Media reports say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the military would maintain its bombardment of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon indefinitely, undermining efforts by the United States and allies to secure a cease-fire that would ease the risk of a regional war.
Air strikes will continue until all Israel’s objectives have been achieved, the prime minister was quoted as saying yesterday on arrival in New York to address the annual United Nations General Assembly. The most pressing of those goals is the return of Israel’s northern residents to their homes, he said, and that’s likely to be achieved only if Hezbollah is persuaded to stop firing cross-border missiles.
"There will be no cease-fire," Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted earlier on X, formerly known as Twitter, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the aim of the armed forces is to keep "throwing Hezbollah off balance and deepening their loss."
The statements by Israel's top ministers appeared to block attempts led by US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to secure a three-week cease-fire.
Reuters cited Lebanon’s health ministry as saying that an Israeli warplane struck the edges of the capital Beirut, killing two people and wounding 15, including a woman in critical condition. That reportedly took deaths overnight and on Thursday to 28 and over 600 since Monday.
Reuters further noted that on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, the army staged an exercise simulating a ground invasion – a potential next stage after relentless airstrikes and explosions of communications devices.
Israel has reportedly vowed to secure its north and return thousands of citizens who have evacuated since Hezbollah launched a campaign of cross-border strikes last year in solidarity with Palestinian militants fighting in Gaza.
