Iran demanded that Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning the war could expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, adding Israel may suffer “a huge earthquake”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration, and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza immediately.
Amir-Abdollahian said he met Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
“I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place. Any step the resistance [Hezbollah] will take will cause a huge earthquake in the Zionist entity,” he said.
“I want to warn the war criminals and those who support this entity before it’s too late to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza, because it might be too late in few hours.”
More than 320 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, including many women and children killed in Israeli air raids on convoys fleeing Gaza City, according to health officials.
The rising toll comes as Israel continues bombing Gaza a day after telling 1.1 million residents to head south ahead of a looming ground offensive following Hamas’s attack inside Israel last week.
At least 2,215 Palestinians have been killed and 8,714 wounded in Israeli air attacks on Gaza. The number of people killed in Israel has reached 1,300, with more than 3,400 wounded.
In the occupied West Bank, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past week has topped 50. More than 1,000 have been wounded and hundreds arrested.
Israel warns Lebanon’s Hezbollah to remain out of Gaza war
The national security adviser to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Hezbollah not to be drawn in Israel’s war in Gaza.
“We hope Hezbollah won’t, de facto, bring about the destruction of Lebanon, because if there is a war there the result will be no less,” Tzachi Hanegbi said during a televised briefing.
Israel was focusing on the war in Gaza, Hanegbi said, and “trying not to be drawn into a two-front war”.
He also argued that the more limited fighting across the Lebanese border showed Hezbollah was staying “under the escalation threshold”.
What will Hezbollah do as tensions rise with Israel?
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel.
The armed group, which has tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters, also recently participated in Syria’s 12-year conflict.
Israeli forces withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon in 2000 after nearly 20 years of deadly fighting, prompting Hezbollah to proclaim itself the first Arab army ever to force Israel to cede control of territory.
The possibility of a new front in Lebanon also brings back bitter memories of a vicious month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente.
While Hezbollah has largely remained on the sidelines so far, some observers say an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza could be the trigger for it to fully enter the conflict – with devastating consequences.
Aid flights continue arriving in Egypt, with nowhere to go
At least two aid flights – from Turkey and the WHO – have landed at Egypt’s Al Arish airport near the Gaza border today.
That brings the total number of planes that have arrived this week carrying humanitarian relief for Gaza to at least five, according to Reuters news agency, which cites a Red Cross official and an aid volunteer.
But that aid has been unable to be brought into the besieged enclave, with an agreement on humanitarian access remaining elusive.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned “every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die”.
UN aid chief says ‘humanity is failing’
Martin Griffiths, in his latest statement on the conflict, reflected on a “dreadful week” in which “humanity is failing”.
“I fear the worst is yet come,” he said, adding in Gaza, there is “no power, no water and no fuel”, food supplies were running low, hospitals are “running our medicine”, and “morgues are overflowing”.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza, already critical, is fast becoming untenable,” he said.
He also warned of rising violence in the West Bank and the risk of escalation between Israel and Lebanon.
It’s been a dreadful week. Humanity must prevail. pic.twitter.com/vQUMy2jK1q
— UN Relief Chief (@UNReliefChief) October 14, 2023
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