European ministers fear Gaza war will expand to Lebanon soon

Irish Foreign Minister says Israel is breaking international humanitarian law 'on a systemic basis'

Black smoke billows following an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the Lebanese-Israeli border. AFP

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday said an expansion of the Israel-Gaza war into Lebanon would be a catastrophe as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell predicted the conflict was on the brink of spilling across the border.

Compounding European fears were threats last week from Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah against EU state Cyprus should it allow Israel to operate on its territory in a war against Lebanon.

Ms Baerbock, arriving at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said: “I’m travelling to the region again, including to Lebanon, because the situation on the Blue Line in the north of Israel is more than worrying. A further escalation would be a catastrophe for everyone in the region.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was winding down, but that the war would not end until the group no longer controls the Palestinian enclave.

Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to send more troops to its northern border with Lebanon, where fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah has escalated.

Mr Borrell said that “every day, the crisis is spilling over. Every day, there are more bombings on both sides of the border in Lebanon".

“We are on the eve of the war expanding,” he said, adding that Mr Netanyahu's latest declarations showed that a ceasefire plan for Gaza that has been pushed by US President Joe Biden was likely to fail.

“The Biden plan, that we supported and continue supporting, is certainly not being implemented [due to] a lack of will from both sides,” said Mr Borrell.

As he spoke, the media in Lebanon was invited to Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport by caretaker Transport Minister Ali Hamieh who refuted an article published in the UK newspaper The Telegraph quoting anonymous sources who claimed that Hezbollah had stored a large cache of Iranian weapons at the airport.

Hezbollah's threats towards Cyprus resulted in support from EU leaders for the country, which lies roughly 200km from Gaza's shores.

Cyprus has in the past allowed Israel to use its airspace to carry out air drills, but never during conflict. Mr Nasrallah said that Israel carried out annual military exercises in Cyprus.

“It is absolutely unacceptable to make threats against a sovereign state of the European Union,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Monday.

“We stand by Cyprus and we will all be together in all kinds of global threats coming from terrorist organisations.”

European leaders also expressed shock at images published over the weekend of a Palestinian man who was strapped to the front of an Israeli military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank.

Mujahed Abbadeh, 23, told The National that he was beaten despite Israeli soldiers finding nothing incriminating in his house.

He was then taken to the Palestine Red Crescent for treatment. The Israeli military has said it would investigate the incident.

Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the images of the incident constitute proof that Israel violates international humanitarian law “on a systemic basis”.

“We saw that most recently in terms of the Palestinian strapped to the front of the vehicle. This has to come to an end. We need the immediate release of hostages [held in Gaza] and we need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.