04-09 08:09 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
At least 182 people were killed and 890 others wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
BBC at the site of Israeli air strikes in Beirut
On Wednesday, Lebanon was hit with the heaviest bombardment by Israel in this conflict.
For 10 minutes, the country was under heavy attack, with Israel saying it struck Lebanon around 100 times.
At least 182 people have been killed and more than 800 wounded, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
The BBC's Middle East Correspondent Hugo Bachega was in Beirut at the site of one of these deadly strikes.
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04-09 00:01 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The Israeli prime minister's response to the ceasefire has been muted, in contrast to the triumphal statements from the US and Iran.
Israel backs US-Iran ceasefire but Netanyahu's war goals remain unfulfilled
When Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the start of the Israeli-US military campaign against Iran at the end of February, he was bullish.
But the tone of the statement from his office acknowledging the ceasefire announced overnight was far more muted and made clear the decision was made by President Donald Trump.
There was also a marked contrast with the triumphal statements from the US and Iran, both of which claimed major victories after five weeks of war.
In remarks broadcast on Wednesday night, Netanyahu characterised the operation as a success, but said the ceasefire was not the end and that Israel had more goals to achieve, either by agreement or renewing the fighting.
Where does the war leave Israel and its prime minister?
At the start of the war, Netanyahu said the "goal of the operation is to put an end to the threat from the Ayatollah regime in Iran" and that "this operation will continue as long as necessary".
But these goals have not been achieved: Iran's armed forces have still been fighting and the governing clerical establishment remains in place, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures have been killed in US-Israeli strikes.
The status of Iran's nuclear programme and stockpile of enriched uranium also remain unresolved. And while Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles has been degraded, it has continued to launch barrages of them towards Israel throughout the war.
There were missile alerts and the sound of explosions here in Jerusalem overnight, even after Trump announced the deal, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying multiple missiles were fired from Iran.
Netanyahu appears to have overestimated the ability of Israel and the US to defeat Iran's forces and bring about a change of its ruling system.
Anshel Pfeffer, a veteran Israeli journalist and biographer of Netanyahu, said the prime minister had only referred to a "suspension" of hostilities, ahead of talks between the US and Iran, but that he had not publicly accepted the war was over.
He said Netanyahu's failure to achieve his stated objectives was "not good" for him, and that another issue could be "some kind of rift opening up with the Americans" if the ceasefire was being agreed without Israel having much of a say.
Until now, there were public displays of unity between Netanyahu and Trump, but their goals might not now fully align.
A full end to the war, if it is based on the "10-point proposal from Iran" that Trump has referenced, will be widely seen as a strategic success for Tehran, given that is constitutes a list of demands by its leadership.
Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition in Israel, said there had "never been such a political disaster in our entire history" and that "Israel was not even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security".
He added: "The army did everything they asked of it, the public displayed incredible resilience, but Netanyahu failed politically, failed strategically, and did not meet any of the goals he himself set."
It is an election year in Israel, meaning Netanyahu could potentially lose power within months.
Shira Efron, the Israel policy chair at the US-based RAND corporation, said that Netanyahu "promised Israelis that this campaign would lead to the end of the Islamic regime, that by cutting the head of the snake, this war would remove an existential threat from Israel."
"Yet, the snake turned into a hydra."
She said the war was a "hard" sell to the Israeli public because there had been no regime change in Iran, the Iranians still had enriched uranium, and the Iranian missile threat remained.
"The missile programme still exists and, for Israelis, whether 70 or 80 per cent of capabilities have been degraded, there hasn't been a discernible difference for those sheltering [from missiles] over the last five weeks."
But Yossi Kuperwasser, who worked in Israeli military intelligence and is now director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), said Israelis should differentiate between "practical achievable goals" and "all kinds of wishful goals that we all wanted to see happening, but we couldn't guarantee".
He said the "achievable goals were all completely achieved" because Iran's nuclear and ballistic missiles production facilities were hit, and its military capabilities and leadership were "decimated".
He said the "wishful goals", which had not occurred, were causing regime change by triggering a popular uprising, removing highly enriched uranium from Iran by military force, and putting an end to Iran's capacity to launch missiles.
It is possible that far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition government will reject any ceasefire agreement or an end to the war, creating a political challenge for him.
