JERUSALEM: Israel will spend the coming weeks trying to resolve the conflict with Lebanon’s Iran-backed group Hezbollah and would prefer a diplomatic solution, Israel’s national security adviser said on Tuesday.
National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel had been discussing with US officials the possibility that an expected end of intense Israeli military operations in Gaza would allow an “arrangement” to be reached with Hezbollah.
Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel from the north shortly after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Shelling on Israel’s northern border has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from areas on both sides of the frontier, and has escalated in recent weeks, leading to fears of an all-out conflict.
“We and the Americans believe and we will dedicate weeks now in an attempt to reach an arrangement,” Hanegbi said at the Herzliya conference.
“If there will not be an arrangement through diplomatic means, everyone understands that there must be an arrangement through other means. For now we prefer to focus on the diplomatic campaign,” he said.
Hanegbi also said Israel was discussing with Washington a possible joint effort by the United States, European and some Arab countries to find a replacement for Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip.
Israel prefers diplomacy to end Hezbollah conflict, security adviser says
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Israel prefers diplomacy to end Hezbollah conflict, security adviser says
- Israel is discussing with Washington a possible joint effort by the United States, European and some Arab countries to find a replacement for Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers kill 55-year-old Palestinian and teenager in West Bank
- Israeli military says soldiers opened fire after car accelerated toward them
- Security official says the car was driven by a Palestinian teenager
RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian teenager who was driving a car toward them as well as a Palestinian bystander in the West Bank on Saturday, according to an Israeli security official.
The military said that an “uninvolved person” was hit in addition to the driver of the car who had “accelerated” toward soldiers at a checkpoint in West Bank city of Hebron.
In an earlier statement, the military said two “terrorists” were killed, before later clarifying that only one person was involved.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a 17-year-old was driving the car and a 55-year-old was the bystander.
Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that 55-year-old Ziad Naim Abu Dawood, a municipal street cleaner, was killed while working. It said another Palestinian was killed but did not report the circumstances that led the soldiers to open fire.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the second Palestinian as 17-year-old Ahmed Khalil Al-Rajabi.
The military did not report any injuries to the soldiers.
The motive for the 17-year-old’s actions was not immediately clear, and no militant group claimed responsibility.
Since January, 51 Palestinian minors, aged under 18, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Violence has surged this year in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen sharply, while the military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several cities.
Palestinians have also carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, some of them deadly.
