Israel-Hamas war latest: US cautions Israel over escalation with Hezbollah after weekend attack

The United States on Monday cautioned Israel about escalation with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as Israel weighs its response to a rocket attack from Lebanon over the weekend that killed 12 youths in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

The attack increased concerns about a wider regional conflict, even as Hezbollah in a rare move denied having a role. Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has occurred almost daily since the war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. On Monday, Israeli strikes killed two people on a motorcycle and injured three others in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said. Israeli military officials said they struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.

An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah has started moving precision-guided missiles but doesn't want a full-blown war with Israel. Hezbollah has far superior firepower than Hamas, and analysts have said that igniting a war in Israel’s north while it’s engaged in Gaza would overburden the military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the rocket attack on Monday, saying that “our response will come, and it will be severe." But some residents of the Druze village protested by tossing his wreath aside and saying the tragedy shouldn’t be used for political purposes.

Here’s the latest:

NEW YORK — A small number of flights to and from Beirut’s international airport have been canceled this week as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate and carriers cite security risks.

Due to “current developments in the Middle East,” the Lufthansa Group said three of its airlines — Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings — decided to suspend flights “up to and including” Aug. 5. Air France status messages showed suspended flights between Paris and Beirut for Monday and Tuesday. Air France did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other airlines have reported delays. Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said five flights have been delayed to arrive Tuesday morning due to “technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks.”

BEIRUT — A Western diplomat whose country is involved in diplomatic efforts to prevent a major escalation in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel says he anticipates Israel will keep its retaliation within boundaries that would not lead to an all-out war, similar to the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel earlier this year after Israel struck an Iranian consular building in Syria.

“It’s clear that they (Israel) want to take a stance but without leading to a generalized conflict,” the diplomat said. “It’s sure that there will be a retaliation. It will be symbolic. It may be spectacular, but it will not be a reason for both parties to engage in a general escalation.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Israel is weighing its response after a weekend rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed 12 children and teens. Israel blamed Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied having a role.

— Abby Sewell

The Israeli military says it is holding nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of “substantial abuse” of a detainee at a shadowy facility where Israel has held Palestinian prisoners throughout the war in Gaza.

The military said its top legal official had launched a probe. An investigation by The Associated Press and reports by rights groups have exposed abysmal conditions at the Sde Teiman facility, the country’s largest detention center.

The military has generally denied ill-treatment of detainees. Following the accusations, Israel has said it is transferring the bulk of Palestinian detainees out of Sde Teiman and upgrading it. The detentions of soldiers prompted an outcry among members of Israel’s far-right government, who condemned the investigation as an affront to their service.

Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, according to official figures, though hundreds were released after the military determined they were not affiliated with the militant group. Israeli human rights groups say the majority of detainees have passed through Sde Teiman.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to urge that Israel and Hezbollah step back from escalating their conflict.

Israeli leaders are weighing a response to the weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah, which denied responsibility.

The U.S. and France for months have pushed a negotiated agreement between Hezbollah and Israel to keep the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza from spinning into a larger and more dangerous regional conflict.

The State Department says Blinken in the call with Herzog on Monday “emphasized the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict and discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow citizens on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon to return home."

Blinken also underscored the United States’ commitment to Israel’s defense against Iranian-allied armed groups.

Some residents of the Golan Heights village where a rocket killed 12 youths over the weekend have protested the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials expressing condolences.

Netanyahu is weighing Israel's response to the attack it blames on Hezbollah, which in a rare move has denied having a role. The prime minister laid a wreath, expressed his shock and said the local Druze community has paid a heavy price. He met with representatives of victims' families.

But after Netanyahu left the area of the soccer field where the rocket hit, some people ran there, threw away the wreath and protested the political use of the tragedy. Relatives and friends of the dead cried over photos of the children and teens that had been placed there. They said they want the war to end.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. The weekend attack in Majdal Shams again raised concerns about a wider regional war.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told the families of some of the 12 children and teens killed in a weekend rocket strike that Hezbollah will “pay a price” for the attack. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has denied carrying it out.

