ISRAEL killed at least 41 people in Lebanon today, launching a wave of air raids and ordering residents of 12 towns and villages to flee their homes.

The intense attacks make a mockery of a supposed ceasefire it agreed with Hezbollah on April 16.

Following its practice in Gaza, where Israeli troops levelled thousands of houses to prevent their occupants returning, bulldozers have been brought in to flatten Lebanese homes and infrastructure.

After protests at the destruction of part of a Catholic convent in the southern town of Yaroun, Israel claimed on Saturday its forces had inadvertently destroyed part of the building while dismantling infrastructure used by Hezbollah as shelter for fighters launching rockets. Catholic authorities denied the compound ever having been used for military purposes.

The Israel Defence Forces have issued videos of their troops destroying other civilian infrastructure, including parading with an Israeli flag through the rubble of a former football stadium in Bint Jbeil.

Israel says its air force bombed the stadium after learning it had been booby-trapped, but many Lebanese point to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s pledge that they will never be allowed to return south of the Litani river and accuse Israel of deliberately demolishing facilities which supported ordinary life in the area.

Iran said today it was holding out for all issues to be resolved with the United States within 30 days, as US President Donald Trump said he was considering a 14-point peace proposal from Tehran but was not hopeful the two sides would agree.

The US has called for a two-month ceasefire, but Iran expressed reluctance to agree a long truce without commitments including sanctions relief and an agreed status for the Strait of Hormuz.

It also pointed out that Mr Trump’s own description of the US’s seizure of an Iranian vessel was self-incriminating: “a direct and damning admission of the criminality of their actions.”

Mr Trump told a Miami rally on Friday that “we took over the ship. Took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business. We’re sort of like pirates,” to cheers from the Republican crowd.