Israel presses Gaza, Lebanon assaults as Egypt touts two-day truce plan

Israeli forces launched deadly strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Monday, pressing their offensive against militants after Egypt's president proposed a two-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

There was no comment from either Israel or Hamas on the plan unveiled on Sunday by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, but Israeli media said spy chief David Barnea was in Qatar for renewed talks on a hostage release deal.

More than a year into the war unleashed when Palestinian armed group Hamas launched the deadliest attack in Israel's history on October 7, 2023, there was no let up in the violence.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least five people were killed when Israel struck the Tyre city centre. An AFP journalist saw an entire apartment block collapsed into smouldering rubble.

The ministry described the death toll as "provisional" as rescue workers were racing to pull more survivors from the pancaked building.

Hezbollah said its fighters had attacked Israeli forces along the border with rockets and artillery.

Last month, Israel escalated its air strikes on Hezbollah bastions across Lebanon and launched ground operations, following a year of low-intensity exchanges and cross-border Hezbollah attacks that the Lebanese group says were in support of Hamas.

In Gaza, where Israel's year-long military campaign has decimated Hamas's leadership while killing tens of thousands of people and triggering a humanitarian crisis, rescuers reported fresh strikes on Monday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people were killed in a drone attack on Gaza City, while the civil defence agency and an AFP correspondent reported more air strikes and shelling in other areas of the territory's north and centre.

The Israeli military said it had hit north Gaza's Jabalia — the focus of an ongoing sweeping assault since early October — and "eliminated dozens of terrorists in ground and aerial activity".

As Israel pushed ahead with its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, a top Iranian general said it would face "bitter consequences" after Saturday's attack on military sites.

Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami, quoted by Tasnim news agency, said the Israeli air raid had failed, calling it a sign of "miscalculation and helplessness".

"Its bitter consequences will be unimaginable" for Israel, Salami warned.

After months of failed mediation efforts to stop the war, Egypt's Sisi proposed a two-day pause in Gaza and a limited hostage and prisoner exchange, aimed at eventually securing an elusive "complete ceasefire" between Hamas and Israel.