Closing summary
We’re going to end our live coverage here. For the latest on the UN security council and the ongoing crisis on the Israel-Lebanon border, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has this new report:
At least 72 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Wednesday and hundreds were wounded, according to figures by the Lebanese health ministry. The geographic scope of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah has widened, after Hezbollah aimed a long-range missile at Tel Aviv and Israel targeted the mountains north of Beirut for the first time in the war, drawing an Israeli warning that it was preparing a major response. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in the past three days.
Israel’s top general has said the country is preparing for a possible ground operation into Lebanon. As an intense bombing campaign inside Lebanon stretched in to a third day, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi said the airstrikes aimed to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and prepare for the possibility of Israeli troops crossing the border. “We are preparing the process of a manoeuvre,” he told troops during a visit to Israel’s north on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon did not appear “imminent”. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US was making “a full-court press” for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. She referred reporters to Israel for questions about its operations and plans.
France’s foreign minister has told the UN security council that his country and the United States are working to hammer out a 21-day temporary ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel to allow time for broader negotiations. “A diplomatic solution is indeed possible. In recent days, we’ve worked with our American partners on a temporary ceasefire platform of 21 days to allow for negotiations,” Jean-Noël Barrot told the 15-member UN security council.
Najib Mikati, the prime minister of Lebanon, has told the UN security council that Israel is violating his country’s sovereignty “by sending its war planes and drones to our skies, by killing our civilians, including youth, women and children, destroying homes and forcing families to flee”. Mikati says hospitals are overwhelmed and unable to accept any more victims.
Danny Danon, Israel’s UN envoy, has said that his country does not seek a full-scale war. Danon has accused Iran of being the “driving force” behind the instability sweeping the Middle East. Danon also said that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to arrive on Thursday and address the UN general assembly on Friday.
Families fleeing the escalating conflict in Lebanon are pouring into Syria in growing numbers, waiting for hours in heavy traffic to reach the relative safety of another war-torn country, the Associated Press is reporting.
UN officials have estimated that thousands of Lebanese and Syrian families had already made the journey. Those numbers are expected to grow.
From Monday, lines of buses and cars extended for several kilometres from the Syrian border and some families were seen making the journey on foot. Once in Syria, people waited hours more to be processed by overwhelmed border officials, AP reported.
“Many will have to spend the night outdoors waiting their turn,” Rula Amin, a spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency, said in a statement.
Amin said some of the people arriving from Lebanon had visible injuries suffered from recent attacks.
