Iran-Israel latest news: Hezbollah war would leave Lebanon desperate for aid as Gaza families flee Khan Younis

Tehran will avenge the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh last week, Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force chief Ismail Qaani has reportedly said in a letter to the Palestinian militant group’s new leader Yahya Sinwar.

“We are preparing to avenge his blood, a painful and difficult incident that happened in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is our duty,” M Qaani told Mr Sinwar in a letter seen by the Associated Press, without elaborating on how Teheran will avenge Haniyeh’s death.

Mr Qaani said that Haniyeh’s blood will “make the harsh punishment to the Zionist entity at the hand of the Islamic Republic” harsher than previous ones.

He was apparently referring to the mid-April missile and drone attack that Iran launched against Israel to avenge an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital in which two Iranian generals were killed.

Mr Qaani vowed in the letter to that Tehran “will be with you on the road of resistance until we achieve the divine promise which is to clear Jerusalem.”

An Israeli airstrike has targeted a car on the edge of Lebanon’s port city of Sidon, two security sources told Reuters.

The sources said it was not immediately clear who had been targeted in the strike, Reuters reported.

Lebanon’s caretaker government has welcomed calls by the US, Egypt and Qatar for Israel and Hamas to return to stalled talks, saying this reflects Beirut’s vision for de-escalation in the region.

The government said in a statement Friday that “it is necessary to put an end to the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”, adding that pressure should be put on Israel, whom Beirut accused of escalating the situation and putting obstacles to block the reaching of a deal.

There was no comment from the militant Hezbollah group that has been attacking Israeli military posts since early October. Hezbollah has said that it will only stop firing toward Israel once the war in Gaza comes to an end.

Lebanon would struggle to meet even a fraction of its aid needs if full-scale war with Israel erupts, a senior official has warned – as it seeks increased donor support amid persistent border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

Nasser Yassin, the minister overseeing contingency planning, told Reuters that Lebanon would need $100m every month for food, shelter, healthcare and other needs in a worst-case scenario – with Lebanon already having received just a third of the $74m it has sought since the Gaza war began.

“A small fraction, even 10 to 15 percent of that, would be huge for the government. We will need donors to step up,” Mr Yassin said, adding: “Humanitarian funding in many places has been reduced to a minimal level of just keeping heads above water. Some organisations are even slashing funding for critical life-saving matters.”

Under an Israeli blockade similar to the 2006 war, Mr Yassin said Lebanon’s food supply would last four to five months – however diesel supplies would last only five weeks, in a country heavily reliant on using generators to power hospitals, bakeries and the internet amid shortages of state electricity.

Israeli tanks have today returned to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, forcing thousands to evacuate along congested roadways, as Palestinian fighters continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins, residents and the military said.

Following an evacuation order issued by Israel’s military for parts of Gaza’s second largest city, Palestinian families fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws, making a slow escape along congested roads.

The United Nations human rights chief has joined the condemnation of comments by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said on Monday that the starvation of Gaza’s population “might be just and moral” until Israeli hostages are returned home.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk was “shocked and appalled” by the comments that “incite hatred against innocent civilians,” spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said.

“The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. The collective punishment of the Palestinian population is also a war crime. This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes,” Mr Laurence told a briefing in Geneva.

The UK and EU have already criticised the comments this week.

Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent war escalating in the Middle East, its foreign ministry has said.

“Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent a war in the Middle East,” a ministry spokesperson told reporters. She did not comment on whether Pakistan had been in contact with Washington over the issue.

The ministry denied reports by the Jerusalem Post newspaper that Pakistan was planning to provide Shaheen-III medium-range ballistic missiles to Iran.

Pakistan does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, but has seen a marked improvement in previously rocky ties with neighbouring Iran which culminated in military fire between the two nations in January. Iran’s president visited in April and the nations have said they are boosting trade ties and cooperation.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar has spoken by phone with Iran’s foreign minister in recent days, and attended an emergency meeting convened by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia this week where he condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy has new cruise missiles equipped with highly explosive warheads that are undetectable, the semi-official Tasnim news agency has claimed, as Israel braces for a retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“A large number of cruise missiles have been added to the Guards’ navy fleet. These new missiles have capabilities of highly explosive warheads that are undetectable and can cause extensive damage and sink their targets,” Tasnim said.

Leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar have issued a joint statement demanding that Israel and Hamas return to stalled talks on the war in Gaza next week.

“Only the details” of carrying out a ceasefire and hostage release remain to be negotiated, they said, adding: “There is no further time to waste, nor excuses from any party for further delay.”

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it had accepted the invitation.

US president Joe Biden, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani – who have acted as mediators in indirect negotiations – set the talks for Thursday, in either Doha, Qatar or Cairo.

The Delta Blue crude oil tanker has reported a third and fourth incident in the last 24 hours off Yemen’s port of Mokha, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency has said.

The crew and vessel are safe and proceeding to their next port of call, the UKMTO said in an advisory note. The latest incidents included an attack by an uncrewed surface vessel and another by a missile that landed near the ship, UKMTO said.

On Thursday the ship’s captain reported that two small craft had approached and fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near the Liberia-flagged Delta Blue some 45 nautical miles south of Mokha. Each of the two small boats had four people on board, UKMTO said.

Hours later, another missile exploded close to the tanker, it said.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.