Middle East crisis live: ‘hell is breaking loose in Lebanon’, Guterres tells UN security council

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“Stop the killing and destructions, tone down the rhetoric and threats, step back from the brink”, Guterres says as he ends his speech to the UN security council.

The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world cannot afford for Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Guterres has told the UN security council that Monday was the “bloodiest day in Lebanon in a generation.”

Guterres has also said that people is Israel have come under threat as well and that Hezbollah continues to launch rockets at military and civilian position in Israel.

“Earlier this week the UN special coordinator for Lebanon travelled to Israel for consultations, underscoring that military escalation is in no ones interest … Despite the dangerous conditions our peacekeepers remain in position.”

UN security council meeting on the Middle East begins

The representative from Slovenia – which holds the security council’s rotating president has opened the meeting and handed over to UN secretary general António Guterres.

Guterres begins by saying “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon: and that the country is on the brink.

He has called on the communities of norther Israel and southern Lebanon to be able to return to their homes.

Summary of the day so far

The UN security council is getting set to meet to discuss the Middle East. As we wait for that meeting to begin, here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 72 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Wednesday and hundreds were wounded, according to figures by the Lebanese health ministry. The geographic scope of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah has widened, after Hezbollah aimed a long-range missile at Tel Aviv and Israel targeted the mountains north of Beirut for the first time in the war, drawing an Israeli warning that it was preparing a major response. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in the past three days.

Three days of Israeli bombardment has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon, according to authorities. At least a quarter of them are women and children. The UN said 90,000 people had been displaced since Monday, on top of more than 200,000 people who had left their homes in southern Lebanon over the past year as Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire over the border.

Israel’s top general has said the country is preparing for a possible ground operation into Lebanon. As an intense bombing campaign inside Lebanon stretched in to a third day, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi said the airstrikes aimed to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and prepare for the possibility of Israeli troops crossing the border. “We are preparing the process of a manoeuvre,” he told troops during a visit to Israel’s north on Wednesday.

The Pentagon said an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon did not appear “imminent”. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US was making “a full-court press” for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. She referred reporters to Israel for questions about its operations and plans.

Israel’s Maj Gen Halevi’s comments came amid growing international pressure for a negotiated ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. The US is in “active discussions” with Israeli officials as well as other countries to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah, a US official said. A US-led initiative to secure a ceasefire has the support of France and Arab countries, but it relies on Hezbollah agreeing to stop firing on Israel before any ceasefire in Gaza is secured. France has called a UN security council meeting on Lebanon for Wednesday to discuss ideas around de-escalation.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel is delivering blows to Hezbollah that it could never imagine, promising not to rest until residents of northern Israel return home. Netanyahu is due to be out of the country to travel to the UN general assembly in New York.

With Israel and Hezbollah now in effect at war, world leaders repeatedly warned of the dangers of a full-blown regional conflict at the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday. But as they called for de-escalation, they prepared for the opposite: from Moscow to London and Washington, governments told citizens in Lebanon to return home while they could, as airlines cancelled flights from Beirut.

The US president, Joe Biden, warned over the need to avoid “all-out war” in the region. “An all-out war is possible,” Biden said on Wednesday, adding that he believed an opportunity also existed “to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region”. Biden has been widely criticised for mishandling the escalating Middle East crisis. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said Washington and its allies were working tirelessly to avoid a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah. Blinken claimed Israel has a legitimate interest in seeking to remove Hezbollah from the borders of northern Israel and rebuffed calls to take a tougher line over the Israeli bombardment.

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, called for an end to Israel’s “escalation” in Lebanon along with the rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Israel. Macron said he would send his newly appointed foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, to Lebanon this week as part of efforts to prevent a full-fledged war. The White House said Biden met with Macron on the sidelines of the UN general assembly on Wednesday to discuss “efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah and prevent a wider war”.

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was “very concerned” about the increasing escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. The UK is closely monitoring Beirut’s international airport amid fears it may be forced to close due to escalating fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which would probably lead to an evacuation of British and other foreign nationals from Lebanon. The UK government announced it would send £5m ($6.6m) in aid to Lebanon.

Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip as well as Lebanon. The health ministry in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday reported the killing of 85 people and the injury of 104 others by the Israeli military in the last 24 hours. The total figures since 7 October, given by the ministry, are as at least 41,495 Palestinians killed and 96,006 wounded.

Israeli forces detained at least 35 people in the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours, according to a statement from the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. The latest figure takes the total number of arrests since 7 October to more than 10,900.

A Lebanese official said there are serious efforts, led by the US, to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The aim of negotiations is to reach a temporary four-week ceasefire, AP reported, citing the Lebanese official.

