President Joe Biden joined with leaders from the rest of the Group of Seven (G7) nations—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—in expressing their dismay at Iran's Oct. 1 ballistic missile salvo targeting Israel.
"We, the Leaders of the G7, express deep concern over the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s direct military attack against Israel, which constitutes a serious threat to regional stability," the G7 leaders said in a joint statement on Oct. 3.
The G7 countries reiterated their support for Israel's security and "discussed coordinated efforts and actions to avoid escalation in the area."
The Israeli military on Oct. 3 identified a ninth soldier killed in ground operations in southern Lebanon this week.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Cpt. Ben Zion Falach, 21, of the 202nd Paratroopers Battalion of Israel's 35th Paratroopers Brigade, fell in battle on Oct. 2, during the second full day of Israeli ground operations in Lebanon.
Hezbollah claimed it killed and wounded dozens of Israeli troops in ambush attacks in the southern Lebanese border communities of Adaisseh and Maroun Al-Ras on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they eliminated a Hezbollah commander responsible for a July 27 rocket attack that killed 12 Druze children in the Golan Heights.
"Yesterday (Wednesday), acting on IDF intelligence, [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets eliminated Khider al-Shaebia, the terrorist who was responsible for the attack in Majdal Shams," the IDF said in an Oct. 3 press statement.
The July 27 incident saw a munition strike a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams as children played there, killing 12 and wounding dozens more.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets, acting on intelligence from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), struck targets at Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, according to the IDF.
"Terror operatives belonging to the unit, intelligence-gathering means, command centers, and additional terrorist infrastructure" were hit, the Israeli military said in an Oct. 3 post on the messaging platform Telegram. "The Intelligence Corps is Hezbollah’s primary intelligence body and is responsible for aggregating intelligence about the IDF and the State of Israel."
The IDF's claims have, as yet, not been independently verified, and Hezbollah has yet to comment.
Hundreds of people fleeing the violence in Lebanon arrived in southern Turkey on Thursday.
More than 300 passengers who boarded a ship in Tripoli docked at a port in Mersin on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, according to news agency IHA.
IHA said the Med Lines ship transporting foreign nationals was the third to arrive at the Mersin port in recent days.
The death toll from the Israeli airstrike on a building in central Beirut has been revised up from six, as previously reported, to nine, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel made the strike into the heart of the Lebanese capital without warning late on Wednesday night.
Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed in the hit on the building, which is located just yards from the Lebanese Parliament.
The Israeli military said that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike on Gaza around three months ago.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Thursday that the strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders, Sameh Siraj and Sameh Oudeh.
Hamas has not yet commented on the claims.
More than 240 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel throughout Wednesday, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
One person suffered minor injuries as a result of falling glass shards or shrapnel during the attacks on the Western Galilee, medics say, but there are no other reports of injuries.
The rocket fire seems to be continuing into Thursday, with warning sirens in at least four areas in northern Israel so far, according to the IDF's Telegram channel.
Israel bombed Beirut early on Thursday morning, killing at least six people as their battle with the Hezbollah terror group continues, according to Lebanese authorities.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had conducted a precise air strike on the Lebanese capital, with Reuters reporting witnesses hearing a huge blast.
At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said, in what is believed to be the closest an Israeli strike has come to the center of Beirut in this current conflict.
An American has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, according to the U.S. congresswoman representing his constituency.
Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib's office said on Wednesday it was in touch with the family of Kamel Ahmad Jawad of Dearborn, Michigan, adding he was the congresswoman's constituent and an American citizen.
Jawad was in Lebanon taking care of his elderly mother, the Detroit News reported.
Israel said regular infantry and armored units had joined ground operations in Lebanon on Wednesday following Iran's missile attack against the Jewish state.
Hezbollah said its fighters engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Lebanese soil, reporting ground clashes for the first time since the IDF crossed the border on Monday.
The terror group claimed it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of Maroun El Ras.
Around 100 U.S. citizens and noncitizen family members left Beirut, Lebanon, on a flight organized by the U.S. government on Oct. 2, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
The United States has been helping to organize evacuations out of Lebanon as Israeli forces have intensified operations targeting Hezbollah.
Miller said the aircraft chartered for the Wednesday flight had seats for around 300 people.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for a mass shooting in Tel Aviv-Jaffa that left seven dead and several others injured on Oct. 1.
The Qassam Brigades—the armed wing of Hamas—said two of its operatives were responsible for carrying out the shooting attack near a light rail station.
Israeli police said the gunmen boarded the light rail and opened fire on passengers, then continued on foot to attack pedestrians before being stopped by a security patrol and an armed civilian who killed one attacker and critically wounded the other.
President Joe Biden opposes the idea of Israel striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
"The answer is no,” Biden said, while speaking with members of the press at Joint Base Andrews on Oct. 2, the day after Iran launched around 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel.
The Israeli military has vowed to respond to the Oct. 1 Iranian ballistic missile barrage.