At least five people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a medical facility in Beirut, according to Lebanese officials. The Health Authority Centre was affiliated with Hezbollah
The announcement comes after a series of loud blasts have been heard by BBC reporters in the Lebanese city, as the Israeli military says it conducted "precise strikes" there
Three explosions were heard in Dahieh, in the city's southern suburbs - with a fourth blast at a building close to central Beirut
It comes as the IDF and Hezbollah report ground fighting inside southern Lebanon, a day after Israel announced it was invading
It later reports the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers in combat - the first inside Lebanon since the invasion began
Earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay", after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday
Lebanese officials say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, while around a million may now be displaced
Watch: Analysing where Iran's missiles struck in Israel
The US has indications that Iran is preparing to "imminently" launch a missile attack on Israel, according to several news agencies.
AFP cites a US official as its source, and Reuters and Axios cite separately a senior White House official.
The US official reportedly tells AFP an attack on Israel would carry "severe consequences for Iran".
At least 600 people are seeking refuge from Israeli air strikes in a monastery, local residents tell Reuters news agency.
Residents left the Christian village of Ain Ebel, in southern Lebanon, after the Israeli military warned them to flee.
They fled to a monastery in the town of Rmeish, which did not receive an evacuation warning, and are awaiting an army convoy to escort them to Beirut, Reuters reports.
This morning, an Israeli military spokesperson warned residents of Ain Ebel and more than 20 other towns to evacuate their homes immediately. He said the military will target homes in these towns that, according to the Israel Defense Forces, are being used by Hezbollah.
As we just reported, the IDF's Daniel Hagari earlier called Israel's incursion into Lebanon an "extended raid".
And US officials, quoted by NBC News, say the ground operation against Hezbollah is expected to last for days, not weeks.
That would be in line with what a US National Security Council spokesperson yesterday called a "limited" operation.
As a reminder, when announcing the ground operation overnight, Israel called them "limited, localised, and targeted ground raids".
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Image source, ReutersThe aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs
Powerful and influential, Hezbollah, which means Party of God, is described as a state within the state in Lebanon. It has significant support here, but also opposition.
For almost a year, as Hezbollah carried out near-daily cross-border on attacks on Israel, many outside its base feared that Lebanon, already struggling to recover from years of successive crises, was being dragged into a conflict that it has not chosen to fight.
The economy has essentially collapsed, and political impasse has meant the country has been without a president for almost two years.
Here, there are still memories of the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, in 2006, when parts of southern Lebanon and Dahieh, the group’s base in Beirut’s southern suburbs, were flattened.
"The country is lost," a Lebanese friend texts me. Another writes: "If you ask me what’s coming, my answer is it will be that very long and hard days are coming." And a third says: "We just need to hope for the best."
Surely, Hezbollah’s rivals will not be disappointed to see a weakened group who, many say, is interested in defending its own interests - and those of its main supporter, Iran.
But there is still uncertainty about what happens next. It remains unclear whether Hezbollah still can organise any significant and co-ordinated response. It continues to fire rockets at Israel, but not with the same intensity.
Meanwhile, this is a country under pressure, struggling with the sheer number of casualties from Israeli airstrikes and one million people who have already been displaced.
Image source, IDFIsrael Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari is now taking questions from the media about Israel's ground invasion.
"We're not now currently fighting face to face [with Hezbollah] but we're taking it seriously," Hagari says.
He adds that Israel's forces are "ready to fight" Hezbollah forces, but he also says Israel is not going to Beirut, or any southern Lebanese cities.
Hagari is then asked about what will happen during the "incursion" in the coming days.
"You say incursions and I say raid," he says.
"This is a raid, an extended raid," adding that "we will do it as fast as we can, we will take down the threat".
"We will push Hezbollah back [from the] border."
More now from IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, who says IDF special forces entered Hezbollah compounds in Lebanon at "dozens of locations" in recent months.
He says forces dismantled weapons, including "advanced Iranian-made weapons".
Talking over graphics of underground tunnels inside Lebanon, Hagari adds the IDF has exposed and dismantled over 700 Hezbollah "terror assets".
