Middle East crisis live: US voices ‘deep concern’ after Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli strike

In a statement overnight, Israel’s military claims to have “eliminated approximately 20 terrorists” and to have struck “over 160 Hezbollah terror targets” inside Lebanon in the past day.

On its official Telegram channel, the IDF said:

IDF troops continue their limited, localised, targeted ground raids against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon. Over the past day, the troops eliminated dozens of terrorists and the IAF [Israel’s air force] struck over 160 Hezbollah terror targets, including launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites throughout Lebanon.

In addition, the troops located living quarters belonging to Hezbollah terrorists, as well as dozens of weapons, including AK-47s and shoulder-fired missiles that were located inside a house in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government has stated that over 2,500 people have been killed and more than 12,000 wounded since Israel stepped up its campaign of airstrikes on the country. More than 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been forced to flee in northern Israel after a year-long campaign of near continuous rocket fire from Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces from positions in southern Lebanon.

Hello and welcome to the Guardians continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday that Washington had “deep concerns” about strikes against the Lebanese armed forces while urging Israel to take steps to ensure the safety of the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Pentagon said.

Hours after the call, three Lebanese soldiers were killed, including an officer, in an Israeli strike during the evacuation of wounded people on the outskirts of the village of Yater in southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon also says its troops have come under Israeli attack several times. Israel has disputed accounts of those incidents.

Austin also told Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant that Washington welcomed the movement of humanitarian assistance through the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and urged Israel take steps to address the dire situation there, the Pentagon’s summary of the call said.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news:

• Israeli strikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday night, levelling several buildings and destroying the offices of a Lebanese broadcaster. Lebanese state media reported 17 Israeli raids with six buildings levelled, marking one of the most violent nights in the area since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated a month ago. The country’s health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded. Al-Mayadeen said an Israeli strike targeted an office it had vacated there.

• Hezbollah said it struck a military manufacturing firm in the Tel Aviv suburbs with rockets, claiming the hit was accurate. Around the time of Hezbollah’s claim, air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and neighbouring cities. There was no immediate indication of any defence facility having been hit around Tel Aviv and no casualties reported according to the IDF.

• Israeli forces have killed 2,574 people and wounded 12,001 others since its attacks across Lebanon, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. At least 28 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the last 24 hours, it said.

• Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 42 people on Wednesday as Israeli forces intensified a siege of northern parts of the Palestinian territory. The health ministry said at least 650 people had been killed since the new Israeli offensive began in the north of Gaza. Gaza’s civil emergency service said all its operations in northern Gaza were suspended after Israeli forces detained five staff members and bombed its only fire truck.

• The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said one of its staff members was killed when an Unrwa vehicle was hit in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Gaza’s civil emergency service said three of its rescuers were wounded in northern Gaza in what it said was a “targeted strike” that aimed to force them out of Jabalia.

• Israel carried out airstrikes on Wednesday in Tyre, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, which had become a refuge over the past year for thousands of families displaced by fighting further south. Videos showed large plumes of smoke billowing between residential buildings in the centre of the city.

• The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said planned airstrikes on Iran will make the world understand Israel’s military might. The Middle East has been braced for more than three weeks for a threatened Israeli response to Iran’s 1 October missile attack, which was in turn a reprisal for Israel’s killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Gallant visited aircrews at Hatzerim airbase on Wednesday and made clear that Israel still intended to strike back.

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said his country is tracking “very, very, very carefully” efforts by Israel to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He accused Israel of previously having fallen back on promises of sustained deliveries. Blinken said Israel’s success against Hamas had come at “great cost” to Palestinian civilians.

• The Israel Defense Forces accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of “military affiliation” to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reacted with scepticism, saying that “Israel has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence”.