Gaza
\nUN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has said he is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d after Israel and Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah movement mounted their biggest round of cross-border strikes since the war in Gaza began.
\nOn Sunday, Israeli jets hit dozens of sites across southern Lebanon in what it said were pre-emptive strikes to prevent a much wider attack, and Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.
\nMr Guterres warned that their actions put civilians at risk, as well as threatening regional security and stability.
\nThe US said it was working to avoid a further escalation in hostilities, and both sides suggested they were not interested in one.
\nThere have been almost daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October.
\nHezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group. Both are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.
\nSince October, more than 560 people have been reported killed by Lebanon\u2019s health ministry, the vast majority of them Hezbollah fighters, while 26 civilians and 24 soldiers have been killed in Israel, according to authorities.
\nAlmost 200,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
\nThe Israeli attack on Hezbollah began before dawn Sunday, when the military said about 100 jets bombed thousands rocket launchers at more than 40 sites in southern Lebanon.
\nThe strikes were launched after \u201cextensive preparation\u201d for a large-scale aerial attack by Hezbollah were detected, according to the military.
\nHezbollah said two of its fighters were killed in the strikes along with another fighter from the allied Amal movement.
\nHezbollah said it had targeted and hit 11 military facilities in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights with 340 rockets and a \u201clarge number\u201d of drones.
\nIt described the barrage as a response to the assassination of senior military commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on 30 July.
\nThe Israeli military said it intercepted \u201cmany of the threats\u201d launched by Hezbollah and that the projectiles which landed did \u201cvery little damage\u201d.
\nHowever, it also said a navy soldier was killed in combat in northern Israel, with local media reporting that he had been on a patrol boat when an interceptor missile engaged a drone.
\nOn Sunday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech to his supporters that appeared to seek to draw a line under the escalation.
\nHe declared the group\u2019s \u201cfirst response\u201d for the retaliation for Shukr\u2019s assassination had been completed \u201cas planned\u201d, although he noted that its impact was still being assessed.
\n\u201cIf the result is not sufficient, we will reserve the right to respond at another time,\u201d he said.
\nIn the meantime, he added, the people of Lebanon \u201ccan be at ease and carry on with their lives, as the country has been in tension for a month now\u201d.
\nEarlier, Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told a cabinet meeting that \u201cwhat happened today is not the end of the story\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows,\u201d he said. \u201cThree weeks ago, we eliminated its chief-of-staff and today we thwarted its attack plan.\u201d
\n\u201cNasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north, and returning our residents securely to their homes.\u201d
\nThe UN secretary general called for \u201cimmediate de-escalation and on the parties to urgently and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities\u201d, a spokesperson said.
\nWhite House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed hope that Sunday\u2019s events would not lead to an all-our regional war.
\n\u201cWe have worked round the clock with partners and allies, moving military assets, engaging in intensive diplomacy both publicly and privately behind the scenes to avert that outcome,\u201d he told reporters during a visit to Halifax, Canada.
\nDiplomats told the Reuters news agency that the two sides had exchanged messages saying that neither wanted to take things any further.
\nMr Sullivan also said US officials had been \u201cfeverishly working\u201d at talks in Cairo in recent days to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, which the White House believes is key to restoring calm on the Israel-Lebanon border.
\nHowever, there has so far been no sign of a breakthrough. Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that its representatives had left the Egyptian capital to review the outcome of the talks, which they did not attend.
\nEgyptian security sources told Reuters news agency that neither Hamas nor Israel had agreed to several compromises presented by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has said he is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d after Israel and Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah movement mounted their biggest round of cross-border strikes since the war in Gaza began. On Sunday, Israeli jets hit dozens of sites across southern Lebanon in what it said were pre-emptive strikes to prevent a much wider attack, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-427397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n