Talks are ongoing in New York where Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, is attending the UN general assembly.

A new deal will be based on implementing UN security council resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, he said.

Local media have reported that if reached, the deal will begin with a four-week ceasefire during which there will be talks for on further issues including land border demarcation and boosting Lebanese army presences along the border area.

Biden and Macron discuss efforts to secure Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, says White House

The White House said the US president, Joe Biden, met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday.

The two leaders discussed “efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah and prevent a wider war”, according to the White House.

At least 72 people killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, says health ministry

At least 72 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday in Lebanon and hundreds were wounded, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese health ministry statements.

An 87-year-old French citizen was killed on Monday after the building he was living in near the Lebanese city of Tyre collapsed following a “powerful explosion” nearby, according to the French embassy in Lebanon.

The statement said no other French citizens were known to have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon in the past three days.

UK to send £5m in aid to Lebanon

The UK government has announced it will send £5m ($6.61m) in aid to Lebanon.

The government has also reopened its “register your presence” portal, which British nationals in Lebanon can fill in to notify the UK government of their whereabouts.

“The situation in Lebanon is deeply concerning,” Anneliese Dodds, the UK’s development minister, said in a statement.

While we continue to urge British nationals to leave and have launched our ‘register your presence portal’ to aid their departure, the UK will always be a strong supporter of the Lebanese people. That is why we are providing £5 million to Unicef to support civilians who have been displaced and are facing a humanitarian emergency.

She added:

We need to see an immediate ceasefire from both sides to prevent further civilian casualties and ensure that displaced people can return to their homes.

Israel says it hit more than 2,000 targets in Lebanon in three days

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have been struck by the Israeli air force in the past three days.

Hagari, at a press conference on Wednesday, said:

Today, we continued to strike in Lebanon. Fighter jets struck hundreds of targets, to destroy Hezbollah capabilities.

The former US president, Donald Trump, said he would threaten to blow Iran “to smithereens” if he was re-elected to the White House and a candidate faced threats from Tehran.

The Republican presidential candidate, at a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, said:

If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country – in this case, Iran – that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We are going to blow it to smithereens.

The comments came after US intelligence officials reportedly briefed Trump about a suspected Iranian plot to kill him. Trump told supporters:

As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve – but possibly do – Iran.

Trump went on to say he and the US have been “threatened very directly by Iran” and that a firm message needed to reach Tehran about the consequences.

The best way to do it is through the office of the president, that (if) you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say.

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, in his speech to the UN general assembly on Wednesday, said he would be dispatching his newly appointed foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, to Lebanon this week as part of efforts to prevent a full-fledged war.

France has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the US on an initiative to stop the fighting and open the door to more diplomacy, Reuters reported, citing diplomats.

Macron urges Israel to stop 'escalation’ in Lebanon and Hezbollah to 'stop firing'

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, called for an end to Israel’s “escalation” in Lebanon along with the rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Israel.

“There cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon,” Macron said in a speech to the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday.

We are firmly calling on Israel to stop the escalation in Lebanon and Hezbollah to stop firing towards Israel.

On the subject of Gaza, Macron said that while Israel had a right to defend itself, the war had lasted too long and needed to end now. He said:

There is no justification, no explanation for thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths. Too many civilians are dead.

The US is in “active discussions” with Israeli officials as well as other countries to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah, AFP reported, citing a US official.

As we reported earlier, Israeli sources told Reuters that the US and France are working on ceasefire proposals but that no significant progress has been made so far.

The proposal put forward by Washington includes a truce in the north of Israel to allow for a diplomatic solution, the Times of Israel is reporting.

The Pentagon’s spokesperson, Sabrina Singh, said the US military is not providing intelligence support to Israel for its operations in Lebanon.

She added that the US was making “a full-court press” for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon does not appear ‘imminent’, says Pentagon

The Pentagon said an Israeli ground operation inside Lebanon does not appear “imminent”, despite comments from Israel’s top general ordering troops to prepare for a possible ground incursion.

“It doesn’t look like something is imminent,” the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, told journalists on Wednesday. She added:

We certainly don’t want to see any action taken that could lead to further escalation in the region … We want to see a diplomatic resolution and a solution to prevent an all-out war.

She referred reporters to Israel for questions about its operations and plans.

As we reported earlier, Israel’s chief of staff, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi, said earlier today that the country is preparing for a possible ground operation into Lebanon.

The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an umbrella group for Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, has claimed responsibility for a drone strike on the port of Israel’s southern city of Eilat on Wednesday.

A statement published on the group’s Telegram reads:

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq attacked a strategic target in Eilat on Wednesday … using drones.

Israeli rescue services said two people suffered minor injuries from the attack, and that it caused minimal damage.