Lebanon Mourns Civilian Casualties

Mourners carry the coffins of two women from the same family, Mariam Kashakesh and her 11-year-old daughter Sara Kashakesh, killed in a reported Israeli strike that destroyed their house in the southern Lebanese village of Hanin.

Lebanon's Hezbollah says it fired a fresh barrage of rockets across the border after a strike blamed on Israel killed the two civilians.

Israel has struck increasingly deeper into Lebanon, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has stepped up attacks on Israeli military bases across the border.

Hezbollah denied a comment by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in the months of violence.

The Gaza war has led to violence between Israel and Iran's proxies and allies, driving up regional tensions.

Palestinians mourned people killed in Israeli bombardment of Rafah, the crowded southern Gaza city where Israel says it is advancing plans for a ground invasion.

Global concern has mounted over the looming operation against Hamas militants in Rafah, where much of Gaza's population has sought refuge from more than six months of war in the narrow coastal strip.

Aid groups warn any invasion would add to already-catastrophic conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Israeli officials have for more than two months vowed to enter Rafah, near the Egyptian border, but even before any ground operation the area has been regularly bombed.

Belgium said an Israeli strike on Rafah killed Abdallah Nabhan, 33, who worked for its Enabel development agency.

The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people in Israel.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, with a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,305 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.