

A new deal will be based on implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, he said.

Local media have reported that if reached, the deal will begin with a four-week cease-fire during which there will be talks for on further issues including land border demarcation, boosting Lebanese army presences along the border area.

By BASSEM MROUE

President of France urges both Israel and Hezbollah to cease launching missiles

UNITED NATIONS — President Emmanuel Macron told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that, “Hezbollah for too long has been running an untenable risk of dragging Lebanon into a war,” and that “Israel cannot, without consequence, just expand its operations to Lebanon.”

“France demands that everyone respect their obligations along the Blue Line,” he said. “We will therefore act to ensure a diplomatic voice can be heard."

“There cannot be a war in Lebanon. This is why we urge Israel to cease this escalation in Lebanon, and to Hezbollah to cease missile launches to Israel,” he added. “We urge all of those who provide them with the means to do so, to stop doing so.”

Umbrella group for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias claims the attack on the port of Israel's southern city Eilat

BAGHDAD — A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, claimed the attack on the port of Israel’s southern city of Eilat. The group has frequently claimed launching strikes on Israel.

Israel’s rescue services said two people suffered light injuries. The attack caused minimal damage.

Israeli military says a drone hit the port of the southern Israeli city of Eilat, causing minimal damage

JERUSALEM — A drone hit the port of the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, and a second one was intercepted by the Israeli Navy, the Israeli military said.

Israel’s rescue services said two people suffered light injuries.

Footage aired on Israeli media showed a plume of smoke in the area of the port and at least one damaged building.

The army said the drones were identified “approaching from the East.”

U.S. is floating a proposal for a temporary Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, officials say

The Biden administration has been floating a proposal for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to calm the escalating conflict that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other U.S. officials have spent the past three days at and on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders in New York lobbying other countries to support the plan, which they hope could lead to longer-term stability along the border, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.

However, they said the specifics of the proposal were not yet complete.

One official said Israel is supportive of U.S. efforts to deescalate the situation.

ON THE SCENE: Lebanese who were injured in bombings describe the attacks

BAALBEK, Lebanon — At Dar Al Amal hospital in the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, Soumaya Moussawi was lying in bed with her head bandaged and face bruised Wednesday.

She had been sitting outside with family members when warplanes started striking in the distance, she said.

“Then suddenly it hit next to us - we were all thrown in different directions,” she said. “My two cousins and my father were killed, and my other cousin is in a dangerous condition.”

Moussawi insisted that there was no military site near them. She said she is trying to “remain strong” in her father’s memory.

Ali Moussawi, a farmer from the town of Nabi Chit who is not related to Soumaya, said “it was a normal day and we were working on our land” when a strike hit a house next to it. A missile fragment hit him in the stomach.

“Thank God it wasn’t too bad this time,” he said. “All the guys who were killed, we’re no better than them.”

Blinken and GCC foreign ministers urge diplomatic process in Lebanon to avoid full-blown war

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting with GCC foreign ministers at the United Nations General Assembly said that “With regard to Lebanon, we’ve been working tirelessly with partners to avoid a full-blown war and to move to a diplomatic process that would allow Israelis and Lebanese alike to go back to their homes.”

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the same meeting said: “I believe it’s getting more and more dangerous and worrying, and we believe that all of us, we have a responsibility to stop this, and just to stand up and to step up and to say enough is enough, and we need to find a solution.

GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi at the same meeting said that the council is calling on the international community to take urgent measures to halt provocative actions by Israel in Lebanon territory, and to work towards lasting stability in the region.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council reaffirms its steadfast position in supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and stability. The council also expresses deep concern regarding the recent Israeli violations in Lebanon territory, which poses serious threat of escalating the region," he said.

Netanyahu says Israel will continue ‘inflicting blows on Hezbollah’ until displaced Israelis can return to their homes

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue “inflicting blows on Hezbollah” until displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes.

In a video statement released by his office on Wednesday, Netanyahu said “I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing: we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes.”

He added, “we will not rest until they come home.”

