Israel's Ministry of Defense (IMoD) has announced it has secured an $8.7bn (£6.5bn) US aid package to support its current military campaigns.

In a statement, IMoD says the package includes $3.5bn for "essential wartime procurement", which has already been transferred, and $5.2bn for air defence systems such as the Iron Dome, David's Sling and an advanced laser system.

IMoD adds that negotiating this package underscores the US government's "ironclad commitment to Israel's security", particularly in addressing "regional security threats from Iran and Iranian-backed militias by ensuring Israel's overall capabilities".

As we've been reporting, there have been widespread calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Here's where things stand:

International calls: A 12-strong bloc of allies including the US, UK and EUissued a call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, saying a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict must be found.

The UK, US and France - who are among Israel's firmest allies - were included in the bloc, which said the pause could "provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement" and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel's response: Israeli officials have rejected the plan, with the country's foreign minister saying "there will be no ceasefire in the north".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has not responded to ceasefire calls, and has instructed the military to "continue the fighting with full force" in Lebanon.

Hezbollah yet to comment: The armed group in Lebanon has made no mention of a ceasefire. A senior US administration official told the BBC the US is in touch with Israeli and Lebanese governments.

They added that the US is negotiating with Lebanon’s government - rather than Hezbollah.

Image source, Reuters

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says its military is continuing its sequence of operations, focussing on "eliminating Hezbollah terrorists, dismantling Hezbollah's offensive infrastructure and destroying rockets and missiles".

Gallant met today with senior military directorates to approve its "next set of operations", adding that it will "continue throwing Hezbollah off balance and deepening their loss".

"The missions ahead of us are clear, and we are determined to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes," he says in a statement.

Nearly a year of deadly cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza has displaced around 70,000 people in northern Israel, while in Lebanon, around 90,000 people have been newly displaced since Monday.

Thomas Copeland
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

As we've been reporting, more than 90,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced since Monday. Many have fled the south of the country, headed to the capital of Beirut.

One Beirut resident, Lina Fansa, tells me she feels "really depressed and really hopeless" as she watches the conflict escalate around her.

"You'll see many mattresses on the floor in public spaces, crowds gathered trying to enter abandoned apartment buildings," the 31-year-old says.

Fansa, who lives in the western suburb Ras Beirut, says the sounds of sirens are constant as more and more injured civilians arrive in the city.

She is glued to the news on her phone, waiting for "one glimpse of hope, of good news," but she tells me "it hasn't come yet".

"We don't know where we're going or how we're going to get there or what's going to happen.”

Hezbollah, an armed group that controls parts of Lebanon, says it has targeted the city of Safed in northern Israel with 80 missiles.

Posting on Telegram, the group says the attack is in "support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip" and in defence of "Lebanon and its people and in response to the barbaric Israeli violation of cities".

Israeli police say there have been no reports of casualties in Safed and Rosh Pina after the attack but they add that there's been significant property damage in the area.

Insaf Abbas
BBC News

The UK has been urging all British nationals to leave Lebanon immediately. While many are heeding the advice, some have chosen to stay.

Robert lives in the Bekaa region, where Israel says it hit 75 Hezbollah targets overnight.

But he says Zahle, the city he lives in, is a "safe bubble".

"The British government have been asking me to leave and I understand that, but I've been here seven years, I speak the language, I know local people.

"For many, the idea of getting trapped here is a big reason to leave, but my home is here now."

The village of Karak, about 1km from his house, was "hit badly" overnight, he adds.

"I promised my family that I would stay safe, so I'm staying away from the areas being hit."

In the last couple of hours, Israel carried out a strike in one of Beirut's southern suburbs. The Israeli military says the head of Hezbollah's drone unit was killed in the strike.

The Lebanese health ministry says at least two people were killed and 15 were injured. Below are some images showing the aftermath of the strike.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, PA Media

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says that Israel and Hezbollah face the risk of "an all out war" but that "a diplomatic solution is still viable" despite the recent escalation in conflict.

"Israel has stated that its goal is to return its citizens to their home in the north. I believe the quickest way to do that is through diplomacy," Austin said after a meeting with his British and Australian counterparts in London.

Yesterday, the US joined 11 other allies in calling for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the army would "continue the fighting with full force".

Image source, Getty Images

As we've reported, the Lebanese health ministry says air strikes earlier killed 20 people in the north-eastern town of Younine.

A shop owner in the nearby ancient city of Baalbek says the strikes were "indescribable".

"It was one of the worst nights we've lived through," 70-year-old Fadia Rafic Yaghi tells AFP News. "You think there's just a second between life and death."

