On Thursday, September 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a proposal by the United States and France for a temporary ceasefire deal with Hezbollah that would last for 21 days, according to a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office.
The office said that Netanyahu has not even responded to the proposal and that he ordered the Israeli military to keep fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon “with full force”, stressing that fighting in the Gaza strip will also continue until all the war goals are achieved. Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu departed to New York and he is set to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, according to his office.
Netanyahu’s rejection came one day after a joint statement was issued by the United States, France and key allies including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, calling on Israel and Hezbollah to accept the deal. The proposed ceasefire deal recommended a ceasefire for three weeks, during which negotiations on a diplomatic solution to the ongoing escalation would take place.
“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 170, and the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza,” the statement reads.
“We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 during this period, and to give a real chance to a diplomatic settlement. We are then prepared to fully support all diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this period, building on efforts over the last months, that ends this crisis altogether,” it reads.
The office of Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also issued a statement on Thursday, denying reports that Mikati signed a proposed ceasefire agreement after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US mediator Amos Hochstein.
As the international community attempted to reach a temporary ceasefire deal, Israeli massacres in Lebanon and Gaza continue to take place in full swing. On the fourth day of Israel’s intense aggression on Lebanon, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed a number of massacres in different areas on Wednesday, September 25 and Thursday, September 26.
One of the massacres took place when an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building housing Syrian workers and their families in the town of Younine in Beqaa district, in northeastern Lebanon. At least 23 people including children were killed in the attack.
Another Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the town of Karak in Beqaa, killing at least 11 people, while 5 people remained under the rubble. The third airstrike targeted a house in the town of Shaath in Baalbek, killing 4 members of the same family. Whereas, at least 4 people were killed in airstrikes that targeted the towns of Qana and Ayta al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.
The IOF launched another airstrike on the Southern Suburb (Al-Dahiyah al-Janoubiyah) in the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing at least two people and injuring several others. The IOF claimed that the head of Hezbollah’s aerial force unit Mohammed Hussein Surour was targeted in the attack. On Friday, September 27, Hezbollah confirmed the assassination of its commander Surour, also known as Hajj Abu Saleh, saying that he “was martyred all the way to Al-Quds”.
While Israeli warplanes continued to launch ferocious airstrikes on residential areas across Lebanon, they also targeted Al-Faluja school, which was sheltering displaced people in Jabalia, in northern Gaza on Thursday. The airstrike killed at least 15 people including women and children.
