Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) - Israel flatly rejected on Thursday a push led by key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, vowing to keep fighting Hezbollah militants “until victory”.

Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

“There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “not even responded” to the truce proposal, and that he had ordered the military “to continue the fighting with full force”.

The United States, France and other allies called for a 21-day halt, after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The situation in Lebanon has become “intolerable” and “is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon”, their joint statement said.

Despite the comments from Israeli officials, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that “the statement was indeed coordinated with the Israeli side.”

The violence showed little signs of abating, with the Israeli military announcing more strikes on southern Lebanon and Hezbollah saying its fighters had launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel late Thursday.

The Israeli defence ministry announced that it had secured a new $8.7-billion aid package from the United States to support the country’s ongoing military efforts, underlining Washington’s unwillingness to use its military aid as leverage for a ceasefire.

- Drones and rockets -

The Israeli military said it struck about 75 targets in the eastern Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon, Hezbollah bastions that have seen a huge exodus of civilians fleeing their homes in recent days.

According to the International Organization for Migration, about 118,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Lebanon over the past week alone.

A strike on the town of Yunin near Baalbek killed at least 20 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“It was one of the worst nights we’ve lived through,” said Fadia Rafic Yaghi, 70, who owns a shop in Baalbek.

For the fourth time this week, Israel carried out a strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, which it said killed the head of the group’s drone unit.

The Lebanese health ministry said two people were killed in the strike.

It said 60 people had been killed nationwide over the previous 24 hours, among 1,540 killed since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah began last October.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP a drone strike targeted a group member in a car east of Beirut, and the official National News Agency reported two more “enemy drone” strikes that killed at least four people.

The Israeli military said two barrages of 40 to 45 rockets each had been fired from Lebanon into Israel earlier on Thursday, with many of them intercepted. One man was taken to hospital in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries.

Hezbollah said the first barrage targeted defence industry complexes near the port city of Haifa, while the second targeted the northern town of Safed.

- ‘Have to flee’ -

Israel said earlier this month it was shifting its focus from the Gaza Strip, where it has been fighting a war with Hamas since the October 7 attack, to its border with Lebanon.

Hamas ally Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli troops since October, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

Netanyahu, who is due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday, has said that ensuring the safe return of Israelis to their homes was a priority.

Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive, according to an army statement.

Israeli air force chief Major General Tomer Bar said strikes were aiming to cut off Hezbollah from its arms supplier Iran.

Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday – the deadliest day of violence in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war.

For many on both sides of the border, the violence has sparked bitter memories of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Hassan Slim, who left his southern Lebanon home seeking safety in war-battered Syria, said: “We didn’t think the situation would degenerate so quickly.

“Now war is at our doorstep and we have to flee.”

In Israel, some like 67-year-old David Lander, believe war is the only way to restore calm.

“I’m against a temporary ceasefire,” said the retired resident of the northern city of Haifa.

“I want the citizens of the north to be able to go back to their homes.”

- Gaza school strike -

Diplomats have said efforts to end the war in Gaza were key to halting the fighting in Lebanon.

But despite months of mediation efforts involving the United States, a ceasefire is as elusive as ever.

Civil defence workers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,534 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

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