Israel hits towns of Sarafand and Haret Saida, says Lebanese health ministry; ‘large number’ of tanks cross Israeli border, local media reports

Israeli tanks entered the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Khiam in their deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon in their ground operation, Lebanese media reported, while the health ministry said at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on the south.

The official National News Agency on Tuesday reported the entry of a “large number” of Israeli tanks into the eastern outskirts of the town of Khiam, about 6km from the border with Israel.

At least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on a crowded block of flats in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday. The US state department called the incident “horrifying”. Medics said at least 20 children were among the dead. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them,” the health ministry said.

Israel is not addressing the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, the US envoy to the United Nations told the UN security council. Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks on Tuesday came as a Washington-imposed deadline looms for Israel to improve the situation on the ground in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza, with one officer severely injured, the Israeli military said. Separately, the military said another soldier died from wounds sustained in battle in southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October last year to 777.

The UN said that if Israel put in place new laws cutting ties with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, the Israeli government would have to meet their needs under international law. Secretary general António Guterres said Unrwa would be prevented from doing work mandated by the UN general assembly if Israel implemented the laws, and called on it “to act consistently with its obligations”. He wrote in a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu about the “devastating impact” on Palestinians in the occupied territories if the legislation was implemented, the UN chief’s spokesperson said. The World Health Organization head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the Israeli parliament’s decision was “intolerable” and would have “devastating consequences”.

Norway said it would seek clarification from the international court of justice over Israel’s aid obligations after the Israeli vote on Unrwa. The Israeli UN ambassador said Israel would facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza but asserted that “Unrwa has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job”.

Two senior advisers to the US president, Joe Biden, will arrive in Israel on Thursday to try to close a deal that would end the war in Lebanon, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three unidentified sources. The US news website quoted Israeli and US officials as saying the deal to end Israel-Hezbollah fighting could be achieved within a few weeks.

At least 43,061 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes since last October, according to the latest figures from the territory’s health ministry on Tuesday.

The UN’s World Food Programme called for immediate action to avert famine in northern Gaza. It said north Gaza “continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase”. In Gaza’s two northern governorates, where about 300,000 people remain trapped, famine was expected to arrive between now and May.