Israel's military

KYSEA, Greece's top decision-making body for foreign affairs and defense, will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday following Iran's missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.

The meeting, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is scheduled for 4.30 p.m.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged all Bulgarian citizens to avoid travel to the Republic of Lebanon and advised those already in the country to leave immediately. This warning follows a recent escalation in military activities within Lebanon.

Cars sit in traffic as they flee the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on the south killed 182 people and wounded more than 700 Monday, in the worst toll by far in nearly a year of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.

The latest escalation brought Israel and Hezbollah back to the brink of the war on Sept. 20, as the Israeli military carried out dozens of strikes across southern Lebanon in what Lebanese security sources said were some of the most intense bombings in months.

Israel said it struck hundreds of targets in Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah's leader vowed to retaliate for two "unprecedented" rounds of attacks targeting its operatives' communication devices.

Gaza's civil defense agency reported Tuesday that an Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the south of the Palestinian territory resulted in the deaths of 40 people and injuries to 60 others. 

People protest in support of the war in Gaza, in Washington Square Park on Labor Day on September 2, 2024 in New York City

The United States said Tuesday it was time to "finalise" a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to bow to pressure.

Israel's military announced Sunday the discovery of six dead hostages in a Gaza tunnel, as medics in Palestinian territory braced for pauses in fighting for a polio vaccination drive.

The hostages' remains were recovered Saturday "from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area" and formally identified in Israel, a military statement said.

The wide-scale Israeli raids in the West Bank overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday stand in stark contrast to Israel's response to Jewish settler violence in the area, which has surged during the nearly 11-month-long war in the Gaza Strip.

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.