Israel’s foreign minister rejects call for 21-day ceasefire in conflict with Hezbollah | CBC News

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected proposals for a ceasefire with Hezbollah after the United States and France called for a 21-day halt in the fighting that has alarmed Lebanon and raised fears of a ground invasion.

“There will be no ceasefire in the north. 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,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.

The United States, France and several allies, including Canada, called for the immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza following intense discussions at the United Nations on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading to New York for a scheduled United Nations General Assembly address on Friday, said he had not yet given his response to the truce proposal and had instructed the army to fight on. Hardliners in his government said Israel should reject the truce and keep hitting Hezbollah.

Israel has launched the heaviest air strikes against Lebanon since a 2006 war over the past week, killing more than 600 people, as months of cross-border fire with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement spiraled close to all-out war.

Israel’s military said on Thursday afternoon it was carrying out precise airstrikes in Beirut. It did not elaborate on the strikes in the Lebanese capital.

Witnesses had told Reuters a large blast was heard in Beirut’s southern suburbs and a thick cloud of smoke emanated from the area.

Earlier, Israeli airstrikes overnight hit around 75 Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and ready-to-fire launchers, the Israeli military said on Thursday.

At least 23 Syrians, most of them women and children, were killed when Israel hit a three-storey building in the Lebanese town of Younine overnight, the town’s mayor, Ali Qusas, told Reuters. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who fled civil war there.

The Israeli military said dozens of Hezbollah targets were attacked, including military buildings and weapons depots, in several areas on Thursday morning.

LISTEN l Lebanese newspaper reporters Tasnim Chaaban on the scenes on the ground:

Canada signs on to ceasefire proposal

In response this week, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles at targets in Israel including, for the first time, its commercial hub Tel Aviv, although Israel’s aerial defence system has ensured that the damage has been limited.

On the other side of the border, around 45 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward the western Galilee area, some of which were intercepted, with the rest falling on open ground, said the Israeli military.

Netanyahu repeated pledges to ensure that tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from northern border areas can return home. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads one of two nationalist-religious factions in the governing coalition, said Hezbollah should be crushed and that only its surrender would make it possible for the evacuees to return.

While the ceasefire call applies only to the Israel-Lebanon border, senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press they were looking to use a three-week pause in fighting there to restart stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. 

The nations calling for a ceasefire include the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Work on the proposal came together quickly this week with U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security team, led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, working with allies to get the deal together, according to U.S. officials. 

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, said the deal crystallized by late Wednesday afternoon during a conversation on the sidelines of the General Assembly between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.

WATCH l Non-state actor has significant arsenal, personnel to draw on:

How powerful is Hezbollah? | About That

Israel has shifted its focus to its northern border, striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Andrew Chang breaks down the Iran-backed group’s power by examining its military capabilities and its political influence, as both sides inch closer towards a full-blown conflict.

Images supplied by Getty Images and The Canadian Press.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had expressed hope that a ceasefire could be reached soon. He welcomed the call for a truce but said the key to its implementation was whether Israel is committed to enforcing international resolutions.

Mikati’s caretaker administration includes ministers chosen by Hezbollah, widely seen as the country’s most powerful political force.