Israel’s cabinet is expected to approve increasing the number of reserve soldiers drafted under emergency regulations from 300,000 to 350,000 in response to increased tension on its border with Lebanon.
Cross-border exchanges of fire intensified this week and rockets sent by the militant group Hizbullah, combined with an intensive heatwave and strong winds, started large fires across northern Israel.
Visiting the largely deserted city of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday, a few kilometres from the Lebanon border, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised to restore security to the area after meeting military commanders and firefighter teams.
“Anyone who thinks that he can attack us and we’ll sit idly by is making a big mistake,” he said. “We are prepared for a very intensive operation in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north.”
The pro-Iranian Hizbullah says it is not seeking escalation but is ready for war if Israel attacks.
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Israeli culture and sports minister Miki Zohar said his country must take action to destroy Hizbullah’s capabilities. “Postponing the campaign to destroy Hamas brought us the October 7th disaster. Postponing the campaign to destroy Hizbullah’s capabilities will bring us a bigger and more terrible disaster,” he said.
In Gaza, Israel continued its military assault on the southern city of Rafah, and also on al-Bureij and Deir al-Balah in the centre of the coastal strip. The charity Médecins Sans Frontières said at least 70 dead people and 300 wounded, the majority of them women and children, had been taken to a hospital in Deir al-Balah since Tuesday.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 36,500 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7th last. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages seized in the surprise Hamas attack on that day. It says 124 hostages remain in Hamas captivity but it is not known how many are alive.
An independent group of experts known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network has warned that it is possible that famine exists in northern Gaza. It said people – including children – are dying of hunger-related causes across the territory and that these conditions are likely to persist until at least July if there isn’t a fundamental change in how food aid is distributed.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington was still waiting for Hamas to reply to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal unveiled by president Joe Biden on Friday.
“The Israeli government has reconfirmed repeatedly, as recently as today, that that proposal is still on the table, and now it’s up to Hamas to accept it, and the whole world should call on Hamas to accept it,” Mr Sullivan said.
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday termed the ceasefire proposal a “surrender”, noting it was not presented to the country’s security cabinet for approval.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the right-wing opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party, claimed Iran is planning an all-out attack on Israel.
“We are heading towards a holocaust,” he said. “Hizbullah in Lebanon, [Shia] militias in Syria, and Hamas in Gaza and within the West Bank, accompanied by massive fire by [Shia] militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and a direct attack – hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran – against Tel Aviv, and all of Israel’s national structures,” he said.
