Battles in Gaza’s Rafah as US warns Israel over Lebanon

GAZA STRIP: Fighting raged on Wednesday (Jun 26) between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, witnesses said, as fears grow of a wider regional war drawing in Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip however appeared to ease days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the war was nearing its end, and as his defence minister visited Washington for crisis talks.

As the war in Gaza nears its ninth month, Israel’s top ally the United States warned it of the risk of a major conflict against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon following an escalation in cross-border fire.

“Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his visiting Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

“Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” Austin added.

Top Israeli officials including Netanyahu have suggested they are open to a diplomatic resolution of the border tensions, though Gallant said Israel should be ready for “every possible scenario”.

Israel’s military said last week that plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”, prompting fresh threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

In Beirut on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that any “miscalculation” could trigger all-out war and urged “extreme restraint”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Western powers of backing Israel as it sets “its sights on Lebanon”, seeking “to spread the war to the region”.

On the ground in Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, witnesses reported clashes during the night, and the Israeli military said its air force struck a rocket launch site.

Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official with the civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza, told AFP that rescuers had recovered the bodies of “15 martyrs from various areas in Rafah city in the past few hours”.