The rocket struck a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. It was the deadliest attack against civilians in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

During his visit, Gallant told families that “we will let actions speak for themselves.” Israel has been weighing how to respond to the strike, which increased fears that Israel and Hezbollah would move toward all-out war. The foes have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has started moving precision-guided missiles as Israel threatens to launch an attack on Lebanon following the weekend strike that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed and that the Iran-backed group does not want a full-blown war with Israel, but if war breaks out it will fight without limits.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military activities, said Hezbollah since Sunday has started moving some of its “smart precision-guided missiles” to use if needed.

Since the war in Gaza began in October, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets and scores of explosive drones into Israel. Israel estimates that Hezbollah has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles.

— Bassem Mroue in Beirut

BEIRUT — Monday saw a flurry of diplomatic activity in Lebanon ahead of anticipated Israeli retaliation to a strike that killed 12 children and teenagers in a town in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has held “intensive diplomatic contacts after the recent Israeli threats against Lebanon,” including a call with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who “renewed the call on all parties to exercise restraint to prevent escalation,” Mikati’s office said in a statement.

Lammy posted on social media site X that he had called Mikati “to express my concern at escalating tension and welcomed the Government of Lebanon’s statement urging for cessation of all violence.”

“We both agreed that widening of conflict in the region is in nobody’s interest,” he said.

Also on Monday, Hezbollah’s head of foreign relations, Ammar Moussawi, met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, according to a Lebanese diplomat and a Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

The diplomatic official said there had also been a flurry of calls by Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden who frequently handles delicate negotiations in Lebanon, attempting to ensure that the Israeli retaliation and Hezbollah’s response would not spiral into an all-out war.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of firing the rocket that hit a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams over the weekend. Hezbollah denied responsibility, a rare move by the militant group.

—Abby Sewell

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — Thousands of mourners laid to rest on Monday the 12th victim of a rocket strike from Lebanon that hit a soccer field in Israeli-controlled territory, an attack that risked pushing the region toward all-out war.

The body of 11-year-old Guevara Ibrahim was carried through the streets of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in a procession of people clad in black. Pictures of the smiling boy were hoisted up as his body, shrouded in white, was moved through the streets.

Ibrahim was one of 12 children and teens between the ages of 10 to 16 who were killed when a rocket struck a soccer field. It was the deadliest attack on Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

The strike’s other victims were buried on Sunday but Ibrahim’s body was not immediately identified and he was initially considered missing, Israeli media reported.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for Saturday’s strike, but in an unusual move the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group denied involvement.

Israel is expected to retaliate and the region is bracing for the possibility of an escalation in the fighting.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

CAIRO — Officials from Egypt and Hamas said Monday that mediators negotiating a Gaza cease-fire deal were still working to iron out sticking points.

The officials, who have direct knowledge of the negotiations, said the contentious points include Israeli demands to maintain a presence in a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as along a highway separating Gaza’s south and north.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.

They said Israel refuses to leave the area between Egypt and Gaza during the cease-fire. They said Israel has linked its forces’ departure from the border corridor to installing underground sensors and an underground wall to monitor any future efforts by Hamas to build tunnels or smuggle weapons. Officials in Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel says Hamas uses tunnels that pass under the corridor to smuggle weapons, although Egypt denies the allegation and says it destroyed many in an earlier crackdown.

Israel’s military seized control of the Philadelphi corridor in early May along with the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza when it began its invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.

The Egyptian official said no agreement has been reached on the corridor and the reopening of Rafah, adding that direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel were continuing to find a compromise.

The Hamas official, meanwhile, rejected Israel’s demands, including its desire to maintain Israeli troops along the highway halving Gaza, which is meant to vet Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza and weed out any militants.

The Hamas official said the group will hand its written response to Qatar and Egypt within the coming days.

Both officials said Hamas still wants “written guarantees” from mediators that negotiations will continue during the first phase of the cease-fire to establish a permanent truce.

CIA director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani and Egypt’s head of intelligence Abbas Kamel met Sunday with Mossad chief David Barnea in Rome to discuss Israel’s latest demands.

—Samy Magdy

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Middle East is bracing for a potential flare-up in violence after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct. 7.

Saturday's strike raised fears of a broader regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied it was responsible.

