Threat from Hezbollah, humanitarian aid, diplomatic relaunch… what to remember from the Israel-Hamas conflict this Friday

L'armée israélienne en alerte à la frontière libanaise avec les menaces de représailles du Hezzbollah. MAXPPP – JINI

La situation reste tendue notamment au Liban où le Hezbollah promet des représailles. Des émissaires américains et européens tentent de relancer une solution diplomatique au conflit.

Tension is still palpable in the Middle East, where the leader of pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, said Friday that a response to the strike attributed to Israel on his stronghold near of Beirut, which killed the number two of Palestinian Hamas, was "inevitable".

"Our fighters will respond to this violation"

"We cannot remain silent about a violation of this magnitude because it would mean that all of Lebanon would be exposed" in the future, Hassan stressed Nasrallah. "Our fighters from across the border areas will respond to this dangerous violation".

“We now have a historic opportunity to completely liberate every square centimeter of our Lebanese land,” added the Hezbollah leader, referring to the territories still occupied by Israel after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.

The Western emissaries who are working to avoid a general conflagration on the border between the two countries have precisely proposed to obtain a cessation of hostilities a settlement of the border dispute between Lebanon and Israel, according to several diplomatic sources.

American Antony Blinken begins major diplomatic tour

The high representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, and the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, arrived in the Middle East on Friday to relaunch a diplomatic resolution and prevent the spread of the Gaza conflict in the region.

Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the West Bank, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. For his part, Josep Borrell must go to Lebanon to discuss the situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

These visits take place almost three months after the assault on Israel by Hamas from Gaza. Since the ensuing Israeli offensive, 22,600 people have been killed in the enclave, according to Gaza health authorities.

7 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza

Israel, which claims to have killed 8,000 fighters since the Hamas attack on October 7 which left 1,200 dead, announced Thursday that it was launching a more targeted tactic in Gaza. However, Palestinians said Israeli planes and tanks had intensified strikes on the densely populated Al Maghazi, Al Bureij and Al Nusseirat camps in the central coastal strip.

In addition, a coordinated air operation between France and Jordan allowed the airdrop, on Friday, of around seven tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, announced Emmanuel Macron.