BEIRUT: Iran-backed Hezbollah has rebuffed Washington’s initial ideas for cooling tit-for-tat fighting with neighboring Israel, such as pulling its fighters further from the border, but remains open to US diplomacy to avoid a ruinous war, Lebanese officials said.
US envoy Amos Hochstein has been leading a diplomatic outreach to restore security at the Israel-Lebanon frontier as the wider region teeters dangerously toward a major escalation of the conflict ignited by the Gaza war.
Attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on shipping in the Red Sea, US strikes in response and fighting elsewhere in the Middle East have added urgency to the efforts.
“Hezbollah is ready to listen,” a senior Lebanese official familiar with the group’s thinking said, while emphasising that the group saw the ideas presented by veteran negotiator Hochstein on a visit to Beirut last week as unrealistic.
Hezbollah’s position is that it will fire rockets at Israel until there is a full cease-fire in Gaza. Hezbollah’s rejection of the proposals presented by Hochstein has not been previously reported.
Despite the rejection and Hezbollah’s volleys of rockets in support of Gaza, the group’s openness to diplomatic contacts signals an aversion to a wider war, one of the Lebanese officials and a security source said, even after an Israeli strike reached Beirut on Jan. 2, killing a Hamas leader.
Israel has also said it wants to avoid war, but both sides say they are ready to fight if necessary. Israel warns it will respond more aggressively if a deal to make the border area safe is not reached.
Such an escalation would open a major new phase in the regional conflict.
Branded a terrorist organization by Washington, Hezbollah has not been directly involved in talks, three Lebanese officials and a European diplomat said. Instead, Hochstein’s ideas were passed on by Lebanese mediators, they said. Reuters consulted eleven Lebanese, US, Israeli and European officials for this story.
One suggestion floated last week was that border hostilities be scaled back in tandem with Israeli moves toward lower intensity operations in Gaza, the three Lebanese sources and a US official said.
A proposal was also communicated to Hezbollah that its fighters move 7 km (4 miles) from the border, two of the three Lebanese officials said. That would leave fighters much closer than Israel’s public demand of a 30 km (19 mile) withdrawal to the Litani River stipulated in a 2006 UN resolution.
Hezbollah has dismissed both ideas as unrealistic, the Lebanese officials and the diplomat said. The group has long ruled out giving up weapons or withdrawing fighters, many of whom hail from the border region and melt into society at times of peace.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s office declined to comment on “reports of diplomatic discussions” in response to questions from Reuters for this story. Spokespeople for Hezbollah and the Lebanon government did not immediately respond to detailed requests for comment.
The White House declined to comment on Reuters’ reporting.
Hezbollah has, however, signalled that once the Gaza war is over it could be open to Lebanon negotiating a mediated deal over disputed areas at the border, the three Lebanese officials said, a possibility alluded to by Hezbollah’s leader in a speech this month.
“After the war in Gaza, we are ready to support Lebanese negotiators to turn the threat into opportunity,” one senior Hezbollah official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He did not address specific proposals.
Hezbollah previously held fire during a 7-day Gaza truce in late November.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy, in response to a Reuters question at a media briefing on Wednesday, said there was “still a diplomatic window of opportunity,” to push Hezbollah away from the border.
Hochstein has a track record of successful mediation between Lebanon and Israel. In 2022, he brokered a deal delineating the countries’ disputed maritime boundary — an agreement sealed with Hezbollah’s behind-the-scenes approval.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in whose cabinet Hezbollah has ministers, has said Beirut was ready for talks on long-term border stability.
During his Jan. 11 visit to Beirut, Hochstein met Mikati, the parliament speaker and army commander. He said publicly at the time that the United States, Israel and Lebanon all preferred a diplomatic solution.
Hochstein was hopeful “all of us on both sides of the border” could reach a solution to allow Lebanon and Israel to live with guaranteed security, he told reporters.
The spearhead of the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance,” Hezbollah was drawn into a battle it has said it did not expect when Palestinian ally Hamas stormed Israel on Oct. 7, triggering a conflict that has also spilled into the Red Sea, where US strikes have targeted Yemen’s Houthis over their attacks on shipping.
Hezbollah has said its campaign has aided Palestinians by stretching Israeli forces and driving tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes.
It has come at a cost, with around 140 Hezbollah fighters and at least 25 Lebanese civilians killed, as well as at least nine Israeli soldiers and a civilian. The intensity has been growing in recent weeks.
