Hezbollah has attacked an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli army said on Sunday, warning of a new war with the Iran-backed militant group.
The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza gave new urgency to US diplomatic efforts as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit Israel on his latest Middle East tour.
This is a conflict that could easily metastasize and cause even more uncertainty and suffering, Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator. The escalation of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has complicated US efforts to prevent a regional conflict.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fire hit the sensitive air traffic control base on Mount Meron on Saturday, but air defenses were not affected because backup systems were in place. It said no soldiers were injured and that all damage will be repaired.
Nevertheless, it was one of Hezbollah's most serious attacks in the months of fighting that have accompanied Israel's war in Gaza and forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate communities near the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah described its rocket fire as an initial response to the targeted killing of a top Hamas leader in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut last week, believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi said military pressure on Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, was increasing and that it would either be effective or we would end up in a new war. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Israel's focus on Hezbollah's elite Radwan force was pushing the country away from the border.
Israel has mainly tried to limit the fighting in the north. Hezbollah's military capabilities are far superior to those of Hamas. But Israeli leaders have said they are running out of patience and that if tensions cannot be resolved through diplomacy, they are prepared to use force.
“I propose that Hezbollah learns what Hamas has already learned in recent months: no terrorist is immune,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet. We are determined to defend our citizens and return the people of the North safely to their homes.
Lower intensity fighting broke out along Israel's northern border when Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel sparked the Gaza war, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage. Hezbollah has said its attacks are aimed at easing pressure on Gaza.
In a joint news briefing with Blinken, the Qatari government acknowledged that the killing of the senior Hamas leader in Lebanon could impact complex negotiations over the possible release of more hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza, but we continue our talks with the parties and try to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.
In Gaza, the war against the militant group entered its fourth month on Sunday.
The Israeli army has indicated it has concluded major fighting in northern Gaza and says it has completed the dismantling of Hamas' military infrastructure there. Now the country is continuing its offensive in the south, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians have been confined to smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while being hit by Israeli airstrikes.
Netanyahu insists that the war will not end until the goals of eliminating Hamas, returning Israel's hostages and ensuring that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel are achieved.
Biden administration officials have urged Israel to scale back its blistering air and ground offensive and shift to more targeted attacks on Hamas leaders.
According to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-administered Gaza, more than 22,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 injured since the war began. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Health officials say about two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.
Israel blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because the group operates in densely populated residential areas.
An airstrike near the southern city of Rafah on Sunday killed two journalists, including Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's chief correspondent in Gaza, according to Qatar's Arabic-language broadcaster and local medical officials. Al Jazeera broadcast images of Dahdouh crying and holding his son's hand. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Al Jazeera strongly condemned the killings and other brutal attacks on journalists and their families by Israeli forces. Dahdouh also lost his wife, two children and a grandchild in an airstrike on October 26, and was injured last month in an Israeli attack that killed a colleague.
The world is blind to what is happening in the Gaza Strip, he said, choking back tears.
Another airstrike hit a house between Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, killing at least seven people whose bodies were taken to the nearby European Gaza Hospital, an Associated Press journalist at the facility said. One man hurriedly carried a baby and later took the child wrapped in a blanket to the morgue.
Everything that happens here is outside the realm of law, outside the realm of reason. Our brains cannot fully comprehend all this that is happening to us, said a grieving relative, Inas Abu al-Najja, in a trembling voice. Men worked the rubble with pickaxes and bare hands.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 8, 2024 | 7:15 am IST