Israeli Defence Minister Yisrael Katz vowed on Sunday that no account would remain unsettled, days after airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed 11 people.
Israeli Defence Minister Yisrael Katz escalated threats on Sunday following a major escalation in southern Lebanon on Saturday, pledging to strike forcefully and declaring that Israel would not tolerate what he called any open account in any arena. Writing on X, Katz stated: "No account will remain open in any arena. We will strike powerfully in defence of our soldiers and citizens." The statement came after Israeli airstrikes killed 11 people, including three children, in the highest single-day toll since a ceasefire framework agreement was signed between the countries in late June.
The Israeli military said strikes on the town of Ansariyeh targeted a Hezbollah military official and came in response to an operation carried out by the group against Israeli forces. In a statement on X, the military said its forces targeted a Hezbollah command headquarters and announced that it had struck Ali Samir al-Hajj Hassan, described as a sector commander in the group's Radwan Force.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that the strike on Ansariyeh killed seven people, including three children and two women. The ministry also reported four deaths and 17 injuries, including one child and 11 women, in a separate strike on Deir al-Zahrani.
President Joseph Aoun said the Ansariyeh strike resulted in the death of an entire family, characterizing the attacks as a clear message to the negotiating process and American efforts aimed at implementing the ceasefire framework between the two countries. The escalation marks a significant breach of an accord meant to reduce cross-border tensions.
Doron Spielman, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told France Press on Saturday that Israeli strikes against Hezbollah should give peace talks a strong push and make them more serious, not produce the opposite result. The statement suggested Israel's position that military pressure could advance negotiations rather than undermine them.
Hezbollah responded by saying Lebanese authorities should not continue what it called a humiliating direct negotiation process with Israel. The group stated that Israeli attacks and attempts to impose facts on the ground cannot continue and will be met with an appropriate response, without specifying what that would entail.
The strikes represent the first major Israeli operation since the framework agreement was signed, raising questions about the durability of an accord that was meant to establish a ceasefire mechanism. The agreement had provided for a 60-day period during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanese territory in phases, conditional on Hezbollah moving its military infrastructure away from the border.
The deaths in Ansariyeh and Deir al-Zahrani represent a critical test of whether the agreement can survive military escalations. Both sides have indicated they could pursue additional operations, with Israel framing strikes as defensive responses and Hezbollah reserving the right to retaliate against what it characterizes as Israeli violations of the ceasefire framework.
What happens next remains uncertain. Negotiations to implement the agreement have been led by American mediators, and the current escalation threatens to derail those efforts. Both sides maintain their stated commitment to the framework in principle, but the gap between that commitment and their actual military posture continues to widen, leaving little clear path toward the peaceful implementation that the accord was meant to provide.
