Israel orders its troops to prepare for possible ground operation in Lebanon

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, its military chief said Wednesday, as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets across the border and a rocket aimed at Tel Aviv that the militant group deepest blow so far.

In a speech to troops on the northern border, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel punishing air raids this week were intended to “prepare the ground for your possible accession and to continue to degrade Hezbollah.”

The US, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21 days ceasefire in the conflict that has left more than 600 people dead to “create space for diplomacy.”

Their joint statement, negotiated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said the fighting was “intolerable and poses an unacceptable risk of broader regional escalation.” Other signatories include the European Union, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Israel says it has targeted Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers. In an apparent reference to the rocket fired at Tel Aviv, Halevi told troops: “Today Hezbollah has expanded its range of fire and later today they will receive a very strong response. Get ready.”

It was not clear whether he was referring to a ground operation, air strikes or some other form of retaliation against Hezbollah, the strongest political force in Lebanon and, backed by Iran, widely considered the largest paramilitary group in the Arab world.

The Israeli military has said in recent days that it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion, but Halevi’s comments were the strongest yet suggesting that troops could step in. Israel said Wednesday it would activate two reserve brigades for missions in the north — another sign that Israel is planning tougher measures.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been steadily rising since war broke out 11 months ago between Israel and Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group. Hezbollah has fired rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas. Israel has responded with increasingly heavy air raids and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders, threatening a broader operation.

Tens of thousands of people had already been displaced on both sides of the border after nearly a year of fighting before the recent escalation.

Israel has pledged to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will continue its rocket attacks until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, something that that seems further and further away.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel and Hezbollah to step back, saying an all-out war would be disastrous for the region and its people.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called on the UN Security Council to take immediate action “to guarantee Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territories and to end the violations that are repeated on a daily basis.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told reporters at the UN that Israel welcomes initiatives to broker a ceasefire and is “open to ideas.” But if diplomacy does not stop Hezbollah’s attacks and allow residents of northern Israel to return home, he said, his country will use “all the means at our disposal, in accordance with international law, to achieve our goals.”

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 72 people had been killed in the ongoing Israeli attacks on Wednesday, bringing the death toll in the past three days to 636, with more than 2,000 wounded. Lebanese health officials said at least a quarter of the dead were women and children.

At Dar Al Amal hospital in the eastern city of Baalbek, Soumaya Moussawi lay in bed with her head bandaged and her face bruised.

She said she was sitting outside with family members when fighter jets began flying in the distance.

“Then it suddenly landed next to us. We were all thrown in different directions,” she said. Two cousins ​​and her father were killed, and another cousin was seriously injured.

This week was the deadliest in Lebanon since the devastating months-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it blames for a recent series of targeted killings of its top commanders and an attack last week that used explosives. hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies dozens of people killed and thousands wounded, including many Hezbollah members.

Israeli military officials said they intercepted a surface-to-surface missile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The military said it hit the launch site in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the rocket fired Wednesday had a “heavy warhead” but refused to elaborate or confirm whether it was the type Hezbollah described. He dismissed Hezbollah’s claim that it had targeted Mossad headquarters just north of Tel Aviv as “psychological warfare.”

The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from Lebanon had reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed to have hit an intelligence base near Tel Aviv in an airstrike last month, but there was no confirmation. Hamas repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv in the early months of the Gaza war.

The launch sparked an upsurge in hostilities in a region that appeared to be heading for another all-out war, even as Israel continues the fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel said on Wednesday that its air force struck about 280 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in the early afternoon, including rocket launchers that fired missiles at the northern Israeli cities of Safed and Nahariya.

In the southern Israeli city of Eilat, a building at the port was hit by a drone, an attack that wounded two people and was claimed by an umbrella organization for Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. A second drone was intercepted, the Israeli military said.

Fleeing families have flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools that had been converted into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach. Some have tried to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.

The United Nations said more than 90,000 people had been displaced by five days of Israeli attacks. A total of 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel nearly a year ago, provoking Israeli retaliation, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Hezbollah carried out dozens of attacks on northern Israel on Wednesday, the military said.

Rocket fire over the past week has disrupted the lives of more than 1 million people in northern Israel, with schools closed and public gatherings restricted. Many restaurants and other businesses are closed in the coastal city of Haifa and fewer people are on the streets. Some who have fled communities near the border are again being hit by rockets.

Israel has moved thousands of troops serving in Gaza to its northern border. It says Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, including some that could strike anywhere in Israel.

Cross-border shelling intensified Sunday after pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah were attacked remotely, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

The next day, Israel said its warplanes had struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones, including weapons hidden in private homes. The strikes caused the highest death toll in one day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a massive month-long war in 2006.

___

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Suleiman Amhaz in Baalbek, Lebanon; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Edith Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s war coverage on https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war