Hezbollah, founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, is the most powerful and influential of the groups Iran backs. It has played a big part in Tehran’s wider foreign policies.
Sources familiar with Hezbollah thinking have said it knows all-out war would be ruinous for Lebanon, a country already destabilized by years of financial and political crises, and where Hezbollah’s vast arsenal has long been a point of contention. Experts say the cache includes more than 100,000 rockets.
Even as Iran-aligned fighters draw US fire elsewhere in the region and Iran launches strikes in Syria and Iraq, Tehran would be loathe to see Hezbollah and Lebanon subjected to massive destruction, not least because it has previously had to foot the bill of reconstruction, said Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think-tank based in Beirut.
Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday said attacks against Israel and its interests by the “Axis of Resistance” will stop if the Gaza war ends.
Hage Ali said Hezbollah clearly wanted to avoid full-scale conflict. It did not want to be left in a situation where Israeli strikes continue or intensify in Lebanon after the Gaza war ends or is significantly scaled back, he said.
“A process in which it can engage, or support, the Lebanese state as it negotiates would provide the benefits of de-escalation,” he said.
The diplomacy faces significant complications, and many observers see a serious risk of an escalation in fighting. Israel has said its army will act if diplomacy cannot restore security to northern Israel.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group had heard “threats and inducements.”
The threat, Nasrallah said in a Jan. 15 speech, was the warning that Israel would move forces to its northern border as it shifts to the next phase of the Gaza war. Hezbollah was ready for war and would fight without “any limits, rules or boundaries,” he said.
But he has also alluded to diplomatic possibilities, saying in a Jan. 5 speech that once the Gaza war was over Lebanon had “a historic opportunity” to liberate land.
Those comments were widely interpreted as reflecting the possibility of a negotiated deal settling the status of disputed border areas.
Four Lebanese officials briefed on the matter said Hochstein has discussed ideas aimed at advancing such a deal, but he had not presented any draft proposals. The officials did not provide details of the ideas.
An Israeli official told Reuters Israel’s government has “relayed lots of demands,” without giving details. “One way or another, our 80,000 northern residents will be returning home,” the official said.
France has also been involved in de-escalation efforts. A source familiar with French thinking said Nasrallah’s public comments alluding to a possible border deal were “direct messages to the Americans and to the French.”
“He’s telling us: ‘the door is open’.”
Hezbollah rejected US overtures, still open to diplomacy to avoid wider war
Hezbollah rejected US overtures, still open to diplomacy to avoid wider war
- Lebanese mediators communicate US ideas to Hezbollah
- US envoy visits Israel and Lebanon in bid to restore calm
Egypt’s foreign minister discusses Iran nuclear negotiations, Gaza with US envoy
- Badr Abdelatty says US-Iran negotiations are an important opportunity to achieve calm in the region
- Oman to host sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the US on Sunday
LONDON: Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs, emphasized the need to persist in negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program during a phone call with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Abdelatty said the negotiations are an important opportunity to achieve calm, avoid escalation, and prevent the region from sliding into greater instability, WAM, the Emirates News Agency, reported.
Oman will host the sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the US on Sunday, Oman’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
Abdelatty and Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy for the Middle East, on Thursday addressed Egyptian and US efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. They discussed the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as the flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian coastal enclave, according to WAM.
The Egyptian foreign minister highlighted the need for a lasting resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that meets the region’s aspirations for peace and stability.
France’s Macron praises Palestinian president’s ‘genuine willingness’ for peace
- Mahmoud Abbas’ commitment to elections and reforms welcomed
- Comments come ahead of 2-state conference in New York next week
LONDON: France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ “concrete and unprecedented commitments” after receiving a letter from the latter ahead of the UN-backed Saudi-French conference on a two-state solution in Palestine.
In his letter on Monday, which was addressed to Macron and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abbas outlined the main steps to be taken to end the war on Gaza.
He called for the demilitarization of Hamas, the release of hostages, a ceasefire in Gaza and deployment of international forces to protect “the Palestinian people,” while reaffirming his commitment to reforms and elections.
Abbas also demanded an end to “the occupation and conflict once and for all” and halting settler activities.
In a post on X, Macron described the letter as “a decisive moment, praising the Palestinian leader for charting “a course toward a horizon of peace.”
