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US Defense Sec Says Hezbollah-Israel Conflict Not Inevitable

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo at Camp Aguinaldo, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo at Camp Aguinaldo, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
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US Defense Sec Says Hezbollah-Israel Conflict Not Inevitable

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo at Camp Aguinaldo, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo at Camp Aguinaldo, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a fight between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and said Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.

Austin made the comments on Tuesday at a joint press conference in Manila, following security talks between himself, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their respective Philippine counterparts, Gilberto Teodoro and Enrique Manalo.

Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said on Monday, as Lebanon braced for retaliation after a rocket strike that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Two other Israeli officials said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following Saturday's rocket strike at a sports field in a Druze town that it blamed on the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has denied any connection with the incident.

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Palestinian Prisoner Group Demands International Inquiry into Israeli Abuse Allegations 

Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Palestinian Prisoner Group Demands International Inquiry into Israeli Abuse Allegations 

Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)

The association representing Palestinian prisoners called for an international inquiry into allegations of abuse of detainees in Israeli jails since the start of the war in Gaza, following an outcry by right wing protesters over an Israeli investigation.

Qadura Fares, head of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, said on Monday night there had been multiple reports of abuse at Sde Teiman, the military facility in southern Israel at the center of the investigation.

"Every day, as we witness the massacres against our people in Gaza, we hear horrific and harsh testimonies from legal teams and detainees who are released," he said in a statement.

He said the Israeli investigation and the detention of nine Israeli soldiers was a "farce" aimed at misleading world opinion.

The Israeli military said the investigation into the Israeli soldiers was ordered "following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee". It provided no further details.

According to Israeli press reports, the soldiers have been accused of sexually abusing the prisoner. Reuters has not been able to independently verify those reports. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Army Radio reported that the detainee had been a member of an elite unit of the armed group Hamas who had been captured in Gaza during the Israeli offensive there that followed the group's Oct. 7 attack.

The investigation sparked angry protests from some Israelis who said the soldiers had been doing their duty. It also underscored longstanding tensions in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu between hardline nationalist-religious parties and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the army command.

Protesters, including a number of prominent right-wing politicians, broke into two Israeli military facilities on Monday, in a move denounced by Israel's army chief as "bordering on anarchy".