HEADLINES IN BRIEF

Israel says it killed Hamas' new armed wing chief in Gaza. READ MORE BELOW

Israel and Hezbollah clash along a strategic Lebanese river after overnight strikes. READ MORE BELOW

Trump gathers Cabinet as he looks to seal a deal to end war. READ MORE BELOW

Iran says the goal of the US and Israel remains to overthrow Islamic republic. 

Seoul said it would summon Iran's ambassador to protest after a probe concluded that a strike on a South Korean ship in the Strait of Hormuz was "highly likely" an Iranian-made missile.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a return to war with the United States was unlikely, while warning that the Islamic republic stood ready against any attack.

British energy bills are set to rise this summer as the Middle East war drives wholesale gas prices higher. 

IN DETAIL

Israel says it killed Hamas' new armed wing chief in Gaza

Israel said on Wednesday it had killed Hamas's newly appointed armed wing chief in Gaza, days after it killed his predecessor, while intensifying military pressure in Gaza and expanding operations in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Mohammad Odeh was killed in an operation in Gaza on Tuesday.

A relative of Odeh confirmed his death to Reuters and said the funeral would take place after noon prayers in Gaza City.

Hamas has since issued official statement confirming Odeh's death, and a statement from his family said he was killed along with his wife and son.

Gaza health officials said six people, including at least one woman, were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the same Israeli strike that destroyed an upper floor of an apartment building in the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City.

Rescue workers were still at the scene looking for more possible casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Odeh had headed Hamas' intelligence division at the time of the October 7, 2023 cross-border attack into Israel that triggered the Gaza war and was appointed about a week ago to replace Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the group's chief armed commander, who was killed by Israel on May 15.

Sources close to Hamas did not confirm Odeh's appointment as the new military chief but agreed he was seen as Haddad's possible successor, as the group's chief of military intelligence and possibly the last remaining living member of the armed wing's higher leadership council.

Hours before the attack, Israel announced it had expanded ground operations in Lebanon, where it has been fighting Iran-allied Hezbollah militants since it launched attacks on Iran with the United States at the end of February.

Israel is also intensifying its military activities in the West Bank.

Israel and Hamas are deadlocked in indirect talks over implementing the second phase of a ceasefire deal, which includes the group's disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals.

The ceasefire agreed in October left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza, with Hamas controlling a sliver of coastal territory.

Israel and Hezbollah clash along a strategic Lebanese river after overnight strikes

Israel's military clashed with the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group Tuesday along a strategic river in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed farther north, days ahead of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli delegations.

A US-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict appeared more nominal by the day, complicating efforts at a broader peace in the Iran war as Tehran wants an agreement to include an end to the fighting in Lebanon.

The Litani River has been a de facto boundary in Lebanon, with large areas to the south under Israeli military control despite the ceasefire that's been in place for over a month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after meeting with his defense minister and senior military officials that Israel will expand its operations in Lebanon.

"The (Israeli Defense Forces) are operating with large forces on the ground and seizing strategic areas," he said, adding that Israel is trying to fortify an area of southern Lebanon under its control, which it says is necessary to protect residents in its northern border towns from Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.

Meanwhile, Israel's military said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah sites across southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley area overnight, adding that it targeted storage facilities, command centers and observation points used to attack Israeli troops and residents in northern Israel.

One strike hit the eastern village of Mashghara, killing 12 people including several members of the same family, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said.

Israel in recent days has intensified strikes in the city and province of Nabatiyeh, just north of the river.

On Tuesday it warned city residents to leave.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it launched several rocket, artillery and exploding drone attacks on Israeli troops and vehicles mobilizing along the river toward the Nabatiyeh villages of Yohmor al-Shaqif and Zawtar al-Sharqieh.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the militant group repelled attacks along the river banks.

Elsewhere in eastern Lebanon, Israel struck an area near the Qaraoun Dam, the country's largest along the Litani River.

The Litani River Authority said there was no direct damage to the dam.

Trump gathers Cabinet as he looks to seal deal to end war

President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.

As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he's closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran's nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been politically unpopular for Republicans.

But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to the war might come with an unsatisfactory ending.

The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the Republican president to fierce criticism, even from some of his own supporters, that Iran's hard-line leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.

It all comes to a head just as the midterm elections to determine control of Congress come into focus and as Republicans worry that rising costs and fuel prices are darkening the American electorate's mood.

Talks were further complicated after US forces carried out what the Pentagon called "defensive" strikes on missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in southern Iran on Monday.

The US said it acted with "restraint" in light of the weekslong ceasefire, while Iran decried the action as a sign of "bad faith and unreliability".

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that talks with Iran on reopening the strait and extending the ceasefire, a period that the administration says could be used to hash out the finer details of a nuclear agreement, will take several more days.

"He's either going to make a good deal or no deal," Rubio told reporters.