World leaders seek to contain Israel-Hamas war, protect civilians

Tel Aviv: As Israel prepares for a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip, the international community has mobilised to try to protect civilians and prevent the conflict spreading across the region, AFP reported.

But Israel’s avowed determination to crush Hamas, the group behind the October 7 attack on Israel, are hampering mediation efforts. So too are clashes along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Among the most active international players is the United States, whose Secretary of State Antony Blinken started a tour of six Arab countries on Friday, visiting Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Washington, like its European allies, is concerned to avoid the opening of a second front with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. But they have been clear in their support for Israel’s right to defend itself.

Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are also trying to contain the crisis. All have good relations with Israel and experts think they will have some influence over Hamas.

China and Russia have been more critical of Israel’s response to the attack. But they might have some influence over Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy, to prevent the conflict spreading. Tehran has long supported Hezbollah and Hamas.

But there are numerous diplomatic fault-lines, as became clear at Friday’s United Nations Security Council meeting, where Russia blamed the United States for the situation in Gaza.

European Council president Charles Michel has called a video-summit of European Union leaders for Tuesday to seek a joint position on the war. Rym Momtaz, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), says we should not expect much. “Expectations are low for what they can concretely achieve,” she wrote in an online analysis.

“In recent years, the eruption of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts has sidelined European diplomacy more than it has for the Americans, Egyptians, Qataris and Turks.”

The EU’s 27 leaders on Sunday acknowledged Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of Hamas’s attacks but also underlined the importance of protecting all civilians at all times, in compliance with international law.

There are calls for Lebanon, which has already suffered from past wars with Israel, to stay out of the conflict.

“The situation is extremely dangerous,” said a French diplomatic source, of the rise in clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

Paris, like Washington, has called for restraint from Hezbollah and Iran, with President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday warning Tehran “against any escalation or extension of the conflict”.

UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force deployed in a buffer zone between northern Israel and southern Lebanon, on Sunday “reported intense exchanges of fire” along the Blue Line between Lebanese territory and Israel.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, warned on Sunday that no-one could guarantee control of the situation if Israel launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

“Yes, there is a risk that things will get out of control,” said Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Center for Arab and Mediterranean Studies and Research, even if a flare-up along the Blue Line was not in Lebanon’s interest, given the major domestic problems with which it is already grappling. From Pope Francis to international aid agencies and several European countries, there have been growing calls for the opening of humanitarian corridors in and

out of Gaza.