Israel vows to keep fighting Hezbollah 'until victory'

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel flatly rejected on Thursday a push led by key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, vowing to keep fighting Hezbollah militants "until victory".

Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

"There will be no ceasefire in the north. 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," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement earlier saying he had "not even responded" to the truce proposal, and that he had ordered the military "to continue the fighting with full force".

The United States, France and other allies called for a 21-day halt, after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

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," their joint statement said.

Despite the diplomatic efforts, violence raged on the ground.

The Israeli defence ministry announced that it had secured a new $8.7-billion aid package from the United States to support the country's ongoing military efforts, underlining Washington's unwillingness to use its military aid as leverage for a ceasefire.

The Israeli military said it struck about 75 targets in the eastern Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon, Hezbollah bastions that have seen a huge exodus of civilians fleeing their homes in recent days.

A strike on the town of Yunin near Baalbek killed at least 20 people, Lebanon's health ministry said, with the official National News Agency describing the bombing of the area as "the most violent" of recent days.

"It was indescribable, it was one of the worst nights we've lived through," said Fadia Rafic Yaghi, 70, who owns a shop in Baalbek.

For the fourth time this week, the Israeli military conducted a strike on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, which the Israeli military said killed the head of the group's drone unit.

The Lebanese health ministry said two people were killed in the strike.

It said 60 people had been killed nationwide over the previous 24 hours, among 1,540 killed since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah began last October.

The Israeli military said two barrages of 40 to 45 rockets each had been fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, with many of them intercepted and no reports of casualties.

Hezbollah said the first barrage targeted defence industry complexes near the port city of Haifa, while the second targeted the northern town of Safed.

'GO BACK HOME'

Israel said earlier this month it was shifting its focus from the Gaza Strip, where it has been fighting a war with Hamas since the October 7 attack, to securing its border with Lebanon.

Hamas ally Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli troops across the Lebanon border since October, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

Netanyahu, who is due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday, has said that ensuring the safe return of Israelis to their homes was a priority.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah positions along the border with Syria were among its latest targets.

Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive, according to an army statement.

Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday - by far the deadliest day of violence in Lebanon not just in the latest escalation, but since the 1975-1990 civil war.

For many on both sides of the border, the violence has sparked bitter memories of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

According to the UN, Israel's bombardment of Lebanon had by Wednesday forced 90,000 people to flee their homes in traditional Hezbollah strongholds to safer areas elsewhere in the tiny Mediterranean country.

Lebanon's disaster management unit said more than 31,000 had fled to neighbouring Syria.

A 19-year-old woman who fled from south Lebanon to Beirut said a temporary halt in the violence would not be enough.

"What we want is to be able to go back home for good, with guarantees," Rayan Mustafa told AFP.

In Israel, too, many were weary of the violence.

"We've been needing a ceasefire for a while now. This war has been going on for too long," said Fida Khoury, a 28-year-old software engineer from the city of Haifa.

Others, like 67-year-old David Lander, believe war is the only way.

"I'm against a temporary ceasefire," the retired Haifa resident said. "I want the citizens of the north to be able to go back to their homes."

GAZA SCHOOL STRIKE

Diplomats have said efforts to end the war in Gaza were key to halting the fighting in Lebanon.

But despite months of mediation efforts involving the United States, a ceasefire is as elusive as ever.

Civil defence workers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,534 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.