Hopes for a Gaza ceasefire have never felt more distant

In Lebanon, the sky flashed red above the blasted southern neighbourhoods.

- BEL TREW

In Israel, the air raid sirens wailed as rockets flew back. This borderland has now become one of the most volatile fault lines of the region and a potential trigger point for a much wider war.

Yesterday morning Israel announced it had sent 100 fighter jets over Lebanon, striking what it said were thousands of rocket launchers that Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had poised to attack.

Hezbollah said it sent over 300 Katyusha rockets and a large number of drones towards military positions in Israel in response to the killing of Fuad Shukr, their top commander that Israel assassinated in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs last month – a retaliation the world has been holding its breath for.

Against this exchange of fire, ceasefire talks for the war in Gaza were set to continue yesterday in the Egyptian capital. Representatives from all sides were expected to be there.

Just last week we saw arguably the most intense flurry yet of international diplomacy to bring an end to a rapidly spiralling situation, sparking hope that a deal might be in the running. Top diplomats including British foreign secretary David Lammy, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and the French foreign minister Stephane Sejourne shuttled between key figures. Lammy warned this was a “dangerous moment for the Middle East”, while Blinken called the talks “maybe the last” opportunity to pull the region back from the brink, free the hostages and secure a ceasefire.

But yesterday morning, the hopes of an imminent end to the intense bloodshed in Gaza – where health officials say 40,000 people have been killed under Israel’s bombardment – and to bring home the remaining 115 people taken hostage since Hamas’s bloody 7 October attacks, seemed ever more distant.

And it raised again the question of whether a ceasefire in Gaza could rein in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, its backer Iran and the wider region.