A fully-fledged war between Israel and Lebanon will erupt in a "matter of days", a member of the Israeli parliament (MK) has claimed, threatening that Beirut’s southern suburbs "will look like Gaza" if conflict breaks out.
"There is no other way," MK Nissim Vaturi of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing Likud party told Israel’s Kan broadcaster.
"This is something that will develop in the coming days."
Vaturi claimed that Netanyahu briefed military officials on Sunday and told them "we must end this saga."
The MK, who is a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said Israel should carry out a "major" pre-emptive strike on Lebanon that would last for days, followed by a ground invasion of the country's south.
Vaturi has made a number of incendiary comments about Lebanese and Palestinians throughout Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza. He has previously said that Gaza should be "erased" and called Israelis protesting for a deal to free hostages a "branch of Hamas."
The area south of Beirut which Vaturi referred to, known as the "Dahieh" - or suburb in Arabic - has been hit twice since hostilities between Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group and Israel began in October.
In early January, Israel assassinated senior Hamas commander, Saleh al-Arouri, and at the end of July killed Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fouad Shukr. Both were targeted while they were in buildings in the Dahieh's densely populated areas.
Hezbollah said last month it responded to Shukr’s death by striking sensitive military targets in Israel. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had said the long-anticipated response was over.
After Shukr’s assassination, a sense of panic reigned over Lebanon, as people feared a Hezbollah retaliation would ignite a full-scale war, forcing hundreds of families to leave their homes south of Beirut.
Already in south Lebanon, an estimated 110,000 people have been displaced due to the cross-border fighting.
Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened a full-scale war against Lebanon since last October, while Hezbollah has warned that any such move would be met with relentless resistance from the group.
The Iran-backed militant group says an end to hostilities is tied to a ceasefire in Gaza, where nearly 41,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces since 7 October.
In Israel, however, displaced residents of northern towns have pressured Netanyahu’s government to act, even if it means taking military action in Lebanon.