The heavy exchange of fire on Sunday threatened to trigger an all-out war that could draw in the United States, Iran and militant groups across the region.
ADVERTISEMENTIsrael’s large-scale attack on Hezbollah missile positions in Lebanon is “not the end of the story,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Israel launched a wave of air strikes across southern Lebanon on Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, as the militant group said it had launched hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of one of its top commanders last month.
“Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones early in the morning. We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful pre-emptive strike to remove the threat. The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, and they were all intended to harm our citizens and our forces in the Galilee,” Netanyahu said.
The heavy exchange of fire threatened to trigger an all-out war that could draw in the United States, Iran and militant groups across the region.
It could also torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, for over 10 months.
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said the group’s attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Fouad Shukur in Beirut last month had been delayed to give Gaza ceasefire talks a chance.
“They (the Americans) started saying there will be a stop to the aggression and that there was going to be a ceasefire, and to hold off. And that is why we took our time. We didn’t tell anyone we would take our time but honestly we took our time to give room for these negotiations. Our main goal in this front and all this blood lost and all these sacrifices is to stop the aggression on Gaza,” he said in a video speech in Lebanon.
But the latest round of ceasefire talks have not gone well with Hamas rejecting new Israeli conditions put forward in Cairo.
Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters that talks had ended without an agreement with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to any of the compromises proposed by mediators.
An anonymous US official said talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days in an effort to bridge remaining gaps.
The official said “working teams” will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in hopes to addressing remaining disagreements.
The official called the recent talks, which began Thursday in Cairo and continued through Sunday, as “constructive” and said all parties were working to “reach a final and implementable agreement.”
A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations.
Israel and Hamas blame each other for the lack of progress.
Hamas accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of imposing new demands and not being serious about reaching a ceasefire.
Netanyahu insists the war in Gaza will continue until Hamas is totally wiped out, regardless of whether a ceasefire deal is reached.