However, he insisted that the Israeli government preferred to find a diplomatic solution to ongoing hostilities between its forces and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group.

“We don’t want to get into a war because it’s not good for Israel. We have the ability to take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it,” Mr Gallant told reporters during a visit to Washington this week to meet senior US leaders.

His threat was the latest in a series of statements from senior public figures about Israel’s waning patience over Hezbollah attacks.

“We can plunge Lebanon completely into the dark and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days,” Benny Gantz, a former Israeli war cabinet member, said on Tuesday during a conference in Herzliya.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, warned Israel of the consequences of escalation, declaring in a televised address from Beirut earlier this month that “no place in [Israel] is safe from our rockets”. 

The United States has stepped up its efforts to curtail the border clashes and avert a wider crisis.

But a US-backed ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip remains elusive, with Hamas, the terror group, still demanding a guarantee from Israel that it will withdraw its troops and immediately end the war.

In his first Israeli media interview since the start of the war, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Sunday the “intense phase” of fighting Hamas in Gaza was nearly over, which would free more forces to reposition themselves to defend the north.