Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz Thursday rejected a proposed cease-fire along the Israel-Lebanon border, hours after the European Union, the United States, France and eight other nations called for a 21-day halt in fighting.
“We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Katz said on social media platform X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had not responded to the cease-fire proposal, and that he instructed the Israeli military to continue fighting “with full force.”
The cease-fire proposal came late Wednesday in a statement saying the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group “is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”
The multination statement said a cease-fire would allow for negotiations toward a diplomatic settlement consistent with U.N. Security Council resolutions that call for a halt to the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar also joined the cease-fire call, which said a broader regional conflict “is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the Security Council earlier Wednesday he would head to Beirut later this week to work with local stakeholders on a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
The developments come after some of the deadliest days in Lebanon since its civil war ended in the early 1990s.
Israel’s military said Thursday it had already carried out airstrikes on 75 Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon and was continuing to conduct new attacks. Israel also detected about 45 projectiles crossing into its territory from Lebanon, the military said.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency said an Israeli attack near the city of Baalbek hit a building housing Syrian workers, killing 23 people and wounding eight others.
Lebanese health officials said Israeli strikes killed 50 people on Wednesday, bringing the death toll since Monday to 615 people, with more than 2,000 wounded.
“To all sides, let us say in one clear voice: stop the killing and destruction. Tone down the rhetoric and threats. Step back from the brink,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council Wednesday. “An all-out war must be avoided at all costs. It would surely be an all-out catastrophe.”
Ground invasion?
Israel’s army chief said Wednesday his troops should be prepared for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon, as Israeli fighter jets bombarded Hezbollah militant targets for a third straight day and the militants launched a ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency near Tel Aviv, which Israel shot down.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister traveled to New York to attend the Security Council meeting.
“Israel is violating our sovereignty by sending their war planes and drones to our skies; by killing our civilians, including youth, women and children; destroying homes and forcing families to flee harsh humanitarian conditions,” Najib Mikati said. “Furthermore, they are spreading terror and fear among the Lebanese citizens in full view of the world, which is watching idly.”
He rejected Israeli assertions that they are only targeting Hezbollah militants and assets, noting that the country’s hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties. Mikati appealed to the Security Council for action.
Israel’s ambassador said his government does not seek a full-scale war and is open to a diplomatic solution. Danny Danon said Israel is only doing what any other country would do if their citizens were under threat.
Hezbollah broke a relative calm along the border after Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. Israel says Hezbollah has fired nearly 9,000 rockets at communities in northern Israel since then. The militant group says it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally, Hamas. The fighting has killed 49 people in Israel, along with hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Israel also said it has activated reserve troops in response to the fight against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Iran’s foreign minister is in New York for the General Assembly.
“Iran will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon,” Abbas Araghchi told reporters. “We stand with the people of Lebanon, with all means.”
Still time for diplomacy
In Washington, military officials insisted there is still time for diplomacy and de-escalation.
“We want to see a diplomatic solution, and we want to see it urgently,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said, noting that the U.S. military is not providing Israel with any intelligence or military support for its operations in Lebanon.
U.S. officials did voice concern that the fighting, combined with miscalculations and missteps, could bring on a bigger, more dangerous conflict.
“An all-out war is possible,” President Joe Biden told the ABC talk show The View.
“What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region,” he said.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. They are still holding around 100 captives, one-third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks have killed more than 41,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with the Israeli military saying the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
Hamas has been designated a terror group by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and others. Hezbollah also is a U.S.-designated terror group.
VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer and national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
