Israel, Hezbollah exchange heavy fire

JERUSALEM, Aug 25 (BBC/AP): Israel says its warplanes have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting moves to launch an aerial attack on Israel.

The Israeli military said around 100 fighter jets had destroyed "thousands" of rocket launchers on Sunday morning, in what it described as an act of "self-defence". Lebanon's health ministry reported that three people had been killed.

Hezbollah later said it had fired hundreds of rockets towards northern Israel, calling it "phase one" of a multi-stage attack in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander. No casualties have been reported in Israel.

The exchange marks a major escalation of tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Shia Muslim armed group.

There have been almost daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group that is also backed by Iran. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.

So far, more than 560 people have been reported killed by Lebanon's health ministry, the vast majority of them Hezbollah fighters, while 26 civilians and 23 soldiers have been killed in Israel, according to authorities.

The UN says almost 200,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the border.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said Saturday, as officials including a Hamas delegation gathered for high-level cease-fire talks in neighboring Egypt.

Eleven members of a family, including two children, were among the dead after an airstrike hit their home in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received a total of 33 bodies from three strikes in and around the city that also hit tuk-tuks and passersby. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received three bodies from another strike.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

First responders also recovered 16 bodies from the Hamad City area of Khan Younis after a partial pullout of Israeli forces, 10 bodies from a residential building west of Khan Younis and two farther south in Rafah. The circumstances of their deaths weren't immediately clear, but the areas were repeatedly bombed by the Israeli military over the past week. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies.

Some residents returned to Hamad City, crunching on rubble as they walked between destroyed apartment buildings. One multistory building's entire wall was gone, its rooms framing residents picking through debris.

"There is nothing, no apartment, no furniture, no homes, only destruction," Neveen Kheder said. "We are dying slowly. You know what, if they gave a mercy bullet, it would be better than what is happening to us."

The war in Gaza began when Hamas and other militants staged a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, primarily civilians. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 110 hostages. Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead.