Germany says 'urgent need' for measures in Mideast

Germany has said there is an "urgent need" for measures to calm tensions in the Middle East as Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza threatened to spread to Lebanon.

Attacks carried out by Israel or blamed on it, including air strikes and the explosions of hand-held communications devices, have killed dozens and injured thousands in Lebanon since Tuesday.

Hezbollah and Israel have also intensified cross-border fire that has raged since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year.

"We have an urgent need for concrete measures in the Middle East to defuse the situation and avoid more civilian victims," the German foreign ministry wrote on X.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has been in contact with her Israeli and Lebanese counterparts to discuss the next steps, it added.

The German federal government said it was "deeply concerned" by the recent escalation in the region but added that it was not "inevitable."

"A diplomatic solution to the conflict must be possible," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's office warned that a regional conflagration would "have terrible and lasting consequences for the populations of the whole region," resulting in "catastrophic" destruction.