Israel threatens to send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age' as UN warns of 'potentially apocalyptic' all-out war between IDF and Hezbollah

Border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated in recent weeksEasing the Gaza offensive may free up Israeli forces to redeploy to the border 

Israel has sent a stark warning to Hezbollah that it could 'take Lebanon back to the Stone Age' if border clashes erupt into a wider regional war.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant made the comments during a visit to Washington on Wednesday, stressing that Israel would sooner avoid escalation.

'We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,' he told reporters. 'Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched.'

Israeli forces have exchanged fire with the militants based in Lebanon ever since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hezbollah's ally Hamas.

Fears of the border skirmishes boiling over into a full-blown was have grown in recent weeks since Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Warning against the escalation of hostilities, the UN's humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday that Lebanon was 'the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints'.

'It's beyond planning. It's potentially apocalyptic,' warned Griffiths, whose term ends this week.

An Israeli tank near the border with Lebanon on November 1 amid clashes with Hezbollah

Black smoke billows following an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the Lebanese-Israeli border on June 21, 2024

Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, on November 4

Speaking in Geneva, Griffiths warned that a war involving Lebanon 'will draw in Syria... it will draw in others', he added. 'It's very alarming.'

Israel's allies, including key defence backer the United States, have been keen to avoid such an eventuality.

A US official said Washington was engaged in 'fairly intensive conversations' with Israel, Lebanon and other actors, and believed that no side sought a 'major escalation'.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gallant on Tuesday that another war with Hezbollah could have 'terrible consequences for the Middle East', and urged a diplomatic solution.

Germany on Wednesday, echoing a Canadian warning from the day before, 'urgently requested' its citizens in Lebanon leave the country.

'The current heightened tensions in the border area with Israel could escalate further at any time,' updated foreign ministry advice in Berlin said.

Lebanon's national news agency reported about 10 Israeli strikes on areas near the border on Wednesday, including one around 10:00 pm that destroyed a building in Nabatiyeh, wounding five people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed six attacks against Israeli military positions in the border region.

Bombardments in the beleaguered Gaza Strip meanwhile appear to have been reduced in line with Israeli messaging that the 'intense phase' of the offensive is winding down.

The easing of clashes in Gaza would like free up some Israeli forces to be redeployed to the Lebanese border - but 'primarily for defensive purposes', according to the PM.

US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken have voiced hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could lead to a reduction in hostilities on the Lebanese border as well.

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, witnesses reported bombings in areas around the Gaza Strip, and fighting had raged earlier Wednesday between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

The civil defence agency and medics said at least four people, including three children, were killed in a strike Wednesday on a house in Beit Lahia, in the north.

However, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP 'there have been almost no attacks' and 'the rest of the areas in the Gaza Strip are calm compared to yesterday'.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war started with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 42 are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,718 people, also mostly civilians, Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry said.

Hezbollah militants train in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, Sunday, May 21, 2023 - prior to the eruption of hostilies between Israel and Gaza

Martin Griffiths, the UN's humanitarian coordinator, speaks in Geneva on Wednesday

Israeli soldiers patrol along the border with the Gaza Strip on June 13

An Israeli tank at the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, November 22

The deaths include 10 members of Qatar-based Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh's family, including his sister, who Palestinian officials said were killed on Tuesday.

The war has triggered a humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, with hospitals struggling to function, and food and other essentials hard to come by.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, warned Tuesday of the war's dire impact on children.

'We have every day 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average,' Lazzarini told reporters, adding 'that means around 2,000 children after the more than 260 days of this brutal war'.

In Cyprus, USAID officials said just 1,000 tonnes of the 7,000 tonnes of aid shipped to Gaza had been distributed because of looting and security problems.