Earlier on Wednesday the Israeli army’s Chief of Staff said the military was preparing for the possibility of a ground offensive in Lebanon, after days of extensive Israeli strikes on the country.

Biden says all-out war is still possible as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “all-out war” is still possible as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, but he’s hopeful an off-ramp can be found to prevent further bloodshed.

Biden spoke during an interview on ABC’s “The View.” His comments come after days of back and forth between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon that have killed hundreds and rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.

Blinken urges Israel and Hezbollah to step back from conflict

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging both Israel and Hezbollah to step back from their intensifying conflict, saying that an all-out war would be disastrous for the region and its people.

In New York for the annual UN General Assembly, Blinken said Wednesday the U.S. was working on a plan to de-escalate tensions and allow tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to return to homes they have had to evacuate in border areas.

“The best way to get that is not through war, not through escalation,” he said in an interview with CBS news. “It would be through a diplomatic agreement that has forces pulled back from the border, create a secure environment, people return home.”

U.S. officials say they are floating a number of ideas to calm the situation but they have not been specific. Some of those ideas may be discussed at a special UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon that France called for later Wednesday.

“What we’re focused on now, including with many partners here in New York at the UN General Assembly, the Arab world, Europeans and others, is a plan to de-escalate,” Blinken said. “If there were to be a full-scale war — which we don’t have and which we’re working to avoid — that’s actually not going to solve the problem.”

IDF says troops preparing for possible ground operation in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Force’s chief of staff says the military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon.

Addressing troops on Israel’s northern border, the IDF Chief of Staff, LT. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said: “You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day. This is both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”

He added: “Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves.”

Halevi said that to achieve the goal of returning displaced citizens of northern Israel to their homes, “we are preparing the process of a maneuver.”

Lebanon says 51 killed and 223 injured in Israeli strikes on Wednesday

Lebanon’s health minister says 51 people were killed and 223 injured in Israeli strikes Wednesday.

The death toll comes on top of 564 who were killed and more than 1,800 injured in the previous two days, including around 150 women and children.

This week has been the deadliest in Lebanon since the bruising monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. In the current conflict, Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah fighters and weapons storage, while Lebanese officials say it has targeted civilian sites.

Human Rights Watch calls for UN probe into strikes in Lebanon and Israel

Human Rights Watch says Israel’s ongoing aerial bombardment in Lebanon has put civilians “across the country at grave risk,” and called for a United Nations investigation into strikes in Lebanon and rocket fire by Hezbollah militants into northern Israel.

The global rights group documented over a thousand Israeli strikes across Lebanon since the Israeli military announced a new phase in its conflict with Hezbollah, which has launched over 200 rockets into northern Israeli towns.

The organization added that Israel’s warnings for thousands of civilians in Lebanon to evacuate from southern and eastern towns with only two hours’ notice did not give them adequate time to flee and could amount to violations of international law.

Israel says it struck 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says its air force has struck some 280 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon so far on Wednesday.

It said the targets included launchers used to fire rockets on the northern Israeli cities of Safed and Nahariya.

Also among the targets were Hezbollah militants, buildings used to store weapons, and ready-to-use launchers, as well as some 60 targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence unit, the army said.

The military says its strikes in Lebanon are continuing.

UN: Over 90,000 displaced by Israeli strikes on Lebanon

The U.N. says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that a total of 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel nearly a year ago, drawing Israeli retaliation.

UN calls for a unified Gaza-West Bank administration

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The United Nations have called for the Palestinian Authority to have a postwar role in Gaza and for it to be united with the West Bank.

The appeal came in a postwar recovery strategy released Wednesday that provided few details on how the war-ravaged territory would be governed or rebuilt.

It said Gaza and the West Bank should be “unified politically, economically and administratively.” It said there should be no lasting Israeli military presence in the territory but that “Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be addressed.”

The nearly yearlong war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, is still raging with no end in sight.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

He has suggested that postwar Gaza be governed by local Palestinians with no ties to Hamas or the PA, with Israel maintaining lasting security control.