We are now hearing from Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari, who is addressing the media in Hebrew, and then later English.
He says Israeli forces have operated inside Lebanon dozens of times over the past months, destroying tunnels.
As a reminder, Israel announced a "limited" ground operation in Lebanon only in the early hours of Tuesday.
We'll have more lines from Hagari's statement soon.
Frank Gardner
Security correspondent
It’s hard to predict, at this early stage, whether Israel’s insertion of ground troops into southern Lebanon will be the quick, efficient operation they would like it to be - or whether, as many predict, Israel will end up getting bogged down in Lebanon, as it did for 18 years from 1982 to 2000.
Clearing southern Lebanon of all the hundreds of kilometres of tunnels and caves and labyrinths, which it has spent so many years digging below ground to store its massive arsenal of weapons, is not going to be a quick or easy process.
Hezbollah - which although badly wounded by recent blows from Israel - still retains thousands of fighters.
They are well trained, in many cases battle-hardened by their recent experiences fighting in Syria, and burning with a desire to avenge the deaths amongst their ranks.
They are a far more formidable foe for the IDF than Hamas has been in Gaza.
Among their weaponry are powerful Russian anti-tank guided missiles that can take on Israeli armour, just as they did in the 2006 war where the two sides fought each other to a standstill, ending inconclusively after 34 days.
The Israeli military, this time round, appears to be more aware of the challenge they are taking on. But there remains the risk that they could be drawing themselves into an open-ended occupation of southern Lebanon with no clear end in sight.
This footage from Israel today shows the aftermath of a rocket attack from Lebanon. It was taken in Kfar Qasim, near Tel Aviv.
As we reported earlier, one person suffered a shrapnel injury after a "projectile" attack in the area earlier today.
Hezbollah rocket strikes Israel highway, wounds one
Orla Guerin
Senior International Correspondent, reporting from Tyye, southern Lebanon
The southern city of Tyre feels like a city in waiting – for even worse to come.
It has already been hit hard by Israeli strikes in several locations, and now Israel has troops on the ground in the south.
We don’t know how many, or exactly where, but a ground war is now under way. Israel says it is carrying out ground raids that are "limited, localised and targeted".
Some people were leaving the south – we passed a few cars with belongings piled on top, but it wasn’t a big exodus.
It seems that many people who wanted to flee did so last week, after Israel began its massive bombardment from the air.
As we approached Tyre, we saw the aftermath of one recent strike.
Once inside the city, we drove past boarded up shops and businesses. Many windows were broken, with glass carpeting the ground.
As we drove into the only functioning hotel in Tyre, there were two United Nations armoured personnel carriers parked just outside the gates.
The beach hotel is down to three staff. The golden sands outside are deserted.
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor
Nobody can really say where this conflict is currently heading. Previously there were what might have been viewed as "rules of the game" - and now there are none.
A lot will depend on Iran’s response, if there is one. Iran may have decided that, for the time being, it would be unwise to respond militarily.
Israel is feeling very successful, and might hit back, plus the US is sending an extra aircraft carrier with more troops to the region – designed as a deterrent against Iran.
So Iran might wait for an opportunity, which means things might unfold more slowly in the wider region than some people are expecting.
Meanwhile of course, things are unfolding in south Lebanon at a very brisk, military pace. And there are people around the world, particularly in the global south as it’s known, who feel that the west has two sets of rules – one for itself and its allies and one for other people.
So there are very distinct narratives about the way people view these events.
This footage, taken on Tuesday morning, shows damage in the Lebanese capital after the previous night's air strikes:
Beirut buildings destroyed after days of air strikes
Overnight, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced they had begun a ground operation in southern Lebanon. Here's what's happened since then:
As we've reported, Israel says it's targeting "Hezbollah launchpads and infrastructure" in its ground invasion.
But the rockets from southern Lebanon have not stopped. The Israeli military says that in the past hour about 15 projectiles entered from Lebanon, landing in "open areas" in the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel.
It adds that the Israeli Air Force are using fighter jets and combat helicopters to hit Hezbollah targets.
