Middle East tensions soared Saturday as Iran and its allies readied their response to the assassination of Hamas's political leader, blamed on Israel, spurring fears of a regional war.
Israel ally the United States said it would move warships and fighter jets to the region, while Western governments have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon -- where the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is based -- and airlines cancelled flights.
The killing earlier this week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah's military chief in Beirut, has triggered vows of vengeance from Iran and the so-called "axis of resistance".
Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have already been drawn into the nearly 10-month war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israel on Saturday again traded fire with Hezbollah, carried out a deadly raid in the occupied West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City in an attack that the Hamas-ruled territory's civil defence agency said killed at least 10 people.
Numerous schools turned displacement shelters have been hit across Gaza in recent weeks, with Israel saying the facilities had been used by militants. Hamas denied using civilian infrastructure for military activities.
Haniyeh was buried on Friday in Qatar, where he had been based. Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the attack, has not directly commented on it.
Iran said on Saturday it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and to no longer be confined to military targets.
With such talk growing, the Pentagon said it was bolstering its military presence in the Middle East to protect US personnel and defend Israel.
An aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln will replace one led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the Pentagon said.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under United States European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East.
In Beirut, 20-year-old student Diana Abu Aasel told AFP she feared "something bad will happen to my family and friends".
"If there is war, I don't think I will be able to bear staying" in Lebanon, she said.
'Rapid' escalation
The killing of Haniyeh, who went to Tehran for the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday, is among a series of attacks since April that had already heightened fears of a regional conflagration.
His death came hours after Israel struck south Beirut, killing Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr.
Britain urged its citizens in Lebanon on Saturday to leave immediately, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying: "Tensions are high, and the situation could deteriorate rapidly."
The US embassy in Lebanon told Americans to leave on "any ticket available to them, even if that flight... does not follow their first-choice route".
Sweden said it was shutting its embassy in Beirut and urged its nationals to leave the country "while they still can".
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called on Friday for an international coalition to support "Israel's defence against Iran and its proxies", his office said.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attack which triggered war in Gaza and resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,550 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
Disease spreading in Gaza
Haniyeh was Hamas's lead negotiator in efforts to end the war in Gaza. His killing raised questions about the continued viability of month-old efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators to broker a truce and exchange of hostages and prisoners.
Hamas officials but also some analysts, and protesters in Israel, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to safeguard his ruling hard-right coalition.
Violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where on Saturday Palestinian official sources said two Israeli air strikes killed nine people in the north of the territory.
The military said it had "eliminated terrorist cells".
The war in Gaza has caused widespread destruction and displaced almost the entire population of the territory where, the UN said on Friday, public health conditions "continue to deteriorate".
It said nearly 40,000 cases of Hepatitis A, spread by contaminated food and water, have been reported since the war began.
Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since October, saying it is acting in support of Hamas.
The military said at least one rocket hit northern Israel on Saturday, and Israeli forces struck targets in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced the death of one of its fighters, also claiming several attacks on Israeli army positions.
Late on Friday, a source close to Hezbollah said Israel carried out strikes on a convoy of trucks entering Lebanon from Syria.
Several airlines have suspended flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv.
Flights to Beirut by Air France and low-cost carrier Transavia France will remain halted until at least Tuesday, their parent company said on Saturday.