Israel bombs Gaza as US warns against wider war

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 24, 2024.

Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "intense phase" of the war was winding down, as the United States urged its ally to avoid further escalation along the Lebanon border.

Israeli forces launched more deadly strikes, with 13 people killed across two schools and a home hit in Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run territory's civil defense agency.

With Israel planning to redeploy some soldiers from Gaza to the Lebanese border, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday pressed the country's defense minister not to allow the violence to spiral.

Blinken "underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes," spokesman Matthew Miller said after the meeting in Washington with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

There has been daily cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with fears growing in recent weeks that it could turn into another major front.

In the latest fighting, Iran-backed Hezbollah on Monday said it targeted three Israeli military sites over the border.

Israel's military said its warplanes hit militant infrastructure in the Baalbek area of eastern Lebanon.

Thousands of Lebanese and Israeli civilians from the border areas of their respective nations have been forced to seek refuge away from the fighting in recent months.

"A war must happen to push Hezbollah away from the...