Hezbollah fired a long-range ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv for the first time, saying it had aimed at the headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Israel's military said its air defenses intercepted the missile and later destroyed the launcher in Lebanon.
The launch came as Israel sharply expanded its air campaign. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck 260 targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area east of Beirut on Wednesday, bringing its claimed total to more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets over three days. Those figures were Israeli military claims and were not independently verified in the supplied reporting.
Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said at least 81 people were killed and 403 wounded in Wednesday's strikes. Its cumulative count since Monday exceeded 650 dead, including at least 50 children, and more than 1,700 injured. The United Nations said more than 90,000 people had been displaced in five days.
Hezbollah said the missile attack was retaliation for the killings of senior leaders and for explosions involving its members' pagers and handheld radios. The interception prevented the stated target from being hit, according to Israel. Separately, two people were injured near the Israeli port of Eilat after a drone struck the area; another drone was intercepted.
Israeli military leaders also signaled preparations for the possibility of a ground operation. Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops that returning residents to northern Israel was the objective and described preparations for a maneuver into Lebanese territory. Israel called up thousands of troops for duties on the northern front, according to an IDF spokesperson.
Lebanon's health system was preparing for more casualties. Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut reopened wings and organized a large triage area. Its director, Jihad Saade, publicly appealed for the hospital not to be targeted, while markings were placed on its roof to make its medical role visible from the air.
Diplomatic warnings intensified alongside the military activity. At the United Nations General Assembly, international leaders called for de-escalation and a negotiated resolution. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan issued a joint statement warning that the confrontation could become an all-out regional war.
The day's events demonstrated how quickly the conflict was widening: a Hezbollah missile reached the airspace around Israel's largest urban center, Israel sustained a high volume of strikes across Lebanon, and military preparations suggested the possibility of fighting on the ground. With casualties and displacement rising, the gap between calls for diplomacy and battlefield escalation continued to grow.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned that total displacement could approach 500,000 and argued that war would not enable Israelis evacuated from the north to return safely. He said negotiations offered the route to that goal.
