Israel-Lebanon latest: Netanyahu warns attacks will continue as Israel unleashes fresh wave of strikes

The number killed by Israeli strikes on Lebanon this week has risen to 558 including 50 children, the Lebanese health minister said.

Firass Abiad added that 94 women were included in the dead, and 1,835 have been injured.

The death count was last counted at 492 and 1,645 wounded yesterday.

Beirut’s main airport, Rafic Hariri, has announced that at least 40 flights were cancelled as of Tuesday morning.

The airport’s website shows dozens of cancelations including for trips between Germany, France, Turkey, Iraq and Qatar.

Aviation authorities in Lebanon have denied that any full flight suspensions are taking place, and confirmed cancellations by certain airlines due to Israeli strikes.

Iranian president arrives at UN summit

The leaders of 193 countries have been invited to New York for the UN’s highest-level annual summit.

The Middle East will be high on the agenda following the most deadly day of Israeli strikes on Lebanon in decades.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New York yesterday. It is his first summit as president after the helicopter crash in May which killed former President Ebrahim Raisi - who many touted to be Iran’s next Supreme Leader.

Upon his arrival, Pezeshkian said: "We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible.”

"It’s Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilise the region… They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go."

Israeli airstrikes are building up again on Lebanon, according to reports on Israeli radio.

A brief lull in strikes appears to have ended, after nearly 500 people were killed on Monday.

Lebanese state news agency NNA said on Tuesday: “Hostile airstrikes resumed on Baalbek and its surrounding areas, targeting Al-Tal Al-Abyad district at the northern entrance of Baalbek, the town of Talia, and the outskirts of Shamstar.”

Sky News reports that four strikes hit the area around Tyre, southern Lebanon, within a few minutes.

Israeli army radio confirmed that another wave of strikes is underway.

Israeli officials say they have not yet made an official decision to expand military operations against Hezbollah - and have not said publicly what those operations might be. Last week, however, the head of Israel’s Northern Command was quoted in local media as advocating for a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, as fighting in Gaza has slowed, Israel has increased its forces along the Lebanese border, including the arrival of a powerful army division believed to include thousands of troops.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last week declared the start of a “new phase” of the war as Israel turns its focus towards Hezbollah.

“The centre of gravity is shifting to the north,” he said.

A UN-brokered truce to the 2006 war called on Hezbollah to pull back 29 kilometres (18 miles) from the border, but it has refused, accusing Israel of also failing to carry out some provisions.

Israel is now demanding Hezbollah withdraw eight to 10 kilometres (five to six miles) from the border - the range of Hezbollah’s anti-tank guided missiles.

A small number of US troops will be sent to the MIddle East following escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Pentagon said.

It is unclear how many troops will be deployed and whether they have a specific mission, The Guardian reports.

Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters: “Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region.”

“We have more capability in the region today than we did on April 14th when Iran conducted its drone and missile attack against Israel.”

Ryder referred to a 300-missile attack by Iran which sustained modest damage inside Israel after being intercepted by western air defence.

Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern in a statement on Monday over security developments in Lebanon, warning of escalating violence and urging all parties to exercise restraint, state news agency SPA reported.

Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, killing 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah militant group stores weapons.

Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

More than 1,645 people were wounded in the strikes, the Health Ministry said, a staggering one-day toll for the country.

Below we take a look at where Israel struck southern Lebanon throughout yesterday.

Almost 500 people were killed in the strikes, the deadliest in nearly two decades.

Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza and impose a military siege on Hamas militants who remain in the area.

The plan, endorsed by some Israeli military figures, suggests designating the area as a “closed military zone” and forcing all civilians to leave, The Guardian reported.

The Likud MP Avichai Boaron said the plan was ‘‘currently being evaluated by the government”.

“According to the plan, the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the border to the Gaza River,” Boaron was quoted as saying by the outlet. ‘‘And after they will evacuate, the IDF will assume that only the terrorists will remain. When the civilian population has left, you can find and kill all the terrorists without harming the civilians.”

The goal is said to be to isolate and target Hamas fighters without civilian casualties, pressuring them to surrender or face starvation.