Israeli forces launched attacks into Sunday morning in the Gaza Strip, Syria, and along the border with Lebanon amid worries that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a larger Middle East battle.
In the Gaza Strip, where Israel has maintained a regular drumbeat of bombings since the Hamas operation that killed over 1,400 people in Israel earlier this month, Hamas said that at least 55 individuals were killed overnight in Israeli airstrikes.
Israeli missiles reportedly damaged the runways at the airports in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo and capital of Damascus, according to the country’s state news agency SANA. According to the report, one airport employee died and one was hurt in the attacks. Transferred flights have arrived at Lattakia Airport.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have attacked both airports many times. The Times of Israel said that Israel is thought to be aiming to stop the transfer of weaponry from Iran to Middle East proxies, the most notable of which is the Hezbollah organisation based in Lebanon.
The evacuation of 14 Israeli towns close to the Lebanese border was also announced by Israeli authorities on Sunday. Since the tragic Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the places have been the target of rocket and missile attacks from Hezbollah and Palestinian organisations.
On Saturday, Hezbollah targets in Lebanon were attacked by Israeli fighter jets. Six Hezbollah militants were murdered on the border on Saturday, bringing the total number of Hezbollah fighters killed in the past two weeks to 19.
According to the Israeli military, a border patrol soldier was struck by an anti-tank missile and suffered serious injuries.
The fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border is at its deadliest level since Israel and Hezbollah’s conflict in 2006.
Also on Saturday, Israel claimed its planes had attacked a West Bank facility housing Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who were preparing a “imminent terror attack.”
According to Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, the strike resulted in at least one death and numerous injuries in the Jenin refugee camp compound under the al-Ansar Mosque.
The occupied West Bank has seen an increase in violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinians ever since Gaza-based Hamas gunmen went on a deadly rampage in Israel on October 7; the Israeli air strike is at least the second to hit the area in recent days.
In preparation for a potential invasion, Israel has stationed roughly 300,000 military men near the Gaza Strip.
READ ALSO: Strong earthquakes hit the Turkish-Syrian border region
Asked about the invasion strategy In order to get ready for the next phase of the war, Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Saturday that Israel would step up its attacks in northern Gaza.
In order to lessen the threat to Israeli soldiers, he declared, “We are going to increase the attacks, starting today.”
He reiterated Israel’s earlier demand that people in Gaza leave for the south.
The US will ‘raise force posture’
Meanwhile, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin declared on Saturday that the US is stepping up its military presence in the region to fend off what he called “recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces.”
Austin claimed to have changed the destination of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group, which will now join another carrier group that is currently in the eastern Mediterranean in the Middle East.
In addition to new Patriot anti-missile systems, Austin said that the United States is also deploying a high-altitude anti-ballistic missile defence system to the region.
According to a statement from Austin, these actions “will strengthen regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defence of Israel.”
Cairo meeting
On Saturday, a summit that Egypt held failed to produce a deal on how to stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Arab officials denounced Israel’s shelling of Gaza, while the majority of Western nations called for protection for civilians. Senior American and Israeli officials did not show up.
Lack of Agreement at Cairo Summit on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
At the meeting in Cairo, Jordan’s King Abdullah criticised what he called the world’s silence on Israel’s attacks, which have left more than 1 million people homeless and killed more than 4,000 people in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday.
He spoke for treating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impartially.
He added that the violence committed against unarmed citizens in Gaza, the West Bank that Israel occupies, and in Israel had enraged and devastated him. “The message the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones,” he said.
France demanded the creation of a humanitarian entrance into Gaza that could eventually lead to a cease-fire. Italy emphasised the need to prevent an escalation while Britain, Germany, and Germany both encouraged Israel’s military to exercise caution.
The closest ally of Israel and a key participant in all prior attempts at regional peace, the United States, sent a charge d’affaires to the meeting in Cairo who made no public remarks.
Limited assistance is provided
For the first time since the Hamas onslaught on October 7th, the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip opened on Saturday morning. The residents of Gaza received supplies such as food, water, medicine, and other basics from a convoy of around 20 trucks.
