U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pressed the need for Israel to avoid opening a second front against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as he met with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon Tuesday. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East, and so diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” Austin said. Gallant, in response, said in his remarks at the top of the meeting that “We are working closely together to achieve an agreement but we must also discuss readiness on every possible scenario.”
Quick Read
- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the need for Israel to avoid opening a second front against Hezbollah during a meeting with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon.
- Austin warned that another war between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into a regional conflict with severe consequences for the Middle East.
- Gallant acknowledged the importance of avoiding escalation and mentioned working closely with the U.S. to achieve an agreement, while also preparing for all possible scenarios.
- Hezbollah began attacking Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, leading to daily exchanges of fire and displacing tens of thousands on both sides.
- Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi stated that Israel and the U.S. will spend weeks trying to reach an agreement with Hezbollah before considering other measures.
- The U.S. military has built a pier in Gaza for aid delivery, but much of the aid is piling up due to security concerns among delivery agencies.
- The U.N. has called on Israel to improve safety for aid operations in Gaza and warned it would stop delivering aid if conditions don’t improve.
- Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City killed at least 21 people, including women and children, targeting schools and residential homes.
- The U.N. food agency confirmed a high risk of famine in Gaza and emphasized the need for sustained humanitarian assistance.
- Hamas announced that an Israeli airstrike killed the sister of its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Gaza.
The Associated Press has the story:
US defense secretary stresses need for Israel to avoid opening a 2nd front with Hezbollah
Newslooks- WASHINGTON — (AP)
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pressed the need for Israel to avoid opening a second front against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as he met with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon Tuesday. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East, and so diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” Austin said. Gallant, in response, said in his remarks at the top of the meeting that “We are working closely together to achieve an agreement but we must also discuss readiness on every possible scenario.”
Iranian-backed Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack that triggered the war in Gaza. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly every day since then, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. The fighting has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown war.
Gallant is visiting Washington this week to speak with U.S. officials, and met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday.
Israel will ‘dedicate long weeks’ to reaching an arrangement with Hezbollah, senior official says
JERUSALEM — A senior Israeli official says Israel and the United States will devote an unspecified number of weeks to trying to reach a new arrangement with Hezbollah before resorting to other means to bring calm to the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel’s low-level conflict with the Lebanese militant group has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of an all-out war. “We will now dedicate long weeks … in an attempt to reach an arrangement” along the border, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Tuesday.
Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas shortly after the Palestinian militants’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Israel has responded with airstrikes, and the low-intensity conflict has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, an annual gathering of policymakers and analysts, Hanegbi said Hezbollah may find “a kind of ladder to climb down” as Israel shifts to less intensive operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. “If there is no arrangement through diplomatic means, everybody understands that an arrangement is required through other means. But currently we prefer to focus on the diplomatic campaign,” he said.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese and Israeli leaders the week before to try to calm tensions. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
U.S. military says aid brought by sea is piling up on Gaza beach
WASHINGTON — More than 6,800 metric tons, or 15 million pounds, of food and aid has flowed through the U.S. military-built pier in Gaza. However, the U.S. says very little of it has left the storage area and is stacking up on the beach due to security concerns among the aid agencies who deliver it throughout Gaza. The United Nations wants Israel to do more to safeguard aid operations from strikes by its forces and to curb growing lawlessness hindering humanitarian workers.
On Tuesday when asked whether the military would suspend deliveries if the storage area ran out of space, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said “certainly we’ve got to take into account the capacity of the marshalling area.” Ryder said there’s still room left for now, and the military is in communication with the U.N. World Food Program.
U.N. officials say the world body will stop delivering aid throughout Gaza if communications and protections for delivery workers do not improve.
Israeli strikes kill at least 21 people in Gaza City
CAIRO — Israeli strikes on Gaza City early Tuesday killed at least 21 people, including nine women and seven children, officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said.
The strikes hit two schools-turned-shelters and a residential home, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defense, a rescue body that is often the first to respond after airstrikes. The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating inside the school compounds, accusing them of planning attacks against Israel and being involved in holding hostages taken from Israel.
A strike on the Abdel-Fattah Hamoud school in the Daraj neighborhood killed at least eight people from the same family, including five children and their parents, the Civil Defense said, adding that an 18-month-old and a 77-year-old woman were among the dead. The group said a second strike hit the Asmaa school in Shati, a built-up refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war, killing at least 11 people, including five women and two children. The third strike hit a family house in the Shijaiyah neighborhood, killing two women, the civil defense said. The third strike hit a family home in the Shijaiyah neighborhood, killing two women.
Israel has escalated its air raids on Gaza City, in the north, over the past week, killing dozens of people as Israeli ground forces continue battling Palestinian militants in the southern city of Rafah. Israel launched its air and ground invasion of Gaza immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed over 37,000 Palestinians and unleashed a humanitarian crisis.
UN food agency says concerns about Gaza’s high risk of famine are confirmed by experts’ new report
JERUSALEM — The U.N. food agency says the latest findings by a leading authority on hunger crises confirm its own concerns about severe hunger in war-torn Gaza. The World Food Program said Tuesday that “to truly turn the corner and prevent famine, adequate and sustained levels of humanitarian assistance must be provided,” including fresh food, clean water, sanitation and healthcare.
It was responding to the latest report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an initiative first set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia that now includes more than a dozen U.N. agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies. The IPC found that an influx of aid into northern Gaza earlier this year had eased a crisis there, but expressed concerns about the south following Israel’s invasion of the city of Rafah. The IPC said the entire territory was still at “high risk” of famine and projected that over 495,000 people — over a fifth of the population — will experience the most severe level of hunger in the coming months.
The incursion into Rafah displaced over a million people, most of whom had already fled their homes elsewhere. It led to the closure of one border crossing and major disruptions at another, making it difficult to bring in aid.
The WFP said it was “deeply concerned that the much-reduced ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver critical assistance in the south is jeopardizing the progress made.” It said the security vacuum in Gaza has fostered widespread lawlessness that makes it difficult to deliver aid. “WFP now fears that southern Gaza could soon see the same catastrophic levels of hunger previously recorded in the northern areas,” it said.
Hamas says Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills sister of its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who lives abroad
CAIRO — Hamas says an Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the sister of its top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who is based abroad. In a brief statement, the group said Zahr Haniyeh was killed in a strike Tuesday in Shati, a built-up refugee camp in Gaza City dating back to 1948.
Palestinian media reported that over a dozen members of Haniyeh’s extended family were killed in the strike. Gaza’s Health Ministry, which tracks Palestinian casualties from the war, has not said how many people were killed in the strike. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif are the top two Hamas leaders in Gaza and the apparent masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack. They are believed to be alive, possibly in the group’s massive labyrinth of tunnels. Israeli airstrikes killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren in April. Israel said the three sons were Hamas operatives.
Later Tuesday, Haniyeh said Israel is wrong if it thinks that, by targeting his family members, Hamas will change its stance. Regarding a cease-fire deal, he said Hamas expressed “full flexibility” and accepted all initiatives — on condition that these end the war and lead to a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. His statement said Hamas will continue to reject any deal that does not include an end to the war and “our stance will not change during any period.” Haniyeh said that all post-war plans should be an entirely Palestinian decision and “no one else has the right to interfere.”
Haniyeh is based in Qatar, which has long served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas’ leaders wherever they are.
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