Israeli President Isaac Herzog threatened further military action against Hezbollah, a day after Israeli airstrikes killed more than 550 people in Lebanon's deadliest day in nearly two decades.
Attacks between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have continued for nearly 12 months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The sharp escalation has raised concerns about an all-out regional war.
Thousands of Lebanese residents in the country's south have fled their homes amid bombings, and many have received automated text messages and phone calls asking them to evacuate. The Israeli government issued a warning to the people of the Lebanese region that Hezbollah is targeting the region.
When asked whether Israel would launch a full-scale ground operation in Lebanon, Herzog insisted that Israel did not want a war.
“Israel is not interested, does not want this war, and has no interest in going to war with Lebanon,” Herzog told CNBC's Dan Murphy on Tuesday.
“But since October 8, Israel has been under relentless attacks from Lebanon. If you look at the situation today, Hezbollah has launched missiles and rockets all over northern Israel. So we will do everything we can to keep the Our citizens go home and keep our city calm.
Herzog added: “We have shown what we are capable of and if they continue we will have more.”
Since the attack, Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel, with most landing in open areas or being intercepted by air defense systems. Israeli authorities said the group fired more than 100 missiles into northern Israel on Saturday, injuring at least five people.
Hezbollah said the attack was in response to bombings of pagers and devices last week that killed 38 people, including some children, and injured more than 3,000. The attack was allegedly carried out by Israel, but Israel has yet to comment.
Israel's air strikes on Monday killed at least 558 people, including 50 children, and injured more than 1,800 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
On September 23, 2024, thick smoke billowed from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Margeyoun, near the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Rabbi So | AFP | Getty Images
Monday's death toll not only marks the deadliest day since Israel and Hezbollah's 34-day war in 2006; it also surpasses the 2020 Beirut port explosion that killed nearly 200 people and destroyed several neighborhoods in the capital.
At the opening of the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned member states that Lebanon risks “becoming another Gaza”.
“Gaza is a never-ending nightmare that threatens to engulf the entire region. Lebanon is the best example,” Guterres said, adding that all countries should respond to the “escalation” between Israel and Hezbollah. Shocked”.
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States was working to calm the situation, while the Pentagon expressed support for “Israel's right to self-defense” and announced it would send additional U.S. troops to the Middle East. The United States has approximately 40,000 troops stationed in the region.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border had to leave their homes as a result of cross-border fires in the months following October 7.
Vehicles wait in traffic in the town of Damour, south of the capital Beirut, on September 24, 2024, as people fled southern Lebanon.
Ibrahim Amro | AFP | Getty Images
“First, we have to eliminate the threat on Israel's northern border, and that's what we're trying to do,” Herzog said.
Israel's government is the most right-wing in the country's history, and some lawmakers have called for the reoccupation of southern Lebanon. Israel occupied southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000, a period of bloody sectarian warfare after Palestinian militants in Lebanon launched a series of attacks on Israeli territory.
Asked whether reoccupying southern Lebanon was part of Israel's ultimate goal, Herzog responded: “No, it's not.”
“The Israeli government's position is clear, and I have always reiterated that we have no territorial aspirations or any ambitions in Lebanon or elsewhere,” the president said.
“We have no territorial ambitions in Gaza either, but we have the inherent right of any country in the world to live in peace and quiet without being attacked by missiles, rockets and terror day after day.”
On October 7, Hamas militants launched an attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 253 hostages, 116 of whom have been released. Israel subsequently launched an invasion of Gaza. Since then, Israeli attacks on the blockaded enclave have killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.