Israeli PM Netanyahu appears to downplay hopes for ceasefire

Tel Aviv: The Israeli prime minister appeared to downplay hopes of an imminent truce with Hezbollah on Thursday after the United States and its allies called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to “provide space for diplomacy”.

In a statement released as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was en route to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, his office said there was only a proposal on the table and that he had not yet responded to it. The statement also denied that there had been any directive to ease up on fighting on the northern border with Lebanon.

The comments raised questions about a new international initiative to halt increasingly heavy exchanges of fire that have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and threatened to trigger an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. They came as Israel has threatened to launch a ground invasion into Lebanon to push the militant group away from the border and as an Israeli strike in Lebanon killed 23 people.

The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, had previously said the country would continue fighting “with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.” Hezbollah has also not yet responded to the proposal for a pause in fighting, although Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed it.

The Lebanese militant group has insisted it would only halt its strikes if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been battling Hamas for nearly a year. That appears out of reach despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

In its statement, Netanyahu’s office said “the fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved.” Netanyahu is expected to meet with other world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Israel launched a massive operation in Gaza after a Hamas-led attack into southern Israel on Oct 7 in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and some 250 were taken hostage. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, according to local officials.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel one day after the Oct 7 attack in support of its Hamas allies, and Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire ever since. Israeli families of the hostages said they are pushing for a possible cease-fire deal for Lebanon to include provisions for the war in Gaza, especially securing release of the roughly 70 hostages still presumed to be alive and the bodies of some 30 others. Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was kidnapped and was one of six Israelis whose bodies were recovered from tunnels in Gaza in August, said the families of the hostages are feeling forgotten as attention shifts to the northern front. “We know that these things are connected to each other, the northern part and the southern part, they’re all part of the same large situation which we are in from Oct 7 on, and we’re very worried that if we don’t make the right decisions now, we will miss this amazing opportunity to get the hostages out,” Dickmann said on Tuesday, as hopes for cease-fire deal swelled.