Thousands of Israeli troops are massed near Gaza as a watching world holds its breath to see the scale and duration of any incursion into the Palestinian enclave - and the repercussions of such an operation
Thousands of Israeli troops are massed near Gaza as a watching world holds its breath to see the scale and duration of any incursion into the Palestinian enclave – and the repercussions of such an operation
The Israel prime minister said: “We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state will be devastating.”are understood to have succeeded in recent days in privately urging the Israeli government to resist internal pressure for a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, which has in recent years considerably increased its manpower and weaponry.
Israel on Sunday increased to 212 the number of those it believes are being held hostage as a result of the attacks,Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, warned of increased threats to American troops and civilians in the Middle East after attacks on bases in Iraq. For its part, Tehran demanded an immediate end to the bombardment of Gaza, saying Washington would be held accountable for the Israeli onslaught. The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said: “I warn the US and its proxy that if they do not immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza, anything is possible at any moment and the region will go out of control.”