Ben-Gvir calls for destroying Hezbollah in Lebanon amid fires in northern Israel

JERUSALEM

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Tuesday to destroy the Lebanese group Hezbollah amid rising tensions across the border between Israel and Lebanon.

The extremist minister made the call as he visited the Kiryat Shmona settlement following a Hezbollah rocket attack that sparked fires in several areas in northern Israel.

"Now the IDF's [Israeli army] job is to destroy Hezbollah,” he said in a video message.

"They’re burning [us] here. All Hezbollah strongholds should be burned, they should be destroyed. War!” he added.

Israeli firefighting teams on Tuesday continued to battle against the fires that broke out as a result of rockets fired from southern Lebanon.

According to the military, seven reservist soldiers and nine civilians were slightly injured due to smoke inhalation.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed over 36,500 people since a major attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara