Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from northern Israel

Image source, Reuters

For the second time in the last few hours, Israel’s air defences have intercepted rockets over Kiryat Bialik, a suburb of the northern city of Haifa.

White puffs of smoke are visible above a shopping mall, its windows briefly rattled.

Some customers ran for the nearby shelter. Others ignored security guards and carried on eating their lunch.

It was a similar scene earlier nearby as former government minister Benny Gantz visited the scene of an explosion on Sunday which wrecked three private homes.

Municipal workers were on the scene, repairing a hole in the road where the rocket landed, while a bulldozer was busy removing wreckage.

No-one really flinched as Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system did its work overhead.

What is Hezbollah's strategy?published at 16:00 British Summer Time 24 September

16:00 BST 24 September

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Israel’s aims in what it calls its ‘Operation Northern Arrows’ in Lebanon are clear. It is trying to remove the threat from Hezbollah's rockets, drones and missiles so that the some 60,000 of its citizens can return to their homes in northern Israel.

Hezbollah's strategy is far more opaque but essentially it boils down to resilience and survival. Lauded as the world’s most formidable non-state military force, Hezbollah is reeling from the successive blows inflicted on it in recent days.

Its communications are compromised, some of its senior leaders have been assassinated and its arsenal of missiles is being depleted by airstrikes.

So why has it not struck back with all it’s got? After all, some of its more powerful missiles like the Fateh-110 and the Yakhont have a range of 300km (186 miles), enough to hit most of Israel including Tel Aviv.

But Hezbollah's leadership knows that if it starts inflicting the sort of civilian casualties on Israel that its own country, Lebanon, is now enduring, then Israel will likely respond by destroying Lebanese infrastructure, including Beirut airport.

It is also quite likely that Iran is restraining Hezbollah as it needs its arsenal to remain a deterrent against any future Israeli attack on its nuclear research sites.

We've just had an update from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who has vowed to continue striking Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.

Addressing Lebanese citizens, he said: "Our war is not with you, our war is with Hezbollah."

In a video message, posted to X, he said that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was "leading you to the brink of the abyss... Rid yourself from Nasrallah's grip, for your own good".

But he also warned that "anyone who has a missile in their living room and a rocket in their garage will not have a home".

A bit more breaking news for you now - this time on the continued Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee says Israeli forces killed Ibrahim Muhammad al-Qubasi today.

Al-Qubaisi was a commander of Hezbollah's missile and rocket system, Adraee says in a post on X.

His statement adds that the Hezbollah member was with a number of other senior officials from the group at the time of the strike.

Earlier, we reported that the IDF confirmed they had launched a "targeted" strike on Lebanon's capital, Beirut. Before that they said they had hit "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in overnight strikes.

A diplomatic solution to stop the conflict in the Middle East from becoming a full-scale war is still possible, US President Joe Biden has just said.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Biden says that, since the 7 October attacks, his administration had been "determined to prevent a wider war that engulfs the entire region".

“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced," he says.

“A full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible."

Watch what else he had to say on the conflict below:

The US president is currently addressing the UN General Assembly, which you can tune into at the top of this page.

We reported earlier that his aides had said he was working around the clock to calm the latest tensions in the Middle East.

We'll bring you any updated lines right here. Stay tuned.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, reporting from northern Israel

As we prepared to leave our kibbutz this morning, sirens sounded once more and we could hear explosions overhead.

For the third time since we arrived yesterday, we headed for the bomb shelter.

As we waited for the all-clear, we chatted with the staff.

We’re well outside the evacuation zone, declared almost a year ago along the Lebanese border. But people who came here seeking safety feel the war has just caught up with them, and they’re pessimistic that it will be over quickly.

Some of the kibbutz’s temporary residents are experiencing anxiety attacks.

There’s someone here from Avivim, a tiny community of fewer than 500 people, right on the border.

In 1970, pro-Syrian militants fired bazookas at a school bus, killing nine children and three adults. In May this year, a home was hit by an anti-tank rocket fired by Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government says that allowing residents of the border area to return to their homes is one of its top priorities.

But the man, who we’re not naming, says he doesn’t think he’ll ever go back.

As we've been reporting, people from southern Lebanon have been heading north - with Lebanon's health minister Firass Abiad yesterday saying tens of thousands of people have fled since the latest wave of Israeli strikes.

But this isn't the first time that people living near the Israeli-Lebanon border have had to move because of fighting.

In total, the UN says some, external200,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border since the fighting intensified after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on 7 October last year.

That includes just over 113,000 people displaced from southern Lebanon, according to figures from the start of the month., external

Meanwhile in northern Israel, about 60,000 people have been evacuated because of the near-daily rocket fire from Hezbollah.

Last week, Israel updated its official list of war goals, adding the safe return of those 60,000 residents to the north. Israel's defence minister has said the only way left to do that "will be via military action".

The following day, there was a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon, and then strikes between Israel and Hezbollah intensified even more.

Image source, Reuters

In our reporting of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, we've used phrases like 'cross-border fighting' several times, which may well have left you wondering: where is Lebanon in relation to Israel?

The below map shows just that.

When we say cross-border fighting, or cross-border fire, we're talking about rockets being fired from either the Israeli military or Hezbollah - based in Lebanon - and those weapons crossing the border between the two countries.

