From its first months in office, the Biden administration made a distinctive decision on its Middle East policy: It would deprioritize a half-century of high-profile efforts by past U.S. presidents, particularly Democratic ones, to broker a broad and lasting peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Since Richard Nixon, successive U.S. administrations have tried their hands at Camp David summits, shuttle diplomacy and other big-picture tries at coaxing Israeli and Palestinian leaders into talks to settle the disputes that underlie 75 years of Middle East tensions. More than other recent presidents, Joe Biden notably has not.

A battle that killed dozens of civilians and more than a dozen Israeli soldiers nearly a decade ago offers a glimpse of the type of fighting that could lie ahead if Israeli forces roll into Gaza as expected to punish Hamas for its rampage across southern Israel last week.

It was July 19, 2014, during Israel's third war against Hamas. The target was Shijaiyah, a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City that the army said Hamas had transformed into a "terrorist fortress," filled with tunnels, rocket launchers and booby traps.

Israel's army said Monday it was evacuating residents living along its northern border with Lebanon amid rising tensions there 10 days into its war with Hamas.

An Israeli civilian and an army officer were killed Sunday in missile attacks from Lebanon, and the army carried out retaliatory strikes and attacked infrastructure of Hezbollah.

Israel's northern border with Lebanon is often tense, the legacy of past conflicts. But as Israel readies to invade Gaza, its army faces the threat of a two-front war.

Repeated fire in recent days has claimed lives on both sides of the U.N.-patrolled border between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war.

Will Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah join the Israel-Hamas war? The answer could well determine the direction of a battle that is bound to reshape the Middle East.

Hezbollah, which like Hamas is supported by Iran, has so far been on the fence about joining the fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamic militant rulers. For the past six days, Israel has besieged Gaza and hammered the enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians with hundreds of airstrikes in response to a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The chance of Hezbollah scaling up involvement in the war against Israel could hinge on any Israeli ground invasion of Gaza after a bloody attack by Hamas on southern Israeli communities, analysts said.

Militants from the Palestinian group Hamas stormed over Gaza's border on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people in Israel mostly civilians, and taking 150 hostages, in the deadliest attack on the country since its founding 75 years ago.

Cabinet convenes today, Thursday, to discuss the situation in Gaza, after a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel killed more than 1,200 people in Israeli towns and communities around the enclave.

Israel has launched a withering air campaign killing around 1,200 people in Gaza, as it announced a "complete siege" on the strip, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.

Sitting idly outside their home in a south Lebanon town largely emptied of its residents, Shadia Abu Khalil and her mother sipped coffee as rocket fire pierced the Wednesday morning calm.

The two women are among the last remaining residents of Qlaileh in the Tyre district, used by militants to launch attacks against Israel in recent days.

A potential intervention by Hezbollah and uncertainty over the role played by Iran itself are risk factors that could push the unprecedented conflict between Israel and Hamas into a wider regional war, analysts say.

For now, there is no indication of an impending offensive by Hezbollah against Israel, despite growing border tensions.

Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel and the war it launched has raised new questions about the influence of its main sponsor, Iran, and whether it had anything to do with the assault.

From Tel Aviv to Washington, however, no one is willing to directly blame Iran as they say they lack direct evidence. Tensions between the Islamic Republic and the West remain high over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. In Tehran, even its supreme leader has denied the country being involved while praising what he described as the "capable, smart and courageous" militants who killed more than 1,000 Israelis and for the first time took over 100 civilians and soldiers as hostages.