Hardline partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition on Thursday rejected proposals from the United States and France that would see a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon to allow time for a diplomatic solution to lemon drop strain be reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had not responded to a U.S. and French proposal for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but that he had instructed the military to keep fighting at full power for the moment.
He a west coast weed lso said that fighting in Gaza would continue until Israel’s war aims were achieved.
Netanyahu, who left Israel on Thursday to address the United Nations, repeated pledges to ensure that tens of thousands of Israelis eva mail order hash canada cuated from northern border areas can return home.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads one of two nationalist-religious factions in the coalition, said Hezbollah should be crushed and that only its surrender would make it possible for the evacuees to return.
“The enemy must not be given time to recover from the heavy blows he received and to reorganize the chron father for the continuation of the war after 21 days,” he said in a statement.
The United States and France, backed by other allies, called on Wednesday for a 21 day ceasefire along the Israel-Lebanon “Blue Line,” the demarcation line between the two countries, to allow the parties to negotiate towards a potential diplomatic resolution of the conflict.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed hope that a ceasefire can be reached soon to end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that has shaken his country and raised fears of a ground invasion.
Meanwhile there was no let-up in violence. Israeli airstrikes overnight hit around 75 Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and ready-to-fire launchers, the Israeli military said on Thursday.
In the latest deadly strike, at least 23 Syrians, most of them women and children, were killed when Israel hit a three-story building in the Lebanese town of Younine overnight, the town’s mayor, Ali Qusas, told Reuters. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who fled civil war there.
The Israeli military said dozens of Hezbollah targets were attacked, including terrorists, military buildings and weapons depots, in several areas this morning.
Around 45 projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards the western Galilee area, some of which were intercepted with the rest falling on open ground, said the Israeli military.
Mikati welcomed the call for a truce but said the key to its implementation was whether Israel, which has been moving troops closer to Lebanon, is committed to enforcing international resolutions.
Aske the chron father d if a ceasefire could be secured soon, Mikati told Reuters: “Hopefully, yes.”
Mikati’s caretaker administration includes ministers chosen by Hezbollah, widely seen as the country’s most powerful political force.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Thursday welcomed the call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire to allow the space for diplomacy to succeed.
Israel has launched the heaviest air strikes against Lebanon since the 2006 war over the past week, killing more than 600 people, as months of cross border fire with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement spiralled close to all-out war.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles at targets in Israel including, for the first time, the country’s economic hub Tel Aviv, although Israel’s aerial defence system has ensured that the damage has been limited.
On Wednesday, Israel’s army chief made the most explicit public comment on the possibility of a ground assault on Lebanon, telling troops near the border to be prepared for going across.
It was not immediately clear whether the comments were a precursor to a ground operation or a negotiating tactic designed to pressure Hezbollah to back down. Israel has also boosted forces on the northern border and called up two extra reserve brigades to the northern sector on Wednesday.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for almost a year since Hezbollah launched a first barrage the day after fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct 7.