We've just brought you news that two UN peacekeepers have been injured by Israeli tank fire in southern Lebanon.

In a statement just released, the UN says Israeli forces have "repeatedly hit" UN positions the last 24 hours.

On Wednesday, soldiers "deliberately fired at and disabled" UN security cameras, we're told.

An Israeli drone was also spotted flying above the entrance to a bunker, where Israeli soldiers also fired at earlier today.

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," the UN says.

The BBC has contacted the IDF.

Two UN peacekeepers have been injured after an Israeli tank fired towards a watchtower at a UN base in southern Lebanon, the UN says.

According to a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), the observation tower at its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit, causing the peacekeepers to fall.

"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital," the UN says.

It adds that Israeli soldiers also fired at a UN base in Ras Naqoura, "hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system".

There's more in their statement which we'll bring you shortly.

UNIFIL is a UN peacekeeping mission created in 1978. It monitors hostilities and helps to ensure humanitarian access to civilians.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Videos from the scene in Deir al-Balah appear to show a cloud of smoke and dust rising up as people rush to help the injured.

Witnesses say there were two air strikes targeting two rooms in the school which was packed with displaced families.

They say that food aid, including children’s milk, had been stored there and was distributed from the site.

Israel’s military says it took steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. It says that Hamas operatives were using the compound and that prior to carrying out what it described as a "precise strike".

There has been a series of deadly Israeli attacks on former schools in Gaza in recent months, with Israel saying that Hamas embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, something it denies.

Mallory Moench
Live reporter

Image source, Medical Aid for Palestinians

In northern Gaza, newborn babies in intensive care have been evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp after Israeli troops and tanks have encircled the area.

UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, which supports the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital, says babies have been moved to the Patient Friends Hospital in Gaza City, which the charity also helps.

The charity says Kamal Adwan Hospital "has been forced to shut down most of its services", but the "steadfast medical teams in the emergency department are still receiving and treating people injured in attacks".

Francesca Gillett
Live editor

In recent days, the violence in Lebanon and northern Israel has taken up much of our reporting. But strikes and on-the-ground fighting have continued in Gaza, as evidenced by today's deadly strike on a school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah.

There's been particularly heavy fighting in Jabalia in northern Gaza over the past few days, where Israel says it has been carrying out a new ground operation to stop Hamas regrouping.

Yesterday, our correspondent spoke to some of the people there fleeing gunfire and shelling - and we've got an update coming shortly from medics who have been evacuating babies from the hospital.

In an update this morning, Israel's military says it has killed "more than 50 terrorist operatives" in the Jabalia area over the past day, as well as others elsewhere. It also says aircraft struck about 30 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours.

The Hamas-run health ministry said earlier that at least 42,065 people have been killed in the war, an increase of 55 since yesterday. However the figures were released around the same time that reports of the Deir al-Balah strike were emerging, so it's unclear if they're included.

We've been bringing you reports of an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced families in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. The Hamas-run health ministry says 28 people have been killed.

In a statement released just now, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre in the area of Deir al-Balah".

"The command and control centre, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Rufaida School, was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel." Hamas has previously denied using schools and other civilian sites for military purposes.

The IDF says "numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence".

Image source, @PalestineRCS/X

At least 28 people have been killed and 54 wounded in the air strike on the school in Deir al-Balah in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent says.

It says the strike hit Rufaida al-Aslamia school, near the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters, and their emergency medical teams responded.

At least 16 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced families in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, medics have told Reuters news agency.

Hamas-affiliated Palestinian media are reporting a higher death toll of 22.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, but in recent months it has carried out many strikes on schools-turned-shelters, saying they are being used by Hamas as command and control centres. The armed group has previously denied operating inside schools and other civilian sites.

