‘With full force’: Israel rejects US, Australian backed ceasefire plan

New York: Dimming hopes for a ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue striking Hezbollah “with full force” and will not stop until all of its goals are achieved.

Netanyahu spoke as he landed in New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly meeting. At the gathering earlier, Australia joined US and European officials to put heavy pressure on both sides to accept a proposed 21-day halt in the fighting to give time for diplomacy to avert a potential all-out war.

Palestinian supporters march with a cutout depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the United Nations headquarters during the annual General assembly which Netanyahu also will address.Credit: AP

Just before his comments, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour, in an airstrike in the suburbs of Beirut. The Lebanese Health Ministry said two people were killed and 15 wounded in the strike.

Israel’s “policy is clear,” Netanyahu said. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week as Israel dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s military capacities. Israeli leaders say they are determined to stop more than 11 months of cross-border fire by the militant group, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from communities in the north.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the claim of the commander’s death. The strike gutted an apartment on the upper floor of a residential building in Dahiyeh, the mainly Shiite suburb where Hezbollah has a strong presence, according to Associated Press photos of the scene.

Over the past week, Israel has carried out several strikes in Beirut targeting senior Hezbollah commanders. Earlier in the day, a strike in eastern Lebanon killed 20 people, most of them Syrian migrants, according to Lebanese health officials.

Israel hit 75 sites on Thursday across southern and eastern Lebanon, the military said. After the Beirut explosion, dozens of rockets were fired towards the northern Israeli city of Safed, with one hitting a street in a nearby town. In total, 175 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, the military said. Most were intercepted or fell in open areas, some sparking wildfires.

A man reacts in a damaged apartment at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Saksakieh, south Lebanon.Credit: AP

Israel has talked of a possible ground invasion into Lebanon to drive Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed Shiite group that is the strongest armed force in Lebanon – away from the border. It has moved thousands of troops the north in preparation. Thousands of Lebanese have fled the south in the past week, streaming into Beirut and points further north.

The escalation has raised fears of a repeat – or worse – of the 2006 war between the two sides that wreaked destruction on large parts of southern Lebanon and other parts of the country and saw heavy Hezbollah rocket fire on Israeli cities.

“We now face the risk of an all-out war. Another full-scale war could be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said after talks with his British and Australian counterparts in London.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was at the UN meeting with Israeli officials over the truce proposal. Speaking in an interview with MSNBC, he said major powers, the Europeans and Arab nations were united, “everyone speaking with one clear voice about the need to get that ceasefire in the north.”

“I can’t speak for him,” Blinken said of Netanyahu.

Later, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel and US officials had met to discuss the ceasefire proposal and would continue talks in coming days.

Hezbollah has not yet responded to the proposal. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed it, but his government has no sway over the group.

Israeli Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon.Credit: AP

Netanyahu’s office earlier downplayed the initiative, saying in a statement that it was only a proposal and Israel would continue to defend against Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.

One of Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners threatened to suspend cooperation with his government if it signs onto a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah – and to quit completely if a permanent deal was reached. It was the latest sign of displeasure from his allies towards the international ceasefire efforts.

“If a temporary ceasefire becomes permanent, we will resign from the government,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party.

If Ben-Gvir leaves the coalition, Netanyahu would lose his parliamentary majority and could see his government come toppling down, though opposition leaders have said they would offer support for a ceasefire deal.

Palestinian supporters protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Times Square, New York, during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.Credit: AP

Hezbollah has insisted it would halt its strikes only if there was a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has battled Hamas for nearly a year. That appears out of reach despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Men share a scooter ride past a building damaged by a previous Israeli strike on a residential building in Tyre, Lebanon.Credit: Getty Images

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there can be no role for Hamas in a future Gaza government, as she used a speech at the General Assembly to outline what it would take for Australia to recognise a future Palestinian state.

“Australia supports the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. But let me be clear: there can be no role for terrorists. A Palestinian state cannot threaten Israel’s security. We want to see a reformed Palestinian governing authority capable of taking responsibility for Gaza and the West Bank.”

Before it signed the call for a Lebanon ceasefire, the Albanese government angered Israel with its two high-profile UN votes on the Israel-Palestine issue by backing a December resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and a May resolution expanding Palestinians’ right to participate at the UN.

One day after Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel, bringing Israeli counterfire and a cycle of reprisals that has gone on near daily since. Hezbollah says its barrages target Israeli military posts and are a show of support for the Palestinians.

Israel’s military on Friday also said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen that set off air raid sirens across Israel’s populous central area, including Tel Aviv. Another missile from Yemen landed in central Israel about two weeks ago.

AP