Lebanon's state-run media described the overnight attacks as one of the "most violent" in recent days.

Carine Torbey
BBC Arabic correspondent, in Beirut

As we've reported, Israeli military says it's killed the head of Hezbollah's drone unit in a strike in southern Beirut. The military says that Mohammed Surur was responsible for many aerial attacks on Israel.

Hezbollah had a drone unit for quite a long time. It used some in its 2006 war against Israel. But it is during this last round of cross-border hostilities that started on 8 October, that drones became a major tool in Hezbollah’s operations.

It is used by Hezbollah for both surveillance operations but also as weapons as some of them are laden with explosives.

Although it is thought that Hezbollah has Iranian drones, it also manufactures them, as its leader Hassan Nasrallah revealed.

About 40 projectiles have been fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The projectiles were fired across the border around 16:08 local time (14:06 BST) in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel, the IDF says.

Several projectiles were intercepted while others hit the region, the IDF says. No casualties have been reported.

Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, Beirut

The footage posted from the building that was hit by Israel’s air strike today indicates that this was another targeted assassination.

Only two rooms on the second and third floors of an eight-story was badly damaged.

It is very similar to the damage I saw on the building that Saleh al Arouri, Hamas deputy leader, was killed back on 2 January in Dahieh.

That time two guided missiles, fired from drones, destroyed two floors of a three-story building and directly hit a room where Arouri had a meeting with some other Hamas members.

I could confirm from my sources that the target of today’s attack was another high rank commander of the group's air unit, which is in charge of its drone division.

Hezbollah though has still not confirmed it officially. The building that was targeted is only a five-minute drive away from two other buildings that were hit on 30 July killing Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah military commander, and on 20 September, killing at least 16 high rank commanders of the group.

Our correspondent Anna Foster earlier visited the scene of the Israeli air strike in Beirut.

As a reminder, Israel says it killed a Hezbollah air unit commander. The Lebanese health ministry says two people were killed and 15 injured.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says the head of one of Hezbollah's air units has been killed in its earlier strike on a southern suburb in Beirut.

In a post published on X, the IDF says "fighter jets attacked Beirut and killed Mohammad Hussein Surur".

Hezbollah has not yet commented. The IDF says Surur joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and "directed and commanded" many drone attacks aimed at Israel.

We can bring you pictures now from the southern Lebanese coastal town of Saksakiyeh which has been hit by Israeli air strikes in recent days.

Mohammed Helal, whose daughter was killed in a strike there, told Reuters: "We are not afraid... even if they kill, dissect and destroy us."

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

At least two people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli strike on a southern suburb of Beirut earlier today, the Lebanese health ministry says.

One woman is in critical condition, the ministry adds.

As we reported earlier, a security source told Reuters news agency that Israeli military were targeting a "senior Hezbollah leader" in the strike.

Image source, Reuters

Let's get a little bit more from Lebanon's interior minister now.

Around 70,100 displaced people in Lebanon are staying in 533 shelters, Bassam Mawlawi told a news conference in Beirut.

More than 90,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, the UN estimates.

Mawlawi said around 27,000 people have fled Lebanon in the past three days.

Half of those who fled are Syrian nationals returning to their home country through official border crossings, the minister adds.

As we discussed in our previous post, Lebanon has an estimated population of 1.5 million displaced Syrians. Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita - and per square kilometre - in the world, according to the UN.

As we just reported, the Lebanese health ministry says 19 Syrian nationals are among those killed by an Israeli air strike on the town of Younine.

Lebanon is home to a large refugee community - including an estimated 1.5 million Syrians who fled the war there.

The UN says more than 90,000 people have been newly displaced in Lebanon since Monday, when Israeli air strikes on the country intensified - but Syrian refugees worry there is no plan to accommodate them.

The director general of the Union of Relief Associations in Lebanon, Hussam Al-Ghaly, tells The Syrian Observer: "The schools and shelters that have been opened are only for displaced Lebanese."

But, Lebanon's interior minister told a news conference a few moments ago there are shelters dedicated to housing Syrians.

The Lebanese health ministry says the number killed by Israeli air strikes today has risen to 26:

• 20 peoplewere killed in Younine, north-east Lebanon - 19 of them Syrian
• Three were killed in the towns of the Tyre District
• In Qana, southern Lebanon, one person was killed
• Two peoplewere killed in Cadmus

We're still trying to get more information on the strikes in Beirut.

A security source tells Reuters that Israel targeted a "senior Hezbollah leader" in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon.