US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon

The United States warned Israel Wednesday against any Gaza-like military action in Lebanon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened it with "destruction" like that in the Palestinian territory.

But armed forces chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep up Israel's intensive bombing of Hezbollah targets that has already killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, "without allowing them any respite or recovery."

The comments came after a much anticipated phone call between Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, their first in seven weeks, which had been expected to focus on Israel's response to last week's missile barrage by Iran.

Neither side immediately put out any readout of the conversation.

The White House said the 30-minute call was "direct", "honest" and "productive".

"We're going to continue to have those discussions with Israel on how they're going to respond," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

When asked about the call on CNN, Vice President Kamala Harris replied that it was "important" but she could not go into details because they were "classified".

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had been due to discuss Israel's response in Washington on Wednesday before the last-minute postponement of his visit by Netanyahu, pledged: "Our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and surprising."

Iran fired some 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Most were intercepted by allied air forces or Israel's own air defences.

Biden has cautioned Israel against attempting to target Iran's nuclear programme, which would risk major retaliation, and is also against striking the country's oil installations, which would send world crude prices spiking.

A Lebanese government source told AFP that Hezbollah had accepted a ceasefire with Israel on September 27, the day an Israeli strike killed its leader Nasrallah.

But Israel's response had torpedoed the ceasefire plan, backed by Washington and its allies, and the Lebanese government had "had no contact with Hezbollah" since his death.

- Rockets kill two Israelis -

Hezbollah said its fighters were locked in clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, using rocket-propelled weapons to repel Israeli attempts to breach the border.

Two people were killed by suspected Hezbollah rocket fire in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, while Israeli air defenses also intercepted two projectiles fired towards the coastal town of Caesarea, officials said.

Lebanon's health ministry said at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a village in the Chouf district, southeast of Beirut, a region largely spared by Israel's intensified bombing campaign.

Israel has intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, forcing more than a million to flee, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Its ground forces crossed into Lebanon on September 30.

Israel's military said on Wednesday that its troops had "eliminated terrorists during close-quarter encounters and in aerial strikes" over the previous 24 hours, adding that "100 Hezbollah terror targets were destroyed."

Israeli operations have expanded from border areas in the interior to the southern section of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast.

According to a new toll from the Israeli army on Wednesday, 13 soldiers have died since ground operations inside Lebanon began.