The Israeli military has said it is carrying out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Tyre in southern Lebanon, after ordering the evacuation of the entire city. The military told residents that it was compelled to act forcefully in Tyre because the Iran-backed armed group was violating a US-brokered ceasefire that began five weeks ago. Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanese media reported a wave of Israeli strikes across the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley, with four people killed in the towns of Choukine and Nabatieh. Hezbollah, which has itself accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire, said it was battling Israeli troops north of the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) from the border. It came a day after Israel's prime minister announced an expansion of its ground operation following Hezbollah drone attacks on troops occupying part of southern Lebanon and on civilians in northern Israel.

Israel has launched an intensive wave of strikes across swathes of southern and eastern Lebanon, after vowing to step up its military action against Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and fighters during what was one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since a US-brokered ceasefire began in mid-April. Strikes in the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara killed 11 people, including two children, Lebanon's health ministry said. The military said it hit sites where terrorist activity was identified. It came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given the instruction to press the pedal even harder in targeting Hezbollah.

The Israeli military says it has begun a wave of strikes across Lebanon following an announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his country will intensify its attacks on Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had launched strikes against Hezbollah sites in the Bekaa Valley in the east of Lebanon and additional areas across the country. It followed a video statement on Monday evening in which Netanyahu said Israel was at war with Hezbollah and that he had given the military instructions to deal them a crushing blow. Earlier this month Lebanon and Israel agreed to extend a 45-day ceasefire, though some fighting has continued. There will be fears in Beirut that these latest Israeli attacks will widen to include Lebanon's capital city.

'U.S. sanctions equate us with drug traffickers,' ICC deputy prosecutor says The Hague - The deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday lashed out at U.S. sanctions, arguing they effectively put top court officials on a par with terrorists and drug traffickers. In a wide-ranging interview, Mame Mandiaye Niang also said it would be conceivable to hold an in-absentia hearing against high-level ICC targets such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sixty-five-year-old Niang, along with top ICC judges, is subject to sanctions from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, in retaliation at the court's arrest warrants for Netanyahu over Israel's campaign in Gaza. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories.

Prime Minister Netanyahu calls on other Middle Eastern nations to join Israel's fight against Hamas after the U.N. Security Council adopted President Donald Trump's peace plan.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution backing Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. The text, submitted by the US, would give a mandate for the deployment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and to set up transitional governance there. The US says multiple unnamed countries have offered to contribute to the ISF, though it is unclear whether it would be required to ensure Hamas disarms or function as a peacekeeping force. Its formation is a central plank of Trump's 20-point plan which last month brought a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in their two-year war. The draft also raises the possibility of a Palestinian state - something Israel strongly opposes.

Why did Israel launch air strikes on Gaza? Will the US plan for Gaza fail? 'We survived the war, we may not survive the ceasefire' Spinning genocide: How is Israel using US PR firms to frame its Gaza war? Israel has contracted at least three public relations companies to bolster its image online and among the United States' Christian right, filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show. According to US Department of Justice records, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs hired the newly established Bridges Partners, the Christian PR agency Show Faith by Works, and the online consultancy Clock Tower X via the European Havas Media Group. Israel is acutely conscious of the need to control how its war, in which it has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, is perceived by its allies and sponsors in the US .

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. A new report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births. It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as distorted and false. A spokesperson accused the three experts on the commission of serving as Hamas proxies and relying entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others that had already been thoroughly debunked.

The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel's strikes on a residential compound in the Qatari capital Doha, which targeted senior members of Hamas. The statement - which did not directly name Israel - was backed by all 15 Security Council members, including the US, which traditionally blocks actions against its close ally. Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar, read the statement, drafted by the UK and France. Israel defended its decision to mount the attack. Qatar has played a key role in brokering diplomatic efforts to end the Israel-Gaza war, serving as a mediator of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Conservative creators are increasingly focusing on foreign policy. Wearing combat helmets and protective vests, some of the US's most popular right-wing creators toured what they called an aid distribution hub in Gaza late last month--a trip carefully funded by Israel's foreign ministry. By way of the nonprofit Israel365, the Israeli government funneled at least $70,000 to 15 MAGA creators to bring them to Gaza's humanitarian sites, the Western Wall, and the Golan Heights, among other areas. "It sits here to spoil and be stolen," Xaviaer DuRousseau captioned a photo of himself standing in front of what he claimed was food aid on X last month . "How is that Israel's fault?"