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Israeli air strikes on Lebanon Thursday killed at least 92 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said, slimming prospects for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah amid calls by the UAE, US, France and other nations to endorse a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire.
The Israeli military continued its aerial campaign in Lebanon throughout the day, saying it struck about 220 Hezbollah targets and about 75 sites on Wednesday night, adding that it was operating “to degrade and dismantle Hezbollah's capabilities” and infrastructure.
At least 19 of the 92 killed in the strikes were Syrian labourers working in Lebanon's north-eastern town of Younin in the Baalbek-Hermel province, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Sixteen women and children were among the dead, the town's Mayor Ali Qassass told The National.
Nearly 700 people have been killed this week and almost half a million displaced in the four days since Israel launched its air campaign in Lebanon on Monday, the government estimates.
“Families were not spared from the killing machine and the perpetration of massacres against them,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported. “The drones did not leave the Baalbek area, and the flashes and roar of explosions continued to echo until dawn.”
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that he has approved the next set of operations that will be carried out in the north against Hezbollah.
"We continue to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists, dismantle offensive infrastructure, and destroy rockets and missiles," Mr Gallant said on X.
"The missions ahead of us are clear, and we are determined to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes."
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched a barrage of missiles towards the town of Kiryat Motzkin and a military production plant, north of Haifa.
The Iran-backed group has not commented on the ceasefire initiative endorsed by Arab and western countries and did not respond to a request for comment from The National.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office denied he had approved the start of talks to pause the conflict with Hezbollah. It said reports of a ceasefire were “not true.”
The statement came hours after Israel's army chief told troops to prepare for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon, where at least 72 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Wednesday.
“This is an American-French proposal to which the prime minister did not even respond,” Mr Netanyahu's office said, rejecting reports he had instructed the army to “tone down” attacks on Lebanon.
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Damage in Beirut after an overnight Israeli strike. EPA -
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon's capital. AFP -
Displaced Syrians and Lebanese enter Syria from Lebanon at the Jusiyah border crossing. AFP -
The site of the Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut. AP -
Iranians lay flowers before a portrait of Nasrallah. AFP -
Smoke billows over Tyre, southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike. Reuters -
A Qader 1 ballistic missile from Hezbollah's arsenal. AFP -
Syrians fleeing the war in Lebanon arrive at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdeidet Yabous. AP -
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi during his funeral in Beirut. EPA -
People react at the scene of an Israeli air strike in the town of Maisara, north of Beirut. AP -
Civil defence workers carry an elderly man who fled from the south of Lebanon, as he arrives at a school turned into a displaced shelter in Beirut. AP -
A traffic jam in Ghazieh as people fleeing from the south of Lebanon drive towards Sidon and Beirut. EPA -
People in heavy traffic drive north from Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, as they flee Israeli bombardment. Reuters -
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre. Reuters -
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre. Reuters -
Medics move patients at Rambam Hospital's underground emergency centre, in Haifa, northern Israel. EPA -
Israeli emergency teams work at the scene of a missile strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel. EPA -
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of the group's senior commander Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli strike on September 20, in Beirut. EPA -
Rescuers carry a body at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut. AP
Mr Netanyahu instructed the Israeli army to “continue the fighting with full force … until all the goals of the war are complete”, his office said.
But a western diplomat told The National that “negotiations are ongoing and nothing is final”.
The source recognised that the stance taken by Mr Netanyahu could be an obstacle to negotiations, but said statements could serve to increase pressure on the negotiations in an “escalation for de-escalation” strategy where “negotiations continue under the threat of violence”.
“The next 48 hours will be decisive,” the source said. “But we’re optimistic on the short term at least.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who is standing in for Mr Netanyahu as he attends the UN General Assembly in New York, has also said there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon.
Israel will fight Hezbollah “with all its might until victory” and the return of displaced Israelis to their homes, he said.
Speaking to soldiers on the northern border, Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the past four days of intense bombing were “both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah”.
Iran has also vowed to use “all means” against Israel.
“The region is on the brink of a full-scale catastrophe. If unchecked, the world will face catastrophic consequences,” Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. Tehran will “stand with the people of Lebanon with all means”, he added.
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Hezbollah rockets launched from Lebanon over the border into Israel are intercepted on September 16. Reuters -
Explosions rock the Lebanese village of Wazzani during Israeli bombardment. AFP -
The southern Lebanese village of Houla comes under sustained attack, in cross-border fighting that has been raging since October 8. AFP -
A drone flies from Lebanon towards Israel. Reuters -
A shell fired from Israel explodes over the southern Lebanese border village of Khiam. AFP -
A woman assesses a damaged bathroom, after projectiles from Lebanon hit the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. Reuters -
Mourners carry the coffin of one of the three paramedics killed in an Israeli air strike, during his funeral in Ghandourieh, Lebanon. Reuters -
Mohammad Raad, centre, senior Hezbollah politician, speaks during a memorial ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of senior commander Fouad Shukr, in Beirut. EPA -
Israel bombs the villages of Ghandourieh and Froun in southern Lebanon. AFP -
The mangled wreckage of a burnt vehicle hit by an Israeli drone on the road leading to the Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura. EPA -
Soldiers tend to a man injured in a cross-border attack from Lebanon on the Israeli side of the border. Reuters -
Displaced children are shown a bomb shelter on the first day of school near Elifelet in northern Israel. AFP -
The UN peacekeeping mission (Unifil) keeps watch from Marjayoun, Lebanon, near the hostile border area. EPA
As Mr Netanyahu left for the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, the UAE, US and other nations issued their urgent call for a three-week ceasefire. They described the fighting as “intolerable” and said it “presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation”.
“We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately consistent with UNSCR 1701 during this period, and to give a real chance to a diplomatic settlement,” the countries said.
They were referring to a 2006 Security Council resolution that established the demilitarised Blue Line along the Lebanese border.
The White House has said discussions to ease Israel-Hezbollah tension have been continuing “for quite some time”.
US President Joe Biden has been focused on the possibility of a ceasefire “in almost every conversation he had with world leaders” at the UN General Assembly this week, a White House official told Reuters.
Officials have said the 21-day ceasefire could be introduced “in the coming hours”.
“We believe, regardless of what has happened on the battlefield over the last several days, the moment we feel is now to achieve that diplomatic resolution,” one official told Sky News.
The ceasefire would not extend to Gaza, but “would buy time and space” for efforts to reach an agreement in the enclave, they added.
