Both Israel and Hezbollah threatened to step up their cross-border attacks on Sunday as the international community called on them to renounce all-out war.
The Israeli military said about 150 rockets, missiles and other projectiles were fired at its territory overnight Saturday into Sunday, mostly from Lebanon.
Some strikes had a wider reach than previous ones, sending thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters and damaging homes near the city of Haifa.
Israel launched its own strikes on targets in southern Lebanon, which it said destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take “all necessary measures to restore security” and return people safely to their homes along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
He said Israel had dealt “a series of blows to Hezbollah that it could never have imagined.” But the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said: “Threats will not stop us… We are prepared to face all military possibilities.”
Speaking at the funeral of Ibrahim Aqil, a senior Hezbollah commander killed Friday in the Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, he said: “We have entered a new phase, which is an open settling of scores” with Israel.
Lebanon said a total of 45 people, including children, were killed in the Beirut attack.
Hezbollah is a politically influential Shia Muslim organization that controls Lebanon’s most powerful armed force. Fighting between the group and Israel intensified on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel from Gaza, when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions.
ReutersThe latest cross-border trade has sparked renewed international concern.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told CNN he fears “the possibility of turning Lebanon into another Gaza.”
The UN special coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said on X that the Middle East was on the brink of “imminent catastrophe”.
“It cannot be said enough: no military solution will make either side safer,” she wrote on Sunday.
The White House said a military escalation was not in Israel’s “best interests.” The EU said it was “extremely” concerned, while British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that many of the projectiles it faced were intercepted overnight from Saturday to Sunday, including two that were launched from Iraq.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed group, said it fired cruise missiles and explosive drones at Israel.
Northern Israel remains on high alert, with schools closed and hospitals moving patients underground. Residents have been asked to limit outdoor gatherings to fewer than 10 people.
A resident of Kirayt Bialik, a Haifa suburb hit by rocket fire, told Reuters news agency: “At around 6:30 a.m. there was an alarm and immediately after that a big explosion, a very, very big explosion, three or four houses away. Our window in the main room was completely destroyed.”
EPAEarlier this week, 39 people were killed and thousands injured after pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, the politically influential Iran-backed organization, exploded over two days across Lebanon.
On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for the attacks, saying the country had crossed “all red lines” and vowed “just punishment.” Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attacks.
As fears grow that the conflict could escalate into a full-scale war, the US State Department has issued new travel advice for citizens currently in Lebanon.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut urged people to “leave Lebanon while commercial options remain available.”
The foreign ministry of neighboring Jordan issued similar advice to its citizens, urging those in Lebanon to leave as soon as possible.