Sally Nabil
BBC Arabic, reporting from Dahieh, Beirut
As we got into Dahieh in southern Beirut, it felt tense.
Many shops were closed, and huge pictures of senior Hezbollah leaders, recently killed in Israeli airstrikes, could be seen in many streets.
Over the past days Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold, has been a target for Israeli air raids. Overnight Israeli shelling was intense, it could be heard in central Beirut.
As we drove by, we could easily spot the damage that befell many areas in this largely Shia neighbourhood. Buildings were partially or totally reduced to rubble and cars were smashed.
Shortly before launching their air strikes, the Israelis usually ask residents in some parts of Dahieh to flee their homes.
"The Israelis issue a warning, then ten minutes later the shelling starts - how on earth can we leave for safety?" one resident in Dahieh asks me.
No one knows how things will unfold after Israel announced the beginning of a ground incursion.
But any escalation will, definitely, come with a high human cost, in a country that has been struggling for years with a failing economy and a stagnant political life.
In the heart of the capital, I meet a Lebanese family which fled Dahieh in recent days. They’ve been living in the street since then.
They say they don’t want to go to a centre for the displaced, because such places are packed.
"I just wish I could have a shower," the mother tells me.
James Kelly
UGC Hub
Hanan Baba travelled to Lebanon to visit her father at the beginning of September.
The 29-year-old life coach from Fulham in London, who describes herself as "half British, half Lebanese", is staying 50 miles north of Beirut, in Lebanon’s second-largest city, Tripoli.
But although she’s some distance from Israeli missile strikes, their repercussions are all too apparent.
"I have seen a huge amount of displaced people from the south who are migrating here. I was driving past a roundabout and there were 50 people just sat there with their mattresses with nowhere to go.
"People are literally living on the streets, it is extremely sad."
Hanan says she feels " trapped", with flights out of the country booked up for weeks, and she is worried about what could happen next.
"I am not in danger now - but things are escalating and you don’t know. I don’t have a way out. It is not a nice feeling."
Image source, Hanan BabaHanan Baba, who is staying in Tripoli, northern Lebanon
Israel's claims that its forces entered Lebanon are false, Hezbollah says in a statement.
The group also says that no direct clashes have taken place between their fighters and Israeli forces. but that they are "ready for a direct confrontation".
Earlier today, a senior security official told the BBC that Israeli ground forces had only gone "very close walking distance" into Lebanon.
The source also said there had been "no clashes" yet.
Image source, ReutersThis picture of Israel artillery fire, from northern Israel into Lebanon, was taken earlier today
The existing UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is urging "all actors" to step back from escalation.
"The price of continuing the current course of action is too high," the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says.
UNIFIL says the IDF told it yesterday of the intention to undertake "limited ground incursions into Lebanon".
"Any crossing into Lebanon is in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701," UNFIL says.
The 2006 UN Security Council resolution 1701 called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. It also established that the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers could be the only armed forces south of the Litani River.
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor
The events of the last week have been an enormous boost to Israel and its national morale. And as some diplomats have said, one danger now is that the Israelis might not know when to stop.
There is already overexcited chatter in Israeli media about the idea that this is a chance to reorder the Middle East and permanently weaken Iran.
After 9/11, the Americans thought they could reorder the Middle East and one big step along the way was the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
That did not turn out to be a reordering of the Middle East, but to have catastrophic consequences. So this is one reason why Israel’s allies are so concerned about the immediate future; because actions beget consequences.
When there is such an extensive Hezbollah infrastructure in south Lebanon, how much will Israel need to do, to feel satisfied that it has stopped the threat from them?
And Hezbollah will, of course, be trying to reconstitute itself and fight back.
Israel has told people in parts of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.
In a post on social media, Israel Defense Forces' Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee lists about 25 villages affected.
He says the Israeli military does not want to harm them, saying: "For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately."
He adds: "Any home used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted."
Adraee tells people to "immediately head to the north of the Awali River" – which meets the coast just over halfway between Beirut and border – and people should not head south, he says.
"We will inform you of the safe time to return to your homes," he says.