The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next school year if their government pressed on with its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon's southern border in parallel with the Gaza war. The armed group has said it is launching rockets at Israel both to support its ally, Palestinian armed group Hamas, and to deter Israel from launching an attack on Lebanon.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. In Israel, strikes from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.
In a televised address on Monday, Nasrallah repeated that his group would keep fighting as long as Israel continued its assault of Gaza.
"The link between the supportive Lebanese front and Gaza is definitive, final and conclusive," he said. "No one will be able to de-link them."
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and prompted fears of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel has said it wants to secure the north for residents to return home, either through a mediated diplomatic agreement or a military attack against Lebanon. Families displaced from northern Israel had been hoping to return home by September 1 for the start of the academic school year.
Nasrallah addressed the displaced on Monday, saying: "if you want to solve the issue, go to your government and tell them to stop the war on Gaza."
The Israeli military also continued strikes on Lebanon over the weekend and on Monday, security sources said. Hezbollah has responded with rocket fire, and Nasrallah said his group was "continuing to develop its operations in quantity and quality.”