The White House National Security Council said it was speaking with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts and working on a diplomatic solution to “end all attacks once and for all” in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets inside Lebanon overnight into Sunday, though their intensity was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it also carried out strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Members of the Druze minority attend a memorial ceremony Monday, July 29, 2024, for the children and teens, killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field over the weekend in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights,. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A woman from the Druze minority is overcome by emotion as she holds a motorized scooter at the site where 12 children and teens were killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Members of the Druze minority protest a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the site where 12 children and teens were killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A woman from the Druze minority weeps near the site where 12 children and teens were killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Druze clergymen attend the funeral for Guevara Ibrahim, 11, one of 12 children and teens killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners from the Druze minority attend the funeral for Guevara Ibrahim, 11, one of 12 children and teens killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners from the Druze minority march with the coffin of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, one of 12 children and teens killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, during his funeral in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners from the Druze minority weep during the funeral for Guevara Ibrahim, 11, one of 12 children and teens killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A youth from the Druze minority weeps over a makeshift memorial for 12 children and teens killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A woman from the Druze minority is overcome by emotion at the site where 12 children and teens were killed in a rocket strike on a soccer field, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed with three others on Saturday by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 28, 2024. The Middle East braced for a potential flare-up in violence on Sunday after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman mourns as she holds up a portrait of a Hezbollah fighter who was killed with three others on Saturday by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An injured Hezbollah fighter attends the funeral of his comrades who were killed on Saturday by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hezbollah fighters shout slogans as they carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed with three other fighters on Saturday by an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A boy walks past bicycles left next to the area that was hit by a rocket, killing multiple children and teenagers, on a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Photos of the children and teens killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field, are displayed at a roundabout as people light candles in their memories, at the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Sunday, July 28, 2024. A rocket strike at a soccer field in the village has killed at least 12 children and teens. It's the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People light candles in memory of the children and teens killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field at the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Sunday, July 28, 2024. A rocket strike at a soccer field in the village has killed at least 12 children and teens. It's the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Wreath of flowers are placed on the site of a rocket's strike killing children and teens at a soccer field in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Sunday, July 28, 2024. A rocket strike at a soccer field in the village has killed at least 12 children and teens. It's the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People light candles in memory of the children and teens killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field at the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Sunday, July 28, 2024. A rocket strike at a soccer field in the village has killed at least 12 children and teens. It's the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Druze clergymen pray during the funeral of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, who is one of the 12 children and teens, killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Ibrahim Ibrahim, center, embraces friends of his son, Guevara Ibrahim, 11, who is one of the 12 children and teens, killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field, during his funeral in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners from the Druze minority carry a coffin containing the remains of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, who is one of the 12 children and teens, killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners from the Druze minority carry a coffin containing the remains of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, who is one of the 12 children and teens, killed in a rocket strike at a soccer field, in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A fuel spill is “highly probable” after a New Zealand navy ship grounded, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation's acting prime minister said late Sunday.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui were taken to safety on life boats. The ship, one of only nine in New Zealand's navy, was the first the country has lost at sea since World War II.

Officials in Samoa are assessing the environmental impact in the area where the ship sank on Sunday morning, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel's passengers — including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel — evacuated in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. The vessel was about a mile from shore when it grounded on a reef and began taking on water, and it took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

One person was treated in hospital for minor injuries and has been discharged, the military said. Up to 17 others sustained lacerations, contusions, or suspected concussions. An Air Force plane carrying 72 of those on board the ship touched down at an air base in Auckland on Monday night.

New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defence Minister Judith Collins told 1News on Monday that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding.

The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway, Collins said. It was surveying a reef off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island, when it ran aground on the reef.

Photos and videos taken from the shore appeared to show the ship listing before disappearing completely below the waves, with a large plume of smoke rising where it sank. Collins said Sunday that she did not expect the vessel could be salvaged.

“This is a ship that unfortunately is pretty much gone,” she told reporters.

There was “a lot of fuel” on the ship and efforts had turned to assessing the potential environmental impact, Collins told Radio New Zealand Monday. New Zealand “would obviously have to front up” if there was a spill, she added.

The military said the ship, purchased for $100 million NZ dollars ($61 million) in 2018, was not covered by insurance.

The state of New Zealand’s aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy’s eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.

Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent its usual maintenance before the deployment. The ship’s captain was an experienced commander who had worked on the vessel for two years, he said.

Smoke rises from the sinking HMNZS Manawanui in Upolu, Samoa, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2022. (Dave Poole via AP)

This image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon, Tuvalu, on Sept. 7, 2022. (PO Christopher Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)