Israel-Lebanon updates: Penny Wong calls for de-escalation in Lebanon as thousands flee strikes in region's deadliest day since civil war

Thank you for joining us on our live coverage of the unfolding situation in Israel and Lebanon through all of last night and today.

Here's a quick rundown to get you up to speed:

• Thousands of people have fled as Israel launched a new wave of air strikes across Lebanon on Monday, in a day that recorded the highest death toll for the country since the end of its civil war in 1990.
• Israel's military issued TV, text message and automated phone warnings to residents in southern Lebanon to leave areas where Hezbollah might be operating because it would be launching strikes "shortly".
  
• Israel's military spokesman said 1,600 Hezbollah targets were struck, destroying cruise missiles, rockets and attack drones.
• The death toll from the Israeli strikes has risen to 492, including women, children and medics, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
• Lebanon's state-run media reported an Israeli strike in the country's capital of Beirut, which the Israeli military confirmed but did not give further details on.
• Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at several Israeli military posts after the Israeli army struck targets belonging to the group.
• Iran's president accused Israel of trying to drag the Middle East into a full-blown war by provoking his country to join the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

You can catch up on all the day's developments below, or read more in the piece wrapping up the strikes below.

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The group has claimed responsibility for attacks on multiple military air bases, as well as a weapons factory in northern Israel, Qatar's Al Jazeera network reported.

The cities of Afula and Haifa were said to be among the locations hit.

To read more on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah click on Middle East correspondent Eric Tlozek's analysis here:

Speaking at a press conference in Perth this morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated the government's calls for Australians in Lebanon to leave the country before flights are cut off.

"People who are in Lebanon should listen to the warnings that we have been saying for months," he said. "They should come home while commercial flights are available.

"The fact that some people have continued to go from Australia to Lebanon in recent months is not a common sense thing to do. The government issues these warnings for a reason and the advice is that people should take the opportunity to come home."

Israel has been urged to extend its relationships with Palestinian banks for at least a year by the US Treasury's deputy secretary, Wally Adeyemo, to avert an economic crisis in the West Bank. 

He also warned that Israel's own security was at stake.

The banking correspondence authorisation is due to expire on October 31, posing risks to export and import transactions valued at nearly $US10 billion, Treasury officials have said.

In a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Adeyemo said any Israeli move to cut off Palestinian banks would raise the risk of regional instability and could move more Palestinian financial transactions into the shadows, both of which would harm Israeli and regional security, said a source familiar with those talks.

Reporting with Reuters

Questions are coming through about where exactly Lebanon is in proximity to Israel.

Here is a map of the region for reference.

"It's heading to more savagery on the part of the Israelis and revenge on the part of Hezbollah and whoever else might join," Rami Khouri from the American University of Beirut told ABC News Channel.

"Israelis and the Americans now are one unit and they're fighting against six people all over the region — Hamas and Hezbollah and the West Bank, popular mobilisation forces in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen ... a whole regional network closely linked to Iran.

"Israelis have not been constrained at all by the Western powers that basically give it the capacity to do what it's doing."

Watch his full interview here:

ActionAid, a non-profit delivering refugee and other community services in southern Lebanon, said it was forced to suspend operations after Israel's attacks on the region.

Along with the south, evacuation orders have also been issued to families in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

ActionAid’s partner, The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL), which works in the Bekaa Valley, had to cease providing essential services due to the escalating violence.

"A significant displacement is underway, with many families fleeing to Jeb Jennine, which is seen as safer than the surrounding villages," an officer from the RDFL said.

"Schools are being converted into shelters for the displaced, and the air is filled with the constant sound of ambulances.

"There’s a growing concern that the situation may worsen in the coming hours."

With attacks taking place further and further from the border, families have no choice but to travel north to seek safety in Beirut, and gas stations are crowded with people trying to refuel their cars in an effort to escape.   

