Jerusalem – Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a 48-hour nationwide state of emergency from 06:00 am Sunday, after the Israeli military launched what it called pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon.
“The declaration on the state of emergency enables the IDF (Israeli military) to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant,” Gallant said, in a statement issued by his office.
“I am convinced that there is a high probability of an attack against the civilian population in areas of the country where the declaration of a special situation did not apply,” he said, referring to previous local emergency measures.
“I hereby declare a special situation on the home front in other areas of the country. The situation is valid for 48 hours starting at 6:00 am,” Gallant said.
Lebanon’s health ministry meanwhile said three people were killed in Israeli raids in the country’s south, after Israel launched strikes against Hezbollah, which announced a wide-scale attack on Israel.
In a separate statement, the Israeli defense ministry said Gallant briefed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the overall situation.
“We have conducted precise strikes in Lebanon to thwart an imminent threat against the citizens of Israel,” Gallant told Austin, according to the statement.
“We are closely following developments in Beirut, and we are determined to use all the means at our disposal to defend our citizens.”
The statement also said that the two leaders “discussed the importance of avoiding regional escalation”.
The powerful Iran-backed Lebanese group countered that Israel was making “empty claims” of having thwarted an attack, and said its own operation for Sunday “was completed and accomplished.”
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was due to speak on the “latest developments” at 6:00pm (1500 GMT, 11 pm, Manila time Sunday), the group said.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces throughout the Gaza war, in a campaign Hezbollah says is in support of Palestinian ally Hamas.
In Washington, the United States said its commitment to Israel’s defense was ironclad and that it was “postured” to support its ally after the Israeli military launched strikes in Lebanon to prevent a major attack by Hezbollah.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant about Israel’s defense against attacks by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said.
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said “senior US officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts” at the direction of President Joe Biden, who was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.”
The Lebanese movement said its attack was an “initial response” to Shukr’s killing, adding that it had “ended with total success”, although the extent of the damage on the Israeli side was not immediately clear.
An Israeli military spokesman, Nadav Shoshani, said the fire from Hezbollah was “part of a larger attack that was planned and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning”.
The government declared a 48-hour state of emergency. By 7:00 am flights had resumed at Israel’s main international airport after a brief suspension, the aviation authority said.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a media briefing that the Israeli strikes were meant “to remove the threats aimed at the citizens of Israel”.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported at least one dead in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the country’s south. No casualties were immediately reported in Israel.
The United States, Israel’s top arms provider, said it’s military was “postured” to support its ally.
The Israel-Hamas war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 cross-border attack, had already drawn in Iran-backed groups like Hezbollah.
Fire across Israel’s northern border has killed hundreds, mostly in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands of residents in both south Lebanon and north Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet Sunday and vowed “to do everything to… return the residents of the north safely to their homes” after more than 10 months of violence.
Attacks in the Israel-Lebanon border area since October have killed more than 600 people on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but including at least 131 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 23 soldiers and 26 civilians, including in the Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he had briefed his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on the situation.
Austin also spoke with Gallant and “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s defence against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies,” a Pentagon spokesman said.
The deaths of Shukar and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran ratcheted up concerns that Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip could spiral into a broader regional conflict.
Intense diplomacy in recent weeks has sought to avert a broader response to the killings of Shukr and Haniyeh, which was blamed on Israel, as Gaza mediators were making their latest push towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
A round of talks was due to be held Sunday in Cairo.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 40,334 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
