Netanyahu says Israel would carry ahead with talks for a truce with Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Friday that Israel will continue to consider ceasefire ideas for Lebanon in the coming days. Meanwhile, Washington issued a warning, stating that further escalation would make it more difficult for civilians on both sides to come home.

The foreign minister of Israel rejected international appeals on Thursday for a truce with the Hezbollah organization, which is supported by Iran. He also carried on with airstrikes that have left hundreds dead in Lebanon and increased tensions over a regional conflict.

According to Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s minister of health, 25 people have died as a result of Israeli strikes since early Friday morning.

In the border town of Shebaa, nine family members were slain in one attack, four of whom were youngsters, the mayor, Mohammad Saab, told Reuters. According to the health ministry, since Monday, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of almost 600 civilians in Lebanon.

Abdallah Tawfik Al-Hamid, 13, a Syrian, was laying in a hospital bed in southern Lebanon after an airstrike. “The shops behind us were hit,” he said. “The young boy who was with me was martyred (killed), and I’m still alive.”

Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets into Israel on Friday targeting the cities of Tiberias and Kiryat Ata, which are around 30 km (20 miles) from the border and close to Haifa. The attacks were in retaliation for Israeli raids on towns, villages, and civilian targets.

Hezbollah’s rocket attacks have halted daily activity in most of northern Israel, even if Israeli air defenses have shot down a large number of their missiles, minimizing the damage they have caused.

Four unmanned aircraft that had entered the marine area off the coast of Rosh Hanikra at the Lebanese border from Lebanese land were intercepted, according to the Israeli military.

The previous week had been “intense,” according to 19-year-old volunteer paramedic Amichai Susson in northern Israel. He also noted that “there still isn’t enough ambulances to get to every rocket fall, every single time, as quick as possible.”

PROPOSALS FOR A CEASEFIRE

Due in part to the spillover that the Gaza war has caused throughout the Middle East, the battle between Israel and the heavily armed Hezbollah is at its worst in over eighteen years.

Five troops were killed by an Israeli attack in Syria on Friday, according to Syrian state media, illustrating the conflict’s expanding scope. Israel has been stepping up its years-long effort to weaken the power of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria.

Iran-aligned Yemen In support of Gaza and Lebanon, the Houthis claimed to have used a ballistic missile and a drone to attack the Israeli coastal cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.

Early on Friday, the Israeli army reported that it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen following reports of sirens and explosions.

On Wednesday, the US and France suggested an instant 21-day ceasefire along the Israeli-Lebanese border. They also stated that talks were ongoing, even off the sidelines of the UN convention in New York.

Netanyahu stated that he welcomed the US efforts and that Israeli teams met on Thursday to consider the US suggestions for a ceasefire. He also stated that talks will continue in the next days.

“Our teams got together to talk about the American initiative and how we might work toward our common objective of getting people back home safely. In the days ahead, we’ll carry on those conversations,” he stated in a statement.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement on Thursday, upon his departure for New York to attend the UN General Assembly, stating that the prime minister had given the command for Israeli troops to battle in Lebanon with all of their might.

He just said that there had been “a lot of misreporting around the U.S.-led ceasefire initiative,” without mentioning Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s or other Israeli lawmakers’ remarks from Thursday, when they rejected suggestions for a ceasefire.

GAZA UNITY

After a year of warfare, Israel claims that its campaign aims to guarantee the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who were forced to vacate communities close to the Lebanese border.

As the Gaza conflict broke out on October 8, Hezbollah opened fire on Israel, expressing support for the Palestinian people. According to Hezbollah, it won’t stop firing until Israel’s Gaza offensive is over.

According to the UN, over 90,000 additional individuals were reported to have been displaced this week in Lebanon, bringing the total number of persons affected by the violence to over 111,000.

In the past three days, 30,000 people—80% of whom were Syrians—have crossed into Syria from Lebanon, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. During the 2011 Syrian civil war, well over a million Syrians fled to Lebanon.

According to the State Department, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Israel that any more escalation would only make it more difficult for residents on both sides of the border to come home.

Referring to discussions between Blinken and Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, “the Secretary discussed the importance of reaching an agreement on the 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border,” the State Department said in a statement on Thursday.

“He underscored that further escalation of the conflict will only make that objective (of civilian return) more difficult.”

According to the State Department, Blinken also spoke on the necessity for Israel to take better measures to transfer supplies to the enclave, where almost all 2.3 million people are displaced, as well as efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.