Israel presses Gaza and Lebanon assaults as Egypt touts truce plan

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israeli forces launched deadly strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Monday, pressing their offensive against militants after Egypt's president proposed a two-day truce in the Israeli war against Gaza.

There was no comment from either Israel or Hamas on the plan unveiled Sunday by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, but Israeli media said spy chief David Barnea was in Qatar for renewed talks on a hostage release deal.

Iran, which supports Hamas but has largely avoided a direct confrontation with arch-foe Israel, warned it would "respond firmly and effectively" to Israeli strikes on military sites over the weekend.

The war has drawn in Tehran-backed allies of Hamas, including Hizbollah in Lebanon, where strikes hit the southern port of Tyre on Monday.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least seven people were killed when Israel struck the city centre. An AFP journalist saw an entire apartment block collapsed into smouldering rubble.

The ministry said at least 17 more people were wounded as rescue workers were racing to pull more survivors from the pancaked building.

Hours later, the Israeli army issued a new warning to residents, telling them to leave ahead of another attack on Hizbollah targets there. Lebanon's National News Agency subsequently reported "a series of strikes" of the city.

Hezbollah said its fighters had attacked Israeli forces along the border with rockets and artillery.

Last month, Israel escalated its air strikes on Hizbollah bastions across Lebanon and launched ground operations, following a year of low-intensity exchanges and cross-border Hezbollah attacks that the Lebanese group says were in support of Hamas.

At least 1,634 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.

 'Spent everything' just to eat 

In Gaza, where Israel's year-long military campaign has killed Hamas's senior leadership while killing tens of thousands of people and triggering a humanitarian crisis, rescuers reported fresh strikes on Monday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people were killed in a drone attack on Gaza City, while the civil defence agency and an AFP correspondent reported more air strikes and shelling in other areas of the territory's north and centre.

The Israeli military said it had hit north Gaza's Jabalia -- the focus of an ongoing sweeping assault since early October -- and "eliminated dozens of terrorists in ground and aerial activity".

An Israeli military official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said that the goal of the operation was to clear the Jabalia refugee camp of militants, which "will take us at least [several] weeks" to achieve.

He said there was "heavy fighting" in areas where Hamas militants were present.

The official said Israel was not forcing residents to leave, claiming that "the safer zone in the Gaza Strip is in the south, but it's up to them" to decide whether to go.

Many Palestinians have been displaced several times during the war, as the Israeli military's focus shifts from one area to another.

"I fled at the start of the war with my family of nine," said 40-year-old Waleed Abu Shawish, who was forced to flee Gaza City to Khan Yunis in the south.

"I spent everything I had just to provide food and clean drinking water."

Ahmad Abu Aita, a 25-year-old man displaced from the north of Gaza to a camp in the centre of the territory, said the approaching winter was making already dire conditions even worse.

"Two weeks ago, it rained at night, and we were soaked in rainwater," he said.

New truce bid 

As Israel pushed ahead with its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, a top Iranian general said it would face "bitter consequences" after Saturday's attack on military sites.

Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami, quoted by Tasnim news agency, said the Israeli air raid had failed, calling it a sign of "miscalculation and helplessness".

The UN Security Council will meet later on Monday at Iran's request, with Tehran urging the world to condemn Saturday's strikes which authorities said killed four soldiers and caused some damage.

Iranian media said a civilian guard was also killed in the first direct action on Iranian soil that Israel has publicly confirmed.

In a bid to stop the war, Egypt's Sisi proposed a two-day pause in Gaza and a limited hostage and prisoner exchange, aimed at eventually securing an elusive "complete ceasefire" between Hamas and Israel.

The proposal includes exchanging four Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and would be followed by more negotiations within 10 days, Sisi said.

Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. More than 100 were released during a one-week truce last November.

Families of hostages have called on the Israeli government to broker an agreement in the wake of the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month.

At least 43,020 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in the Israeli offensive on Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.