Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a meeting of his war cabinet and senior generals to discuss the worsening confrontation, while Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza early on Monday and targeted southern Lebanon overnight, according to Reuters.
Palestinian media stated that Israel’s attacks were centered on the north and center of the Gaza Strip. Media sources state that multiple Palestinians were killed and numerous others were injured in an attack on a home close to the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, two Palestinians were killed at the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
Residents told Reuters that Israeli forces raided the camp and carried out widespread arrests, as they clashed with gunmen and some youths who threw stones. The Israeli army has not issued a statement about the incident.
Health authorities in Gaza said at least 4,600 people were killed in Israel’s two-week bombardment that began after a Hamas Oct. 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which 1,400 people were killed and 212 were taken into Gaza as hostages.
Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian discussed in a call late on Sunday the means of stopping Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza, Hamas said in a statement.
Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the fenced border around Gaza for a planned ground invasion aiming to annihilate Hamas.
With Washington announcing a fresh deployment of advanced air defenses and warning of a serious risk to U.S. interests in the region, fears that the Israel-Hamas battle could escalate into a larger Middle East conflict increased over the weekend.
In an effort to thwart strikes by forces connected to Iran, the Pentagon has already sent a sizable contingent of naval forces—two aircraft carriers, support ships, and some 2,000 Marines—to the Middle East.
“What we’re seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday.
China’s Middle East special envoy Zhai Jun, who is visiting the region, warned that the risk of a large-scale ground conflict was rising and that spillover conflicts in the region were “worrisome”, Chinese state media said on Monday.
Iranian security officials told Reuters Iran’s strategy was for Middle East proxies like Hezbollah to pursue limited strikes on Israeli and U.S. targets but to avoid a major escalation that would draw in Tehran, a high-wire act for the Islamic Republic.
In neighbouring Syria, where Hamas’ main regional backer Iran has a military presence, Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early on Sunday, putting both out of service and killing two workers, Syrian state media said.
Along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has clashed with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the deadliest escalation of frontier violence since an Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Israeli military reported that early on Monday, Israeli aircraft hit two Hezbollah cells in Lebanon that were preparing to fire rockets and anti-tank missiles toward Israel. The Israeli military reportedly reported hitting an observation post and a compound, among other Hezbollah objectives.
Without giving further information, Hezbollah declared on Monday that one of its fighters had died. According to Israel’s military, since the start of the most recent battle, seven soldiers have died near the Lebanese border.
Israel on Sunday expanded its evacuation contingency plan in the north of the nation to include 14 communities near Lebanon and Syria, in response to the rising violence surrounding its closely guarded borders.