Unverified footage online appears to show casualties being brought to al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

Image source, Reuters

Lebanon’s humanitarian needs are “huge”, and the situation is “getting worse by the day” amid a displacement crisis caused by Israel’s war against Hezbollah, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The conflict has already forced 1.2 million people from their homes. The most affected areas are southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, places where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Visiting the country, the IOM regional director for Middle East and North Africa, Othman Belbeisi, says there is an urgent need to expand the number of shelters for displaced residents and step up the distribution of food and aid.

The Lebanese authorities, which were already under pressure after years of a severe economic crisis, are also in need of funding, he says. Last week, the United Nations launched an appeal for $426m (£326m) to help civilians affected by the conflict. Belbeisi says only a "small part" of it has been funded so far.

"The needs are huge," he tells the BBC. "Without de-escalation of the current conflict, it’ll be very difficult... What we’re seeing now, [the crisis] is getting worse by the day. Winter is approaching and the size of the escalation is expanding."

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, strikes continued in southern Beirut overnight. On the streets of Bourj Hammoud, an Armenian suburb in east Beirut, shopkeepers say they are trying to keep their businesses open.

"There is no income, it completely stopped," says 65-year-old Paul, who did not give his surname and refuses to shut the family-run bag shop he has owned since the 1980s.

"This life in Beirut is very hard because there is war, but we are survivors," he tells Reuters.

Sitting outside his accessories store, drinking from a cup and smoking, is Avedis Terzian.

Terzian tells Reuters that 90% of his income has been hit "because factories closed because of the bombing and the terrible things that are happening in the country."

In the last few hours, Hezbollah has been firing more rockets into northern Israel.

The Israeli army says it detected 40 projectiles – which are generally rockets or missiles – fired from Lebanon into the Upper Galilee area. Some were intercepted by Israel's missile defence system but others fell into the area, it says.

Hezbollah confirms it fired rockets at Israeli soldiers in the Ma'ayan Baruch kibbutz and in Beit Hillel - both close to the Lebanon border.

It also says it has fired more rockets tat Kiryat Shmona, where yesterday two Israeli civilians were killed.

Image source, Reuters

Riam Dalati
Reporting from Lebanon

The head of operations at Lebanon's government-run Civil Defense - the emergency medical service - has been talking to the BBC about the strike that they say killed five of their health workers last night.

"Our makeshift centre in Derdghaiya was hit. We tried to communicate with the team on the ground there, but they were incommunicado," says Walid Hachache.

"We sent a rescue force from the villages nearby. They arrived on scene and found that they had been all killed following the air strike."

He adds: "The Lebanese Civil Defense is an organisation under the protection of international laws. We rely on the international community for protection. What shall we tell our crews? Stay inside? Don't go out on rescue missions because there's no protection afforded to you? This will certainly affect all of our operations."

We've been reporting on five health workers who were killed in an air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Derdghaiya last night.

The AFP news agency has filed photos from the scene, as rescuers continue to search the rubble.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

More now on Israel's bombing overnight, as it says it's continued striking southern Lebanon, including the capital Beirut.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it "struck multiple weapons storage facilities" in the Dahieh area of Beirut and “weapons storage facilities and additional terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon”.

"Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including publishing advance warnings to the population in the area," the IDF says on X.

Let's bring you more detail on Israel saying it has killed two Hezbollah commanders.

Ahmad Moustafa al-Haj Ali, commander of the Houla Front, was responsible for hundreds of missile and anti-tank missile attacks towards the Kiryat Shmona area of northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says.

Kiryat Shmona is where two people were killed by Hezbollah rockets yesterday.

The IDF also says it killed Mohammad Ali Hamdan, commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank unit in the Meiss El Jabal area, who was responsible for "extensive anti-tank missile attacks toward communities in northern Israel".

Hezbollah has not commented, and the BBC can't verify the men's deaths or their roles in the group.

The two forces at work on the Biden-Netanyahu phone callpublished at 08:06 British Summer Time 10 October

08:06 BST 10 October

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

Image source, Israeli Prime Minister's Office

US President Joe Biden and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a much-anticipated 30-minute phone call on Wednesday - believed to be their first contact since August - which included discussions on Israel’s intended retaliation to Iran’s missile strike last week.

