Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon on Tuesday (October 15, 2024) rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would leave Hezbollah close to its country’s northern border. Militant group threatened to increase its attacks,
Mr Netanyahu’s comments came as the United States stepped up pressure over Israel’s conduct of the wars in Lebanon and Gaza, criticizing the recent bombing of Beirut and calling for more aid to reach the Palestinian territory.
In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Netanyahu said he was “opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which would return it to the way it was”, according to a statement. Was”. his office.
Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli military have insisted that there should be a buffer zone along Israel’s border with Lebanon where Hezbollah fighters should have no presence.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear that Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not provide for it (the buffer zone) and that does not prevent Hezbollah from regrouping,” the statement said.
In a defiant televised speech, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution was a ceasefire, while he threatened to expand the scope of his missile attacks across Israel.
He said, “Since the Israeli enemy has targeted the whole of Lebanon, we have the right to target any location in Israel from defensive positions.”
In another day of fighting, the Iran-backed group said it fired rockets toward the northern Israeli city of Haifa and targeted Israeli bulldozers and a tank near the border.
Israeli forces bombed several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, including the Bekaa Valley, where a hospital in the city of Baalbek was put out of service, Lebanese officials said. national news agency Informed.
It also said it had captured three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said nine people were killed in attacks in the south of the country on Tuesday evening, and five others, including three children, in the east.
When asked about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, which damaged residential buildings in central Beirut on October 10, the US State Department offered open criticism.
“We have made clear that we oppose this operation the way we have seen it conducted over the past weeks,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
In a letter sent to the Israeli government on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also warned that the United States could halt arms deliveries unless more humanitarian aid is delivered to Palestinians in Gaza.
The letter “made clear to the Israeli government that there are some changes that they need to make again so that the level of aid to Gaza can rise above today’s very low levels,” Mr. Miller said.
‘The worst ban ever’
Despite the need for food, medical supplies and shelter in hunger-stricken Gaza, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Tuesday that aid was being delivered under the toughest restrictions since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in October last year. Have to face.
“We now see what are the worst restrictions we have ever seen on humanitarian aid,” said James Elder, a spokesman in Geneva. “There were several days last week (where) no commercial trucks were allowed to come through. ” In”.
For more than a week, Israeli forces have been engaged in a widespread air and ground offensive targeting northern Gaza and the area around Jabaliya, amid claims that Hamas militants are regrouping there.
“The whole area has been burned to the ground,” said Rana Abdel Majid, 38, of the al-Fallujah area in northern Gaza.
Mr Majid said entire blocks had been destroyed by “indiscriminate, merciless bombing”.
At a school-shelter site hit by the Israeli attack in the central Nusret camp, Fatima al-Azab said there was “no security anywhere” in Gaza.
“They are all children, sleeping in blankets, all burnt and cut,” she said.
Israel launched a military operation in Gaza after a Hamas attack on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
The Israeli campaign has killed 42,344 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run region, which the United Nations considers reliable.
attack on lebanon
Israel intensified its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon beginning on September 23 and then launched a ground offensive a week later with the aim of pushing the group back from its northern border.
Hezbollah has been firing thousands of shells at Israel since last year in support of Hamas, due to which thousands of Israelis are being displaced.
At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel stepped up bombing last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, although the actual toll is likely higher.
At least 690,000 people have been displaced by the war in Lebanon, which has been suffering an economic crisis for years, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.
Israel is also considering how to respond to Iran’s decision to launch nearly 200 missiles at the country on October 1.
Netanyahu’s office said Israel – and not its top ally the United States – would decide how to retaliate.
“We listen to the United States’ opinion, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest,” it said Tuesday.
The Iranian barrage was in retaliation for an Israeli attack on Beirut, Lebanon, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and another attack on September 27 that killed Iranian general Abbas Nilfouroushan.
US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms supplier, has warned Israel against attacking Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.
according to a Washington Post In the report on Monday, citing unnamed US officials, Mr Netanyahu assured the White House that Israel was only considering targeting military sites.
published – October 16, 2024 03:46 am IST