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Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Iraeli military to keep hitting Hezbollah at “full force” in Lebanon – despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire.
The US and France have been joined by the UK and nine other allies in calling for a 21-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, to give mediators “space” to seek a diplomatic resolution to conflict before it becomes an all-out regional war.
More than 630 people in Lebanon have been killed by airstrikes since Monday, with thousands wounded. An Israeli warplane struck the edges of the capital Beirut on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding 15, Lebanon's health ministry said. That took deaths from hits overnight and during Thursday to 28. It is the heaviest bombardment since the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
The Beirut strike killed the head of one of Hezbollah’s air force units, Mohammad Surur, according to the Israeli army, the latest senior Hezbollah commander to be targeted in days of strikes.
Smoke was seen rising after the hit near an area where several Hezbollah facilities are located and many civilians also live and work. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV broadcast images of a damaged upper floor of a building.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles at targets in Israel including its commercial hub Tel Aviv, although Israel’s aerial defence system has ensured that the damage has been limited.
Landing in the US to address the UN General Assembly, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the military will keep hitting Hezbollah with “full force and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, first and foremost returning the residents of the north safely to their homes”.
In an earlier statement, Mr Netanyahu’s office said: “The news about a ceasefire – not true. This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond.”
Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, confirmed that there would be “no ceasefire in the north”.
Mr Katz added on X: “We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken told MSNBC that major world powers wanted a ceasefire and he would be meeting with Israeli officials in New York. A joint statement from the UK, US, France, Australia, Canada, European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, called for an immediate ceasefire in response to the “intolerable” situation in Lebanon.
An “immediate 21-day ceasefire” would provide “space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement”, the statement added.
It came after the US and France issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire, saying that the escalation in the past two weeks “threatens a much broader conflict, and harm to civilians”.
In London on Thursday, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, warned there was a risk of all-out war in the Middle East, but a diplomatic solution was still possible.
“So let me be clear, Israel and Lebanon can choose a different path, despite the sharp escalation in recent days, a diplomatic solution is still viable,” Mr Austin said.
Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid called instead for a seven-day ceasefire.
“The State of Israel should announce this morning that it accepts the Biden-Macron ceasefire proposal, but only for seven days so as not to allow Hezbollah to restore its command and control systems,” he wrote on X.
“We will not accept any proposal that does not include removing Hezbollah from our northern border.”
One of Mr Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government partners threatened on Thursday to suspend cooperation with his government if it signs onto a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah, and to quit completely if a permanent deal is reached. It was the latest sign of displeasure from Mr Netanyahu’s allies toward international efforts for a truce.
“If a temporary ceasefire becomes permanent, we will resign from the government,” said the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party.
If Mr Ben-Gvir leaves the coalition, Mr Netanyahu would lose his parliamentary majority and could see his government fall, though opposition leaders such as Mr Lapid have said they would offer support for a ceasefire deal
Hezbollah launched 57 rockets towards Israel since Thursday morning, the Israeli army said on Thursday lunchtime. It is unclear whether these caused any damage, but since Monday most Hezbollah rockets have been intercepted by Israeli defence systems.
On the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, the army staged an exercise simulating a ground invasion, a potential next stage after relentless airstrikes and explosions of communications devices.
Top Israeli general Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told his troops to ready themselves for a ground invasion of Lebanon.
He said on Wednesday the military is “preparing the process of a manoeuvre, which means your military boots, your manoeuvring boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts”.
Israel has vowed to secure its north and return thousands of citizens to communities there, who have evacuated since Hezbollah launched a campaign of cross-border strikes last year in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. The exchange of fire with Israeli forces has been almost daily since.
Hezbollah has not yet responded to the proposal for a pause in fighting. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati welcomed it, but his government has no sway over the group.
Hezbollah has insisted it would halt its strikes only if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has battled Hamas for nearly a year.
A ceasefire in Gaza appears out of reach – as in Lebanon currently – despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. The war in Gaza was triggered by a Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October that killed around 1,200 people – with another 251 being taken hostage. Israel’s ensuing aerial and ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced more than 90 per cent of the population.
In its statement, Mr Netanyahu’s office said that “the fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved”.
More than 90,000 Lebanese people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the bombing campaign, while thousands of Israelis have sought cover in air raid shelters.
