Lebanon has contingency plan in case of war; calls for urgent ceasefire in Gaza: Caretaker PM

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, but says Beirut has drawn up a contingency plan for the next three months should war break out in the country amid Israeli provocations to expand its onslaught on the besieged Palestinian territory to other fronts.

Mikati made the remarks in an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network's Arabic service on Sunday as the Israeli regime has since the start of war in Gaza on October 7 conducted sporadic attacks on southern Lebanon, which have triggered fire exchanges between Tel Aviv and the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

“We continue to exercise restraint and Israel must stop its provocative actions in southern Lebanon,” Mikati said, adding, “We do not want a war and we will not take any steps to initiate more wars in the region as Lebanon is committed to international law and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister praised Hezbollah's rationality and said, "Caution is still being exercised and we hope that the contacts will lead to a cessation of Israeli attacks in the south of the country."

Mikati underlined that, "Hezbollah behaves very patriotically and I trust the rationality of this movement. What matters most to me is keeping Lebanon far from war. We have always sought stability.”

Mikati also said in his interview that, “We demand a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible. There should be no bloodshed whatsoever due to brutality and massacres in Gaza, and no one can bear the massacres happening there.”

He called on international institutions in the Strip to protect al-Shifa Hospital and those inside it “because it is under siege and it is a war crime.”

Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility, has been under siege and a target of fierce Israeli attacks since the start of Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation by the Palestinian resistance groups against the occupying regime in decades.

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Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, launched the surprise operation into the occupied territories in response to the Israeli regime’s intensified crimes against Palestinians.

Since then, the occupying regime has embarked on an incessant bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with the Gaza-based health ministry saying that 11,078 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed, and 27,490 others have sustained injuries.

The Tel Aviv regime has also blocked access to water, food, and electricity in Gaza, plunging the coastal area into a humanitarian crisis.

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