Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration on Thursday vowed to continue attacking Lebanon in “full force” to destroy Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure despite the US and European Union’s push for a cease-fire.
Netanyahu’s office refuted reports on Thursday that he was considering a 21-day cease-fire deal proposed by the US and its allies, with the Jewish state and Hezbollah continuing to fire dozens of missiles over the border in the growing conflict.
“Our policy is clear, we continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might,” Netanyahu told reporters as he arrived in New York to speak before the United Nations, according to Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
“We will not stop until we achieve all of our goals, first of all returning the residents of the north safely to their homes. This is the policy and no one should make a mistake about that,” he added.
Netanyahu’s rejection of the deal is the latest rift between him and his long-time ally, President Biden, who insists there could be a diplomatic approach to ending the conflict in Lebanon.
The Biden administration is currently leading the mediation efforts with France and Qatar to end the hostilities that have erupted since Hezbollah began firing at Israel on Oct. 8.
The administration, however, is growing divided on how to handle the situation given Netanyahu’s insistence to avoid a cease-fire and stick to a policy of “de-escalation through escalation.”
“I can’t recall, at least in recent memory, a period in which an escalation or intensification led to a fundamental de-escalation and led to profound stabilization of the situation,” a senior US State Department official told the Washington Post.
While hopes were raised that an end to the conflict would come soon after the US and its allies put forth the 21-day cease-fire proposal, Netanyahu quickly dashed those efforts on Thursday.
“This is an American-French proposal that the prime minister hasn’t even responded to,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement about the Biden-backed cease-fire deal.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who is standing in for Netanyahu while he is in New York, also said that a halt in the fighting was not on the table.
“We will continue to fight the Hezbollah terror group with full force until victory and the return of residents of the north to their homes safely,” Katz said in a statement.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said he is open to the deal, but it is unclear if Hezbollah will agree given its repeated vows to continue attacking Israel over its previous attacks in Lebanon.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari, who stood with the US in proposing the 21-day cease-fire deal, said the current mediation efforts have no pulse as the fighting escalates in the Middle East.
“We are optimistic about an international role… but the situation is quite dire on the ground and an escalation is happening at an unprecedented level,” Al Ansari told reporters on Thursday.
With no signs of a cease-fire in sight, the IDF said Hezbollah fired around 40 rockets against Upper Galilee on Thursday morning.
Israel, in turn, has launched a new series of attacks targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon, but reports indicate that at least one airstrike hit an apartment complex in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