A stark conflict over whether the ceasefire deal covers Lebanon has also emerged, which is putting the entire ceasefi
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04-08 00:01 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
Israel's military says troops fired at a vehicle driven by the Palestinian because they believed it posed "an immediate threat".
WHO suspends Gaza medical evacuations after contractor killed by Israeli troops
The World Health Organization has suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing after a contractor was killed by Israeli troops on Monday.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the contractor – named locally as Majdi Aslan, 54 – was killed in a "security incident" and that two staff were present but not injured. He gave no further details.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the contractor was driving a WHO-rented vehicle in southern Gaza when it was targeted by Israeli forces.
Israel's military said its troops "identified an unmarked vehicle approaching them and the Yellow Line, posing an immediate threat", referring to the line marking Israeli-held territory.
"In response, the troops fired warning shots. The vehicle continued to accelerate toward the troops, who then responded with additional fire that hit the vehicle," it added.
"The incident is under review."
Tedros said the WHO had suspended medical evacuations of sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt until further notice.
"We call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers," he added.
Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's regional director, described the killing of the contractor as "a devastating loss" and warned that the suspension of medical evacuations was "cutting off a critical pathway to care for patients".
At al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, a colleague of Majdi Aslan told reporters the vehicle he was driving was clearly marked with the WHO's logo on all sides, and that it had been at the front of a co-ordinated convoy transporting patients to the Rafah crossing when it came under fire from an Israeli tank.
"The tank came out directly and targeted the driver so that he would stop. There were three people in the vehicle; the driver is the one who paid the price for the situation we are living in," Raed Aslan said. "What ceasefire is this? Every day we have someone killed."
A medic at the hospital, Dr Fathi al-Lulu, said Majdi Aslan had been targeted while "co-ordinating the transfer of patients from the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian side".
The Rafah crossing was reopened for the limited movement of people in both directions in early February as part of October's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, having been largely closed since the Gazan side was captured by Israeli forces in May 2024.
Israeli authorities shut the crossing on 28 February following the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, but it reopened again after 20 days.
Israeli military body Cogat says approximately 1,150 people have left Gaza via the crossing over the past two months and that the same number have entered Gaza.
More than 18,000 Palestinian patients are waiting to leave Gaza for treatment, according to local hospitals and the WHO.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating the ceasefire which they agreed almost six months ago.
At least 733 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on 10 October, according to the territory's health ministry.
The Israeli military has said five of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups over the same period.
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The White House says it is making the entire region safer by eliminating short and long-term threats.
International law experts allege violations in Iran war
More than 100 experts on international law have signed an open letter expressing "profound concern" about what they see as serious violations of international law by the US, Israel and Iran in the Middle East war.
They say the US-Israeli decision to attack on Iran was a clear breach of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the use of force outside of self-defence or when authorised by the UN Security Council.
The experts point to "alarming rhetoric" being used by officials, including US President Donald Trump's threats to "obliterate" Iran's power plants.
In response, the White House said Trump was making the entire region safer and dismissed what it described as "so-called experts".
In the letter, the experts also took issue with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's statement that "no quarter" should be given for enemies.
Denial of quarter in conflict means refusing to spare the life of anybody, even those who surrender or are wounded.
In international law, say the signatories, it was "especially forbidden" to declare that no quarter will be given, a prohibition also set out in the Department of Defense's own law of war manual.
The signatories include:
- Jonathan Tracy, a former US Army judge advocate
- Harold Hongju Koh, a former legal adviser at the US state department
- Oona A Hathaway, a professor of international law at the Yale Law School and president-elect of the American Society of International Law
They say: "We are gravely concerned that the conduct and threats outlined here are causing serious harm to civilians... and that they risk degrading the rule of law and fundamental norms that protect every nation's civilians.
"Public statements by senior officials indicate an alarming disrespect for the rules of international humanitarian law accepted by states, and which protect both civilians and members of the armed forces."
The White House accused the Iranian authorities of "maiming and killing Americans, acting as the primary state sponsor of terror and brutally murdering its own people for merely speaking out against its oppressive rule" for the past 47 years.
Trump, it insisted, was "making the entire region safer and more stable by eliminating Iran's short- and long-term threats to the United States and our allies".
