UK special forces allegedly had a policy of executing "fighting age" males in Afghanistan even if they posed no threat, an independent inquiry probing claims of unlawful killings was told on Monday.
The inquiry, which opened in March but has now started substantive hearings at London's Royal Courts of Justice, is investigating accusations about the special forces' conduct in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed three Hezbollah members Monday, the Iran-backed group said, as tensions surged after Palestinian militants tried to infiltrate into Israel from Lebanon.
The escalation on Israel's northern border with Lebanon comes two days after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented multi-pronged attack on Israel's southern flank from the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah issued three separate statements confirming the death of its members, all of them "martyred as a result of the Zionist aggression on south Lebanon Monday afternoon", the group said.
As an Israeli volunteer who recovers corpses, Moti Bukjin has worked at horrific disaster sites for decades, but nothing readied him for the carnage Hamas gunmen unleashed on a desert music festival on Saturday.
"It turns out things can be much, much worse," he said.
He was among the first responders to the site of the massacre at the Supernova festival at a kibbutz near Gaza, where 270 revellers were gunned down or burnt in their cars.
Most of them were young people in their party dress who had danced through the night under the stars.
Scores of foreigners were killed, wounded or taken hostage after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The worst attack in Israel's 75-year history killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, inside the country, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has responded with bombardments that have killed around 3,000 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
According to an AFP count, over 160 foreigners have been confirmed dead by their national authorities, many of whom also held Israeli nationality.
The surprise assault by Hamas against Israel was a meticulously planned offensive that the Palestinian militant group is capable of keeping up, with a risk of even greater escalation, analysts say.
Hamas can count on a deep arsenal of rockets to use against Israel but key questions include how much support it has received from Iran, which has expressed its backing for the offensive, and whether the Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah will enter the fray.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which dragged off about 150 people in its surprise weekend assault on Israel, threatened to execute the hostages if Israeli air strikes continue "targeting" Gaza residents without warning.
The threat came after Israel on Monday imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, water and electricity supplies, and sparking fears of an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.
Israel has been left reeling from Hamas's unprecedented ground, air and sea attacks, likening them to 9/11.
Through quiet diplomacy with Iran, US President Joe Biden's administration had strived to keep a lid on Middle East troubles. That bet came crashing down with Saturday's massive offensive by Hamas against Israel.
Iran's clerical leadership openly supports the Islamist militants, who control the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip, and hailed the sneak attack that inflicted the deadliest blow on Israel in decades.
Numerous members of the UN Security Council denounced Hamas on Sunday over its massive assault on Israel but the United States regretted a lack of unanimity.
At an emergency session, the United States urged strong condemnation of the Palestinian Islamists, who rule the blockaded Gaza Strip and launched a surprise assault and kidnapping operation on Saturday.
"There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They're obviously not all," senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the closed-door session.
President Joe Biden ordered US ships and warplanes to move closer to Israel in a show of support on Sunday, while sending fresh military aid after attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Pentagon said it was sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, while boosting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.
US Central Command confirmed Sunday afternoon that ships and planes had begun moving to their new posts.
Dozens of distraught Israeli families scrambled for information on missing loved ones Sunday, a day after Palestinian militants unleashed a surprise attack and forced hostages, some of them bloodied, back to Gaza.
More than 100 Israelis have been taken hostage, the government's press office said.
"I just want to be able to hug him," said Omri Shtivi, 30, whose brother Idan went missing after a desert rave near the Gaza border came under attack by Hamas militants.
