The Lebanese Red Cross has said its medical officers were struck while carrying out a rescue operation in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon.

In a post on X, the Red Cross says it was attempting to “search for the injured in order to treat and rescue them” following a “raid” on Nabatieh earlier this afternoon.

In the course of this operation - which it says was confirmed with peacekeeping force Unifil - the Red Cross says that the site they had travelled to was targeted, and “3 paramedics were injured by shrapnel”.

The Lebanese Red Cross says its medics were then transferred to hospital.

The IDF has not yet responded to these reports.

Emir Nader
reporting from Beirut

Image source, Reuters

As airstrikes continue today in the Lebanese capital Beirut, in the south of the country the Israeli army has also been hitting the coastal city of Tyre.

Warnings issued at around 10:30 local time by the Israeli army called on residents of Tyre’s al-Hawsh neighbourhood to move one kilometre away from the densely populated area where it said Hezbollah-linked sites were located.

First videos from the scene showed great plumes of smoke above the neighbourhood and local media report that the site was hit with 10 rounds of strikes.

A number of other areas in the country have also been struck today including the city of Nabatieh in the south and Hermel in the north, according to local media. However the Israeli army spokesperson did not issue warnings today to locals of those areas.

Through the start of the day, Israel has been reporting a number of “projectiles” crossing into its territory from Lebanon.

As of 15:00 local time (13:00 BST), the Israeli military says that "approximately 80 projectiles" have been fired towards the country by Hezbollah forces.

Earlier on, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had detected approximately 10 rockets launched from Lebanon towards Neot Mordechai - a kibbutz in northern Israel.

A little later, the IDF said that “approximately 30 projectiles” were identified crossing from Lebanon.

This update follows sirens in the upper and western Galilee areas at 13:27 and 13:28 local time.

It is unclear what damage - if any - was caused by these missiles, but no injuries have been reported.

Image source, EPA

The Israeli military has confirmed it struck a site close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Monday that killed at least 13 people, including a child.

The IDF said the strike hit a Hezbollah facility, and not the hospital, adding that it and its operations were not affected.

As we reported earlier, the hospital's neighbourhood wasn't on the list of targets announced in advance by the IDF as part of a barrage of air strikes on Monday night. A BBC producer who was nearby the hospital at the time said a sharp bang sent people running for cover.

At least three multi-storey buildings collapsed and several others were heavily damaged in the attack on the impoverished and densely populated part of the city.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least 57 people have been injured.

Image source, Reuters

We reported earlier on a Hezbollah news conference which was disrupted by an Israeli evacuation order near the location.

In it Hezbollah's press official claimed the group's responsibility for last week's drone attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's holiday home in the coastal town of Caesarea.

As a reminder, Netanyahu's office said a drone was "launched towards" the residence on Saturday morning. Neither Netanyahu nor his wife were there at the time and no-one was injured.

Netanyahu attributed the attack to Hezbollah in a post on X on the same day.

Hezbollah's comments came in a news conference given by the head of the group's media office Mohammad Afif today.

The Reuters news agency quotes Afif as saying: "Hezbollah takes the full and sole responsibility for targeting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's house."

Image source, Israeli Prime Minister's Office

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the prime minister's office.

In a picture shared on social media the pair can be seen chatting in his office in Jerusalem.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

We were in Dahieh for a rare news conference organised by Hezbollah when, about 15 minutes after it had started, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for two buildings near the location where the press had gathered.

The warning, published on social media, said the military would work against those facilities in “the near future”. Our team and other journalists left immediately, and there were traffic jams in nearby streets with other people trying to leave the area.

Reports suggest the Hezbollah press official, Mohammad Afif, was rushed out of the area right after the warning was issued. All the time, there was the sound of a drone flying overhead.

Just now, Israel says it killed “at least 18 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists” when it struck a site previously used as a school in Gaza last week.

The Abu Hussein Primary School for Boys, situated in the Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, was targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said at the time that at least 22 people had been killed and dozens more wounded.

Now, in a post on Telegram, the IDF says that “terrorists were operating inside a command and control centre embedded inside a compound” within the site that operated as a school.

The Israeli military says the site was used to execute attacks against its troops, including “recent missile attacks”.

The IDF then lists the names of some of the “terrorists” that it claims to have eliminated, and says that Hamas’ alleged use of the school is an example of the group’s “systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure”.

After the strike on the site last week, Hamas rejected the allegation that the school was being used for military purposes as “mere lies”.

"The situation in Jabalia refugee camp is dire," says Mohammed, who recently fled the camp for Rimal, in northern Gaza.

The densely-populated area has been besieged by Israeli forces for weeks, with shelling and evacuation orders a regular occurrence.

Saleh, who recently left the camp, tells BBC Arabic that he "endured a siege for 16 days".

"The shelling grew closer and intensified each day, with Israeli forces advancing towards us," he says. "We all feared for our lives, knowing we would have no way to escape if the forces came closer."

Residents were confused by certain IDF evacuation orders.

"No one knew where to go. It is tragic and catastrophic in every sense. Some people had to flee without their children, leaving them behind in school while they escaped with others," says Engy, another Jabalia resident.

Orla Guerin
Senior international correspondent, reporting from Beirut

Hospital officials insisted that Al Sahel Hospital had no connection with any organisation, or group, or faction.

"We are an institution helping people," said Dr Walid Alameh, the medical director. "(The hospital) is private. It used to be and will remain. Hopefully (the Israelis) will believe us. What we are doing is helping people."

The hospital started downsizing three weeks ago, after Israel went to war in Lebanon, but were still doing some regular emergency cases up to last night.

Alameh told us the hospital was built in 1978.

"The founder of this hospital is my father," he said, becoming emotional.

