JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Tuesday that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the country's north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could ignite an all-out conflict.
Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to take heavier military action to halt the near-daily attacks, which began shortly after the outbreak of the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel has regularly launched airstrikes on Lebanon in response and has targeted and killed senior Hezbollah commanders.
Click to Gallery
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Tuesday that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the country's north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could ignite an all-out conflict.
Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A person takes a picture with his phone of a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises to the sky as fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A car drives past fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli army flare is seen over the Israeli-Lebanese border as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
As recently as last month it appeared a full-blown war was imminent.
Tuesday's statement by Israel's security Cabinet signaled a tougher stance at a time when Israeli leaders have stepped up their warnings. But it also appeared to be largely symbolic and may not herald an immediate change in policy.
The tit-for-tat strikes have displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has said it would halt the attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but those talks have repeatedly bogged down.
The United States has pressed for restraint even as it has rushed military aid to Israel, warning its close ally that a wider war would not achieve its goals.
Israeli media have meanwhile reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replacing him with Gideon Saar, the leader of a small right-wing party who is seen as more hawkish. That would be the biggest leadership shakeup in Israel since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza and set off wider regional tensions.
The announcement on Lebanon came after Israel's security Cabinet met late into the night. It said the Cabinet has “updated the objectives of the war" to include safely returning the residents of the north to their homes.
“Israel will continue to act to implement this objective,” it said.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions, met with Netanyahu on Monday.
Hochstein told Netanyahu that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help return Israelis evacuated from the border area to their homes, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.
According to the official, Hochstein argued that Netanyahu risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon and said the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in conjunction with a Gaza cease-fire or on its own.
Netanyahu told Hochstein that residents cannot return without “a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” according to a statement from the prime minister's office. It said that while Netanyahu “appreciates and respects" U.S. support, Israel will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security."
Defense Minister Gallant has meanwhile said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel's north. He told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah, saying “the trajectory is clear.”
Hezbollah has said that while it does not want a wider war it is prepared for one.
Raed Berro, a member of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, said Monday that the militant group “is ready for confrontation and has a lot in its pocket to deter the enemy and protect Lebanon in case Netanyahu thinks of expanding the war.”
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close political ally of Hezbollah, largely dismissed the warnings, telling a local newspaper that the Lebanese have grown used to the “increasing Israeli threats … even if their tone has become louder recently.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Militants are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after releasing most of the rest during a cease-fire last year.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the territory since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups across the region, which have carried out strikes on Israeli and U.S. targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. A missile launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday set off air raid sirens in central Israel without causing casualties. Israel has hinted at a military response.
Israel and Iran traded fire directly for the first time in April, and Iran has threatened to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran in July. The targeted killing was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved.
The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent most of this year trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
President Joe Biden endorsed the framework of the agreement in May and the U.N. Security Council backed it days later. But since then, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands, and the talks appear to be at an impasse.
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A person takes a picture with his phone of a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises to the sky as fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A car drives past fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli army flare is seen over the Israeli-Lebanese border as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.
The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.
In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
RABAT, Morocco — Thousands of people have demonstrated in the streets of Morocco’s capital to call for justice for the Palestinians and for the Moroccan government to revoke its 2020 agreement formalizing its ties with Israel.
The North African nation has had — since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas — some of the Arab world’s largest protests.
A diverse group — including students, Islamists, leftists, attorneys and unions — have poured into the streets of the country’s cities and towns in an expression of support for Palestinians in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I don’t know who is next, probably in Syria or any other country. Maybe it’s our turn next,” said Houria, a demonstrator from northern Morocco.
Morocco’s government has spoken out against the war but retained its ties with Israel. Authorities have for the most part permitted protests yet pursued charges against demonstrators who have blocked the entrance to businesses or implicated the monarchy in their demands.
The protest in Rabat was among the largest demonstrations in months. Moroccans from throughout the country gathered in Rabat to march past the country’s parliament.