The World Bank in January estimated that the war has caused some $18.5 billion in damage in Gaza, and that was before several months of large-scale Israeli military operations and bombardment.

Gulf Arab countries have said they will only contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction and postwar governance as part of a plan for an eventual Palestinian state.

Israeli military activates reserve troops as conflict with Hezbollah escalates

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is activating reserve troops in response to rising tensions with the Hezbollah militant group.

The announcement Wednesday indicates that Israel is planning even tougher action against the Lebanese group. It comes hours after Hezbollah fired a missile toward Tel Aviv for the first time.

The army said it was calling up “two reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena.”

“This will enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” it said.

2 wounded by rocket fire in northern Israel

First responders say two people were wounded by a rocket fired into northern Israel from Lebanon.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said a 32-year-old man was seriously wounded and a 52-year-old was moderately wounded by shrapnel in the agricultural village of Kibbutz Saar.

Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday as Israel carried out heavy strikes against the militant group in Lebanon.

Pregnant woman and her 4 children killed in Gaza, officials say

An Israeli airstrike in central Gaza has killed a pregnant woman and her four children, Palestinian medical officials say.

The strike on Wednesday hit a house in the urban Bureij refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.

An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies. Hospital records showed that the 35-year-old woman was 6 months pregnant. Her four children were aged between 8 and 18.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of putting them in danger by operating in crowded residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza adds 28 people to the war's death toll, bringing the total to nearly 41,500

CAIRO — The bodies of 28 people killed in Israeli airstrikes were brought to local hospitals over the past day and another 85 people were wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.

A total of 41,495 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago, according to the ministry, which says another 96,006 have been wounded.

The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. It says women and children make up slightly more than half of those killed.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages. Around 100 captives are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Pope Francis asks the international community to help stop escalating tensions in Lebanon

Pope Francis called for a stop to escalating tensions in Lebanon, calling it “unacceptable.”

“I am saddened by the news coming from Lebanon, where intense bombing in recent days has caused much death and destruction," the pope said Wednesday during a regular audience at the Vatican. “I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. It is unacceptable. I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past."

Hezbollah launches dozens of rockets into northern Israel

JERUSALEM — Hezbollah has launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel following days of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon.

The Israeli military said that at one point on Wednesday, more than 40 projectiles were launched simultaneously, though most were intercepted.

The municipality in the northern city of Safed said a projectile hit a home, causing a fire. There were no injuries as the residents were not there, it said. Safed has been a frequent target for Hezbollah due to military infrastructure in the area.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah fired a missile at Tel Aviv, triggering air raid sirens. The military said it intercepted the projectile, and there were no casualties or damage.

The military said it was launching “extensive strikes” across southern and eastern Lebanon.

An Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday, part of a two-day bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of people and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict.

Israeli warplanes pound southern and eastern Lebanon for a third day

BEIRUT — Israeli strikes Wednesday hit a town near the northern coastal town of Byblos, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

There were no immediate reported casualties, as Israeli warplanes pound southern and eastern Lebanon for a third day in a new phase of their ongoing conflict with the Hezbollah militant group.

A photo circulated by the NNA and local media shows large plumes of smoke between the houses and green fields of the town of Maisara, a stone’s throw away from the Mediterranean Sea.

The renewed strikes come hours after Hezbollah announced it launched a missile toward Tel Aviv, targeting the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency that it blames for a string of assassinations of its top commanders and for the explosion of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to members of the group and its civilian institutions that wounded thousands and killed dozens of people.

As thousands of Lebanese flee the airstrikes from the country’s southern and eastern provinces, NNA said Israel launched three strikes airstrikes over the northeastern city of Hermel, the town of Labweh, and a handful of towns and villages across the country’s southern province.

The Israeli army says it will continue its strikes until it can return the tens of thousands of residents who were displaced from Israel's north, near its border with Lebanon. Israel maintains that Hezbollah is launching rocket attacks in and near civilian areas.