"It so difficult to see this building going down. He built it for the sake of humanity. I am very frustrated and worried about the hospital. This is my home actually."

Tom Bateman
State Department Correspondent, travelling with Antony Blinken

Blinken’s trip to the Middle East will focus on five priorities, a senior State Department official says.

1. Talking to Israel and others about how to end the war according to the objectives US President Joe Biden has laid out, including bringing all hostages home and “alleviating Palestinian suffering”
2. Continuing to work on a post conflict “day after” plan
3. Reviewing the status of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, including drilling down on the steps Blinken laid out in his letter eight days ago
4. Talking to Israelis about how to get to a resolution in the war with Hezbollah, and talking to Arab states about what can be done to strengthen institutions in Lebanon including supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces
5. Continuing to discuss Israel’s expected retaliation against Iran for its 1 October missile strike on Israel. The official said Blinken would talk to the Israelis about the importance of conducting a response that doesn’t further escalate the conflict

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

All morning, rescuers searched the piles of broken concrete and twisted metal, some carrying shovels, others only with their bare hands, at the site hit by an Israeli air strike last night in Beirut.

The location hit was an impoverished and densely populated neighbourhood in southern Beirut, opposite Rafik Hariri Hospital, Lebanon’s largest public hospital.

At least three multi-storey buildings collapsed and several others were heavily damaged in the attack that happened without warning at around 22:30 local time on Monday.

One of the rescuers said they did not know how many people could be under the rubble. At least 13 people had been killed and 57 wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

As we visited the site, we saw one body being pulled from the rubble, and as we left, another had been located. A drone could be heard flying overhead.

One resident, who is now leaving the neighbourhood, said the attack happened after a car arrived in the area, but could not explain who had arrived, who they could be visiting and what they were doing.

We have photos coming in now of rescuers searching for survivors under the rubble of an air strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in southern Beirut.

Thirteen people were killed during the strike, including a child, the Lebanese health ministry says.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

At least 42,718 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October last year, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

It estimates that at least 100,282 people have also been injured.

The update adds that at least 115 people have been killed in seven Israeli attacks over the past 48 hours - with rescuers still attempting to reach people.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least 27 people have been killed in three separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip today.

According to the news agency:

• Four people have been killed in an attack on Khirbet Al Adas, near Rafah in southern Gaza
• At least eight people have been killed in the Al Alami area of the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza
• And 15 people have been killed in an Israeli drone strike on the town of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza

The Israeli military has not commented on these specific reports.

Orla Guerin
Senior international correspondent, reporting from Beirut

We were taken on a private tour of Al Sahel Hospital in Beirut, where Israel claims millions of dollars in cash and gold are kept in a hidden bunker underneath.

Doctors denied the allegation and took us through the building, including to the first and second level below ground. They insisted there is nothing underneath.

They gave us access to all areas, including the morgue and the medical waste storage area.

Bundles of surgical scrubs and packets of surgical instruments were opened to show there was no gold.

After the tour we were able to move around the hospital on our own, unimpeded, and access any areas we wanted to see.

Last night, the hospital had to evacuate around 50 staff and 15 patients - none of them critical - when Israel made its claim.

“We evacuated like crazy,” said hospital general manager Dr Mazen Alameh, “because we could not take a chance with the lives of the patients or the staff."

But he insisted the hospital would not close permanently. "We hope to re-open soon for the sake of the patients."

Staff were gathered in clusters outside the hospital this morning, as an Israeli drone circled overhead. Israel has said it would not bomb the hospital.

Thirteen people, including a child, have been killed in an Israeli air strike near a hospital in southern Beirut, the Lebanese health ministry says, external.

The strike appeared to hit the car park of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, a hospital source told Reuters news agency.

The health ministry said the number of people injured has risen to 57, with seven people in a critical condition.

It was among 13 air strikes that hit south Beirut on Monday evening. The Israeli military said it was attacking facilities linked to Hezbollah.

A video circulating on social media from Jabalia in northern Gaza on Monday showed an individual running in panic between dead and injured people at a United Nations school, sheltering displaced people, after an Israeli attack.

It is unclear how many people were killed in the attack.

Previously, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 29 people had been killed in five attacks in northern Gaza on Monday. That included a house in Gaza City and a school sheltering displaced people in Beit Hanoun.

The UN Human Rights Office said in a statement, external on Sunday it was "increasingly concerned that the manner in which the Israeli military is conducting hostilities in north Gaza", including "unlawful interference with humanitarian assistance" and orders which "may be causing the destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza’s northernmost governate through death and displacement".

Israel says its offensive is aimed at stopping Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza.

Image source, REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just arrived in Israel for talks with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

It's the first stop of a wider visit to the Middle East - his 11th since the war in Gaza began - where he will try to reignite ceasefire talks.

Chances of any immediate ceasefire progress appear close to nilpublished at 07:55 British Summer Time 22 October

07:55 BST 22 October

Tom Bateman
State Department correspondent, travelling with Antony Blinken

This trip was rushed together in the hours after Israel killed the Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar, when the Biden administration saw a chance to revive the diplomacy.

But it may have moved too fast. Already it is clear that, although the US ultimately blames Hamas for walking away from a deal despite all the obstacles Benjamin Netanyahu threw in front of it too, the chances of any immediate progress appear close to nil.

The Americans acknowledge there is no-one currently to negotiate with, as Hamas figures out who its leader is to make decisions and whether it will return to the table.

Instead, Blinken is likely to focus on proposals for governing Gaza if and when the war ends, and will press the Israelis on progress over US demands to surge aid into northern Gaza, where Israel says it is routing a Hamas resurgence but where aid groups warn civilians risk starving to death amid Israel’s military siege.