The latest Middle East: IDF confirms airstrikes on Tehran

We’re pausing live coverage of the Middle East conflict for now, but we’ll be back in the morning with the latest updates.

Gaza hit by heavy Israeli attacks

The Israeli army has carried out several operations in Gaza in the last 24 hours.

Health officials say at least 38 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern town of Khan Younis.

In the north, in the Shati refugee camp, medics told the Reuters news agency that at least 20 people had been killed in another Israeli attack.

Nearby, Palestinian officials and doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital said Israeli tanks fired on the building last night and Israel Defense Forces troops rushed in (see post 12.20).

The director-general of the World Health Organization said he had “lost contact” with hospital staff since news of the attack emerged, and a spokesman says hundreds of people have been injured (see previous post).

Journalists killed in Lebanon
Lebanon’s acting prime minister said an Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists in Hasbaya was a targeted attack and a “war crime”.

A cameraman and broadcast engineer from Al Mayadeen TV channel, plus another camera operator from Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, were killed in the attack in southern Lebanon.

The strike hit a group of cottages that had been rented by various media outlets.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said the international community “must act to stop Israel’s long-standing pattern of impunity in killing journalists.”

Lebanon’s health minister said 11 journalists had been killed and eight wounded by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past year.

Blinken’s Journey to the Middle East and Britain

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in London today meeting with Arab leaders to discuss ending the war in Gaza.

Mr Blinken met this morning with Lebanon’s Acting Prime Minister, Najib Mikati (see post 10.11), followed by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

The top US diplomat has already completed a three-nation trip to the Middle East, visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The US is hoping that the recent assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza will provide the spark needed to end the fire.

Mr Blinken revealed yesterday that Israeli and US negotiators would meet in Qatar in the coming days to discuss the ceasefire.

“We have had very good and important conversations this week, including this morning, about ending the war in Gaza and charting a path for what comes next,” Mr Blinken said in London today.

“Those conversations will continue, but I think this is a moment of urgency and importance that we’re trying to seize.”

In other news:

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, says its officials were shot by Israeli troops this week (see post 12.35);
Israel’s foreign minister says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “complicit in war crimes” after mourning the death of an aid worker who Israel claims is a Hamas commander (see post 11.00);
The Israeli military says it attacked “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites” last night at a Lebanon-Syria border crossing, leaving only one crossing between the two countries (see post 11.20);
Evidence of potential war crimes collected by British spy planes operating over Gaza could be handed over to the International Criminal Court, Britain has confirmed (see 12/02 post).