New gunfire between Israel and Hezbollah raises fears of Gaza war spreading

The Israeli military engaged in new gunfire with the Shiite movement Hezbollah on its border with Lebanon on Thursday night and continued bombing Gaza on Friday, escalating rhetoric that has raised fears of a full-scale war.

The conflict in the Gaza Strip, triggered by an October 7 attack by the Islamist movement Hamas against Israeli territory, has also led to a surge in violence on Israel’s northern border, where the army clashes with Hezbollah almost daily.

The group, allied with Hamas and based in Lebanese territory, claimed responsibility for several attacks on Thursday, including launching “dozens of rockets” against an Israeli military position after one of its fighters was killed in a bombing.

Israel, for its part, confirmed that it had “eliminated” a Hezbollah commander and that it had struck the group’s “surface-to-air missile launching” base.

On Thursday night, Israeli forces also managed to intercept an “air target” launched from Lebanon and local media reported Israeli strikes in the south of the country.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned in a speech on Wednesday that “no place” in Israel would be safe if the Israeli government opened a new front on its northern border.

Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi responded that his country had “infinitely superior capabilities” than Hezbollah.

The Israeli attack in Gaza does not bring any relief either. In the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center, two people were killed in a bombing, medical sources indicated on Thursday.

In Rafah, at the southern edge of that narrow region of 2.4 million inhabitants, clashes are taking place between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters, a source in Hamas’s armed wing also indicated.

– Tension between Israel and America –

The war began on October 7, when Islamist militants killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 others in southern Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

The Israeli military estimates that 116 people have been kidnapped in Gaza, of whom 41 have been killed.

In response, Israel launched an offensive that killed at least 37,431 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing internal and external criticism for his handling of the war and failing to secure the release of hostages.

But the president, who heads a coalition of nationalist, ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox Jewish forces, confirmed he would continue the war until Hamas, which is considered a “terrorist” organisation by Israel, the European Union and the United States, is “wiped out”.

However, the relationship between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu is complicated.

In Washington, Israel’s National Security Adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, and Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, met the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue.

During the meeting, Blinken “reiterated the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security”, according to his spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken stressed, however, “the importance of avoiding a new escalation in Lebanon” through a “diplomatic solution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families displaced by the exchange of fire on the border” to return to their homes, said Miller.

– “Nowhere is safe” –

The Israeli military announced on Tuesday it was ready for an “offensive” against Hezbollah after weeks of intensified gunfire from both sides of the border.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz threatened to destroy Hezbollah in “total war”.

Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus, saying the eastern Mediterranean country, a member of the European Union, would be considered “part of the war” if it authorised Israel to use its air bases and bases to attack Lebanon.

“Cyprus is not involved in this war in any way,” Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said in a statement.

More than eight months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have killed at least 479 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, along with 93 civilians, according to an AFP count.

According to Israel, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians on the Israeli side were killed.

The war in Gaza also fueled violence in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager in the city of Qalqilya. The Israeli army said its soldiers opened fire on rioters.

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