Middle East crisis live: US warns Israel and Iran that conflict must not escalate

Hello. We are restarting the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

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The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

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He said:

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We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We’ve communicated that message directly to Israel.

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The United States will continue to defend Israel against attacks, Blinken added, but noted that everyone in the region should understand the risks of escalation and miscalculation.

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Further attacks only raise the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and no one can fully control.

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More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.

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Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

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Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attack on Israel, an underlining of the constraints it faces as it frames its response. It is a call for restraint that is likely to be echoed by many foreign ministers from the 57 countries inside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East grow.

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UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force’s global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East. Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.

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Israeli forces backed by drone strikes killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medics said on Tuesday, after raids around two flashpoint cities in the north led to gunbattles with Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said it conducted two separate airstrikes in the volatile city of Jenin, hitting armed militant cells, but gave no details.

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Israeli forces killed 45 Palestinian fighters in Gaza over the past day, the military said on Tuesday, after heavy fighting in which militant group Hamas said it destroyed two armoured personnel carriers during an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said the Hamas official in charge of smuggling operations was among those killed and that his death significantly hit their ability to bring weapons and military equipment into the besieged enclave.

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Air France said Tuesday that its flights and that of its low-cost subsidiary Transavia to Beirut will be suspended through at least Thursday because of fears that the Gaza war could spread. The resumption of flights to Lebanon’s capital, which have been halted since 29 July, “will be subject to a new assessment of the local situation,” the airline told AFP.

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Lebanon is working to ensure any response to the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut does not trigger total war in the Middle East, its foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week following the killing in Tehran of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ leader, and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs that killed the senior commander Fuad Shukr.

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Key events

Turkey will submit on Wednesday a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

The declaration will happen at 2.30pm, the source added, after Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this week that Turkey would make the declaration on Wednesday.

“Turkey’s intervention pushes the international community to recognise and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the source said.

In May, Turkey said it had decided to join the case launched by South Africa as it stepped up measures against Israel over the assault on Gaza, adding that its bid would follow the necessary legal preparations.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that it was up to Yahya Sinwar, the new head of Hamas’s political bureau, to help achieve a ceasefire as he “has been and remains the primary decider”.

The US has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, and President Joe Biden called Jordan’s King Abdullah II, whose country helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an attack on Israel in April.

This was followed by a call with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and another with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose countries have been the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Gaza war.

Blinken also called top officials in Qatar and Egypt.

“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message – all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said after joining other top officials in a White House meeting.

US warn Israel and Iran over escalation of conflict

Hello. We are restarting the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

He said:

We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We’ve communicated that message directly to Israel.

The United States will continue to defend Israel against attacks, Blinken added, but noted that everyone in the region should understand the risks of escalation and miscalculation.

Further attacks only raise the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and no one can fully control.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.
Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attack on Israel, an underlining of the constraints it faces as it frames its response. It is a call for restraint that is likely to be echoed by many foreign ministers from the 57 countries inside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East grow.
UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force’s global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East. Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.
Israeli forces backed by drone strikes killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medics said on Tuesday, after raids around two flashpoint cities in the north led to gunbattles with Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said it conducted two separate airstrikes in the volatile city of Jenin, hitting armed militant cells, but gave no details.
Israeli forces killed 45 Palestinian fighters in Gaza over the past day, the military said on Tuesday, after heavy fighting in which militant group Hamas said it destroyed two armoured personnel carriers during an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said the Hamas official in charge of smuggling operations was among those killed and that his death significantly hit their ability to bring weapons and military equipment into the besieged enclave.
Air France said Tuesday that its flights and that of its low-cost subsidiary Transavia to Beirut will be suspended through at least Thursday because of fears that the Gaza war could spread. The resumption of flights to Lebanon’s capital, which have been halted since 29 July, “will be subject to a new assessment of the local situation,” the airline told AFP.
Lebanon is working to ensure any response to the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut does not trigger total war in the Middle East, its foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week following the killing in Tehran of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ leader, and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs that killed the senior commander Fuad Shukr.