Middle East crisis live: Israel security cabinet authorises PM to decide ‘manner and timing’ of Golan Heights response

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, says the Biden administration is “working every single day” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

Blinken made the comment in Tokyo on Monday when he addressed the media alongside the foreign ministers of Japan, India and Australia.

Blinken said the meeting of the Quad countries had discussed a range of regional and global security priorities, including Russia’s “ongoing war of aggression” in Ukraine “and of course the conflict in the Middle East, the war in Gaza”. Blinken added:

We’re grateful, I must say, on the part of the United States – grateful to our partners for the strong support for the ceasefire proposal that President Biden put forward, and we’re working every single day to bring that across the finish line.

Good morning, I’m Sammy Gecsoyler and I’ll be with you for the next while.

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday authorised prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to decide on the “manner and timing” of a response to a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children, and which Israel and the United States blamed on Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, reports Reuters.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams on Saturday. It’s the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Hamas’ 7 October assault.

Israel has vowed retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israeli jets hit targets in southern Lebanon during the day on Sunday. But there were expectations a stronger response could follow the security cabinet meeting convened by Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, reports Reuters.

After the meeting ended, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet:

… authorised the prime minister and the Defense Minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response.

Meanwhile, Airline group Lufthansa has suspended flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut up to and including 30 July because of the current situation, the carrier said in a statement on Monday.

Flights by the group’s carriers Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings and Lufthansa have been suspended “in an abundance of caution”, it said, according to Reuters news agency.

Here’s a summary of the latest developments:

• The Biden administration formally placed blame on Hezbollah for the rocket strike that killed 12 children on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday.

• Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on Sunday for those who were killed by the rocket strike that hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams.

• Israel has vowed swift retaliation against Hezbollah, which it blames for the attack. The militant group deny any involvement. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Hezbollah will pay a “price for this loss”. The country’s education minister, Yoav Kisch, said he expects the cabinet to respond “with full force” to the attack “even if it means entering into an all-out war” with Hezbollah. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who has flown back early from his diplomatic trip to the US, vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price”. He is convening a security cabinet meeting this afternoon, the outcome of which is expected to be decisive.

• Global leaders were engaged in intensive diplomacy on Sunday to dissuade Israel from increasing attacks on Lebanon, amid fears that a wider regional war could erupt in response the attack.

• The IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said Israel was “greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza”.

• Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah is on high alert, with the Lebanese militant group having preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon’s south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.

• In an apparent initial retaliation for the attack, Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on towns in southern Lebanon overnight on Saturday, as well as one close to the Bekaa valley.

• The Lebanese government asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said. He told Reuters earlier that a significant attack by Israel would lead to a “regional war”.

• At least 39,324 Palestinian people have been killed and 90,830 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said.

• On Saturday, in the hours prior to the strike on Majdal Shams, an estimated 40 rockets were directed at Israel from Lebanese territory. Israel has responded with airstrikes targeting towns deep in Lebanese territory.

• British prime minister Keir Starmer told Israel’s President Isaac Herzog that there needed to be “immediate steps” towards a ceasefire in Israel’s conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza, Reuters reports. “The prime minister said there must be immediate steps towards a ceasefire, so that hostages can be released and more humanitarian aid can get in for those in desperate need,” Starmer’s office said in a statement. “The prime minister reiterated his ongoing support for Israel’s right to self-defence in accordance with international law,” the statement added. Starmer met Herzog in Paris where both were attending the Olympics.