GAZA: The outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief warned Wednesday that a spread of the Zionist-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 the Zionist entity which has seen daily cross-border violence.

“It’s beyond planning. It’s potentially apocalyptic,” warned Griffiths whose term as UN humanitarian coordinator ends this week. 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 between Zionist troops and Palestinian fighters in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, amid growing fears of a wider regional war.

With the conflict nearing its 10th month, the Zionist entity 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. “Another war between (the Zionist entity) and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his visiting Zionist counterpart Yoav Gallant. “Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” Austin said.

The Zionist military said last week 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 the Zionist entity as it sets “its sights on Lebanon”, seeking “to spread the war to the region”. “(The Zionist entity) is now setting its sights on Lebanon and we see that Western powers behind the scenes are patting (the Zionist entity) on the back and even supporting them,” he told lawmakers from his ruling AKP party.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s plans to spread the war to the region will lead to a great disaster,” he said. “It is ... pathetic that states that talk about freedom, human rights and justice are captives of a mentally-ill person like Netanyahu. Turkey stands with the brotherly people and state of Lebanon. I call on other countries in the region to stand in solidarity with Lebanon,” he added.

In Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, witnesses reported clashes during the night. Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, a civil defense official in Hamas-run Gaza, told AFP rescuers had recovered the bodies of “15 martyrs from various areas in Rafah city in the past few hours”. The Zionist offensive has killed at least 37,718 people, mostly women and children, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Zionist forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs. Later on Wednesday, a Zionist strike killed three Palestinians and wounded others near the northern Jabalia camp, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, medics said.

Residents and Hamas media said the casualties were among a group of people who gathered outside a store to get an Internet signal to communicate with relatives elsewhere in the enclave. In Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, tank shells struck an apartment, killing at least five people and wounding others, medics said. Medics said earlier that two Palestinians were killed in a Zionist missile strike in Rafah. In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, a Zionist air strike destroyed a house, killing four Palestinians and wounding several others, medics said.

In the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinians complained of a severe lack of food and soaring prices, and health officials said thousands of children were suffering from malnutrition that has already killed at least 30 since Oct 7. “There is only flour and canned food, there is nothing else to eat, no vegetables, no meat, and no milk. I have lost over 25 kilos of my weight,” said Abu Mustafa, who lives in Gaza City, with his family.

Their house was struck in the past week by a Zionist tank, that destroyed most of the upper floor, forcing them to stay in the lower floor. “No safe places exist in Gaza anyway,” he said. “Apart from the bombing, there is another (Zionist) war taking place in northern Gaza, starvation. People meet in the street and many can’t recognize one another because of weight loss and older looks,” Abu Mustafa told Reuters via a chat app.

An air raid on Tuesday killed Fadi Al-Wadiya, an employee of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). MSF posted on X that it was “outraged” by Wadiya’s killing in Gaza City. “The attack killed Fadi, along with five other people including three children, while he was cycling to work near the MSF clinic where he was providing care,” MSF said. 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. – Agencies