By Heloise Vyas

The Israeli military says it has started a "limited" and localised ground operation in southern Lebanon.

IDF officials said targeted raids against Hezbollah were being conducted in the border area of Lebanon and Israel.

It comes as huge blasts were heard across the Lebanese capital overnight, local time, as the Israeli military carried out strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Look back on the day's events as they unfolded in our live blog.

Key Events

1. Hezbollah media chief says no Israeli troops have entered Lebanon

2. IDF orders evacuation of more than 20 Lebanese towns

3. Ground invasion 'not long-term', says Israeli security official

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Live updates

We'll wrap up here

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By Liana Walker

Thanks for joining us today

We're going to wrap up our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East here.

Here are some of today's key events to get you up to speed:

• Israel has told the United States it is conducting limited ground operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.
• The IDF says its ground operation, called Northern Arrows, is so far limited to villages along the Lebanon-Israel border and is being conducted jointly by aerial and ground units
  
• The US cautioned Iran against attacking Israel
• An IDF official says the ground operation in Lebanon is "very limited in scope" at the moment and there were no plans to go to Beirut 
  
• The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities.
  
• Hezbollah media chief says no Israeli troops have entered Lebanon
  

You can take a look back at all the developments below, or download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest updates.

How other countries are responding

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By Liana Walker

Here are how different parts of the world have responded to Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon.

• United Kingdom: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said nobody wanted a return to the past with Israel fighting in southern Lebanon over a long period
• Spain: Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters Israel should cease conducting ground raids in southern Lebanon to avoid an escalation of the conflict enveloping the wider region
• Qatar: Qatar’s minister for international cooperation wrote on X "A monster has been unleashed in our region." 
• United States: Israel’s Defence Minister says he spoke with the United States defense secretary and said "We agreed on the importance of dismantling attack infrastructure along the northern border to prevent attacks by Hezbollah against Israeli citizens."
•  Russia: The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned about Israel's military activity in Lebanon and a reported strike on the Syrian capital, Damascus

Israeli strikes kill at least 31 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

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By Liana Walker

While Israel has begun its ground offensive in Lebanon,  fighting is ramping up in Gaza, according to local medics.

The Israeli military says it has been targeting command centres used by Hamas.

Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat, one of the enclave's eight historic refugee camps.

Another strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, medics added. 

Later on Tuesday, two separate Israeli attacks killed five Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, medics said.

In Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people, medics said.

The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and other smaller militant factions said in separate statements that their fighters attacked Israeli forces operating in several areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets, mortar fire, and explosive devices.

Reporting from Reuters

Communities in southern Lebanon now ghost towns

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By Chérine Yazbeck in Beirut

Aziz has not been able to flee Tyre, a coastal city in Lebanon's south.

Fuel has been scarce since the "pager's attacks" last month, and for a nearly a week, petrol stations have been shut.

Commuting from Tyre to Beirut is a risky adventure, and more so today as the IDF has released an order banning anyone from circulating below the Litani river (which is close to the border with Israel).

"I am sterilising water, boiling it and drinking it. I have a few cans left but supermarkets and all businesses are shut. I cannot even walk on the streets," Aziz told the ABC.

"I can last for another five days with pasta and rice. If the war goes on forever, I will eventually have to leave my house in search of food. I cannot break into a food market as we are all neighbours. Tyre is a ghost town", he explains.

Aziz has not left Tyre earlier as he had nowhere to go and scenes of displaced people sleeping on the pavements Beirut have not encouraged him to move.

"I don't have enough money to rent a place, and it is difficult for us (Shia Muslims) to convince landlords to rent us anything."