British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned comments made by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted on X that “all of Lebanon must burn” following the killing of four Israeli soldiers in a Hezbollah attack. Cooper described the remarks as “horrendous and abhorrent” in her own post on Friday.

Ben-Gvir’s statement also rejected a peace agreement between the United States and Iran, declaring that Israel “is not subordinate to the United States” and calling for Lebanon to be “obliterated.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded by saying the comments were not a random outburst but a public declaration by a senior Israeli official, calling Israel a “threat to all of humanity.” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz separately stated that 200,000 displaced residents of southern Lebanon would not be allowed to return, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged to “open the gates of hell” in Lebanon.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah, which began on March 2, 2026, has displaced more than 1.2 million people and killed over 1,200 in Lebanon.