Israel will soon decide whether to go on the offensive at the border with Lebanon, top officials said, adding to fears of a wider war as fighting with the Hezbollah militant group has intensified.
As war has raged in Gaza, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged a steady drumbeat of attacks for months — the worst fighting between the two foes since a deadly, month-long war in 2006. U.S. mediation attempts have so far failed to negotiate a diplomatic solution.
Alongside the creeping escalation in fighting, there have been mounting calls from Israeli officials to deal a decisive blow at that border, fueling concerns of a broader regional conflict.
“We are prepared for very intense action in the north,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday on a visit to a military base there.
The Israeli leader vowed to restore security “one way or another,” after the military’s chief of staff, Herzl Halevi, said, “We are approaching a decision point.” He said the army was ready and had gone through training “to move to an offensive.”
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, on his own tour in the north, pledged Tuesday that hostilities at the border would be dealt with by the end of the summer, whether by diplomatic agreement or military escalation. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Wednesday after visiting northern Israel that Netanyahu’s government has “abandoned the north.” He said that what was “being burned up here isn’t just the north. … What’s being burned up is Israeli deterrence, respect, the idea that someone is running this country.”
GET CAUGHT UP
Summarized stories to quickly stay informed
Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a militant group and political party in Lebanon, has said it does not want a full-blown war, while also asserting that it is prepared for one.
The deputy leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that “our decision is not to widen” the conflict, but he added that “if it is imposed on us, we are ready for it.” Hezbollah has also said there will be no deal before a cease-fire in Gaza.
The United States and allies have tried for months to avoid a wider war by urging a deal between the two sides to demarcate the land border, move Hezbollah away from the frontier and boost the Lebanese army presence there.
In a statement urging restraint, the European Union said it was “increasingly concerned” about rising tensions and “forced displacement of civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border” — which has faced near-daily bombardments.
In Lebanon’s south, Israeli airstrikes have scorched swaths of farmland and pushed tens of thousands of people to flee to other parts of the country, which is already beset by economic collapse.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that Israeli forces have used white phosphorus munitions, which produce thick smoke and flames that are difficult to put out, in 17 areas of southern Lebanon since October.
The Israeli military said it uses white phosphorus shells to create smokescreens, not for targeting. Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians, according to a Washington Post analysis of shell fragments found in a small village.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from northern Israel, piling pressure on Israeli leaders to take action at the border to allow them to return. Hezbollah rockets this week set off fires that spread in the region.
Israeli leaders have said privately that they expect domestic protests to grow if residents are not able to return before the start of the next school year in September.
At least 78 people who were killed and 220 injured arrived at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza over the past 24 hours, a hospital spokesman, Khalil al-Diqran, said Wednesday. He said that many were women, children and elderly people and that the hospital did not have enough medical supplies. In response to a request for comment, the Israeli military said it was carrying out operations against militants in the Deir al-Balah and Bureij areas, including airstrikes and ground attacks.
Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Old City were bracing for an influx of protesters Wednesday as part of an annual “Flag Day” march that draws settlers and other right-wing activists. The march — which typically features young settlers shouting provocative chants, including “Let your village burn!” — has led to violent clashes in the past. Opposition leaders criticized the government for allowing the march to go forward amid the war in Gaza. Police said they would deploy more than 3,000 officers to keep order.
A gunman who opened fire near the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday was shot and wounded by Lebanese troops, the country’s army said. The gunman’s motive was not immediately clear. The embassy said “small-arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance,” adding that the “facility and our team are safe.”
CIA Director William J. Burns is set to meet Qatari leaders in Doha for an update on their discussions with Hamas leaders about the cease-fire proposal, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday. Talks for a deal to secure the release of hostages and a halt in fighting in Gaza have stalled for months. Biden presented what he called an Israeli proposal for a Gaza cease-fire on Friday. Netanyahu has since publicly distanced himself from the deal, which his right-wing coalition partners said would prompt them to bring down the government.
The House passed legislation aiming to impose sanctions on officials at the International Criminal Court after its chief prosecutor said he was seeking charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes. The bill, written by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), passed Tuesday on a vote of 247-155, receiving most of its support from Republicans. It is unlikely to become law, however, and White House officials said Monday that the administration opposes it.
At least 36,586 people have been killed and 83,074 injured in Gaza since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 287 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operations in Gaza.
Lior Soroka and Hajar Harb contributed to this report.