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The Israeli government has rebuffed a call from its allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, insisting it will continue to engage Hezbollah militants “until victory” is secured. This declaration comes ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s forthcoming speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Israeli attacks on Iran-supported Hezbollah strongholds throughout Lebanon have resulted in hundreds of fatalities this week, prompting the militant group to unleash rocket barrages as retaliation against Israeli forces.
The United States, alongside France and other allies, unveiled a 21-day ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, stemming from discussions held between President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, during the UN General Assembly in New York.
On Thursday, Israeli leader Netanyahu explicitly rejected the ceasefire proposal, ordering the military to continue its operations “with full force.”
In response to the rejection, the White House expressed its disappointment, emphasizing that the truce proposal had required “a lot of care and effort” to develop.
“We wouldn’t have made that statement, we wouldn’t have worked on that if we didn’t have reason to believe that the conversations that we were having with the Israelis in particular, were supportive of the goal there,” National Security spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday.
Macron said later it was “a mistake” for Netanyahu to refuse a ceasefire and that he would have to take “responsibility” for a regional escalation.
Read also: Tens Of Thousands Have Fled Lebanon Amid Israeli Strikes – UN
Speaking in Canada where he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who also backed the ceasefire — Macron noted that the ceasefire plan had been prepared with Netanyahu himself.
The joint ceasefire statement said the situation in Lebanon has become “intolerable” and “is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon”.
As reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency, Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on multiple cities in southern Lebanon early Friday morning, leading to a number of injuries. This escalation in military activity has drawn attention to the precarious situation in the region.On Thursday evening, the nation’s health ministry disclosed that in the last 24 hours, Israeli airstrikes had killed 92 people and injured 153. These numbers reflect the escalating violence and its dire implications for the affected population.
Since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ignited last October, over 1,500 individuals have lost their lives. The toll from Thursday’s attacks alone has pushed the number of fatalities due to Israeli strikes on Lebanon to more than 700 since Monday, highlighting the escalating violence in the region.
