Netanyahu maintains order to attack Lebanon ‘with full force’ despite pressure for a ceasefire

Israel is pushing back against calls for a truce with Hezbollah after pressure in recent hours following its threat to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon, which led a coalition of countries to propose at least a temporary cessation of hostilities between the Jewish state and the Shia party-militia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Thursday traveled to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, has not offered any cause for optimism regarding this negotiation, an initiative led by Washington and Paris. Furthermore, Netanyahu has issued orders for his army to “continue the fighting with full force.” The increase in border tension and the risk of an all-out war with Lebanon is one of the issues that world leaders are addressing at the U.N. headquarters a few days before the first anniversary of the Gaza conflict on October 7.

Even before Netanyahu had discarded the diplomatic route, members of his government had taken it upon themselves to describe a ceasefire as unviable. Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded categorically to the proposal: “There will be no ceasefire in the north.” Opening the door to a truce would, according to these political representatives, not only embolden the Lebanese militia backed by Iran and allow it to regroup, but would amount to “surrender.” Meanwhile, in recent hours, both the bombing of Lebanese territory by Israeli warplanes and the launching of missiles by Hezbollah toward Israel have continued.

“The prime minister has instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to him,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office, which insisted that a possible agreement to silence the guns was not on the table, at least not on his part. “The report about a ceasefire is incorrect. This is an American-French proposal that the prime minister has not even responded to,” it added.

“The report about the purported directive to ease up on the fighting in the north is the opposite of the truth,” it added. Netanyahu’s office also issued a reminder, in case anyone had forgotten, about the situation on the southern front, in the Gaza Strip. “The fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved,” the statement concluded.

In addition to rejecting any possible ceasefire, the Israeli foreign minister insisted that the IDF will continue to attack the Shia militia “with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” referring to the 60,000 people displaced from the immediate vicinity of the border. Katz is acting in the name of the prime minister, who is due to return to Israel on Saturday, although, according to local media, the foreign minister will not make any essential decisions for the outcome of the war on his own initiative in this time frame.

The Paris-Washington initiative provides for a three-week ceasefire. U.S. President Joe Biden said his proposal is capable of attracting support from European and Arab countries. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says there is still time to stop the escalation and expressed optimism in statements to Reuters. But the main barrier faced by the American and French proposal is the refusal of the Israeli authorities to withdraw.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid appears to be adopting the middle ground, calling for his country to accept a seven-day truce so as not to give Hezbollah the opportunity to regain strength and “restore its command and control systems,” he said on X. “We will not accept any proposal that does not include removing Hezbollah from our northern border,” he clarified. The idea is to allow Israeli evacuees from that area to return to their homes, something that Netanyahu has been insisting on for days as an essential objective.

The ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, on the other hand, is firmly opposed to this. He sees only one scenario for the current military pressure in the north: “crushing Hezbollah.” “The enemy must not be given time to recover from the heavy blows it has suffered and reorganize itself to continue the war after 21 days,” Smotrich said. Minister Orit Strock, a party colleague of Smotrich in charge of illegal Jewish settlements in occupied Palestine, called on Israel not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to close the door on a ceasefire in the north.

While the political negotiations go on, Israeli attacks continue. At least 23 Syrians, almost all women and children, were killed in the bombing of a building in the town of Younine, eastern Lebanon, on Wednesday night, according to Reuters, citing information from the mayor. Meanwhile, in northern Israel, air raid sirens continue to sound, warning residents of the possibility of attacks from Lebanon. Some 30 rockets have been intercepted in the vicinity of the city of Acre, less than 10 miles from the border between the two countries. Dozens of other projectiles have been launched towards Haifa Bay, further south, without causing any fatalities. The authorities continue to warn residents in the northernmost areas of Israel not to leave their shelters.

Meanwhile, the 100,000 residents who had already fled the area around the southern Lebanese border in recent months have been joined by more than half a million people who have been forcibly displaced in recent days, driven from their homes by strikes by the Israeli air force.

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