Israel, Hezbollah exchange messages calling for de-escalation – after Netanyahu warns ‘this is not the end’ | World News

Israel and Hezbollah reportedly exchanged messages through intermediaries to prevent further escalation after both sides exchanged heavy fire on Sunday.

The development comes hours after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “this is not the end of the verse” after Israel carried out “preemptive strikes” on Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), virtually all of the targets they struck were short-range missiles aimed at northern Israel.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, said it fired drones and hundreds of rockets into Israel on Sunday morning in response to the assassination of one of his top commanders in the Lebanese capital Beirut last month.

The group said it had carried out an attack on an Israeli military intelligence facility near Tel Aviv as part of the barrage.

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the Lebanese group intended to “harm Israeli civilians” and that they managed to fire “only about 230 rockets” and about 20 drones.

“Most of them died en route to Israeli territory, landing in open areas or being intercepted by Israeli air defense systems and Israeli naval vessels,” he said.

As it happened: Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group’s attack on Israel went “according to plan” and rejected Israeli military statements that the strikes had prevented a larger attack.

He also said that Hezbollah’s attack had been postponed to give negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza a chance, so that other Iranian-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether they wanted to attack Israel all at once.

Mr Nasrallah said Hezbollah “now reserves the right to respond at a later date if the results of Sunday’s attack are not sufficient”, adding that Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran have not yet responded.

He told the Lebanese people: “In the current phase, the country can take a breath and relax.”

Hezbollah and Israel stated that their strikes targeted only military targets.

Israel said Hezbollah had not hit any military targets, but that one Navy soldier had been killed and two others wounded, either by incoming fire from an interceptor or by shrapnel from an interceptor.

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Meanwhile, two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed in the Israeli strikes, the group said.

Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday afternoon: “What happened today is not the end of the verse.

“Hezbollah attempted to attack the State of Israel early in the morning with rockets and drones. We have ordered the IDF to carry out a powerful pre-emptive strike to eliminate the threat.

“The IDF has destroyed thousands of short-range rockets. They were all intended to harm our civilians and troops in the Galilee.

“In addition, the Israeli army intercepted all UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that Hezbollah launched for strategic purposes in the center of the country.

“We are hitting Hezbollah with surprise blows.”

He made his comments before Reuters reported that both sides had exchanged messages in an attempt to avoid further escalation on Israel’s border with Lebanon.

A diplomat told the news agency that the overarching message was that both sides considered the overnight firefights “done” and that neither side wanted a full-scale war.

World leaders fear that the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas will escalate into a broader regional conflict between Israel and Iran or Iran-backed allies.

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Hours after Hezbollah and Israel carried out their attacks, the armed wing of Hamas claimed it had fired a rocket at Tel Aviv.

The militant group says the attack was in response to Israeli “mass killings of civilians.”

The latest violence comes after talks in Cairo over a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza ended without an agreement, Reuters reported, citing two Egyptian sources.

According to sources, neither Hamas nor Israel have agreed to various compromises proposed by mediators.

Hamas said it rejected the new Israeli terms for a ceasefire, which it said deviated from a US proposal submitted in July.

The militant group now accuses Israel of failing to deliver on its promise to withdraw its troops from a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

It added that Israeli officials had proposed other new conditions, such as screening displaced Palestinians upon their return to northern Gaza.

“We do not accept any discussions about withdrawing what we agreed on July 2 or about new conditions,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Aqsa TV.