Israel-Lebanon latest: Intense Israeli strikes on Hezbollah leave 100 dead – including children – Lebanon says

Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza – triggered by a Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on 7 October.

US officials say that is unlikely anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw forces from the border region, adhering to a UN resolution signed with Israel in 2006, irrespective of any Gaza deal.

Anticipating retaliation, the Israeli military restricted gatherings and raised the alert level for residents of northern communities. The alert went as far south as the coastal city of Haifa, signalling Israel thought Hezbollah could strike deeper than it had since the war with Hamas began.

David Lammy is looking at contingency plans to evacuate UK nationals from Lebanon as tensions rise in the Middle East.

The foreign secretary has already urged Brits to leave the country amid the conflict with Israel.

Ministers are keen to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes three years ago when as Britons attempted to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country.

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said he is worried about escalation but that the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah leader brought justice to the group, which Washington designates terrorists.

"While the risk of escalation is real, we actually believe there is also a distinct avenue to getting to a cessation of hostilities and a durable solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel secure," Sullivan told reporters.

This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

First came two days of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah — deadly attacks pinned on Israel that also maimed civilians around Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate, and on Friday the militant group launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel. Later in the day, Israel said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s most elite unit with a strike in Beirut that Lebanese authorities say left at least 37 dead.

Lee Keath reports:

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged intense rounds of rocket fire and airstrikes after the Lebanese militant group was targeted by an attack which caused their communication devices to explode.

In an unprecedented attack, pagers used by the group were simultaneously detonated on Tuesday, sparking widespread panic in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The following day, walkie-talkies were also remotely detonated across the country.

The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.

My colleagues Tom Watling and Andy Gregory report:

Rescue workers in Beirut searched on Saturday for people still missing in rubble after an Israeli airstrike targeting Hezbollah commanders the previous day killed at least 37 people in a suburb of the Lebanese capital, according to authorities.

Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed group, said that 16 members including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among those killed in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Israel's army said it hit an underground gathering of Aqil and leaders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, and had almost completely dismantled its military chain of command.

The attack levelled a multi-story residential building in the crowded suburb and damaged a nursery next door, a security source said. Three children and seven women were among those killed, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Cross-border strikes continued on Saturday: Israeli warplanes carried out the heaviest bombardment in 11 months of fighting across Lebanon's south and Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in Israel's north.

The Israeli army said it hit around 180 targets, destroying thousands of rocket launch barrels.

Friday’s strike sharply escalated the conflict and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.