29 September 2024

Israel and Hezbollah urged to step back as UN warns of 'catastrophe'

Orla Guerin & Henri Astier

Israel and Hezbollah both threatened to increase their cross-border attacks on Sunday, despite international appeals for them to step back from all-out war.

Israel’s military said about 150 rockets, missiles and other projectiles were fired at its territory overnight on Saturday and early on Sunday – mostly from within Lebanon.

Some reached further than previous strikes, sending thousands of Israelis to bomb shelters and damaging homes near the city of Haifa.

Israel launched its own strikes on targets in southern Lebanon, which it said destroyed thousands of Hezbollah's rocket launchers.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take "whatever action is necessary to restore security" and return people safely to their homes along the Israel-Lebanon border.

He said Israel had dealt "a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined". But the group's deputy leader Naim Qassem declared: “Threats will not stop us... We are ready to face all military possibilities".

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