US mediator Amos Hochstein said on Monday that a ceasefire in Gaza would not “automatically” end fighting between Israel and Lebanon along their shared border during a visit to Beirut seeking to deescalate tensions between the two countries. Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel started in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October surprise attack on the Gaza envelope. In the five months since it began, daily fighting has steadily escalated to encompass broad swathes of Lebanon, killing at least 229 Hezbollah fighters and 47 Lebanese civilians. On the Israeli side, at least ten soldiers and ten civilians h…