Israel-Hezbollah crisis live updates: ‘Only one way’ left to stop all-out war

After Hezbollah and Hamas chiefs were killed within hours the Middle East is on the brink with Israel laying out new terms.

A senior Israeli minister has laid out the “only way” now open to preventing an all-out war in the Middle East – and it’s unlikely to be accepted.

A ceasefire, which only days ago US President Joe Biden was cautiously optimistic about, now seems a distant prospect.

The fractious region is on the brink of war following several days of bloody violence.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was in an “existential war “ with Iran and its proxies and “challenging days” were ahead. But it would push back against any “aggression”.

A worker clears debris one day after the Israeli military struck a building in Beirut's southern suburbs on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)

The spark for the current escalation fears was the deaths of 12 young people on a soccer pitch in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights on the weekend.

Late on Tuesday, Israel retaliated with an air strike on a Hezbollah dominated suburb of Beirut killing Fuad Shukr, its top military commander. Four civilians also died.

Israel has said Shukr was responsible for the soccer pitch strike.

Then, hours later, an air strike on Iran’s capital of Tehran took out the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh had been heavily involved in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hezbollah’s number two Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut, Lebanon.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

‘Only way to prevent war’

Israel has not commented on the Tehran killing while the US said it had no prior knowledge. But Iran has reacted with fury and has said it will retaliate against Israel. It said the US was complicit through its support of Israel.

On Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said the “only way to prevent war” was for Hezbollah to withdraw from the area close to the border between the two nations.

“Israel is not interested in an all-out war, but the only way to prevent it is the immediate implementation of (UN) Resolution 1701,” Mr Katz wrote in a letter to a number of foreign peers.

UN Resolution 1701 was agreed upon after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and saw the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and stated that only the Lebanese military and United Nations peacekeepers should operate between the border and the Litani River.

Israel has said Hezbollah has not abided by this and has military installations including weapons dumps and tunnels within just a few kilometres of the border.

However, Israel itself has been accused of breaking Resolution 1701 particularly by sending aircraft of various forms over the border into Lebanon.

It seems unlikely Hezbollah will take heed. It has said it will only cease attacking northern Israel if Israel stops its actions in Gaza.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

Major airlines cancel flights to Israel  

Major US airlines have suspended flights to Tel Aviv as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East.

United Airlines confirmed it will suspend daily flights from Wednesday night (US time).

“Beginning with this evening’s flight from Newark Liberty to Tel Aviv, we are suspending for security reasons our daily Tel Aviv service as we evaluate our next steps,” a United Airlines spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement. 

“We continue to closely monitor the situation and will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews.”

Delta Air Lines has also paused all flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Tel Aviv until Friday, August 2, due to “ongoing conflict in the region”.

British Airways is expected to follow suit, BBC News reports.

Iran, Hamas fury: ‘Israel will regret’

Hamas’ armed wing said that Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”.

Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian has called the killing “cowardly” and that Israel would “regret” its actions.

President Pezeshkian had been considered a reformist who wanted to build bridges with the west.

The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said revenge for his death was “Tehran’s duty” and Israel could expect “harsh punishment”.

People hold up the Palestinian flag and a portrait of assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh Hamas chief during a rally at Tehran University, in the Iranian capital Tehran on July 31, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Netanyahu: Exact ‘heavy price’ for agression

In a televised address on Wednesday Israeli PM Netanyahu said Shukr was directly responsible for the Golan deaths.

“We settled our score with (Shukr)… and we will settle our score with anyone who harms us”.

He said “we are ready for every scenario… and will stand united and determined against every threat”.

“We will exact a heavy price for any aggression”.

Netanyahu said he has been under pressure from home and abroad to end the war but he wouldn't not do so yet.

“I did not give in to those voices then, and I don’t give in to them now.

“All of the achievements in recent months were attained because we did not give in”.

He said continuing the war had allowed Israel to dismantle the infrastructure and leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah and it was that that will “bring our hostages back, but also allow us to achieve all of our war aims”.

Many in Israel believe prolonging the war will increase the risks of the hostages not returning while governments abroad are wary of being sucked into a wider conflict.

Netanyahu said Israel had dealt “crushing blows” on the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah, reported The Times of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

US ‘extremely unhappy’

Dr Martin Kear from the University of Sydney said the killing of Haniyeh was “very significant”.

“It throws the entire ceasefire process, the entire conflict up in the air and has the potential to drag in other players like Iran. I think it’s significant the assassination occurred while Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran. It would amount to an attack on Iran.”

Hamas would now have no incentive to engage in ceasefire talks “because it’s quite clear Israel is not interested in ending this war”, according to Dr Kear.

“The Biden administration would have some support for Israel and protect Israel when the inevitable strike against it comes from Iran, but I would imagine in the diplomatic circumstances they would be extremely unhappy.”

Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani (R) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joint press conference in Doha on June 12, 2024. (Photo by Ibraheem AL-OMARI / POOL / AFP)

Blinken: ‘Move to a better place’

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said a ceasefire was vital as a way of lowering tensions.

“We’ve been working from day one not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the Red Sea with the Houthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Mr Blinken told a forum in Singapore.

“A big key to trying to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that we can move to a better place, is getting the ceasefire.”

Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks, has been blunt that the killing of Hamas’ Haniyeh has not helped.

“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a post on X/Twitter.

Nonetheless, he and Mr Blinken have spoken about the ceasefire talks continuing.

Journalists killed in Gaza

On Wednesday, Arab news channel Al-Jazeera said two of its staff, Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Refee, were killed due to an Israeli air strike in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Al-Jazeera said the pair were wearing distinctive “press” labelled shirts and their car was also marked as such.

They were reporting from near the house of the assassinated Hamas political leader.

The pair had just finished a report when they were asked to leave the area by Israeli troops. They were then killed during an air strike.

So far, 165 journalists have now been killed in the conflict.

Originally published as Israel-Hezbollah crisis live updates: ‘Only one way’ left to stop all-out war