Israel ordered the defense to maintain its bombing of , Hezbollah , targets in , Lebanon , and denied involvement in a truce, a loss for work by the , U. S.  , and friends to deescalate conflicts.
” There will be no cease-fire”, European Minister , Israel Katz , said on X on Thursday. ” We will continue to fight the , Hezbollah , evil party with full power until defeat and the profit of people of the north to their houses”.
Katz is standing in for Prime Minister , Benjamin Netanyahu , while the latter walks to the , U. S., where he is expected to handle the annual , United Nations , conference on Friday. Netanyahu’s business said before that the Israel Defense Forces had been told to maintain bombing , Lebanon.
The drive to secure a three-week cease-fire to gain time for further discussions is being led by , U. S.  , President , Joe Biden , and his European counterpart , Emmanuel Macron. The strategy came as Israel prepared for a possible ground war, a shift that would harm spiraling into a local conflict that could bring in the , U. S.  , and , Iran, which backs  , Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Economy Minister , Amin Salam , described the cease-fire plan as “very serious” and said succeeding improvements may be important. ” We feel there is a lot of flexibility in the past 24 hours from Hezbollah’s side”, he told Bloomberg TV on Thursday. The militant group did not immediately issue an official statement.
Israel and , Hezbollah , remain deadlocked over the militant group’s determination to pursue cross-border rocket attacks as long as Israel maintains its offensive against , Hamas , in , Gaza, the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported, citing an unidentified Lebanese official familiar with the matter. Since October of last year, that conflict has been ongoing, and there is no indication that it will end.
The bid for a cease-fire in , Lebanon , comes as Israeli forces pounded targets in the economically stricken country for a fourth day, including on the outskirts of , Beirut. More than 600 people, including at least 50 children, have been killed since Monday, with tens of thousands of Lebanese fleeing the country’s south.
Hezbollah , has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel in response — including its first-ever attempt to target , Tel Aviv , — in the worst violence between the two sides since a 2006 war.
Israeli broadcaster , Channel 12 , reported senior officials as saying they have their own conditions for a cease-fire that , Hezbollah , leader , Hassan Nasrallah , is unlikely to agree to. Israel’s Army Radio, meanwhile, reported unidentified security officials saying the military needs more time to achieve its goal of degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities.
The , U. S., European states and Arab powers including , Saudi Arabia , and , Qatar , urged a pause in fighting late Wednesday. In a joint statement, they said,” It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.
The , Lebanon , proposal is intended to eventually lead to the return of tens of thousands of Israelis who have left their homes in the north to escape rocket attacks from , Hezbollah, which began shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.  , Lebanon , Foreign Minister , Abdallah Bou Habib , has said half a million people have been displaced inside the country by the Israeli bombardment.
In the past week, Israel has significantly stepped up air attacks. The military has killed top , Hezbollah , commanders with strikes, and many members were maimed in an operation in which thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded.  , Hezbollah , and , Iran , blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. Israel says it has destroyed a significant part of Hezbollah’s missile arsenal.
One of Netanyahu’s far-right allies, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, threatened to quit the ruling coalition if a permanent truce is reached in , Lebanon. Such a move could bring down the government.
Israel’s political opposition also indicated little enthusiasm for the cease-fire proposal.
Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister who’s likely to challenge Netanyahu at elections, said on X that the time is not right. ” If Hezbollah wants the fire to stop, it can lay down its arms, demilitarize itself and move 15 km away from the Israeli border”, he said.
Opposition leader , Yair Lapid, meanwhile, said a pause should last no more than seven days to prevent , Hezbollah , from regaining its military footing.
U. S.  , efforts of a diplomatic breakthrough to end fighting in , Gaza , have been repeatedly dashed. Netanyahu has faced domestic strife accusations that he halted a truce out of concern for his far-right allies, including Ben Gvir, because they feel they must placate them.  , Iran-backed , Hamas, which like , Hezbollah , is designated a terrorist organization by the , U. S., has taken a similarly uncompromising line, despite the destruction of much of its military capability.
U. S.  , Secretary of State , Antony Blinken , had been working on the cease-fire proposal all week in , New York, according to a , U. S.  , official familiar with the process.
___
© 2024 Bloomberg L. P
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