The war is reported to have claimed thousands of lives:
- The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says that 1,606 civilians, including at least 244 children, have been killed in Iran since the start of the conflict
- Lebanon's health ministry has said 1,345 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since 2 March
- Missile attacks on Israel launched from Iran and Lebanon have killed 19 civilians since the start of the war, according to Israeli emergency services
- In the Gulf states that have come under Iranian attack, local authorities have reported at least 24 people killed, most of them security personnel or foreign workers - including 12 in the UAE, seven in Kuwait, two each in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and one in Bahrain
Tom Fletcher, the UN's humanitarian chief, told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday that "somewhere along the way" international law had been "thrown aside".
"The rules are very clear and very strong," he added, but the problem was "enforcement". He described the war as "reckless".
The US Department of Defense has said it was investigating the attack, which a growing body of evidence has suggested was probably the result of a US strike.
One theory believed to be part of the investigation is that the school, next to an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base, could have been hit as a result of outdated intelligence.
The experts' letter says the strike "likely violates international humanitarian law, and if evidence is found that those responsible were reckless, it could also be a war crime".
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04-03 04:03 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
Delhi is abuzz as Pakistan plays Iran go-between. Is India being sidelined in a shifting US-Iran equation?
Pakistan's push in Iran war diplomacy - is India sidelined?
The chatter in Delhi is unmistakable: as Pakistan positions itself as an intermediary in the US-Iran crisis, is India being sidelined?
Islamabad has moved with unusual agility, casting itself as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran.
Last week, it reportedly relayed a 15-point US peace plan to Iran and offered to host talks - an offer Tehran rejected. This week, Pakistan took the lead again, with its foreign minister flying to Beijing to seek Chinese backing for a five-point peace plan to end the conflict.
For India, Pakistan's larger neighbour and arch rival, the optics are awkward. The unease is sharpened by a more uneven phase in India's ties with the US, even as Pakistan appears to be rebuilding channels with President Donald Trump.
That, in turn, has sparked a familiar divide within India's strategic community.
Some opposition parties and analysts argue that Delhi, with its own cross-cutting ties in the region, should at least have explored a mediatory role - lest it appear absent at a moment of geopolitical flux.
Others see little value in such visibility for its own sake, cautioning that mediation without leverage or invitation can backfire. They believe India's interests are better served by quiet diplomacy and strategic distance.
That view finds echo in the government. In an all-party meeting last week, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reportedly dismissed Pakistan's role as "dalali" (brokerage), noting it has played such a part since 1981, including in US-Taliban talks.
"We don't run around asking countries what kind of brokerage we can do," he is reported to have said.
But for some analysts, the intensity of the debate in Delhi says as much about perception as policy.
At its core, argues Happymon Jacob of Shiv Nadar University, the issue is not strategy so much as psychology.
"At best, that is a fear of missing out. At worst, it's jealousy of a smaller neighbour attracting the kind of attention some in our strategic community believe India deserves. But neither the fear of missing out nor jealousy is a sound basis for good foreign policy."
Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, also pushes back on the "zero-sum approach of India-Pakistan rivalry", arguing India was never really in the running to mediate and is unlikely to step in without a formal invite.
Pakistan's diplomatic burst, he suggests, may be short-lived and limited to a go-between role, with mistrust making direct US-Iran talks unlikely anytime soon. As he puts it, "this misrepresents the state of play".
If India was never really in the mediation race, the more relevant question, many say, is what role it should play instead.
For Ajay Bisaria, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, the answer lies in recognising both India's strengths and its constraints.
While India has peacemaking potential, given its stakes and relationships across the region, it is not a tool that can be "directed" by Washington, he says.
"That makes India unsuitable for this role," Bisaria adds, arguing that Delhi should pursue a more substantive peace-promoting role - but "not in the manner of Pakistan and not at the current stage".
Between these positions lies a more pragmatic middle ground: India need not insert itself into high-risk mediation, but it cannot afford to be passive either.
"This war has damaged India's interests in almost every practical sense... The deeper question is whether India is willing to say so with sufficient clarity," former Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao wrote on X.
At home, that restraint has drawn criticism. Opposition leaders have accused the Narendra Modi government of a conspicuous silence on Israel's actions in Gaza and strikes on Iran, arguing it signals an increasingly pro-Israel tilt and a break from India's traditional diplomatic balance.
