Iran focus of US-Israel talks

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT — US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about potential Israeli retaliation against Iran while Lebanon's Hezbollah said its fighters pushed back advancing Israeli forces along the border.

The ground clashes, which are spreading along southern Lebanon's mountainous frontier with Israel, took place with the Gaza conflict still raging and the Middle East on high alert awaiting Israel's response to Iran's missile strike last week.

Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Most were intercepted by Israel or its allies.

In a video carried by Israeli media on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated plans for a lethal strike against Iran. "Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising," he said.

Biden and Netanyahu talked about Israel's plans in a call that lasted 30 minutes, the White House said.

The discussion was "direct and very productive", White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.

Netanyahu's office confirmed the call without giving any immediate details on what was discussed.

Israel has promised that Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Teheran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region.

Biden last week made comments discouraging Israel from striking Iranian oil fields and said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.

After Wednesday's phone call, Israel's military chief, Herzi Halevi, vowed to keep bombing Hezbollah targets, a campaign that has killed more than 1,200 people since Sept 23, "without allowing them any respite or recovery".

Hezbollah said its fighters had fired several rocket salvos at Israeli troops near the village of Labbouneh in the west of the border area, close to the Mediterranean coast, and had managed to push them back. Hezbollah has been launching rockets against Israel for a year in support of Hamas in its conflict with Israel in Gaza.

Further east, Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli soldiers in the village of Maroun al-Ras and unleashed missile barrages at Israeli forces advancing toward the twin border villages of Mays al-Jabal and Mouhaybib.

In central Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Thursday an Israeli airstrike on a school killed at least 28 people, including women and children.

The strike, in which many more were wounded, happened in the city of Deir al-Balah, where a million people have taken shelter after fleeing fighting elsewhere.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out a "precise strike on terrorists", who had a command center embedded in a school.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli border police killed at least four Palestinians in the city of Nablus, Palestinian health authorities and Israeli security forces said.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the start of the Palestine-Israel conflict in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians, including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders, have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.

Dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian street attacks over the past year. At least six people were wounded in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.

Agencies via Xinhua