middle-east-latest:-hamas-says-it-has-fired-rocket-at-tel-aviv;-israel-and-hezbollah-‘trade-messages-urging-against-escalation’-after-airstrikes

Middle East latest: Hamas says it has fired rocket at Tel Aviv; Israel and Hezbollah ‘trade messages urging against escalation’ after airstrikes

Israel and Hezbollah exchange messages calling for de-escalation

Israel and Hezbollah have reportedly exchanged messages via intermediaries aimed at preventing further escalation after both sides traded heavy fire on Sunday.

The development comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned “this is not the end of the verse” after Israel launched “pre-emptive strikes” against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said nearly all the targets it struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel.

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

The group said it had hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of the barrage.

Good morning

Welcome back to our live coverage of the situation in the Middle East.

Yesterday Israel said it launched a series of pre-emptive strikes at southern Lebanon to prevent a large-scale rocket and drone attack by the Hezbollah militant group.

The escalation in hostilities between the two sides had cooled by mid-morning, with no signs of a widely feared all-out war in the region.

However, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the group reserved the right “to respond at a later time” if the results of yesterday’s attack “weren’t sufficient”.

Three deaths were confirmed in Lebanon and one in Israel, where damage appeared to be limited.

Senior figures in the US and across Europe called for a de-escalation of tensions to avoid a full-scale regional war in response to the strikes.

Meanwhile, talks in Cairo on a possible Gaza ceasefire ended with no agreement yesterday, as Israel and Hamas failed to agree on mediator-proposed compromises.

The talks are expected to continue, US officials have said.

We’re pausing our live coverage

We’re ending our live coverage of the strikes launched by Israel and Hezbollah and the wider situation in the Middle East for this evening.

We’ll be back overnight with any major updates.

Before we go, here’s a reminder of the day’s main developments…

Israel-Lebanon tensions

  • Israel said it launched a wave of “pre-emptive” airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon overnight – as the militant group said it had fired drones and hundreds of rockets;
  • Hezbollah said its attack was an initial response to the killing of one of its founders and top commanders in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month;
  • At least three people were killed in the strikes in Lebanon, according to reports, while the IDF said there was “very little damage” in Israel;

  • Israel and Hezbollah both said they wanted to avoid any escalation into a full-scale war – but Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the strikes were “not the end of the story”;
  • Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the response to the killing of one of its commanders was delayed for several reasons, including to give ceasefire talks a chance. He also claimed the attack was carried out “as planned” and that the group had targeted an Israeli military base near Tel Aviv.

Catch up on the latest analysis on the Israel-Lebanon tensions from our international correspondents:

Israel-Hamas war

  • Elsewhere, high-level Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo ended today with no agreement between Israel and Hamas. A Hamas official said earlier that it was rejecting new Israeli conditions. Its delegation left the Egyptian capital this evening;
  • Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News Hamas could end the war “today” if it released its remaining hostages;
  • Hamas’s armed wing said earlier tonight that it had fired a rocket towards Tel Aviv in Israel. The IDF said a missile had landed in an open area of central Israel.

UN chief ‘deeply concerned’ by Israel and Lebanon strikes

Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, has said he is “deeply concerned” by the escalation in exchanges of fire across the Lebanon-Israel border.

He said the attacks put civilians on both sides at risk and “threaten regional security and stability”.

“I call for immediate de-escalation and appeal to the parties to return to a cessation of hostilities,” he said in a post to X.

Analysis: US waiting to see what happens next as uncomfortable game of brinkmanship continues

There’s been no major US reaction to the situation between Israel and Hezbollah today as officials are “waiting to see what happens next”, says our US correspondent Mark Stone.

After a day consisting of “just short statements” from politicians in America and across Europe, there are “one of two things” that could happen next, Stone says.

One option, he says, is that a deal is reached on a ceasefire in Gaza, “which would then allow Hezbollah to say ‘we’re going to stop attacking Israel from the north’”.

But with that looking “unlikely” after Israel and Hamas failed once again to come to an agreement following several days of high-level talks in Cairo, Stone says exchanges of fire across the border will continue and could lead to a potential “miscalculation, a large loss of life on one side or the other, and then the whole thing spirals”. 

“There’s an unbelievably uncomfortable game of brinkmanship that continues here,” Stone adds. 

He notes that US officials speaking on the sidelines of the Cairo talks have said Gaza ceasefire discussions are ongoing.

Gaza ceasefire talks end today without agreement – report

Talks in Cairo aimed at negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have ended with no agreement, the Reuters news agency reports, citing two Egyptian sources.

The sources reportedly said that neither the militant group nor Israel agreed to several compromises suggested by mediators.

As we’ve been reporting this evening, Hamas said it has rejected new Israeli ceasefire conditions which it claims deviated from a US proposal put forward in July (more detail in 21.10 post).

A reporter for the US outlet Axios has separately cited a US official as saying talks in recent days had been “constructive” and would “continue over the coming days” in order to “address remaining issues and details”.

US embassy tells citizens in Beirut to ‘prepare contingency plans’

The US embassy in Beirut is asking citizens who haven’t left Lebanon to “prepare contingency plans” and be ready to have to shelter in place for a long period of time.

“Due to high tensions in the region, the security environment remains complex and can change quickly,” the embassy said in a security alert.

“We remind US citizens of the continued need for caution and encourage them to monitor the news for breaking developments.”

Hamas official says its delegation has left Cairo

A member of Hamas’s political bureau has announced that its delegation left Cairo this evening after a meeting with Egyptian and Qatari mediators over long-running ceasefire negotiations.

Izzat al-Rishq said the group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Detail emerges on why Hamas rejected new Israeli ceasefire conditions

We’ve more detail to bring you following our earlier report that Hamas has rejected new Israeli conditions put forward in long-running Gaza ceasefire negotiations (see 18.49 post).

The group said earlier that it was committed to the 2 July proposal it previously agreed to.

It’s now emerged that Hamas has accused Israel of backtracking on a promise to withdraw its troops from a narrow stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

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

“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told its Al-Aqsa TV.

Back in July, the militant group accepted a US proposal to start talks on releasing its remaining hostages, a source told the Reuters news agency.

IDF: Most rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah intercepted or fell short of target

Nearly all targets struck in Israel’s “pre-emptive” strikes against Hezbollah overnight were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel, the IDF has said.

Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the Lebanese group was planning to “harm Israeli civilians” and managed to launch “only about 230 rockets” and around 20 drones.

“Most of them either fell on their way to Israeli territory, landed in open areas, or were intercepted by Israeli Air Force defence systems and Israeli Navy ships,” he said.

Earlier, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said its attack against Israel went “as planned”, dismissing IDF statements that its strikes had prevented a larger assault.