Middle East live: Israel strikes Lebanon in deadliest attack since June
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By: FRANCE 24 / Lara BULLENS A man reacts on the rubble of a destroyed home that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Ansar village, southern Lebanon. © Mohammed Zaatari, AP Seven people were killed and at least three injured in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanon's state news agency said. It is the worst toll since deals in June saw a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Follow our live blog for the latest updates.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said seven people including two women and three children killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday were not military targets, after Israel said it struck Hezbollah "infrastructure".
"The seven martyrs of the Israeli strike on the village of Ansar are not 'military infrastructure' and the women and children who were killed are not military targets," Salam said, adding that "Israel must halt this escalation", which he said was "extremely dangerous and undermines efforts to consolidate stability in the south".
Palestinian residents of three houses in Qusra near Nablus in the occupied West Bank say they have been effectively cut off from food and other supplies since the siege by Israeli settlers began on Sunday.
But the Israeli military has not done anything to remove the settlers.
"We are seeing the cracks of Israeli politics, including a paralysed prime minister’s inability to condemn basic filmed violent acts, play out in the West Bank," says FRANCE 24 correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky, reporting from Jerusalem.
Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike in the country's south early Saturday killed seven people, the worst toll since deals in June saw a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The National News Agency (NNA) said "a strike launched by enemy warplanes on a home" on the outskirts of the village of Ansar "killed seven people and wounded three others" and destroyed the home.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stressed Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz "will remain Iranian", after US President Donald Trump said he would "soon" declare the waterway part of American territory.
"The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian," Gharibabadi said on X, adding that the route "will be opened and closed only at Iran's command".
Trump had said Friday that after the US defeats Iran, "pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States".
UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said on Saturday that one of its vessels came under attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier.
The state oil company said no injuries were reported, with the situation now under control.
Iran has not decided to resume talks with the US, and messages being exchanged via Qatar and Pakistan do not amount to negotiations, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an interview published on Saturday.
Araqchi told Iranian news outlet Shahrara News that separate talks with Oman were focused on defining a sea route through the Strait of Hormuz, while the US would have to meet conditions for shipping to resume through the waterway.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he would "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory, claiming that Iran was being heavily defeated.
"Pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States. It's true," he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.
Welcome to our live blog covering events in the Middle East. You can catch up on yesterday's key developments here .
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