US will defend Israel if Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon, says Austin

“I don’t believe a fight is inevitable,” Austin told reporters after meetings in Manila with senior Philippine officials alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken to detail new security commitments for the Southeast Asian nation. “We would like to see things resolved diplomatically.”

But “if Israel is attacked, yes, we will help Israel defend itself. We’ve been clear about that from the beginning,” Austin said.

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a military response to last weekend’s attack, but the specific nature of that counterattack remained unclear, even as civilians on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border — and in the region as a whole — prepared for it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel “will not and cannot ignore this,” before vowing to retaliate: “Our response will come, and it will be severe.”

In southern Israel, the fallout continued after far-right protesters gathered outside the Sde Teiman military base on Monday and stormed it to protest the arrest of nine reservists over allegations of “severe mistreatment of a prisoner” from Gaza.

Palestinians and human rights groups say Gazans held in the military detention center have been systematically abused and tortured, including alleged rape and sexual abuse. Under Israeli law, Palestinians from Gaza can be held for long periods of time without charge or access to a lawyer.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday denounced the events at the base, saying in a statement that they “represent a severe blow to the country’s security and the government’s authority, which is upheld by the IDF,” or Israel Defense Forces.

Netanyahu on Monday condemned the break-in and called for calm, putting the prime minister at odds with his far-right base and politicians whose support he needs to stay in power. The skirmish exposed a deepening clash between the military and Israel’s far-right party, which opposes reaching a ceasefire before Hamas is completely eliminated — a war goal that Israeli generals have warned is unrealistic.

In his statement, Gallant called on Netanyahu to investigate whether Itamar Ben Gvir — Israel’s far-right national security minister, who oversees the prison system — “prevented or delayed police actions in response to violent events involving members of his party.”

Videos posted to social media on Monday showed a crowd rattling the base’s metal gates and then rushing inside after Zvi Sukkot, a member of the country’s parliament. In a social media post, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on the military’s chief prosecutor to “keep their hands off the reservists,” a sentiment echoed online by Ben Gvir.

“The support and active participation of elected officials in riots on IDF bases, along with harsh statements against senior IDF officers, is a very serious and dangerous phenomenon that harms Israel’s security, social cohesion and image in the eyes of the world,” Gallant said Tuesday. “This dangerous phenomenon must be addressed decisively and immediately.”

Gaza’s Ministry of Health declared a polio epidemic on Monday, more than a week after Israel’s Health Ministry said it had found strains of the virus in sewage. No cases of polio have been reported. Gaza’s ministry said obtaining drinking water and access to soap and disinfectants for Strip residents were crucial to stopping the spread of the disease. The collapse of Gaza’s sanitation systems has also led to a rise in hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis, Palestinian and UN officials said.

Israeli troops withdrew from eastern Khan Younis on Tuesday, an end to a more than week-long incursion into the southern Gazan city that displaced tens of thousands of civilians. The IDF said in a statement that it had eliminated “more than 150 terrorists,” in addition to weapons and infrastructure. Muhammad al-Mughair, an official with Gaza’s Civil Defense, told The Washington Post that emergency teams had recovered the bodies of 42 people after troops withdrew, while more than 200 people were still missing. In recent weeks, Gazans crowded into the southern and central regions of the Strip have been repeatedly displaced by Israeli evacuation orders that now cover much of the area, the United Nations said.

Western governments are urging their citizens to leave Lebanon. Rena Bitter, the US assistant secretary for consular affairs, urged Americans to leave before a crisis occurs, while the British Foreign Office advised its citizens “not to travel to Lebanon.” Sweden, IrelandAnd France also issued similar statements. Meanwhile, Cyprus said it is ready to receive and help repatriate citizens if tensions between Israel and Lebanon worsen. The national airlines of Germany and Greece have suspended flights to Beirut for the rest of this week.

Attacks and discrimination against Muslims and Palestinians in the United States increased by 70 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period starting in 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Tuesday. The group said it received 4,951 complaints about anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents related to “immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, education discrimination, and hate crimes.”

Since the war began, at least 39,400 people have been killed and 90,996 wounded in Gaza. according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between civilians and fighters but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 329 soldiers have been killed since the start of the military operation in Gaza.

Birnbaum reported from Manila, Javaid from London and Jeong from Seoul. Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv and Hajar Harb in London contributed to this report.