Israeli foreign minister says ‘moment of all-out war’ with Hezbollah nears, Axios reports

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel was moving closer to all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon after a rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday killed 10 people, Axios reported. “Today’s attack by Hezbollah crosses all lines and must be responded to accordingly. We are approaching the moment of all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Katz told Axios. The Iranian-backed Lebanese group has denied any involvement in the attack.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire almost daily since the war in Gaza began in an Oct. 7 Hamas surprise attack that left some 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. Israel launched attacks that have so far killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health officials, and forced the displacement of more than 80 percent of the territory’s residents, creating a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Gunfights along the Lebanon-Israel border have escalated over the past few weeks with Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks further from the border.

Since early October, Israeli air strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also about 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians were killed.