Israel defies ceasefire calls and vows to keep battling Hezbollah

Beirut: Israel on Thursday rejected a push led by its 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 said 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.

Macron said later it was "a mistake" for Netanyahu to refuse a ceasefire and that he would have to take "responsibility" for a regional escalation.

Israeli strikes

The Israeli military announced fresh strikes on southern Lebanon and Hezbollah said its fighters had launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel.

Lebanon's health ministry said late Thursday that Israeli strikes had killed 92 people in the country and injured 153 in the past 24 hours.

Macron warned against Lebanon "becoming a new Gaza", citing the "absolutely shocking" number of civilian casualties.

More than 1,500 people have been killed since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah erupted last October, with Thursday's toll bringing the number of people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since Monday alone to more than 700.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the call for a ceasefire "to provide space for a diplomatic settlement", in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

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.

Hezbollah drone unit head killed

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.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, about 118,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Lebanon over the past week alone.

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

For the fourth time this week, Israel carried out a strike on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, which it said killed the head of the group's drone unit.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the strike killed Mohammed Srur, born in 1973.

The Israeli military earlier said in a statement that its fighter jets had "targeted and eliminated" Srur, identifying him as "the commander of Hezbollah's air unit".

Srur studied mathematics and was among a number of top advisers sent by Hezbollah to Yemen to train the country's Huthi rebels, who are also backed by Iran, a source close to Hezbollah said.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP a drone strike targeted a group member in a car east of Beirut, and the official National News Agency reported two more "enemy drone" strikes that killed at least four people.

The Israeli military said two barrages of 40 to 45 rockets each had been fired from Lebanon into Israel earlier on Thursday, with many of them intercepted. One man was taken to hospital in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries.

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

'Have to flee'

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 its border with Lebanon.

Hamas ally Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli troops 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.

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

Israeli air force chief Major General Tomer Bar said strikes were aiming to cut off Hezbollah from its arms supplier Iran.

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.

Hassan Slim, who left his southern Lebanon home seeking safety in war-battered Syria, said: "We didn't think the situation would degenerate so quickly.

"Now war is at our doorstep and we have to flee."

In Israel, some like 67-year-old David Lander, believe war is the only way to restore calm.

"I'm against a temporary ceasefire," said the retired resident of the northern city of Haifa.

"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 Gaza ceasefire is as elusive as ever.

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