JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Tonight there's renewed violence in the Middle East.

The Israeli-Lebanese border saw the heaviest exchange of attacks since Israel and the militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire four months ago.

Early this morning, Israel struck Lebanon in retaliation for rockets that targeted Israel.

Lebanese officials said two people were killed, including a child.

Now the Israeli army says it's launching a second wave of strikes in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the rocket attacks.

They say they are committed to the truce.

This comes as Israel says it will intensify its offensive in Gaza until Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages.

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least nine people, including three children.

They estimate that 600 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel relaunched the war earlier this week.

Josef Federman is a news director for the Associated Press, covering Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

Let's start on the border with Lebanon.

What's behind this renewed rocket firing from Lebanon?

JOSEF FEDERMAN, The Associated Press: It's not entirely clear what sparked this.

What's interesting for the time being, it appears to be some sort of one off incident.

Nobody's claimed responsibility for this rocket fire.

It most likely is connected to what's going on to Gaza because that has raised tensions across the region.

But nobody is claiming responsibility.

Hezbollah says it didn't do it.

The Lebanese government is urging restraint.

So that is an indication that today will be a one off incident.

So it's hard to understand what the motivations were behind here, but it does look like the Lebanese side at least is trying to lower the tension level.

JOHN YANG: And let's turn to Gaza now.

How has Hamas responded to this renewed fighting in Gaza?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Hamas has been criticizing the Israeli renewal of the attacks.

There have been a handful of rocket attacks at Israel, but for the time being, Hamas kind of keeping a low profile, calling for restraint, calling for a renewal of negotiations.

So Hamas is not looking for a renewal of this war.

The Israelis, however, appear to be barreling ahead with it for the time being.

JOHN YANG: And what's the status of the talks on phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Well, that's the issue here.

Israel made it clear even while the ceasefire was in place that it did not want to go to phase two.

Phase two means talking about the end of the war.

It means talking about withdrawing all Israeli troops.

Israel doesn't want to talk about those issues right now.

Israel wanted to extend that initial ceasefire, that exchange of prisoners for hostages, without ending the war altogether.

So phase two has now been pushed aside.

The ceasefire appears to be in tatters, and there are efforts behind the scenes to get that ceasefire back in place.

But for the time being, Israel is moving ahead.

And you don't see any calls from the White House, from Trump, the Trump administration, to put the brakes on this operation.

So Israel is going to keep on moving ahead with this, believing that this military pressure is the best way to bring those hostages home.

JOHN YANG: No calls for the White House.

But I know that earlier this week there were public demonstrations after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed the fighting in Gaza.

Where is the sense of the Israeli public on this?

JOSEF FEDERMAN: There are deep divisions in Israeli society, the government, this is a very hard line government.

But the Israeli public, large parts of the Israeli public, at least half, possibly more, according to opinion polls, don't want to see a resumption of fighting.

They believe that diplomacy and negotiations and continuing the ceasefire is the best way to bring the hostages home.

They believe that if the fighting continues, that Hamas is only going to take a harder line, and this actually reduces the chances of people coming home.

Remember, the hostages who were freed during that first phase, many of them came back looking in very poor condition.

They have lost a lot of weight, emaciated, and they're telling stories about very harsh conditions in captivity.

People were chained, kept underground for months at a time, not seeing any sunlight.

And this has generated lots of sympathy for the remaining hostages.

So wide parts of the Israeli public want to see the government dealing and not fighting.

And that's why you see thousands and even tens of thousands of people taking to the streets right now.

JOHN YANG: Josef Federman of the Associated Press, thank you very much for walking us through that.

JOSEF FEDERMAN: Thank you.