GENEVA: The UN stressed on Monday the urgent need for ceasefires in both Lebanon and Gaza to avert a broader regional conflict with ramifications for the whole world.

“A ceasefire that is sustained by a meaningful peace process ... is the only way to break the cycle of violence, of hatred, of misery,” said UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi.

Speaking at the start of the UNHCR refugee agency’s annual executive committee meeting in Geneva, he insisted that only a ceasefire could “stem the tide to a major regional war with global implications”. His comments came amid escalating Israeli attacks targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, where more than 1,300 people have been killed and a million displaced since late September, according to Lebanese officials. Hezbollah started firing into northern Israel a year ago to support Hamas following its deadly October 7 attacks that sparked the devastating war in Gaza. The near-daily exchange of fire led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border even before the escalation last month, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hezbollah to allow Israelis displaced by the violence to return home.