Israel’s foreign minister warned that time was running short to find a diplomatic solution to the presence of Hezbollah fighters along the country’s northern border with Lebanon.

The US vowed more strikes against Iran’s forces and its proxies in the Middle East after three consecutive days of punishing attacks, even as Washington insisted it would not be pulled into a prolonged regional conflict. 

UN opens probe into UNRWA after 7 October allegations

The United Nations is undertaking an external review of its Palestinian aid agency after donor countries recoiled from allegations that some staff participated in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The probe, to be led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, will assess whether staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) broke its neutrality principle and will make recommendations on how to improve its enforcement.

The review group will evaluate whether UNRWA “is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made”, the office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.

The external review is separate from an internal investigation into Israeli allegations that at least a dozen UNRWA employees participated in the attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and about 240 more kidnapped. 

Read more: UN agency’s alleged Hamas links create aid risk for Gaza 

Colonna’s probe, with the support of three Nordic research groups, will be in parallel to that investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. Israel accuses some 10% of the agency’s personnel of being members of the militant groups Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

UN officials are hoping swift reviews into the agency’s work will provide donors some reassurance after the US, the European Union and at least 15 other countries suspended funding for UNRWA in response to the Israeli allegations.

UNRWA is the main agency responsible for the humanitarian response in Gaza amid Israel’s military offensive to wipe out Hamas, which has destroyed large portions of the strip and killed more than 26,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

The review group will begin its work on 14 February and a final report, which will be made public, is expected to be finished in late April.

Israel warns time for diplomacy with Hezbollah is running out 

Israel’s foreign minister warned that time was running short to find a diplomatic solution to the presence of Hezbollah fighters along the country’s northern border with Lebanon.

Hezbollah, a Shia militant group backed by Iran, and Israeli forces have exchanged fire almost daily since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on 7 October. While those skirmishes have killed scores of people and forced almost 100,000 Israelis and thousands of Lebanese to evacuate their homes, neither side has escalated its operations.

Israel has said, though, that it’s prepared to open another front with a military attack on southern Lebanon if Hezbollah doesn’t move back to about 32km from the border, as per the terms of a longstanding United Nations resolution.

“Israel will act militarily to return the evacuated citizens to their homes” if Hezbollah doesn’t comply with the resolution, known as 1701, Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, on Monday in Jerusalem.

Hezbollah has expressed solidarity with Hamas and fired missiles, mortars and rockets into Israel. The Israeli military has responded with artillery fire and also assassinated senior Hezbollah figures. 

Israeli generals and ministers are confident they would win a two-front war against Hezbollah and Hamas. But US officials have privately warned them of the sheer strain that would place on the country’s resources and economy, with some describing it as a nightmare scenario for Israel.

Hezbollah is the most powerful militia in the Middle East. It has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, according to Israeli intelligence estimates, far bigger than Hamas could muster before 7 October.

US vows more Middle East strikes while trying to avert wider war

The US vowed more strikes against Iran’s forces and its proxies in the Middle East after three consecutive days of punishing attacks, even as Washington insisted it would not be pulled into a prolonged regional conflict.

“We will respond forcefully, and we will respond in a sustained way,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CBS. Even so, he said, President Joe Biden doesn’t see US actions in the past three days as “some open-ended military campaign”.

Balancing those two extremes will be Biden’s main challenge as he plots his next moves and braces for any counterattacks by Iran and its proxies as the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war worsens. Since that conflict began in October, the Middle East has been roiled by shipping attacks in the Red Sea and near-constant attacks on US bases in Syria and Iraq by Iran-backed groups.

Officials framed US strikes on Friday  — which hit 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, including some by long-range bombers flying from the US — as a necessary and inevitable response to the killing of three US soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan a week ago.

The strikes prompted sharp criticism from Russia and Iraq, as well as Iran. Iraq’s government said its territory shouldn’t be used for “settling scores” and warned of grave consequences for the wider region’s security.

The US is also targeting Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, who have roiled global trade by targeting commercial vessels around the southern Red Sea. On Saturday and Sunday nights, American forces hit Houthi weapons storage facilities deep underground.

The attacks in Yemen — and the expectation that the Pentagon will launch more strikes against Iranian assets and the country’s proxies in Iraq and Syria — suggested that the US was broadening the scope of its campaign. In an interview with CNN, Sullivan declined to rule out “any activity anywhere,” including in Iran itself. 

US Central Command said its forces on Sunday conducted strikes in self-defence against at least five Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.” US forces also conducted a strike against a Houthi land-attack cruise missile, according to Centcom, which is in charge of American forces in the Middle East and parts of Asia.

House conservative group opposes Speaker’s Israel-only Bill

A group of House conservatives opposed Speaker Mike Johnson’s new standalone $17.6-billion Israel aid package because it isn’t fully paid for with offsetting spending cuts, signalling that Democratic support for passage will be needed.

In a statement on Sunday, the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) Board called it “extremely disappointing” that Johnson was now “surrendering to perceived pressure to move an even larger but now unpaid for” package. The House passed a fully paid-for $14-billion Israel funding Bill in November over Democratic objections to cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

The HFC is a caucus of more than three dozen conservatives. The board statement suggested that Congress pay for emergency aid to Israel by cutting funding for the United Nations, repealing the IRS expansion, rescinding the Department of Commerce “slush fund”, or ending what it called climate-change tax credits.

Johnson unveiled the new Bill on Saturday, saying it would be brought to a vote this week. He said the move was needed to get aid to Israel quickly in its battle with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  

Some Democrats in the narrowly divided House have indicated they could support Johnson’s new bill.  

Johnson’s bill includes funds for Israel’s Iron Dome and Iron Beam missile defence systems, funds for US military operations in the Middle East and enhanced protection for US personnel at embassies. 

Russia summons Israel envoy to explain ‘unacceptable’ comments

Israel’s new ambassador to Russia must explain what Moscow said were “unacceptable statements”, underscoring tensions between the two countries related to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Simona Halperin, who started her job last month, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry after making comments “distorting Russian foreign policy approaches and historical realities”, Tass reported, citing a statement from the ministry.

Halperin discussed a wide range of topics from the Holocaust to Russian attitudes toward Hamas in an interview with Kommersant newspaper published on Monday.

She expressed regret that an international day commemorating the Holocaust was not on Russia’s “state calendar.”

She reiterated that Israel supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and that Russia only condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October after a delay. The ambassador also questioned why Hamas isn’t on Russia’s official list of terrorist organisations.

Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, the Israeli military has carried out multiple strikes in Syria — where Russia has forces — targeting Iran-backed militants. Those have worsened relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as has Moscow’s hosting of Hamas delegations in recent months. 

The ambassador spoke “disrespectfully about the efforts that Russia is making” in helping resolve the situation with the hostages, the ministry said, referring to people held by Hamas in Gaza. Her comments on commemorating the Holocaust almost amounted to interference in internal affairs, it said, adding that it was “an extremely unsuccessful start to a diplomatic mission”. DM

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