They protested against President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and carried large banners of Arab leaders killed during the conflict, including Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh and longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
SAO PAULO, Brazil — A plane carrying Brazilians fleeing Lebanon has landed in Brazil, according to a statement from the Brazilian Air Force.
The plane touched ground in Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport Sunday. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was at the scene to welcome them.
The flight, the first Brazil has organized to assist its nationals, was carrying 228 passengers including 10 infants, as well as three pets.
A second flight is scheduled for next week but will depend on security conditions on the ground, the foreign ministry said.
Around 21,000 Brazilians live in Lebanon, which is home to the largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East. Two Brazilian adolescents have been killed by Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.
BERLIN — On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, hundreds of demonstrators marched behind a banner that read “Against all antisemitism,” accompanied by a police escort.
With scores of Israeli flags waving over head, some Jewish leaders led a song about “shalom” — peace — while marchers chanted “Free Gaza from Hamas!” and “Bring them home,” referring to hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Another chant, “Rape is not resistance!” decried the sexual violence that occurred during the attack. Survivors have given The Associated Press numerous accounts of sexual atrocities committed during that day and a U.N. report released in March said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack.
Some in the crowd held up photos of hostages still held by Hamas. Photos of several women featured the word “Kidnapped” in German.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said one person was killed and 10 others were wounded in a stabbing and shooting attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
Sunday’s attack at the city’s central bus station came on the eve of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, which ignited the war in Gaza. The country is on high alert as it prepares to hold memorial ceremonies.
Israel’s police did not identify the assailant but said they were treating it as a terror attack. Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks since the war began.
The attack comes a few days after seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv last Monday. In that attack, two Palestinian men opened fire on a crowd inside the city’s light rail and around the station before being killed by security forces in the area.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a new appeal for peace “on every front” is his Sunday Angelus prayer and spoke of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
“Brothers and sisters, tomorrow it will be a year since the terrorist attack by Hamas against the people of Israel, to whom I renew my closeness,” the pontiff said. He called for the “immediate liberation" of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The pope called for a day of prayer and fasting on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack - which he said sparked a war that has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“From that day the Middle East has fallen into worse suffering because of destructive military actions that continue to hit the Palestinian people,” the pontiff said. "It is most of all innocent civilians, they must receive the necessary humanitarian aid.”
The pope repeated his plea for “an immediate ceasefire on every front," including Lebanon.
"Let’s pray for Lebanese people, especially for the people in the south forced to leave their villages.”
TEL AVIV, Israel — Ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli military on Sunday displayed thousands of weapons seized from the militant group.
The military, which created the display at a sprawling army base south of Tel Aviv, said it has retrieved more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Gaza and destroyed double that number, as well as seized thousands of other items including drones, explosives, RPGs, scuba equipment, machine guns, sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and weapons manufactured both inside Gaza and in Iran, Russia and North Korea.
The army also displayed homemade explosives it said Hamas used to burst through the border barrier on Oct. 7. It said they were crafted specifically after years of studying Israel’s border during years of Hamas-organized violent protests along the fence, including as early as 2018.
“What Hamas did on Oct. 7 was storm Israel with all their abilities at one time,” said military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. He said that the Israeli military had seized the weapons from Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to study the types of weapons used as well as track where they came from.
As Israel prepares for a day of somber memorials marking a year since the attacks, the military said it was increasing troop presence in Israel’s south to protect memorials taking place along the Gaza border.
A large memorial planned by bereaved families was expected to draw a crowd of more than 40,000 in Tel Aviv, but will be broadcast with only direct family members and media in attendance due to warnings from the military of possible rocket attacks from Lebanon.
BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.
The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.
Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.
Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.
France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.
Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”
In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”
“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.
The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.
Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.
The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.
BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.
Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Moroccan women wave flags and chant slogans in support of Gaza and Lebanon during a protest in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
