Tel Aviv, Sept 27: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and will not stop until its goals are achieved.Netanyahu spoke as he landed in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting and as U.S. and European officials were pressing for a 21-day halt in fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to give time for negotiations.
Netanyahu said Israel’s “policy is clear. We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”
Israel has dramatically escalated strikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is targeting Hezbollah. Israeli leaders have said they are determined to stop more than 11 months of cross-border fire by the militant group into Israel, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from communities in the north.
Meanwhile, Israel denied on Thursday that it has agreed to a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Lebanese political parties.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “the report on a ceasefire is untrue.”
The office said that Netanyahu “didn’t even respond to” the ceasefire proposal, which was brokered by the United States and France.
Also on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not consider a truce, Xinhua news agency reported.
“There won’t be a ceasefire,” he wrote on social media platform X. He said the country would continue its fight against Hezbollah “until victory and until residents could return to their homes in the north.”