WILMINGTON, Delaware/RAMALLAH: US President Joe Biden expressed hope that Iran would back down despite its threat to avenge the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran, as fears grew that Israel's war against Palestinian militants in Gaza could escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Regional tensions rose after Wednesday's assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
Iran and Hamas blame Haniyeh's killing on Israel and, together with Hezbollah, have vowed revenge. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.
Asked by reporters if Iran would back down, Biden responded to the shouted question on Saturday: “I hope so. I don't know.”
In an effort to bolster defenses in the Middle East in response to threats from Israel's enemies, the Pentagon said Friday it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region.
Haniyeh's death was one of a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza approaches its 11th month, raising fears that the Gaza conflict is turning into a wider Middle East war.
Hamas said that three days after the assassination of Haniyeh, who was the face of the group's international diplomacy, it had launched an “extensive consultation process” to select a new leader.
The US and international partners including France, Britain, Italy and Egypt continued diplomatic contacts on Saturday in an attempt to prevent further regional escalation.
The US has urged its citizens who want to leave Lebanon to start planning immediately, and the British government has advised its citizens to “leave now”. Canada has warned citizens to avoid all travel to Israel as the regional armed conflict threatens security.
VIOLENCE IN GAZA AND THE WEST BARD
Violence in the Palestinian territories continued on Saturday.
An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City killed at least 15 Palestinians on Saturday, hours after two airstrikes in the occupied West Bank killed nine militants, including a local Hamas commander, Hamas said.
Israel's military said the first of two strikes in the West Bank hit a vehicle in a town near the town of Tulkarm and targeted a militant cell it said was preparing to attack.
A Hamas statement said one of those killed was its brigade commander Tulkarm, while its ally Islamic Jihad identified four other men who died in the attack as its fighters.
Hours later, a second airstrike in the area targeted another group of militants who fired at soldiers, the Israeli military said, during what it described as an anti-terrorist operation in Tulkarm.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said four people died in the attack, and Hamas said all nine killed in two Israeli attacks in the West Bank were fighters.
According to medics in Gaza, at least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The offensive was launched by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli records.
A high-level Israeli delegation made a brief visit to Cairo on Saturday in an effort to resume talks on a Gaza ceasefire, sources at Egypt's airport authority said. Israeli officials returned to Israel hours later, Israeli media reported.
The chances of a breakthrough seem slim after the latest incidents in Lebanon and Iran.
Israel has not said whether or not it was behind Haniyeh's murder. But Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israel had recently dealt crushing blows to Iran's proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
