U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned Donald Trump for describing Hezbollah as "very smart" even as the Lebanese militant group exchanges fire with Israel following the Hamas attack on the U.S. ally.

During a campaign speech in Florida, Trump also falsely accused the Biden administration of bankrolling the Hamas assault as a result of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran, which has historically funded Hamas and Hezbollah.

The chance of Hezbollah scaling up involvement in the war against Israel could hinge on any Israeli ground invasion of Gaza after a bloody attack by Hamas on southern Israeli communities, analysts said.

Militants from the Palestinian group Hamas stormed over Gaza's border on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people in Israel mostly civilians, and taking 150 hostages, in the deadliest attack on the country since its founding 75 years ago.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Aroldo Lázaro has issued a statement on the recent exchanges of fire along the Blue Line.

A stationary cable car, an abandoned tourist van, empty roads -- the scene around Rosh Hanikra, an Israeli seaside kibbutz bordering Lebanon, looked like still life if not for the goats grazing languidly under the hot wind.

The kibbutz has over the years seen its share of rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon, but this time, it has become a ghost town over fears that it could be the target of an Islamist incursion like the deadly attack by Hamas fighters in southern Israel.

Cabinet convenes today, Thursday, to discuss the situation in Gaza, after a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel killed more than 1,200 people in Israeli towns and communities around the enclave.

Israel has launched a withering air campaign killing around 1,200 people in Gaza, as it announced a "complete siege" on the strip, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.

Sitting idly outside their home in a south Lebanon town largely emptied of its residents, Shadia Abu Khalil and her mother sipped coffee as rocket fire pierced the Wednesday morning calm.

The two women are among the last remaining residents of Qlaileh in the Tyre district, used by militants to launch attacks against Israel in recent days.

Hezbollah has announced that it will help residents repair their homes in the southern towns that witnessed Israeli shelling in recent days.

“The brutal Israeli aggression against south Lebanon over the past days led to the damage of a number of homes, shops, cars and other properties, especially in the towns of al-Dhayra, Marwahin and Yarin,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has asked U.S. president Joe Biden if "incinerating" the Palestinian people is acceptable, after the latter condemned Hamas' "brutality."

On the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, Biden compared Hamas to ISIS.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will begin Thursday a tour in the region that includes a visit to Lebanon, Iran’s ambassador said.

The ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, said that the visit comes “amid the current developments in Palestine and the crimes that are being committed against Gaza and their dangerous repercussions.”

The United States is "clearly concerned" by rocket attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel as tensions soar following the surprise assault by Palestinian militant group Hamas, the White House said.

"We've been watching with concern some of the rocket attacks that come across the northern border of Israel from Lebanon, which obviously were coming from Hezbollah," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.