"Restraint has its place. Calibration is necessary. But when fundamental questions arise - about sovereignty, about the limits of force, about the protection of civilians - India cannot afford to be silent," Rao says.
Bisaria believes India also needs to think beyond headline diplomacy.
India is a stakeholder in both peace and conflict, he says - wars disrupt its central objective of sustained economic growth.
Rather than chasing a mediatory role, he adds, Delhi should invest in the less visible mechanics of peacemaking, building specialist capacity to handle "the nuts and bolts" - from hostage swaps and back-channel military contacts to negotiating safe passage through chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz - in the long run.
Set against this debate about India's role is a parallel question: why has Washington turned to Islamabad at all?
Part of the answer lies in geography and networks.
As Ejaz Haider, a Lahore-based defence analyst, says, Pakistan is "the only country in the Muslim bloc" that maintains working ties with both Iran and the Gulf monarchies - giving
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04-03 04:03 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The president also called on countries reliant on the Strait of Hormuz to 'build up the courage' to secure it.
Trump says US 'on the cusp' of ending Iran war in televised address
US President Donald Trump says his core "objectives are nearing completion" in Iran, during a primetime televised speech from the White House.
The roughly 20-minute speech also called on countries reliant on the Strait of Hormuz to 'build up the courage' to secure it, arguing that the US doesn't "need it".
Following the speech, global oil prices rose to $105 a barrel.
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04-03 04:03 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The strikes, which Iran says were first launched by Israel in co-ordination with the US last week, could cause major damage to the Iranian economy.
Iran's two largest steel plants shut down due to air strikes, companies say
Iran's two largest steel plants have been shut down due to multiple rounds of US-Israeli air strikes, the companies operating them say.
"Our initial estimate is that restarting these units will take at least six months and up to one year," Mehran Pakbin, deputy head of operations at the Khuzestan Steel Company in south-western Iran, was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Mobarakeh Steel Company said its production lines in the centre of the country had "completely shut down following the high volume of attacks".
The strikes, which Israeli media and Iran's foreign minister said were first launched by Israel in co-ordination with the US last Friday, could cause major damage to Iran's economy.
Iran is the 10th biggest producer of steel globally, according to data from the World Steel Association. In addition to using steel domestically for construction and manufacturing, it exports the material across the world.
Any halt to production could have major implications to supply chains and businesses across the country, which for years have been affected by comprehensive Western sanctions.
The BBC has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the US military's Central Command (Centcom) for comment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post on Friday: "Israel has hit two of Iran's largest steel factories, a power plant and civilian nuclear sites among other infrastructure. Israel claims it acted in co-ordination with the US."
Israeli media reported that an Israeli security source had said the strikes were expected to cause billions of dollars in damage to the Iranian economy, and that the steel plants were linked to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC said it had targeted US-linked steel and aluminium facilities in Gulf states in response.
On Thursday, the Israeli military reported several new incoming missile attacks from Iran, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said its military had "engaged with" 19 missiles and 26 drones launched from Iran.
The IRGC also targeted an Amazon cloud computing centre in Bahrain, according to Iranian state media.
US and Israeli forces look to have been hitting a wider range of targets in Iran in recent weeks, with US President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying on Wednesday that the US would bring Iran "back to the stone ages".
The comments sparked concern among Iranians - even those who support US-Israeli intervention against the Islamic Republic - that the scope of the offensive is broadening beyond the Iranian government and military.
There have also been attacks on health-linked facilities, with a spokesperson for Iran's health ministry confirming on Thursday that a medical research centre in Tehran - the Pasteur Institute of Iran - was attacked on 23 March. The spokesman described it as "a direct assault on international health security" and said it breached the Geneva Conventions.
On Tuesday, the Iranian government said there was an attack on one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Iran - Tofigh Daru Research & Engineering Company - which produces anaesthetic and cancer drugs.
The IDF said in a statement that it had carried out the strike and alleged that the company had transferred "chemical substances, including fentanyl, that were used for research and development of chemical weapons".
Separately, on Thursday, a highway bridge linking the capital Tehran to the nearby city of Karaj was hit by air strikes, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. Two people were killed, according to the deputy for security at the Alborz governor's office.