Here's some footage from southern Lebanon of smoke rising in the aftermath of air strikes:

Here's Benjamin Netanyahu video message that was mentioned in the last post.

"Israel's war is not with you. It's with Hezbollah," he said.

"For too long Hezbollah has been using you as human shields," he alleged.

"Don't let Hezbollah endanger you and the lives of your loved ones.

"Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes."

Watch the full message here:

In a video posted to X last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the people of Lebanon, saying Israel's war was "not with you" but with Hezbollah, who he said have been "using you as human shields".

Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, said Mr Netanyahu's suggestion that Hezbollah militants infiltrated civilian infrastructure for the purpose of fighting distorted the reality of how interconnected civilians and fighters in both Israel and Lebanon were.

"It's exaggerated propaganda," he told ABC News Channel.

"Both sides are fighting while being deeply entrenched in their civilian populations in their urban centers and villages.

"Netanyahu thinks he's on a CNN debate. He just says things that sound good, and to an ignorant audience overseas, it often is sounding good.

"But for all the Arabs and the Israelis, they understand that this is a cycle of violence and counter violence that is a catastrophe for everybody."

At the press conference Penny Wong is asked if Australia and the United States should use more leverage to try and see a de-escalation in the region.

"I can only speak for Australia and we will continue to add our voice both to calls for de-escalation," she says.

"We have engaged with countries in the region – not just Israel but other countries in the region.

"We have consistently put the view that escalation is in no-one's interests."

She also reiterated that the Australian government demands a two-state solution and "it demands the observance of international humanitarian law".

Speaking with reporters in New York, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the Australian government is "deeply concerned" by the escalation in conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.

"We're alarmed by the escalation and the loss of civilian life both in Lebanon and also the attacks into Israel," she says.

"We have consistently said we wish to see de-escalation.

 "We believe a wider regional conflict is not in the interests of any of the peoples of the region."

Following the UAE, Saudi Arabia — another member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — has also urged all parties to exercise restraint.

In a statement issued on Monday, it warned of escalating violence amid security developments in Lebanon, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The GCC comprises of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, and the UAE.

Although a political and economic union, the council has never had a single, united position on the Israel-Hamas war.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy posted this statement on X earlier.

"Deeply alarmed by rockets and air strikes in Lebanon and Israel and resulting civilian casualties," he wrote.

"I repeat my call for an immediate ceasefire on both sides, which I will emphasise when I meet G7 ministers tonight."

The G7 bloc comprises of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The escalation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah has almost become a full-fledged war, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday.

"If this is not a war situation, I don't know what you would call it," Josep Borrell told reporters, citing the high number of civilian casualties.

Reuters

Yesterday France requested an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss Lebanon, after Israel launched a major cross-border attack following nearly a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

He called on all sides to "avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone," especially civilians.

AFP

The United States does not think Israeli escalation to force Hezbollah to reduce tensions will yield the desired outcome of de-escalation, a senior State Department official said on Monday, effectively disagreeing with Israel's strategy.

The conflict is a key focus for Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week, where Washington had concrete ideas to prevent a broader war and would seek an "off ramp" to the tensions, the official told reporters in New York.

"We've got some concrete ideas we're going to be discussing with allies and partners this week to try to figure out the way forward on this," they said.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference earlier that it was imperative for Israel to act against Hezbollah due to its threatened "Conquer the Galilee" mission, an October-7 style attack Israel claims the militant group is planning in northern Israel.

Reporting with wires

Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday, local time, that national carrier EgyptAir cancelled flights to and from the Lebanese capital Beirut starting on Tuesday, September 24.

It did not mention how long the cancellations were anticipated for, as Israeli strikes on Lebanon remain ongoing.

UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell says the intensifying violence represents a dangerous escalation for civilians in the area, particularly children.

"I am deeply alarmed by the ongoing surge of deadly attacks in Lebanon and Israel, which earlier today reportedly claimed the lives of at least 24 children in southern Lebanon," she said.

Read her full statement: