Fears fighting could spread as Israel on high alert for attacks from Lebanon
Fears of Israel’s war with Gaza growing into a wider conflict remain after Hamas’s deputy leader was assassinated in the Lebanese capital.
Israel has not commented on whether it killed Saleh al Arouri in a drone strike in Beirut on Tuesday, but military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said its forces are prepared for any scenario.
Mr Arouri, 57, is the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel began its offensive against the militant group in response to its attack on 7 October.
With no end to the conflict in sight, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday the international community must “impose” a solution as the two parties “will never be able to reach an agreement”.
Israel-Gaza latest as US intelligence ‘confident’ hostages held at hospital
And amid signs the fighting could spread, the chief of Hezbollah – the militant group running the area where Mr Arouri was killed – is due to make a speech on Wednesday, having earlier warned of a “severe reaction” to assassinations in Lebanon.
The group said the blast that killed Mr Arouri was a “serious assault on Lebanon” and a “dangerous development in the course of the war”.
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‘Major escalation’ in Israel-Hamas war
Hamas political member Hossam Badran said: “We say to the criminal occupation [Israel] that the battle between us is open.”
The assassination is another sign the nearly three-month war is spreading, drawing in the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border and even Red Sea shipping lanes.
In other key developments:
• Mr Borrell said the entire Middle East “might end up in flames” if this “tragedy” does not end soon;
• The US is “confident” Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad used Gaza’s biggest hospital to hold hostages;
• Residents and Palestinian media said Israeli forces bombed al Nusseirat refugee camp in the north of Gaza.
Rubble being cleared after the strike in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh
Heavily armed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has been exchanging fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border almost daily since the Gaza war began.
Israel steps up Gaza attacks
Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its bombing of Gaza and told civilians to leave al Nusseirat refugee camp.
Israeli planes dropped leaflets on the camp ordering people to leave seven districts, saying: “You are in a dangerous combat area. The IDF is operating heavily in your area of residence.
“For your safety the IDF urge you to immediately evacuate this area and leave towards the known shelters in Deir al Balah [west].”
The military said “intensive battles” with militants were continuing in Gaza on Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis, where it has said previously it is trying to flush out Hamas leaders.
Israeli war planes and tanks also attacked the al Bureij refugee camp, although Hamas claims it has killed 10 Israeli soldiers in fighting there and hit five tanks and troop carriers.
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Palestinians in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, protest the killing of Saleh al Arouri
The Israeli military said the number of its soldiers killed since its first incursion into Gaza on 20 October has reached 177.
The war was triggered by a cross-border Hamas assault on Israeli towns on 7 October, during which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 hostages taken back to Gaza.
Israel believes 129 hostages remain, and Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says the ongoing onslaught has killed 22,313 Palestinians – 128 of them in the past 24 hours.
Much of Gaza has been laid to waste, with its 2.3 million residents facing a humanitarian disaster leaving thousands destitute and crammed into shrinking areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
Read more:
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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