There was no immediate comment from the US military, but Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again."
"Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!" he added.
The IDF told the BBC it was "not aware" of any strikes on Karaj.
Iran has been under internet blackout for 34 days, with connectivity to the outside world at 1% of normal levels on Thursday, according to NetBlocks - making it difficult to verify information from the country.
Additional reporting by Ghoncheh Habibiazad
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04-03 04:03 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The BBC's chief international correspondent analyses the US President's latest White House address.
Watch: Trump's shifting deadlines for ending Iran war
Donald Trump's first primetime address since the start of the Iran war on Wednesday evening left several questions unanswered.
He said the core strategic objectives of the US-Israeli military operation were "nearing completion" a month into the war, and projected it would last another two to three weeks.
The BBC's Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, pointed out that the US president's deadlines have "always been fluid" and that his address did not provide much clarity.
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04-02 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
Attacks have continued as Israel has announced its intention to control swathes of south Lebanon.
Israel intensifies Lebanon attacks and hits areas not in Hezbollah's control
Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon this week, hitting areas outside of Hezbollah's control on Tuesday.
Strikes without warning hit a vehicle north of Beirut and the Jnah neighbourhood in the heart of the capital.
Attacks also continued in the city's southern suburbs and the country's south, both where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
A building was destroyed on the road to Beirut's airport after an evacuation order, and in the south, a strike hit a health facility, killing a paramedic, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
Israel's military said it had hit Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut and killed a senior commander and another senior figure from the Iran-backed armed group.
Hezbollah joined the ongoing regional war on 2 March, sending missiles towards Israel, after the US and Israel attacked the armed group's ally Iran on 28 February.
Israeli attacks have kept bombarding Lebanon as its troops have moved into the country's south.
On Tuesday, a vehicle was targeted in the Mansourieh area, a predominantly Christian residential neighbourhood north of Beirut.
Meanwhile, the Jnah neighbourhood in the heart of the capital was attacked after midnight. The Lebanese health ministry said the Al-Zahraa Hospital had received and treated "a number of those injured in the air strike".
Hassan Jalwan, who lives near Jnah, told AFP he heard several "big explosions" overnight.
"Nobody knows what's happening," he said, adding that "displaced people have been sleeping in the open" in the area.
The Dahieh neighbourhood to the south of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, continues to be a target. A building was destroyed on Tuesday in Ghobeiry on the road to the airport following an evacuation order.
Also on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said at least seven people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the country's south, including the paramedic.
The number of health workers who have been killed since the start of the war has now reached 53.
Earlier, the Lebanese army cleared its last positions in the south, pulling out from Ain Ibel and Rmeish villages a day after an army checkpoint was hit and a soldier was killed by an Israeli air strike, according to the Lebanese Armed Forces. The Israeli military has not appeared to have commented yet on the reported death.
However, some residents of the villages refuse to leave.
In the predominantly Christian village of Rmeish, Father Najib Al Amil appeared in a video on social media, where he said: "There is grass and soil. We rely on God and will stay in our village. We either all die together and lose our land or live and our villages will live with us."
Israel has announced its decision to control large swathes of land in southern Lebanon - up to the Litani River, about 30km from the border with Israel - to create a buffer security zone.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would keep security control over the territory even after the end of the current war against Hezbollah. The plan has drawn criticism from the UN.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave the south, but there are still tens of thousands who have refused to go.
Supply lines to the south have been cut by Israel targeting bridges and infrastructure, making villages in the south uninhabitable.
Katz said more than 600,000 displaced Lebanese residents would be "completely prohibited" from returning to that area until the safety of residents of northern Israel was guaranteed.
The Israeli defence minister also said all houses in villages near the border in Lebanon will be destroyed "according to the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza".
In total, 1,268 people in Lebanon have been killed since the beginning of the attacks, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.
More than one million people have been displaced, the UN reported.
This is critical time for Lebanon and the residents of the south. Many see Israel's strategy in the south mimicking that of Gaza - destruction, depopulation and occupation.
The government said earlier that this constitutes a violation of the country's sovereignty.
South Lebanon previously lived under Israeli occupation for nearly 18 years, between 1982 and 2000.
Some Lebanese have lived the displacement and loss of land generation after generation.
