Israel pounds Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, killing mayor

Israel carried out dozens of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Wednesday, killing a city mayor, toppling buildings and causing widespread destruction in several southern areas.

The latest exchanges in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict came with Israel under increasing international pressure after UN peacekeepers in Lebanon were injured, as well as over the escalating humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said its warplanes struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, where the Iran-backed militant group and its ally Amal hold sway.

Lebanon's health ministry said 16 people were killed and 52 injured in the strikes on two municipal buildings.

The city's mayor was among the dead, a local official told AFP, adding that the strikes "formed a kind of belt of fire".

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack, saying Israel "deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city's services and relief situation".

The United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, said the "devastating attack claimed the lives of yet more civilians and local authorities working to provide relief".

Rescuers were searching through rubble for survivors in the southern Lebanese village of Qana, where Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed three people, the Lebanese ministry said.

Israel's army said in a statement it had "eliminated" the Qana area's Hezbollah leader Jalal Mustafa Hariri.

- South Beirut hit -

Hezbollah's main stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs was also targeted by Israeli air strikes and there were further strikes reported in Lebanon's south and the Bekaa region in the east.

Hezbollah claimed a third rocket attack in 24 hours targeting the northern Israeli town of Safed.

The Israeli army said that "around 90 projectiles" fired by Hezbollah had crossed into Israel on Wednesday.

Israel ramped up its bombardment in late September and by the end of the month sent ground troops across the Lebanese border.

The Israel-Hezbollah war has left at least 1,373 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

Iran-backed Hezbollah started low-intensity strikes on Israel in October last year in support of its ally Hamas, following its October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war.

With Hamas weakened, Israel widened the focus of its military operations to include Lebanon, vowing to fight until tens of thousands of Israelis forced by Hezbollah's fire to flee their homes can return.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday, saying it would "not change the security situation".

- Pressure on Israel -

Israel's government has come under criticism over its strikes in Lebanon, including from the country's top ally and arms supplier the United States.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Washington's criticism on Wednesday, saying: "We have told Israel directly that we oppose any Israeli campaign... of near-daily strikes in densely populated areas of Beirut."

She also said the United States had told Israel its operations should "not threaten the lives of civilians" UN peacekeepers or the Lebanese military.

Earlier, 16 European Union defence ministers called "for maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel" to prevent further incidents against peacekeepers.

In the latest incident, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force accused Israeli forces of "firing at their watchtower" in a "direct and apparently deliberate" manner. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Also on Wednesday, the Lebanese Red Cross said two paramedics were wounded in an Israeli strike on a south Lebanon village while a rescue mission coordinated with UN peacekeepers was underway.

And the World Health Organization warned there is a "very high" risk of cholera spreading among displaced people in Lebanon, confirming a case of the potentially deadly infection earlier this week.

- Famine fears in Gaza -

There has been a chorus of international condemnation of the lack of aid reaching hunger-ravaged Gaza.

In a letter sent to the Israeli government on Sunday, Washington warned it could withhold weapons deliveries unless more humanitarian aid was delivered.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Wednesday that there was "a real risk" of famine.

Gaza has "become a kind of wasteland, which I would say is almost unliveable", UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.

For over a week, Israeli forces have engaged in a sweeping air and ground assault targeting northern Gaza and the area around Jabalia, claiming that Hamas militants were regrouping there.

Palestinian man Nidal al-Arab lost 10 of his family members in Israeli strikes on Jabalia.

"People are trapped. If they don't die of shelling, they will soon die of thirst and hunger," the 40-year-old told AFP.

The head of the civil defence agency in northern Gaza, Ahmed al-Kahlout, said that more than 200,000 people in the area have been "deprived of food aid for the 12th consecutive day, as well as potable water".

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, including hostages killed in captivity.

The Israeli campaign has killed 42,409 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory which the UN considers reliable.

- Nuclear sites strike 'unlikely' -

The region is braced for Israel's promised retaliation against its arch-foe Iran for launching around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

Iran said the attack was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut days before that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan.

Iran said on Wednesday an Israeli attack on its nuclear sites was "very unlikely" and it could quickly fix any damage.