GAZA STRIP: The outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief warned on Wednesday that a spread of the “Israel-Hamas war” to Lebanon would be “potentially apocalyptic”, as fighting raged on in the southern Gaza Strip.

Martin Griffiths described Lebanon as “the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints”, especially its southern border with Israel which has seen daily cross-border violence since the Oct 7 Hamas raid.

“It’s beyond planning. It’s potentially apocalyptic,” warned Griffiths whose term as UN humanitarian coordinator ends this week. A war involving Lebanon “will draw in Syria... it will draw in others”, he told reporters in Geneva. “It’s very alarming.” Griffiths spoke as witnesses reported intense fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, amid growing fears of a wider regional war.

With the conflict nearing its 10th month, Israel’s top ally, the United States, warned of the risk of a major conflict with Hezbollah following an escalation in threats after months of cross-border fire.

However, Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip appeared to ease days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war’s “intense phase” was nearing its end, and as his defence minister was in Washington.

“Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told his visiting Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant. “Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” Austin said.

Gallant, for his part, said: “We only fight those who seek to harm us.” Top Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have indicated openness to a diplomatic resolution of the border tensions, though Gallant said Israel should be ready for “every possible scenario”.

Israel’s military said last week plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”, prompting fresh threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Western powers of backing Israel as it sets “its sights on Lebanon”, seeking “to spread the war to the region”. In Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, witnesses reported clashes during the night, and Israel’s military said warplanes struck a rocket launch site. Mohammad al-Mughayyir, a civil defence official in Gaza said rescuers had recovered the bodies of “15 martyrs

from various areas in Rafah city in the past few hours”.

The civil defence agency and medics said at least four people, including three children, were killed in a strike targeting a house in Beit Lahia, in the north.

Aside from that strike, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal said, “there have been almost no attacks” and “the rest of the areas in the Gaza Strip are calm compared to yesterday”.

An air raid on Tuesday killed Fadi al-Wadiya, an employee of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who the Israeli military said was a “significant operative” for Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group which has fought alongside Hamas. MSF posted on X that it was “outraged” by Wadiya’s killing in Gaza City.

“The attack killed Fadi, along with five other people including three children, while he was cycling to work near the MSF clinic where he was providing care,” MSF said.

UN and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that aid workers are not safe in Gaza, impeding their desperately needed efforts delivering aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2024