Many in Lebanon believe that Israel is more powerful than Hezbollah and capable of destroying the south with its advanced missiles and drones. At the same time, if Israel is to stay in the south, Hezbollah is more powerful on the ground and can engage in a guerrilla war to wear out the Israelis and prevent them from staying put.
In short, for the hundreds of thousands who have been forced out of their homes, this war is not ending anytime soon.
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04-02 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The war with Iran has not yet resolved any of Israel's regional conflicts in the way its prime minister suggested it would.
Israel's perpetual war with Iran may be hard to win with military might alone
On the highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, American flags now hang alongside Israeli ones – a public sign of appreciation for US involvement in fighting Iran.
"We used to beg American administrations only to recognise a Credible Military Threat [from Iran]," said Israel's former National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hangebi, who left office four months before this war began.
"The fact that both Israel and the US are working day in, day out to diminish the capabilities of Iran, that's beyond my most utopian fantasies."
America's decision to jointly wage war on Iran opened-up possibilities for Israel to attack its old enemy in new ways – officials here talk of dividing up targets with their US counterparts according to their respective capabilities.
But this war has so far not resolved any of Israel's regional conflicts in the way its prime minister suggested it would.
As US president Donald Trump talks of winding up the joint offensive in Iran, Israeli forces are still holding territory in Gaza and Syria, with new instructions from their defence minister to take a large swathe of southern Lebanon as a "buffer zone" against Iran's ally Hezbollah.
Some 600,000 people living inside this new 'security zone' have been told they will not be allowed back to their homes until Israel deems its northern communities safe from Hezbollah attacks. Mr Katz has ordered the destruction of all houses in Lebanese villages near the border, in the same way his forces razed communities in Gaza.
Tzachi Hanegbi says Israel will continue its direct confrontation with regional enemies like Hezbollah, even if Washington forces an end to military action in Iran.
"Donald Trump might make a decision that there are no more [Iranian] targets relevant to the nuclear capabilities, and that he would like some kind of ceasefire, and whatever he will do, we will accept," Hangebi told me.
"[But] we'll go forward in Lebanon. We'll keep on doing it, and I'm sure America won't tell us, 'No'."
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of Israel's most recent campaign, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
And Iran's government says almost 2,000 people have been killed by US-Israeli attacks there since the war in Iran began.
Israel's military strategy in the region changed after the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, from a policy of 'containing' its enemies with occasional operations, to one of pre-empting attacks.
That shift has pulled Israel into direct confrontation with Iran, but also led to a policy of creating so-called 'buffer zones' in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon – wide areas of territory that Israel has seized from its neighbours for what it terms security reasons; the result of a repeated failure to turn military might into sustainable peace.
On Tuesday, just before the Jewish holiday of Passover, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel had inflicted 10 "plagues" on the regime in Tehran, including the establishment of "deep security belts beyond our borders – in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon".
"The buffer zone approach is seen as an insurance policy that gives Israel flexibility and buys it time, linked to the wider change in Israel's security doctrine since the 7 Oct attacks," said Burcu Ozcelik, a specialist in Middle East strategy at UK's Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).
But, she says, there are political fractures within Israel over the purpose of this approach.
"Some think the buffer zones will eventually lead to permanent occupation or the expansion of Israel's borders – an ideological point of view, long championed by the far-right," she said.
"More pragmatic voices argue that what's happening now in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria is a security-driven approach that may be removed once Israel feels safer."
For the past two and a half years, Benjamin Netanyahu has led his country in a continuous rolling conflict with Iran and its allies around the region, each time promising that the next war would restore Israel's security and vanquish its enemies.
Just nine months ago, after Israel's last war on Iran, Netanyahu told his nation they had achieved "a historic victory that will stand for generations", removing the "existential threats" from Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Despite the rhetoric of imminent victory accompanying every fresh conflict, the reality for many Israelis is a new state of 'perma-war'.
"The grandiose promises of destroying Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran are not coming true," said Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst in Israel.
And Netanyahu's promise that the war on Iran will lead to new regional alliances for Israel hasn't materialised either, she says, leaving Arab States – including current or potential Israeli allies – worried.
"It never happens because Israel is behaving like an unpredictable warmongering actor that might snatch territory," Scheindlin said. "Israel's attack on Iran and Lebanon, and its encroachm
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