Israeli foreign minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire proposal

26/9/2024 19:10

        Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected proposals from the United States and France calling for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had not responded but told the army to keep up its operation.
        
        "There will be no ceasefire in the north," Katz said on the social media platform X. "We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes."
        
        Netanyahu, who left Israel on Thursday to address the United Nations, issued a statement that said he had ordered the military to keep fighting with full force, in accordance with operational plans.
        
        "This is an American-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to," his office said in a statement.
        
        Shortly after the statement was published, the Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
        
        Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads one of two nationalist-religious factions in the coalition, said Hezbollah should be crushed and that only its surrender would make it possible for the evacuees to return.