Israel strikes Gaza after Lebanon flare-up

Israel's military struck the Gaza Strip on Monday, a day after truce talks in Cairo coincided with a major but brief cross-border escalation involving Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Gaza conflict, triggered by Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, has drawn in Tehran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East, repeatedly heightening fears of a broader regional conflagration.

In the latest flare-up between Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese group on Sunday launched rockets and drones in retaliation for a top commander's killing as Israel carried out air raids that the military claimed thwarted a larger attack.

Israel swiftly revoked a state of emergency declared early on Sunday, and Hezbollah said its operation was "completed."

Intense diplomacy in recent weeks sought to head off broader retaliation for the late July killings of senior Hezbollah officer Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on Beirut, and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Western and Arab diplomats have stressed the urgency of securing a truce in Gaza and a hostage release deal to calm regional tensions.

Mediators held meetings in the Egyptian capital Sunday, but reported no breakthrough in months of protracted negotiations as fighting in Gaza raged on.

Witnesses and AFP correspondents reported air strikes and shelling in Gaza City and other parts of the besieged Palestinian territory overnight, and Israel's military said it had struck militants in the south.

Medics said an air strike on a Gaza City house killed at least five people, with two rescuers telling AFP more victims may be buried in the ruins in the Al-Rimal neighborhood.

"There are still martyrs and body parts under the rubble, most of them women,...