Israel-Iran conflict as it happened: Tehran declares action against Israel over; Strikes in Lebanon and Gaza continue

Thanks for reading our live blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• Iran fired a barrage of almost 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for attacks against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, propelling the Middle East closer to a long-feared regional war.

• Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles. Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets. Israel hasn’t reported any injuries. But Palestinian officials said a man was killed by a missile that fell in the West Bank.

• In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed retaliation, while the US and Australia condemned the attack.

• In Lebanon, the Hezbollah and Israeli ground troop clashed in “close-range engagements” on Wednesday as airstrikes hit southern Beirut and rockets were fired into northern Israel.

• In Gaza, a large Israeli air and ground operation in the southern city of Khan Younis has killed at least 51 people early on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry.

• In Tel Aviv, Israeli police said seven people were shot dead when two Palestinian men opened fire minutes before Iran’s missile barrage on Tuesday evening (local time).

• Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister said he had barred United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres from entering the country for his failure to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s missile attack.

Thanks for your company.

Stay tuned for our rolling coverage on Thursday (Australian time).

Good afternoon.

If you’re just tuning in, it is now about 9.30am in Israel and Lebanon amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Here is what you need to know:

• The Middle East moved closer to a long-feared regional war after Iran fired a barrage of almost 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for attacks against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

• Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles. Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets. Israel hasn’t reported any injuries. But the Palestinian civil defence authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said a man was killed near Jericho from falling rocket debris.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed retaliation, while the US condemned the attack and promised to help Israel defend itself.

• In Gaza, Palestinian officials recently reported at least 32 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight.

• In Lebanon, Israel is carrying out what it called a “limited” ground invasion targeted at Hezbollah. It has ordered people in more than two dozen towns to move north of the Awali river, about 60 kilometres from the southern border.

• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel and called for de-escalation.

In a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East, Israel said more than 180 missiles were launched into Israel from Iran.

Israeli air defences were activated to intercept them. US Navy warships also fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles headed toward Israel, the Pentagon said.

The salvo comes a day after Israel began a ‘limited’ invasion of southern Lebanon, as Tel Aviv seeks to cripple the power of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is the Iran-backed terror group – that also functions as a political party – within Lebanon.

Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli strikes over the weekend that killed the top leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure in Iran’s network of fighters across the region.

with wires

The Israeli military said ground troops “eliminated terrorists” in “close-range engagements” in Lebanon on Wednesday.

The fighting killed an army commander, the IDF said. It claimed more than 150 “terrorist infrastructure sites” had been destroyed.

Meanwhile, earlier today, Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, told reporters touring sites of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Hezbollah had “fought a heroic battle this morning” in the southern villages of Odaisseh and Maroun al-Ras against Israeli soldiers who launched a ground incursion into Lebanon.

And in a separate incident, the Lebanese army just said one of their soldiers was injured in an Israeli drone strike.

With AP

More images from photographers in the Middle East are filtering in via global newswire services.

Below are few from Lebanon, where Israel resumed airstrikes early on Wednesday, local time:

More details are emerging about an Israeli raid in Gaza that killed dozens on the same night Iran launched missiles at Israel that didn’t injure anyone.

Moments ago, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 51 people were killed and another 82 wounded in a large Israeli air and ground operation in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Israel’s military has yet to comment on the operation, which began early Wednesday (local time). Palestinian residents say ground forces pushed into three neighbourhoods and heavy Israeli airstrikes hit too.

Mahmoud al-Razd, a resident who said four relatives were killed in the raids, described heavy destruction and said first responders had struggled to reach destroyed homes.

“The explosions and shelling were massive,” he told The Associated Press. “Many people are thought to be under the rubble and no one can retrieve them.”

AP, with Lachlan Abbott

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has launched another large missile salvo into Israel, Reuters reports.

The militant group reportedly targeted areas north of Israel’s city of Haifa.

Reuters