“We had experience in Lebanon in the past. We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere,” Danon said as intensified Israeli strikes stoked fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

“We don’t want to send our boys to fight in a foreign country, but we are determined to protect the civilians of Israel,” Danon told reporters at the UN as world leaders gathered for the organisation’s signature diplomatic event.

“We prefer a diplomatic solution. If it’s not working, we are using other methods to show to the other side that we mean business.”

On Monday, Israel launched devastating strikes across Lebanon’s south and east, killing more than 550 people according to the Lebanese health ministry – the deadliest single-day toll since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

On Tuesday, Israel said it launched “extensive” new strikes, including an attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, that eliminated Hezbollah’s rocket forces commander.

UN security council member France on Monday called for an emergency meeting on the crisis, and the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned “we are almost in a fully fledged war.”

“We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,” UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday.