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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Israel's defense minister Yoav Gallant vowed Sunday attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group would continue even if a ceasefire is reached with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"We are planning to increase the firepower against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating," Gallant said Sunday during a visit to the Israel Defense Forces Northern Command headquarters in Safed.
People carry beds into a school as Lebanese citizens displaced due to ongoing clash between Israel and Hezbollah take shelter in schools in Tyre, Lebanon, February 22, 2024. /CFP
"In the event of a temporary truce in Gaza, we will increase the fire in the north and will continue until the full withdrawal of Hezbollah from the border and the return of the residents to their homes," he said.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in the first week of February that his group's cross-border shelling would end only when Israel's "aggression" on the Gaza Strip stops.
The group has been trading fires with Israel military across Lebanon's southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel shows an Israeli Air Force fighter jet flying over the border area with south Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, February 25, 2024. /CFP
On February 14, Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at a town in northern Israel in response to air raids that killed at least 10 civilians and three Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as UNIFIL, expressed concern over the latest "exchanges of fire."
"Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes," UNIFIL's spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. "The devastation, loss of life and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning."
According to data released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs at the end of January, the current round of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict has caused the displacement of some 82,000 people in Lebanon. Israel, for its part, says that the conflict has caused some 80,000 residents of its northern border to flee their homes.
(With input from agencies)