Iran says U.S. & Israel face 'crushing response' as truce hopes fade

• The U.S. and Israel will "undoubtedly receive a crushing response" for their attacks, says Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. READ MORE BELOW

• Rockets fired from Lebanon wound 11 people in central Israel, according to Israeli emergency services. READ MORE BELOW

• Ceasefire hopes fade as Israel bombards Gaza and Lebanon. READ MORE BELOW

• North Gaza 'apocalyptic,' everyone at 'imminent risk' of death, warns UN.

• Palestinian Journalists Protection Center condemns the killing of two Palestinian journalists by Israel in less than 24 hours in the Gaza Strip.

• Israeli military says it has intercepted three drones launched from the east over the Red Sea.

• Hezbollah says it fired rockets at the Sha'al settlement in the northern occupied Golan Heights and the Dalton settlement in northern Israel's upper Galilee region.

• Hezbollah also says it launched rockets at an Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv.

• Israeli military says it killed senior Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab, describing him as one of the last high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for operating in Gaza.

Khamenei warns U.S., Israel face 'crushing response' for attacks 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the U.S. and Israel will be on the end of a "crushing response" for their actions on his country, state media reported.

He was speaking to students ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by hardline students shortly after the Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.

"Enemies, including America and the Zionist regime, should know that they will undoubtedly receive a crushing response for what they do against Iran and the resistance front," Khamenei said.

Lebanese rocket attack strikes Israel

Rockets fired from Lebanon wounded 11 people in central Israel on Saturday, Israeli emergency services said, after one of them hit a house.

Fighting has escalated between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group since September.

"We went out and saw dust, children screaming, women screaming and everyone went to the house that was struck," said a resident of Tira, where the rocket hit. 

Around the time the rockets hit, Hezbollah said it had targeted a military base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Israel's ambulance service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel. Air raid sirens continued to sound in northern Israel as rocket fire and drone attacks from Lebanon continued, the military said.

On Friday, Lebanon's health ministry said 52 people were killed in Israeli strikes on more than a dozen towns in the Baalbek region, which has UNESCO-listed Roman ruins.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had killed two Hezbollah commanders in the area of Tyre.

Ceasefire hopes fade as Israel bombards Gaza, Lebanon

Prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah ran aground on Friday as Israeli airstrikes killed over 68 people in the Gaza Strip, according to medics, and bombed Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Israeli military said it killed senior Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab in an airstrike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, describing him as one of the last surviving high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for operating in Gaza.

The Israeli military said its troops killed what it called armed terrorists in central Gaza and the northern Jabalia area.

Lebanese and U.S. officials had initially expressed hope this week that a ceasefire could be reached, but Hamas does not favor a temporary truce, its Al-Aqsa Hamas television reported. 

The ceasefire proposals failed to meet its conditions that any deal must end the year-long war in Gaza and include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave, it added.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his priority was to enforce security "despite any pressure or constraints."

The heads of UN humanitarian agencies said the situation in north Gaza was "apocalyptic" with the entire Palestinian population there at "imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence" as Israel pursues its offensive against regrouping Hamas militants in the area.