Dashing hopes of a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel plans to continue hitting Hezbollah “with full force” and will not stop until all its objectives are achieved.
Netanyahu spoke as he arrived in New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly and as officials from the US, Canada and Europe pushed for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to allow time for talks.
Shortly before his statement, the Israeli military said it had killed the commander of a Hezbollah drone in an airstrike on a building near the Lebanese capital.
Netanyahu said “Israel’s policy is clear. We continue to hit Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we have achieved all our goals, chief among which is the safe return of northerners to their homes. “
Israel has dramatically increased its strikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is targeting Hezbollah. Israeli leaders say they are determined to end more than 11 months of sectarian violence in Israel, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from northern communities.
The statement dampened hopes for an international plan aimed at ending the conflict that has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and threatens to spark a war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has spoken of a possible ground attack in Lebanon to push the militant group away from the border.
Shortly after the statement was issued, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel reported an Israeli airstrike in the suburbs of Beirut. It and other channels showed a damaged apartment building in Dahiyeh, a Shiite suburb where Hezbollah is strong.
The Israeli military later said the strike killed Mohammed Hussein Surour. Hezbollah did not comment on the claim.
Two people died and 15 were injured in the strike, said the Ministry of Health in Lebanon.
In the past week, Israel has carried out several strikes in Beirut targeting top Hezbollah commanders. Earlier, a strike in eastern Lebanon killed 20 people, most of them Syrian migrants, according to Lebanese health officials.
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Israeli strikes since Monday have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Hezbollah’s intensification of attacks has harmed a number of people in Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said at least two Canadians were among those killed in the ongoing violence in Lebanon.
A joint statement from Canada, the United States, Australia, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates and eight other countries urges the governments of Lebanon and Israel and all parties involved to approve a 21-day moratorium and “give a real chance to a diplomatic agreement.”
The joint statement, negotiated on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York by the US and France, said the latest war “is intolerable and poses an unacceptable risk of regional escalation.”
US officials told the Associated Press that Hezbollah would not sign the new ceasefire proposal but believed that the Lebanese government would coordinate its acceptance with the group. They said they expect Israel to “accept” the proposal and possibly formally accept it when Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly on Friday.
Hezbollah has not yet responded to the proposal for a temporary ceasefire. Lebanon’s ruling Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed it, but his government has no power over the group.
Hezbollah has insisted it will stop its strikes only if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas for a year. That appears out of reach despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
In its statement, Netanyahu’s office said that “the war in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved.” Netanyahu is expected to meet with other world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
One of Netanyahu’s far-right ruling allies threatened Thursday to end cooperation with his government if it signs a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah – and quit altogether if a permanent deal is reached. It was the latest sign of unhappiness among Netanyahu’s supporters about international efforts to end the ceasefire.
“If the temporary suspension agreement becomes permanent, we will resign from the government,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power group.
If Ben-Gvir leaves the coalition, Netanyahu will lose his majority in parliament and see his government overthrown, although opposition leaders have said they will support the ceasefire.
Israel launched a major operation in Gaza after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and captured another 250. The Israeli campaign has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local officials.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel one day after the Oct. 7 to support its Hamas allies, and Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire ever since.
The Israeli families of the hostages said they were pushing for a cease-fire agreement for Lebanon to put war provisions in Gaza, especially to secure the release of the estimated 70 hostages believed to be alive and the bodies of about 30 others.
Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted and who was one of six Israelis whose bodies were found in the Gaza Strip in August, said the families of the abductors feel forgotten as they look north. He called on Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hezbollah and Hamas with provisions for the release of hostages.
“We know that these things are connected to each other, the north and the south,” said Dickmann on Tuesday. “We are very worried that if we do not make the right decisions now, we will miss this wonderful opportunity to get the hostages out.”
Earlier this week, insurgents crossing the border between Hezbollah and the Israeli army killed about 600 people in Lebanon, most of them soldiers but including more than 100 civilians, and about forty people in Israel, about half of them soldiers and other civilians. The war also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes on both sides of the border.
Israeli leaders say they are determined to force Hezbollah back from the border to allow its citizens to return to their homes. It moved thousands of troops into the system to prepare for possible ground operations.
It says its increased strikes across Lebanon last week targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers and other military infrastructure. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, saying they were targeting Israeli military positions. On Wednesday, they fired at Tel Aviv for the first time with an intercepted long-range missile.
Early on Thursday, Israeli airstrikes hit a building housing Syrian workers and their families near the ancient city of Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said 19 Syrians and one Lebanese were killed in what was one of the deadliest strikes in Israel’s air campaign. The state news agency initially reported that 23 people had died.
Hussein Salloum, a local official in Younine, said most of the dead were women and children.
“We dug through the rubble with our hands” until a small tractor was brought in, Salloum told The Associated Press by phone. “We had limited skills.”
Lebanon, with a population of about 6 million, hosts nearly 780,000 Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands of unregistered refugees – the highest number of refugees in the world.
Israel attacked 75 locations overnight in southern and eastern Lebanon, the military said. At least 45 projectiles were fired into Lebanon early Thursday, all of which were intercepted or fell into open areas, it said.
-With additional files from The Canadian Press