WRAPUP 3-Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire across Lebanon border amid concern over Gaza war spillover

Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said on Saturday it had fired rockets at Israel and its arch-foe said it had struck a "terrorist cell" in retaliation, as top U.S. and EU diplomats visited the region to seek ways to halt spillover from the war. Shortly after rocket sirens sounded across northern Israel, the Israeli military said that "approximately 40 launches from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were identified".

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Hezbollah said it had hit a key Israeli observation post with 62 rockets as a "preliminary response" to the killing of Hamas' deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday.

Tensions have been especially high since Arouri was killed by a drone in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hamas' Lebanese ally Hezbollah, in an attack widely attributed to Israel. The head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Friday Lebanon would be "exposed" to more Israeli operations if his group did not respond to the killing.

Israel's military said it had responded to Saturday's rocket attack with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on "the terrorist cell responsible for the launches toward the area of Metula". Israeli fighter jets and troops also struck a series of Hezbollah targets in the areas of Ayta ash Shab, Yaroun, and Ramyeh in southern Lebanon, it said, hitting a launch post, military sites, and "terrorist infrastructure".

WESTERN DIPLOMACY U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the European Union's senior diplomat Josep Borrell have both begun a new diplomatic push to stop the spillover from the three-month-old Gaza war into Lebanon, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Israel and Hezbollah often trade fire across the Lebanese border, the West Bank is seething with emotion and the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen seem determined to continue attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes until Israel stops bombarding Gaza. Blinken was meeting the leaders of Turkey and Greece on Saturday at the start of a week-long trip that will also take him to Israel, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

During two hours of talks in Istanbul, Blinken discussed the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign ministry said. A U.S. official said Blinken then held talks with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel's military actions in Gaza. Turkey, which unlike most of its NATO allies does not class Hamas as a terrorist organisation, has offered to mediate in the Gaza conflict.

Blinken also hopes to make progress during his tour on how Gaza could be governed if and when Israel achieves its aim of eradicating Hamas. The EU's top diplomat Borrell held talks with the head of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon.

"Pursuing a diplomatic solution (for the region) is not only possible, but essential," UNIFIL chief Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro said on the Telegram messaging app after the talks. Israel's onslaught began after Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel on Oct. 7, with 1,200 people killed and 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

The offensive, aimed at wiping out the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, has so far killed 22,722 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and devastated the densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people. At least 122 Palestinians have been killed and 256 others injured in Gaza in the past 24 hours alone, they said on Saturday. HEAVY SHELLING

The official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported on Saturday that 18 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli attack on a house east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. In the West Bank village of Beit Rima, the Palestinian health ministry said a 17-year-old was shot dead by Israeli forces and four other people were injured.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported heavy shelling in Khan Younis on Saturday near the Al-Amal Hospital. Shrapnel flew into the medical facility amid the sound of heavy gunfire from drones, it said in a post on social media platform X. The traumatised residents of Gaza, most of whose population has been displaced by the bombardment, are facing a devastating humanitarian crisis, with food, medicine and fuel supplies running low.

Standing outside a morgue in Khan Younis on Saturday, 11-year-old Mahmoud Awad said his parents and siblings had been killed by Israeli airstrikes. "We were in al-Shati refugee camp and they (Israeli army) dropped fliers saying that Gaza is a battlefield, so we fled to Khan Younis because it was a safe place, and they still bombed us," he said.

Israel denies targeting civilians in its campaign to eradicate Hamas but says the militants deliberately embed themselves and their infrastructure among civilian populations to make it harder for Israel's military to strike. Israel has released videos and photos in support of its claim. Hamas denies this accusation.

Israel has listed 175 soldiers as killed in action since its offensive began. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, is backed by Iran. Other Iranian-backed militants have hit U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria in what they call revenge for Israel's offensive.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Istanbul;Arafat Barbakh in Gaza, Nidal al-Mugrhabi and Muhammad Al Gebaly and Adam Makary in Cairo Writing by Michael Georgy Editing by Frances Kerry and Gareth Jones)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)