'Potentially apocalyptic': Stark UN warning if Gaza war spreads

The outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief warned Wednesday that a spread of the Israel-Hamas war to Lebanon would be "potentially apocalyptic", as fighting raged on in the southern Gaza Strip.

Martin Griffiths described Lebanon as "the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints", especially its southern border with Israel which has seen daily cross-border violence since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"It's beyond planning. It's potentially apocalyptic," warned Griffiths whose term as UN humanitarian coordinator ends this week.

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A war involving Lebanon "will draw in Syria... it will draw in others", he told reporters in Geneva. "It's very alarming."

Griffiths spoke as witnesses reported intense fighting in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, amid growing fears of a wider regional war.

With the conflict nearing its 10th month, Israel's top ally, the United States, warned of the risk of a major conflict with Hezbollah following an escalation in threats after months of cross-border fire.

However, Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip appeared to ease days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war's "intense phase" was nearing its end, and as his defence minister was in Washington.

"Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his visiting Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

"Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation," Austin said.

Gallant said: "We only fight those who seek to harm us."

Top Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have indicated openness to a diplomatic resolution of the border tensions, though Gallant said Israel should be ready for "every possible scenario."

Israel's military said last week that plans for an offensive in Lebanon were "approved and validated", prompting fresh threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Western powers of backing Israel as it sets "its sights on Lebanon", seeking "to spread the war to the region".

In Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt, witnesses reported clashes during the night, and Israel's military said warplanes struck a rocket launch site.

Mohammad al-Mughayyir, a civil defence official in Gaza, told AFP that rescuers had recovered the bodies of "15 martyrs from various areas in Rafah city in the past few hours".

The civil defence agency and medics said at least four people, including three children, were killed in a strike early Wednesday targeting a house in Beit Lahia, in the north.

Aside from that strike, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP, "there have been almost no attacks" and "the rest of the areas in the Gaza Strip are calm compared to yesterday".

UN and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that aid workers are not safe in Gaza, impeding their desperately needed efforts delivering aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war started with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.