While Lebanon’s north has mostly been spared from the strikes, Israel has launched rare strikes near the northern town of Mayrooba and in the outskirts of Qartaba.

The days of strikes have killed over 560 people, in some of Lebanon’s deadliest days since Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006.

Israel is pushing the Middle East into an all-out war, neighboring countries say

CAIRO — Egypt, Jordan and Iraq say Israel is pushing the Middle East into an all-out war and are calling on the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the three countries’ foreign ministers affirmed that averting a regional war requires the cessation of “the Israeli aggression on Gaza.” The ministers also condemned the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and said that “Israel is pushing the region into an all-out war.”

Egypt and Jordan were the first two Arab countries to make peace with Israel. But relations have been strained since the war began in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Iraq has close ties to Iran, which supports both Hamas and the Lebanese militant group. Hezbollah has traded heavy fire with Israel in recent days.

Thousands seek refuge from fighting around the Lebanon-Israel border

BEIRUT — Thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled from Lebanon across the border to Syria following heavy Israeli bombardment, a United Nations refugee agency official said Wednesday.

Rula Amin, Middle East and North Africa spokesperson for the agency known as UNHCR, said that families were “arriving in buses and cars, but also travelling by foot.”

“Crowds of people — many of whom are women, young children and even infants — continue to await processing for entry,” she said. “Many will have to spend the night outdoors waiting their turn.”

Amin said that UNHCR teams, along with the Syrian Red Crescent, were providing water, mattresses, blankets and food. She noted that the team has “also seen people, including children, bearing injuries suffered from the recent attacks on Lebanon.”

Some 775,000 Syrians are registered with the U.N. Refugee Agency in Lebanon, and hundreds of thousands more are believed to be unregistered in the country.

A wave of Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday killed more than 560 people in Lebanon, including around 150 women and children. It was the highest death toll in nearly a year of clashes between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the deadliest Lebanon has seen since a bruising monthlong war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.

A central Gaza hospital receives 3 more bodies from an Israeli strike

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A hospital in the central Gaza Strip said Wednesday it received the bodies of three people who were killed in an Israeli strike the previous day.

The Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp said the strike late Tuesday hit a civilian vehicle northeast of the camp, and three bodies were recovered Wednesday morning.

The death toll from Tuesday’s strike on a house in the Nuseirat camp reached 11 after the body of a woman arrived at the hospital early Wednesday, the facility said. The dead included at least four children, according to the hospital records. The house strikes also wounded 11 people, the hospital said.

Israel intercepts Hezbollah’s farthest strike in 11 months of exchanges

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military intercepted a missile launched from Lebanon into central Israel on Wednesday morning in the latest escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel Rescue Services said there were no injuries or damage reported from the missile, which triggered sirens in Tel Aviv and Netanya, two large cities in central Israel. It was Hezbollah's farthest strike yet in nearly a year of exchanges.

Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it said was responsible for the targeted killing of its senior leaders. Israel said it struck the site the missile was launched from in southern Lebanon.

Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have steadily escalated over the past 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group.

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict. Hezbollah has launched hundreds of projectiles towards Israel, causing some damage to buildings and homes and lightly injuring a number of people.

Britain sends troops to prepare for possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon

LONDON — Britain will send 700 troops to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus as it prepares for the possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon.

Cyprus is located across a strip of water from Lebanon, and Beirut harbor has been used before to evacuate foreign nationals by sea from Lebanon. During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, tens of thousands of foreigners were evacuated by sea to Cyprus in a fleet of commercial and military vessels, many supplied by American, British, European and other naval forces.

The British troops and members of the Border Force were to arrive Wednesday, even as the government made repeated appeals for its nationals to immediately evacuate Lebanon. Britain retains sovereign military base areas in Cyprus, which are considered its territory.

“We continue to urge all sides to step back from conflict to prevent further tragic loss of life. Our government is ensuring all preparations are in place to support British Nationals should the situation deteriorate,” said British Defense Secretary John Healey.

“The Royal Air Force also have aircraft and transport helicopters on standby to provide support if necessary,” Healy said.