The White House described the dialogue as "direct" and "productive", and said Biden and Netanyahu had agreed to stay in "close contact" in coming days. Vice-President Kamala Harris also joined the call.

Speaking shortly afterwards, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said its attack against Iran would be "deadly, precise and above all surprising".

Two forces are at work. One is Joe Biden’s reluctance to see the US dragged into a war with Iran that it believes would be unnecessary and dangerous.

The other is a strong sense among some in Israel that they have an opportunity to deal a body blow to Iran - their mortal enemy.

Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah has energised Israelis who were desperate to break out of the grinding war of attrition on their border with Lebanon.

Lebanon, for them, felt like success and progress - a stark contrast to the position in Gaza.

• Read Jeremy's full analysis here

Jonathan Head
Reporting from Beirut

As we've reported, Lebanese authorities say five health workers were killed by an Israeli air strike on Wednesday in the south of the country.

This brings the total number of health workers killed to at least 115 since the start of the Israeli operation in Lebanon last month.

The Lebanese Civil Defence Force says the health workers were waiting in a makeshift emergency response centre in a church hall in the southern town of Derdghaiya when it was hit by an Israeli air strike.

The authorities say at least five were killed, but they are still checking the rubble for more victims.

The government has called on the international community to do more to prevent such attacks, which it says violate the laws of war.

Israel says it only attacks military targets and the town was in an area which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had warned people to leave.

The UN believes says one quarter of the country has now been subjected to such evacuation orders.

Good morning from London, as we resume our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

In the Hezbollah-controlled Beirut neighbourhood of Dahieh, two air strikes were reported last night - Israel says it's targeting "terrorist infrastructure".

Meanwhile in south Lebanon, authorities say five health workers were killed in a strike on the town of Derdghaiya.

Separately, Israel says it killed two Hezbollah military commanders who were behind missile attacks on northern Israel - that comes after two Israelis were killed yesterday by rockets close to the Lebanon border.

Hezbollah hasn't commented on the deaths.

This page will have all the latest news and analysis from our teams in Beirut, Jerusalem, and across the region - so stay with us.

Image source, Reuters

A bit earlier, US President Joe Biden held one of his first calls with his Israeli counterpart in weeks, during which he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should "minimise" harm to Lebanon's civilians.

Here's what else has been happening today:

• Vice-President Kamala Harris also joined that call with Netanyahu, where Biden stressed the need to minimise civilian harm in densely populated areas like Beirut - a frequent target for Israeli air strikes in recent days
• In the capital, fresh evacuation orders have been issued for a southern suburb - some of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the country spent last night sleeping on the streets
• The world is still waiting for Israel's potential response to Iran's missile attacks last week, but got some insight today when its defence minister said it would be "deadly, precise and surprising" - Frank Gardner explains the pros and cons of different targets
• There were more heavy barrages fired by Hezbollah in northern Israel in the afternoon including against the city of Kiryat Shmona, closer to the border, which killed two Israelis
• Meanwhile,Israel says it has carried out more than 1,100 air strikes since its ground invasion began in southern Lebanon on 30 September
• In its latest update, Lebanese health officials said 22 people were killed yesterday and 80 wounded

We're going to be pausing our coverage for the day, but our correspondents around the world will continue to file updates to our Middle East team throughout the night.

Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health says five members from the Hezbollah-linked civil defence agency - an emergency response organisation - have been killed in an Israeli strike in the country's south.

The strike hit in the village of Derdghaiya, in southern Lebanon, as the personnel "were inside on the alert to receive emergency calls," a statement from the ministry says on X.

The ministry goes on to condemn the attacks, saying it disregards "international laws, norms, and humanitarian charters".

It adds that the death toll of five was "provisional", as rubble at the site of the attack was still being removed.

The Israeli military has not yet commented.