I received a letter of hope, courage, and clarity.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 12, 2025
The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, charts a course toward a horizon of peace.
A condemnation of terrorism, the release of hostages, the demilitarization of Hamas, an end to the war in Gaza,… pic.twitter.com/zQ2ZgEOQ5k
“Concrete and unprecedented commitments that demonstrate a genuine willingness to move forward,” said Macron.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair the high-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Question and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in New York next week.
The conference at the UN’s headquarters aims to achieve concrete steps toward the two-state solution.
In his letter, Abbas stressed the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to presidential and general elections within a year across the Occupied Territories — including East Jerusalem — under international supervision.
“The Palestinian people are entitled to live in freedom and dignity in their homeland. Palestine and Israel are entitled to exist as states, in peace and security, in conformity with international law,” Abbas wrote in his letter.
Reaffirming his commitment to the two-state solution, he said: “We are ready to conclude within a clear and binding timeline, and with international support, supervision and guarantees, a peace agreement that ends the Israeli occupation and resolves all outstanding and final status issues.”
Iraq reports 19 Congo fever deaths already this year
- Congo fever is a viral disease which is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during or immediately after slaughter
Baghdad: Iraq said Thursday it has recorded 19 deaths from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever already this year and urged farmers and abattoir workers to step up precautions when handling livestock.
A total of 123 cases have been recorded nationwide, health ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr said in a statement, adding that 36 of them were reported in the poor southern province of Dhi Qar, which is heavily dependent on livestock farming.
Congo fever is a viral disease which is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during or immediately after slaughter, according to the World Health Organization.
It has a fatality rate of between 10 and 40 percent, and most cases have been reported in the livestock industry.
A previous surge in infections in Iraq in 2022 saw at least 27 deaths, compared with just six cases for the two decades from 1989 to 2009.
The WHO attributed that flare-up to a rise in the tick population resulting from the failure to carry out pesticide spraying campaigns in 2020 and 2021.
Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers
- Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas
- UN and major aid groups have rejected Israeli and US-backed GHF initiative
CAIRO: A unit of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of them.
The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.
The Israeli military circulated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s statement on its social media accounts but declined to provide its own account of what happened.
Aid initiative already marred by controversy and violence
The aid group’s operations in Gaza have already been marred by controversy and violence since they began last month, with scores of people killed in near-daily shootings as crowds headed toward the food distribution sites inside Israeli military zones. Witnesses have blamed the Israeli military, which has acknowledged firing only warning shots near people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
Earlier this week, witnesses also said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many.
The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and US-backed initiative, accusing them of militarizing humanitarian aid at a time when experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and renewed military campaign.
Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. Abu Shabab’s militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the food distribution points set up by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN trucks.
GHF has denied working with the Abu Shabab group.
‘They were aid workers’
In a statement released early Thursday, the foundation said Hamas had attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen “local Palestinians working side-by-side with the US GHF team to deliver critical aid” near the southern city of Khan Younis.
“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.”
It did not identify the men or say whether they were armed at the time.
Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical adviser to US President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings “absolute evil” and lashed out at the UN and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them.
“The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,” he wrote on X.
Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing UN-run system, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza. UN officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, but say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.
UN officials say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, and that it allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by controlling who has access to it and by essentially forcing people to relocate to the aid sites, most of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza.
Hamas says it killed traitors
Hamas has also rejected the new system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas-run police’s Sahm unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting.
The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them.
Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident, said he was at the scene of the killings and that crowds were celebrating them, shouting “God is greatest” and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Israel.
Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying they clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the images shared by Sahm were of Abu Shabab fighters.
The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers.
Mounting lawlessness as Israel steps up military campaign
Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed a complete ban on imports of food, fuel, medicine and other aid before easing the blockade in mid-May.
The ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force, which maintained a high degree of public security before the war, has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces with airstrikes. The military now controls more than half of the territory.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.
Israel’s offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90 percent of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed.
Palestinian Authority says Internet down in Gaza after attack on fiber optic cable
- Maintenance and repair teams unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable
- ‘Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday’
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fiber optic cable it blamed on Israel.
“All Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,” the PA’s telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.
“The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable.
“The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,” it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza “for weeks and months.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were “directly targeted by occupation forces.”
It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.
“The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.”
Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, said that “mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity” in Gaza for the time being.
Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.