The Lebanese health ministry says six people were killed after an Israeli air strike on Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut.

A further 15 people were injured in the strike, the health ministry adds.

The death toll comes after Israel's military confirmed that it had carried out a "targeted" strike in the Lebanese capital.

Carine Torbey
BBC Arabic correspondent, reporting from Beirut

Image source, Carine Torbey/ BBC

We've just visited one of the main displacement centres in Beirut, where more than 1,000 people are staying in a college building.

In recent days, many schools in different parts of the capital have turned into shelters - pictures of which you can see in our earlier post.

The person in charge of the displacement centre tells me that on average, every couple of hours, one extra school is turning into a shelter.

One lady in her sixties called Lewla tells me she fled her home in Doueir, southern Lebanon, yesterday.

Lewla left with her husband and three children, she says, adding that the sound of military jets was terrifying. She was too nervous and scared to stay as "there are lots of people being killed".

But one of Lewla's fears is that her "displacement could last for a long time".

James FitzGerald
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

US President Joe Biden will soon be addressing the UN General Assembly. His aides are quoted saying that he's been working around the clock to calm the latest tensions in the Middle East involving its key ally, Israel.

But, according to the New York Times, his staffers acknowledge that he's running out of time to turn things around during his remaining months in office.

The Times report came ahead of today's address by Biden to the General Assembly in New York, which will be his last as American president.

Earlier, our correspondent Tom Bateman wrote that the US was planning to use the gathering of world leaders to try to find an "off-ramp" that would prevent further escalation in the Middle East.

A senior official said the US had "concrete ideas" for stemming the crisis.

And yesterday, the Pentagon said "a small number" of additional American troops were being sent to the region, without giving further details.

As we reported earlier, thousands of people have been fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut in the wake of Israeli attacks.

We can now bring you these pictures of some evacuees from the south, who are staying in a Beirut school building which has been turned into a makeshift shelter.

Lebanon's government yesterday announced that schools across parts of the country will be opened as shelters for civilians.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

We're getting reports that the Israeli strike on Beirut probably targeted a Hezbollah commander in the capital's southern suburbs.

Citing two Lebanese security sources, Reuters says the strike targeted a building in the Ghobairi area. The sources declined to identify who had been targeted in the strike, and said they did not know if they had survived.

AFP news agency, citing a Lebanese security source, reports that the strike targeted two floors of a residential building.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had carried out a "targeted" strike in Beirut, but has given no further details.

Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, reporting from Beirut

Emergency teams have been deployed immediately from the school we are reporting from as Israel carried out an air strike on Ghobairi, a neighbourhood in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

This is while a funeral was planned to be held in that area for eight people, including five women, all members of one family who were killed in an Israeli strike last week on Dahieh.

We found out from our sources that a friend of this family needed to be identified by DNA test.

The Israeli military says it has conducted a "targeted" strike in Lebanon's capital, Beirut.

We'll bring you more on this as soon as we have it.

Orla Guerin
Reporting from southern Lebanon

A short distance from Tyre, southern Lebanon, we saw smoke rising at the scene of an Israeli strike, where part of a building had caved in.

It looked like a commercial building. There was damage to nearby buildings and two destroyed cars across the road.

The area seemed deserted until we started filming.

Within minutes, two men from Hezbollah appeared and told us we could not film and had to leave. They are still in control here, even as they are coming under heavy bombardment from Israel.

On previous visits we have found this city to be bustling as it’s a popular spot with holiday makers.

Now, on the main road just inside Tyre, many businesses and small restaurants were closed and had the shutters down.

Two petrol stations were also closed, and we saw one man walking by the roadside, wheeling a suitcase.

Image source, EPA

• The Lebanese health ministry says 558 people have been killed and 1,835 injured in Israeli strikes since Monday - the deadliest day in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990
• Israel says it hit "dozens" of Hezbollah targets overnight in multiple locations across southern Lebanon
• Meanwhile, Hezbollah triggered warning sirens in the Upper Galilee area of northern Israel with rockets launched from Lebanon this morning
• Thousands are fleeing their homes in southern Lebanon, battling heavy traffic in the process, as schools in both Israel and Lebanon have shut their doors
• Airlines including Qatar Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa have all cancelled flights in and out of the region

Here's a map that details where both sides have been targeting:

Orla Guerin
Reporting from southern Lebanon

As we travel from Beirut to southern Lebanon, we're seeing a lot of families on the road to Tyre, crammed into overcrowded cars, or packed onto motorbikes.

One car had a stack of thin mattresses on its roof.

We've also passed an aid station along the road lined with banana groves, where civil defence volunteers were handing out water under the hot sun.

There are some frayed tempers and honking horns, but there are also local people helping those who are fleeing, directing them away from traffic jams.

As we get closer to Tyre, we are seeing abandoned cars on both sides of the road, presumably left by some of those trying to flee when the traffic got gridlocked.

Image source, Reuters

We can now bring you a bit more from the Lebanese health ministry's update on the impact of Monday's Israeli strikes in the country.

Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad says 1,835 people were injured in the blasts, adding that medical staff "worked above and beyond to look after all patients".

Speaking at a news conference, he tells reporters the health sector needs support and he hopes what's to come isn't worse.

Abiad says four paramedics died on Monday when ambulances and clinics were hit by Israeli strikes.